Barry walked up today,

five days before the moving van will arrive.
He joked (as he always must) that since my
van was outside and the house was tented,
he was afraid they set off the gas with me
still in there. “But,” he smirked, “it’s half a
block and up hill, so I just went back home.”
I took it as affection from my long-time
neighbor whose children and mine used to
play together.