Ricky thought he heard a rattle. He looked at his little sister and asked her what she thought it was.

“You weren’t supposed to hear that,” she said. He asked again and threatened to punch her. She threatened to tell mom, but he looked down, tears threatening:

“Mom’s dead, remember?” Then, she looked down, too, and said oh because the car accident was just yesterday. “I’ll tell dad,” she said even quieter.

Ricky thought he heard it again. “I think we have a mouse,” he said. His sister shook her head no. He said it’s knocking something tingy.

“Tingy is not a word,” she said. “And it’s fine, I’ll show you.” She pointed at the dead space in front of her with her pointer finger and after waggling it, her fingers disappeared and then her hand up to her wrist was gone. All Ricky saw was dark green wallpaper.

“Where’d you hand go?” She shushed him and said she was concentrating, then smiled and her hand reappeared. She opened her fist and held out a few pennies.

“This is what was making all that noise.”