In Ohio, Sum-ma stood outside the upstairs bathroom while Theresa cried behind the locked door. The television downstairs remained off. Freddy sat on the hallway floor wearing mismatched socks and holding the heating pad Sum-ma had asked him to retrieve.

“Is she dying?” Freddy whispered.

“No,” Sum-ma answered. “Her body is doing something natural and private, and she gets to decide how much company she wants while she learns it.”

Behind the locked door, Theresa said, “It hurts.”

Sum-ma placed her palm against the door. “I know, baby. I have had a uterus longer than you have been alive. I possess several decades of unpleasant field research.”

The lock clicked. Sum-ma opened the door slowly and went in, closing it most of the way behind her.

She explained what was happening plainly, without treating Theresa’s body as embarrassing or mysterious. She showed her how to use a pad, what kind of pain was normal, and what signs meant they should call a doctor. Theresa listened with her arms wrapped around her stomach, angry and frightened and trying not to need anyone.

When Theresa was dressed in fresh clothes, Sum-ma wrapped the heating pad in a thin towel and placed it across her lower abdomen. Then she guided her downstairs.

The house smelled faintly of ginger and rain. Freddy had opened every cabinet in the kitchen and stood in the center of the room studying Gruff’s organization as if the pantry were a sacred archive.

“Why does Gruff have three kinds of ginger?” Freddy asked.

“Fresh, dried, and crystallized,” Sum-ma said. “For nausea, travel, tea, and bribing difficult adults.”

“Which adults?”

“Ken.”

Theresa lowered herself carefully onto a chair. “Who is Ken?”

“You call him Brute,” Sum-ma said. “Kenneth, before he became Brute. And Gruff was Lee, before he became Gruff.”

Theresa held the warm mug Sum-ma gave her and looked toward the dark living room where the television remained silent. “Are they safe?”

Sum-ma’s eyes moved toward the silent television. “I do not know.” She did not lie. “But right now, our job is to trust what they know, keep the phone charged, and take care of what is in front of us.”

Freddy opened the refrigerator.

Sum-ma stared at him. “You finished the cabinets.”

“I am moving into cold storage.”