"Yeah." Wallie sighs again, shaking his head. "I can't claim to be the only one upset about that. Not fair of me." He flashes a smile but his heart isn't in it, and it's more than a little bittersweet. "You probably have things you've left behind, yourself. We all do."

What's less? Anything at all is hard to have torn away from you. Sometimes he thinks of little Vixi, and wonders how much bigger he's grown since Wallie's left.

"What about you?"