"So why are we skipping school?" Julie asked.

"We're moving," Alex said.

"We can't move!" Bri said. "If we move, Mami and Papi and Carlos won't be able to find us."

"We'll leave a note for them," Alex said. "On the table where they'll be sure to see it. We're not moving far anyway. Just upstairs to apartment twelve B."

"What's wrong with right here?" Julie asked. "All our stuff is here."

"I know," Alex said. He'd spent much of the night trying to work out a system for moving all the things they'd taken from the other apartments up to 12B. Not to mention their clothes and their food. "That's why we're moving tomorrow. Wednesday's usually a good day for electricity, so we'll be able to move the stuff in the elevator. We'll get Bri upstairs first, and then you and I will pack things and take them up. We'll do the unloading, too. Bri can make sure doors stay open, stuff like that."

"I can help with the unloading," Bri said.

"No," Alex said. "No lifting for you. Julie and I can do it without your help."

"How come you made a decision like that without talking to us about it?" Julie asked. "And why twelve B? Fourteen J is a two-bedroom."

"The guys in twelve B said we could use their place," Alex said. "I feel more comfortable with us staying there. You and Bri can share the bedroom, and I'll sleep in the living room. There's probably a sofa bed, and if not, we'll take a mattress from one of the other places and I'll sleep on that. We'll manage fine."

"If you think it's best," Bri said. "I just want to be more helpful."

"You'll help with the unpacking," Alex said. 'Getting the food into the cabinets, things like that. Don't worry, Bri. You'll do your share."

"Do you think we're going to be flooded?" Julie persisted. "Is that why we have to move upstairs?"

Alex nodded. "It's going to happen pretty soon," he said. "And we're better off getting all our stuff out of here while we can. Besides, we don't know how much longer the electricity will last, and I don't want to lug all our stuff up by stairs. So tomorrow's moving day."

Bri smiled. "I prayed every night to come home and find you here," she said. "But I guess home isn't this apartment. It's wherever you are."

"We're not going anyplace," Alex said. "Except up twelve flights."

Wednesday, October 5

Alex begged forgiveness from God and Papi as he began hammering the nails needed to hold the doubled-over blankets they used for insulation in place over the windows of apartment 12B.

"It figures," Julie grumbled. "I finally move into a place with a view, and I'll never get to look out again."

Monday, October 10

"Are you going to just stand there, or are you going to help me?" Kevin asked. The jumper had landed funny, his body twisted around, and Kevin was finding it difficult to pull his shoes off.

Alex pulled at one shoe while Kevin worked on the other. "I really hate rigor mortis," Kevin grumbled. "The things I do for Mom."

"You must love her a lot," Alex said. "I have to do this; we need the food. But you're just doing this for vodka."

"You need food; she needs vodka," Kevin said, finally pulling off the shoe. He gave the body a disgusted kick and began walking in search of the next one. "Besides, I figure I owe her."

"How do you mean?" Alex asked.

"She's my mother," Kevin said. "And this isn't something I'd like to get around, but I was a bed wetter. Mom never scolded me or made me feel like I was bad or it was my fault. So now, if I have to go to a little extra effort to give her the one thing she wants, I'm going to do it. You tell anybody what I just said and I'll kill you."

"Don't worry," Alex said. "There's no one around to tell anyway."

"True enough," Kevin said.

Alex remembered a night, shortly after they'd moved to Eighty-eighth Street, when he'd wet the bed. He'd gone to Mami and Papi's room, crying with misery and humiliation.

They'd gone back to his room, Papi helping him change into clean pajamas, while Mami stripped the bed and put on fresh sheets. Carlos had woken up and called Alex a baby, and Papi had told Carlos to shut up, that Carlos had done that and worse in his day. Alex could still remember Papi lifting him onto the top bunk, and his parents kissing him good night.

The power of his loss and his anger punched him in his gut, and he nearly keeled over.

"You okay?" Kevin asked.

Alex wanted to say no, he wasn't okay, he would never be okay again. He felt rage and resentment, and for a moment he included Kevin in his list of things he hated, because Kevin had food and a home and parents.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said. "It must have been something I ate."

Friday, October 14

By the time Alex picked up Julie at Holy Angels, he was already in a bad mood. There was a pile of a half dozen stripped new deads in front of the apartment building, with no guarantee they'd ever be removed, which meant dodging rats just to get through the door.

He, Kevin, and Julie had stood on line for food for five hours that morning, the temperature well below freezing and a harsh wind blowing the entire time. Kevin had walked Julie to Holy Angels while Alex took the bags, none of which had very much food, up the twelve flights, because the electricity wasn't running. Then he'd taken stuff to Harvey's for barter, and even though he hadn't gotten much in return, he still had to carry it up the twelve flights again. Bri had spent the morning in the apartment without being able to use the electric heater or the electric blanket, stuck in the sleeping bag. He had opened a can of mixed vegetables for her, and then spoon-fed her, so she wouldn't have to take out her arms. Father Mulrooney had given up a full eyebrow look when Alex finally made it to school, and Alex had been worried until lunchtime that he'd be told he wouldn't be allowed in the cafeteria. He had an eyestrain headache from trying to read in dim natural light, and even though the school kept its thermostat at fifty-five degrees, he hadn't been able to shake off the morning chill.

He had a date to go body shopping with Kevin the next morning, but he wasn't optimistic about what they'd get for it, since there was no market for watches anymore, and even shoes and coats weren't bringing in what they used to. But going gave him an excuse to leave the apartment, so he wouldn't have to spend the whole day stuck with his sisters and nothing to do.

Bri still insisted on going to Mass on Sunday, which meant an extra half hour to get down the twelve flights of stairs and then to St. Margaret's and an extra half hour to get back home. They had to stop at every floor for her to catch her breath, and she needed to use her inhaler twice, sometimes three times, before the climb was finished. But that was the only time Bri escaped from the apartment, and Alex couldn't find it in his heart to forbid her. It didn't help that Julie wanted to race ahead, and Alex wouldn't let her. As far as he could tell, they had the building all to themselves, but that didn't mean someone wasn't lurking in the stairwell, and he couldn't risk letting Julie go up by herself. So Julie would spend Sunday afternoon sulking and Bri would spend it gasping and claiming she was fine, and Alex would have to act sympathetic, when all he wanted to do was run.

He could tell right away that the weekend he was already-dreading was about to get worse. Julie had that look in her eyes. She hadn't looked that upset since the garden had died.

"What is it?" he asked. "They fed you, didn't they?"

Julie nodded.

Alex prayed for patience and understanding. On Monday, he'd find out who the patron saint of patience was. He could use the extra help.