Entering year nine

I was thinking this was the tenth year since Brian disappeared, but we're only entering year nine.

Tim was five then. I remember him asking, when I phoned our home from the Vancouver airport, if I'd found Brian. I don't think he'd remember Brian now, Tim is almost 14.

I still have a technical jacket Brian owned. He didn't take it with him on his hike, we think he took another one he'd bought before the trip. That puzzles me. Even nine years later it's a very good jacket. I must have worn it a thousand times. He wasn't wealthy. Why did he leave it behind? Why did he replace it?

I'll never know.