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

now, a playfulness neither one had expected to recover at our ages.

Inside, after I washed the grease from my hands, she set a cardboard box on the table.

Written on the lid in faded marker were the words ROBERT 1978-1981.

“Letters,” she said. “Army years. I never could bring myself to go through them.”

She opened one and read aloud. His voice came to continue reading …