I felt suddenly cold.
“How do you know that?”
Walter’s eyes filled.
“She dropped it when I carried her away from the car.”
For several seconds, I couldn’t speak.
I remembered that mitten.
Emily had refused to leave home without wearing it. Our mother had knitted the pair before she died, and Emily treated them like treasure.
I’d never mentioned the mitten to Walter.
“Who are you?” I asked.
Walter lowered his head.
“I think I’m the man who stopped that night.”
I shook my head.
“No way. That was 35 years ago.”
“I know.”
He described our car, the broken rear window, and my father calling for help.
Then he recalled something else.
“You kept telling me not to leave your sister. I promised I wouldn’t.”
I remembered those words.
I’d forgotten the man’s face, but I’d never forgotten his voice.
I sat down on a bench outside the service stop.