Three Green Notebooks Left in a Cedar Chest on Elm Street

before turning back to his birds.

It was the only conversation we needed, a plain acknowledgement that we were both still here, surviving the first frost.

At one o’clock, the Oakhaven Diner was half empty, the booths near the front windows fogged with condensation from the soup kettles. I sat across from Frank, the retired archivist, who was carefully continue reading …