Chapter 22

Frank had brought over the huge bear his father had won him at The Harvest Fair back in 1951. Frank used to hug it himself sometimes, as a boy when no humans were around for him to hug, and as an adult when he couldn’t if there were. The toy was nearly three feet tall. “We hug him now,” Frank had said. He’d squeezed it tight, with lots of sound. Liam had copied when his turn came. “He looks more like me than your mother does.” Frank had lifted his shirt as proof. “Don’t you think?”