“Mom?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think that man really wanted to take me?”
I placed the card carefully on the coffee table.
“I can’t know for certain what he intended to do.”
She remained silent briefly.
“But he wanted me to leave the bus.”
“Yes.”
“And he wasn’t actually my uncle.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
She rested against my side.
“I was so upset with Mr. Lawson when he wouldn’t let me get off.”
“I understand.”
“I thought he was being unkind.”
“I thought that, too.”
She raised her eyes toward me.
“But that stranger knew my name.”
I nodded slowly.
“And Mr. Lawson still refused.”
“Yes, he did.”
Ellie thought quietly about that.
Then she spoke words I knew would stay with me forever.
“Mom, he was frightened, too. But he still wouldn’t let me go with that man.”
I wrapped my arms around my daughter.
