That dollar is in the hutch drawer now. Folded up inside the spiral notebook. Right on top of all the receipts.
That seemed like the right place for it.
That night was the first night Jeff’s kids slept in their own house. A mile and a half down the gravel road.
I went up to bed at ten, like always.
I lay there next to Dale in the dark. And I listened.
No boys arguing about the top bunk. No Kenzie whispering through the wall to Hannah. No little feet on the stairs at two in the morning looking for a glass of water. No Jeff reading the same dinosaur book for the hundredth time in his tired voice, doing the T. rex.
Just the furnace kicking on. And the wind in the cedars. And the old house settling around us, creaking. Like it was breathing out.
It was the quiet I’d wanted every single night since March.
Some nights, I’d actually prayed for it.
And I lay there in the dark and found out I missed every single bit of the noise.
“You awake?” Dale said.
“Yeah.”
“Too quiet,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
He reached over in the dark and found my hand.
“Brody’s coming Monday for chores,” he said. “I told him he’s still on the payroll.”
“Good,” I said.
“Ten dollars a day.”
“I heard.”
“Might give him a raise,” Dale said. “He’s a good hand.”
I smiled in the dark.
In the morning, I went upstairs and opened the closet door in the little room under the eaves.
The pink curtain was gone. The bed was stripped. The round window let in a long stripe of October sun.
I looked down at COLE 6 2026, at the very bottom of the door frame. In my brother’s blocky handwriting.
Then I went back downstairs and dug through the junk drawer until I found a roll of blue painter’s tape.
Because next spring, when we paint that room again, I’m going to need it.
And the spring after that.
And the spring after that.
Jeff already called. He said they’ll be over on the last day of school. With the yardstick.
There’s a lot of door frame left.
And Cole’s going to be bigger than all of us.
Ethan Blake is a skilled Creative Content Specialist with a talent for crafting engaging and thought-provoking narratives. With a strong background in storytelling and digital content creation, Ethan brings a unique perspective to his role at TheArchivists, where he curates and produces captivating content for a global audience.
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