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

nodded, but she still looked wrung out. So I found towels in her linen closet and started mopping. After a moment she joined me, and together we pushed the water back in long weary strokes. It was the kind of task that should have felt awkward, but did not. We moved around each other like two people who had known this choreography longer than they continue reading …