WHEN MY 59-YEAR-OLD NEIGHBOR KNOCKED AT MIDNIGHT, I THOUGHT I WAS FIXING A PIPE, BUT I WAS REALLY SAVING MY OWN LIFE…

realized.

When the floor was mostly dry, she said, “You’re not leaving without tea.”

“Caroline, it’s after midnight.”

“That is exactly when tea is most qualified.”

There was something so unexpectedly firm in the way she said it that I laughed for the first time all night.

A few minutes later we were sitting in her living room. Oliver had materialized from continue reading …