Julian stood in the entry hall. The house was very quiet. The only sound was the ticking of the mantle clock in the large parlor to his left. The sound seemed strangely magnified in the silence. Julian wondered what Tate’s response had been when his mother told him Julian would be staying with him.
Julian set his bag down in the entryway, went through the living room into a room that, whatever its original purpose, was now obviously set up for Tate’s rehabilitation. Free weights and workout machines, a set of parallel bars, steps with a rail, and a ramp surrounded a massage table in the center of the room. In the far corner was Tate’s prosthetic leg which lay on a table.
Julian walked over and looked down at it. The upper part was flesh colored and resembled a normal thigh. From the knee
