Page 127 of Wells

I kneel and press my palm flat against the surface. It gives slightly under the pressure. Warm. Solid.

"This is beautiful."

Lin grins.

"Wait till you see the rest."

He leads me out and opens the next door. Inside is a full gym with treadmills, stationary bikes, a rack of dumbbells. Medicine balls are stacked in the corner. Everything is clean and new.

"We'll run fitness classes in here. Cardio, strength training, anything they want."

I nod, in awe of everything they've done here.

We move to the next room. Crafts. Long tables with plastic bins full of supplies. Paint, markers, construction paper, beads. A shelf along the back wall holds books and board games.

"Art therapy and free play. Sometimes kids just need to make something."

I walk to the table and run my fingers over the smooth wood.

"How many kids are you expecting?"

"We're starting with twenty-five. We'll scale up if the demand is there."

"Is the program free?"

"Completely. We're funded through Argentum and a few private donors."

I swallow. This level of restoration, this equipment, the staffing. Someone put serious money behind this.

Lin opens the door to the media room. Couches line the walls. A projector hangs from the ceiling, and a white screen sits rolled up above a flat-screen television.

"Movie nights. Game nights. Sometimes they just want to sit and watch something."

I stand in the doorway and picture it. Kids sprawled on the couches. Laughter and popcorn and safe fun off the streets.

Lin walks me to the back door and pushes it open. The backyard stretches out under string lights hung between the trees. A play structure sits on one side. Swings, a slide, monkey bars. On the other side, an open-air gym. Pull-up bars, kettlebells, and mats spread across the grass.

"We want them outside moving and playing."

I step onto the grass and breathe in the humid air. The ferns rustle near the fence. The streetlights glow orange beyond the property line.

"You won't believe this, but I dreamed of doing something almost exactly like this. With this building."

Lin's eyebrows lift.

"You're kidding."

"I'm not. I mean, this is more extensive than I had envisioned, but I wanted to have a place for kids to come and do yoga, introduce them to something calm and peaceful."

"I love it," he says, clapping.

"I actually teach yoga. I used to ride past here and imagine it. This is just so incredible."

He grins.

"Well, it's real now."

"Do you need volunteers?"