THE BOY RAN past the house just as Sherwin held the clothes pegs up to the line. The sheet sprayed soapsuds on the sunken floorboards, but Sherwin didn’t see them. The boy wore his trackies high on his back, shuffling up the hill with his hairless ankles shining in the summer sun.

Sherwin dropped the clothes pegs, found his slippers and leapt off the patio. There were never any other boys around here. He ran up the hill, panting, trying not to make too much sweat on the top of his belly.