Five Days in Summer

David are coming with me to get Maxi.”
    “But we hate the hospital.” Sam glanced at David.“Just get Maxi and bring her back. We’ll wait here with Grandma.”
    “Grandma’s sleeping. Now get dressed.”
    “I’m awake.” Grandma came into the kitchen in her bathrobe, all groggy but smiling. “Let them stay with me, Will dear. You’ll be gone an hour at most. We’ll be ready to go when you get back.”
    Dad looked at Grandma and kept thinking. David knew that look, when Dad didn’t believe something but for some reason thought he shouldn’t argue. He was the boss at work and was used to telling people what to do, but at the same time he knew if he bossed you too much the whole show would backfire. Half the time he covered it over with a big joke. Sometimes Mom told them that Dad was under a lot of pressure. Well what about the pressure of being a kid? What about the pressure they were under now? Their mother was gone. Their mother .
    “I’m staying here with Grandma,” David said again. He did not want to go back to New York without his mother. If no one else could find her, maybe he could.
    “Me too.” Sam stepped up next to David.
    After a minute Dad took a deep breath and let out twice as much air. “All right. But no one leaves this house.”
    “Where would we go?” Grandma picked up her kettle and walked to the kitchen sink.
    Dad slapped his pocket to make sure he had his wallet and keys. Then he walked over to David and Sam and gave them both a kiss on the forehead.
    “I’ll be right back.”
    “See you later, Dad,” David said.
    He watched his father go into the mudroom and a minute later heard the rental car rev up and drive away.
    As soon as he was gone, David went downstairs toget dressed and Sam followed. They got on their shorts and T-shirts and socks and sneakers. Then David went into their parents’ room. There were bills and coins on the dresser. David scooped some up and filled his pocket.
    “What are you doing?” Sam asked him.
    “I’ll tell you later.”
    “You’re stealing Dad’s money.”
    “I said I’d tell you later! And I’m not stealing it. I’m borrowing it.”
    “Grandma!” Sammie called out.
    David stuck out his foot and tripped Sam but he didn’t fall too hard. “Don’t, or I won’t take you with me.”
    “Where?”
    “Keep quiet, or I won’t tell you.”
    Sam looked confused and mad and curious.
    “Shh, okay?” David pressed his finger to his lips.
    “Okay, I guess.”
    They went upstairs to look for their grandmother, but she wasn’t in the kitchen. On the way through the front hall to check her bedroom, David saw that the front door was open and Grandma was standing outside in her robe, talking to some man. It was that man from yesterday — the doctor they met outside the police station. Dr. Bell. David opened the screen door and Sam followed him out. Cool. He had a red sports car.
    As soon as he saw David and Sam, the doctor said, “Hello there, boys,” and winked his one eye.
    “Hi, Dr. Bell,” David said.
    “I met your grandsons just yesterday,” he told Grandma, “with their father, at the police station.”
    David and Sam milled around the car while the grown-ups talked. Something about a name the doctor checked out for Dad. He heard Grandma say, “Youcould have just called.” Then the doctor say, “It gave me an excuse to drive the car.”
    “That is rather a magnificent car you’re driving,” Sarah said. “My late husband loved old cars. I spent quite a few Sunday afternoons roaming around those classic car shows. Let me guess. That one’s a Corvette?”
    Bell smiled and waited for Grandma to keep guessing.
    “From the late fifties. I’ll guess ’fifty-six, ’fifty-seven, ’fifty-eight?”
    “It’s a 1957 Corvette model 283.” Bell nodded decisively. “I just bought it this week, as a matter of fact. There was a convention over the bridge in Fall River. The dealer drove a hard bargain, but I drove away with the car.” His laugh was sudden and hard, like a handful of coins dropped on a tile floor.
    “Do you collect?”
    “I’m considering it. I’ll be retiring soon and I’ll need something to occupy my spare time.”
    “Why not,” she said, “if you can afford it? Jonah certainly enjoyed the cars, though I only let him buy one at a time. He’d hold on to it for a year, then sell it for another car. I think he enjoyed trading more than owning.”
    The doctor looked over at David and Sam and they