My Mother Gave Me 24 Hours to Leave So My Sister Could Move In, but I Had Been Preparing for Weeks

the cup and set it on the rack to dry. Outside, a pair of birds worked their way through the yard with the focused attention of creatures that have somewhere specific to be and have simply not arrived yet.

I watched them for a while.

Then I went to find the list of things the house still needed, and I got to work.