and the boy knew...

with utter certainty....
that there was a whole family living in the basement of his house...
he didn't know why....
but he knew that they were there....hidden...underneath the floorboards
of the living room...
for some secret reason.....
he'd seen his mother, more than once, making dozens of sandwiches..
and putting them into an ice cooler....
and carrying it down the very deep steps....
she'd assumed, of course, that the boy was asleep each time.....
but he had followed her.....
and he'd heard the very faint sound of a violin from his perch at the top
of the steps....
although this whole scenario was CLEARLY A SECRET,
and even though the boy really understood NONE OF IT....
he had the overwhelming sense that his mother was doing something WONDERFUL for the family underneath the floorboards....
and this sense gave him tremendous pride...