"I have something to tell you--or ask you boys." Ann looked troubled. "I found your father in that small clearing in the woods, on his regular path, the walk he took most days after lunch. When he wasn't back, around four, I went to look for him. Well, you know this already, Brendan, and now you're caught up, Joe--except for one thing that I wanted to tell you both. It was very strange. Your father was lying on that flat piece of ledge. He was stark naked. I knew right away that he was--not alive. I didn't want anyone to see him like that, so I dressed him before I came back." The memory silenced her for a moment. "Why would he be like that? I thought you might have an idea. I don't understand." Brendan and Joe looked at each other. It surprised Joe to realize that they did understand, that they were, in fact, brothers. "Mother, you said it was hot." "Almost like summer, Brendan." "The sun must have felt good--one last day," Joe said sadly. "He couldn't have taken his clothes off after the heart attack," Ann said. "Do you think he felt it coming?" "We'll never know, Mother." "If he felt it coming, why wouldn't he have come home?" "I'm sure he would have tried," Joe said. She was struggling with being excluded, or not being included, in a final intimacy. "It's such a beautiful spot," Joe said, "maybe he just wanted to lie there and look at the sky." "Yes, I suppose," she said. She straightened on the couch and pushed the question to the back of her mind to deal with later. "He was lucky to have you for so many years," Joe said. This was easier for him to offer than for Brendan who had had every nuance and tension between his parents pressed on him since birth. "Thank you, Joe. Now--we must talk about the will." She walked to a writing table that stood in a bow window and returned with checks in her hand. "The estate goes to me with the exception of ten thousand dollars to each of you and ten thousand to Kate." She gave Joe two checks and handed the other to Brendan. "This is coming out of the insurance which I'm supposed to get next week, so if you will hold these until the first of the month . . . " She smiled. "There's a stipulation. The money must be spent within one year on something that makes you feel good." "That shouldn't be hard," Brendan said. "Thank you," Joe said. "I really wasn't expecting . . . " The money in the family had always been Ann's, although his father's paintings had begun to sell in recent years. "Additionally, Joe, you are to have this drawing of your mother." She pointed to a framed drawing that was propped up on the writing table. "And first choice of any painting in the barn." "That's very nice," Joe said. "Your father always said you should have this drawing. It was one of his favorite pieces from the early years." "I'll take it with me." "How long are you going to be staying?" she asked. "I thought I'd take off the day after tomorrow. I just wanted to see you and Brendan and . . . "