‘I understand.’

‘But I appreciate that you stayed today and did what the children asked.’

Odessa smiled faintly. ‘They had a lot of boxes.’

‘Yes, they did.’

The conversation ended there. Neither woman needed a dramatic embrace to prove that something had shifted. They had spent two days watching eleven children solve problems by listening, and now they were learning how difficult the same practice could be for adults.

CHAPTER TEN: THE THINGS THEY CARRIED HOME

On Sunday morning the courtyard looked much smaller. The tables had been folded, the borrowed chairs returned, and the last cardboard citizens stood in two neat boxes by the bakery door. Harper arrived carrying a broom. Kieran was already sweeping scraps of paper into a dustpan. Chloe and Nell were packing the rechargeable lamps. They had volunteered to finish cleaning before anyone else arrived.

‘You don’t have to stay,’ Harper told them.

‘We know,’ said Chloe. ‘We want the courtyard to look the way we found it.’

Kieran glanced toward the brick wall. ‘Except for the little mark where the door scraped. Leon said he’d bring matching paint.’

Harper smiled. ‘We can do that together.’

Tamsin appeared with coffee and a bag of warm rolls. She said that several customers had already asked when the children would perform again. Harper turned to Nell, expecting excitement. The girl surprised her.

‘Not yet,’ Nell said. ‘I want to make a different story next time, and I want a week where nobody asks me to make anything.’

‘Fair enough,’ Harper replied.

They sat together on the steps eating breakfast. Harper told the children she planned to reopen her workshop on a smaller schedule, with clearer boundaries for parents and decisions shared with participants. She could not promise another large production immediately. She could promise to be present when problems arose, to say what she could manage, and to invite help before silence turned into disappearance.

Kieran asked whether the new workshop could include a place for teenagers to build technical projects without having to audition for a role. Harper said yes, if they designed a safe plan and enough people agreed to supervise it. Sachi wanted a box labeled IDEAS WE HAVEN’T FIGURED OUT YET. Milo insisted on adding a second box labeled IDEAS THAT WENT WRONG BUT WERE FUN.

They debated the wording for ten minutes. By the end, both boxes existed on the back of a bakery receipt.

Later that afternoon, Harper returned home and found Odessa standing outside her own gate across the street. The older woman was speaking with Caleb, the pool cleaner, who had come to check the water. Harper walked over, careful not to assume the conversation concerned her.