Hannah knocked on my bedroom door around eight o’ clock. I was sitting at my desk, checking e-mail and listening to Thistle & Shamrock.

“What’s up?”

“Oh…I was just wondering what we were doing tonight.”

Mom and Dad were out to dinner, Stephen was tidying his room, and I had just finished cleaning animal cages and taken a shower.

“I don’t know, what do you want to do?”

“I dunno…”

Her voice trailed off, and for a moment she looked like she might cry.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure.”

“I…”

Pause.

“Can we snuggle?”

“Of course. Would you like some raspberry tea?”

A smile. “Yeah.”

So we split a piece of blueberry pie and had it with our tea (pinkies out, of course). Then we snuggled on the couch and watched a documentary on public television. Someday, I’m really going to miss times like these.