Bryce nods like he understands. He doesn't, but he nods.
The rain picks up. He watches her for another second. Her hands won't stop shaking. Her lips have gone a little blue at the corners. He unzips his backpack, takes out the napkin, unwraps the peanut butter sandwich—the only thing he has eaten or planned to eat since the cafeteria's free breakfast at 7:15 this morning. He breaks it in half. He holds one half out to her on the napkin, the way his mama taught him to offer something to a guest.
"Ma'am, it's peanut butter. It's pretty good. My mama makes them."
The woman looks at the sandwich, then at him, then at the sandwich again, like she is trying to remember what food is and what hands are, and how the two go together. She takes it. She eats it slowly, in small bites, the way someone eats who hasn't eaten in a long time. A tear slides down her cheek. She doesn't notice.
Bryce doesn't say anything. He just sits next to her on the wet bench and eats the other half. He chews quietly. The rain keeps falling.
Sirens come up Beatties Ford Road. Two paramedics step out, calm, professional, used to bus stops in the rain. The lead medic kneels in front of the woman. His name patch reads Hayes. He is thirty-something, broad-shouldered, gentle the way some big men are.
"Ma'am, I'm Daniel. We're going to take care of you, okay?"
The woman looks at him, looks at Bryce, then sharp, sudden, like a window opening for half a second in a fogged-up house, she reaches into the pocket of her cashmere coat and pulls out a small velvet pouch—dark green, worn at the corners. She presses it into Bryce's palm. She closes his fingers around it. She leans toward him and whispers, so soft Daniel doesn't hear, so soft Bryce almost doesn't either:
"Tell my Harrison. Tell him Ellie's still here." Then, louder, almost girlish, "You'll remember? Promise me."
Bryce nods. He doesn't know who Harrison is. He doesn't know who Ellie is. He doesn't know what's in the pouch. He just knows an old woman is shaking and asking him to promise something.
"Yes, ma'am. I promise."
Daniel helps her stand. The other medic gets a thermal blanket around her shoulders. Daniel turns to Bryce.