"Yes."
"What 'id you 'ell him?"
"I said that I didn't see anything."
"'ood," said Julian.
"Why?"
"I've already solved the 'roblem."
Julian walked toward the gate in the wire fence that protected school and playground from wind and rain and the more radical extremes of temperature. They passed through the gate and stood under the bare tree on the brown tree-lawn strewn with dead leaves between the empty sidewalk and the busy street.
"Look," he said, drawing from his jacket pocket a wad of photographs. He stacked them neatly and squared the edges. He held the bottom tightly between thumb and first finger.
The top photograph showed the figure that Julian had made of pipe cleaners and mud and set on aluminum foil to sun-bake in the far corner of the playground. It was facing a thinner,
