TWO: BOULDER

She looked out the kitchen window and saw him just sitting there on the curb, not playing with his trucks or the wagon or even the balsa glider that had pleased him so much all the last week since Jack had brought it home.

He was just sitting there, watching for their shopworn VW, his elbows planted on his thighs and his chin propped in his hands, a five-year-old kid waiting for his daddy.

Wendy suddenly felt bad, almost crying bad.

She hung the dish towel over the bar by the sink and went downstairs, buttoning the top two buttons of her house dress.

Jack and his pride!

Hey no, Al, I don't need an advance. I'm okay for a while.

The hallway walls were gouged and marked with crayons, grease pencil, spray paint.

The stairs were steep and splintery.

The whole building smelled of sour age, and what sort of place was this for Danny after the small neat brick house in Stovington?