My brother took the workout bench to college with him. He took the thirty-five-pound dumbbells too. Those were the heaviest we had in the set, but they still weren’t heavy enough for bench press. He took the desk and the mattress from the bedroom too. There are wide open spaces on the carpet where they used to be. 

Hanging on the walls are pictures of us when we were kids, standing up in frames on the counter shelves. In the corner, thousands more photos are boxed, labeled with our names, and organized on shelves.

The other three boys won’t be home until the holidays. It’s just me, my sister, mom, and dad at home. 

A large two-foot-diameter clock ticks, ticks, ticks but you can’t tell the hands are moving because there’s no second hand, only a minute and an hour hand.