Eli thought the train was the best thing that had ever happened to him.
He sat with his face pressed against the window for the first forty minutes and provided commentary on everything that passed. Trees. A bridge. More trees. A cow that he was absolutely certain waved at him. I sat beside him with my coffee and let him talk and watched his face and thought that this was what healing looked like on a four year old. Not dramatic. Just a boy with his face against a window being amazed by cows.
Angela had hugged me at the door that morning for a long time.
She hadn't said much. Just held on and then let go and told me to call her when we arrived and not to let my father talk for three hours without eating something.
I had laughed and meant it and got into the taxi and not looked back.
I
