following morning, Ben shook my shoulder.
“Mom, come outside. I heard something scary.”
I put on my robe and followed him.
The second I stepped onto the patio, I froze.
Every fruit tree was bare.
Not partly picked.
Completely stripped.
Broken twigs covered the lawn.
Leaves had been crushed into the grass.
Daniel’s wooden ladder lay on its side near the fence.
I walked toward the nearest apple tree and touched a branch that had been covered in fruit less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Something inside me broke.
I turned
