normal. Something he is used to. When she joins Tommy at ground level she holds the bottom of the ladder then for him. The old man begins his climb down.

This was the last few hundred meters to the docks, and he looks back over the town one last time. The park calls out to him in the distance. He knows that he might never come back here to see it, the place where she died, and takes a second to soak it in. He shakes his head when he remembers that they have to hurry and he climbs down with his eyes closed. Tommy shrugs his backpack higher up onto his shoulders when he gets there and whispers: Let’s go.

Sarah stops him: What about the ladder?

Tommy: I’m not planning on needing