Yellow Ceramic Mug and Red Silk Scarf in a Red Buick

The shears were not on the shelf. The small metal latch on the old wooden toolbox beside the pots was sitting open, though I always kept it closed.

I reached inside the box and found only rusted screws and an old roll of garden twine. My husband’s spare brass keys to the house, which always lay in the bottom corner, were gone.

By seven, the streetlights continue reading …