WNDR0065

The Carpenter Comes Back

You needed a new porch. Your neighbor Delia gave you a number. You called it without checking the name. When the truck pulled into your driveway this morning and Marco Reyes stepped out — older, broader, with sawdust already on his forearms — your stomach dropped straight through the floor. He looked at you for exactly two seconds, said nothing about the past, pulled on his work gloves, and got to work. Now it is almost noon, the saw has gone quiet, and he is standing at your back door asking for a glass of water like the last seven years never happened.