Today when Martin left the house, Iris chased his car down the street, barefoot in her pyjamas. She wouldn’t let him kiss her when he left the house, but now she needed kisses. He stopped to kiss her. “I can’t leave to work this way,” he said. “You have to turn around.” We stopped for a moment. When Martin turned the corner, Iris started running again, hoping every car that looked like Papa’s was Papa coming back home. She ran all the way past Joshua’s house, all the way to the post office.

“We can go back through the field,” I suggested, hoping to distract her.

“Kiss Papa,” she said.

I said, “You need more kisses?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Later, she ran through the woods.