Maeve visited twice a week.
Ellie came more often because she liked my library.
Or claimed she did.
Mostly she watched television.
One afternoon, she brought the original soup bowl.
Cleaned.
Flattened lid taped to the bottom.
I stared.
“You kept this?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Mom said the day mattered.”
I looked at the cheap paper bowl.
“It did.”
“She says you were being stupid.”
“She is correct.”
“But if you weren’t being stupid, we wouldn’t have met.”
“Also correct.”
Ellie thought.
“So sometimes stupid things work out.”
“Dangerous conclusion.”
She smiled.
Then asked:
“Did you really want to give your whole company to whoever was nice?”
“I thought I did.”
“That’s dumb.”
“I know.”
“What if somebody pretended?”
“I planned to investigate.”
“Still dumb.”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
