ALEX’S MOTHER LIVES on a stretch of broken asphalt named South Graveyard Road, which, surreally, isn’t adjacent to a graveyard at all. The house is small and nearly as tired-looking as everything else they passed on the way here, even with its fresh coat of paint. It’s still one of the nicest houses around, and Paul has to remind himself that this isn’t actually the house Alex grew up in, but the one he’d bought for his mom years ago. He remembers well the endless phone conversations between Alex and Laura when she was house hunting. Despite Alex’s repeated pleadings, Laura had refused to leave Paragon.
Paul slows the car to take it all in before they arrive on Alex’s mother’s doorstep. By the roadside are two white crosses, decked with faded plastic flowers and a sun-bleached teddy bear,
