Our Souls at Night Page #6

What's that game you're playing

on your phone?

- It's called Clash of Clans.

- It's called what?

- Clash of Clans.

- Clash of Clans.

- How's it work?

- You build a city and then, like,

- watch it grow and stuff.

- Huh.

Hey, you want to see something cool?

Hello?

What?

I'll show you.

See, I think...

I...

Yep.

Here it is.

This is the engine

that pulls the rest of the train.

And...

Oh, and this is the freight car.

It comes right behind it.

And this is the caboose,

which comes at the end.

- Where'd you buy them?

- Hmm?

Where'd you buy them?

Uh, I got them from a mail order,

got them from mail order...

And it was coming...

It was a big box with instructions in it.

And it came all the way from Tennessee.

And then my daughter and I

put this thing together,

and, boy, it took weeks to build it.

Wow.

Can I play with them?

Yes, as long as it's okay

with your grandmother.

If you're careful.

I put bad guys on the train,

and they were, like, robbing the train,

and then I had good guys, like,

come out and push them off the train.

And then I used paper towels...

I stuffed paper towels on the train

to make it look like smoke.

Oh, that sounds like a fun day.

Oh, can I play with my phone now?

Mm...

For a half hour.

Not at the table.

Ask to be excused.

- May I please be excused?

- Yes. Oh.

Baby steps.

- Well, hello again.

- Hi!

Where... Where's Addie?

She said I could come by myself.

Are you bringing the train set out today?

Well, I guess I could... I could poss...

Okay, then.

Cool.

- Okay?

- Got it.

Now, you're gonna hook these up,

and then...

- Careful, easy.

- Wait.

- There you go.

- Connected.

You know, when I was a kid,

they'd try to sell you cereal to eat.

- Mm-hmm.

- And so what they'd do,

they'd put a prize

at the bottom of the cereal box,

a little prize, like a ring?

Like a Captain Midnight ring

or something like that.

Mm-hmm.

And you'd plow through the cereal

to get to the prize.

You didn't like the cereal,

'cause it wasn't very good anyway,

but you couldn't wait to get the prize,

then you got your ring.

Okay, now, what's next?

Pulling the train along. And go.

Don't you think the train

needs to go through a town?

- Well, yeah.

- See, here's the town.

- Cool.

- Okay.

Wow. Oh, wow, this is a big house.

Well, somebody's got...

Ooh, somebody's very rich.

- Oh, how about a church?

- Oh, yeah, you've got to have a church.

Yeah, what's a town without a church?

There you go.

Now you're talking.

You know, my mom was five when

they first put the streetlights in Holt.

There were many more flowers

on Main Street then.

Where'd they go?

Well, 'cause of the moths.

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