Steve sat on the bench under the kitchen window, as he did almost every afternoon, a handful of acorns in one hand. He dropped them one at a time in his right hand and sat very still. He waited while the squirrel he"d been taming for the last several weeks came up and took the seed. As the squirrel scampered away with his prize Steve dropped another acorn into his hand and waited.
He"d been sitting there about fifteen minutes when, half way across the yard, the animal dropped his nut. He scurried back to get it and Steve heard a soft tinkling laugh through the window above him. He knew it had to be Jade, though it wasn’t the same laugh she’d had as a child. She and Rebecca were the only ones in the house and he knew Rebecca"s laugh. That wasn"t it. The sound stirred something deep inside
