NARRATIVE of WARD COURIER, Continued

May, 2012

EAST AURORA and SOUTH WALES, NY

At 9:30 one of us noticed that the staff outnumbered the diners. The evening felt like it was over, and we had avoided the big issues.

"Awful nice of you guys to come out and talk to us," said Rick.

"Yeah," I said as we prepared to get up. "Honored."

"Least we could do after all you've been through," said Bennett, studying the check. "We wanted to have some ...