Chapter 57

“Have you checked your mail yet?” He answered my question with one of his own that had nothing to do with what I had asked.

“No.”

He whipped out a manila envelope. “Package from Devon.”

“It’s awfully flat.” It should have dawned on me right away. “Oh.”

“It was the first one to turn, he says. He waited and waited when it started, day after day after day after day for it to fall off.”

It was a leaf, of course, in bright orange. I smiled. I couldn’t help it. “He said that?” Mathias showed me the note my brother had included. “He did indeed,” I said. “It’s early. He’s lucky he got one so soon.”

“I bet he got two. You probably got one. Let’s go check. Hey.” Mathias stopped some girl I’d seen in class but had never spoken to just as the doors opened. “Can we bum your notes tomorrow?”

“Sure,” she said.

“Done and done. Let’s go.”