“Mr. Hale came to my house,” Shelly said into my shoulder. “He knocked on my door. He said I have my job back. He said it was all a mistake. He said you…” She pulled back and looked at me. “Dot, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” I said. “George did. A long time ago.”
Richard Hale came up the porch steps slowly. Brandon trailed behind him, hanging back by the railing. Looking at his shoes. Very nice shoes. Shiny.
Mr. Hale stopped at the top of the steps. He looked down at all the peas rolling across my porch.
Then he did something I didn’t expect.
He knelt down in his expensive gray suit and started picking them up.
One by one. Putting them back in my bowl.
I watched him do it for a minute.
“You don’t have to do that,” I said.
