The next morning, I woke to the sound of the kettle clicking off.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I stood in the kitchen without moving.<\/p>\n
The blue jar remained on the table.<\/p>\n
The telephone remained on the counter.<\/p>\n
I checked it before I made breakfast.<\/p>\n
There was no message from Amber.<\/p>\n
I set the telephone down and opened the cupboard.<\/p>\n
There was enough flour for another batch of pancakes.<\/p>\n
I measured what I needed, then put the rest away.<\/p>\n
As the batter rested, I looked at the table and thought about the promises I had made.<\/p>\n
I had promised Bentley that I would keep trying to find his mother.<\/p>\n
I had promised to tell him if she called.<\/p>\n
I had promised that he and Maddie would not be left to manage everything alone while they were with me.<\/p>\n
Those were promises I could keep.<\/p>\n
But I couldn't make the hospital provide information it wasn't able to share with me.<\/p>\n
I couldn't make Amber call.<\/p>\n
I couldn't tell Bentley what had happened when I didn't know.<\/p>\n
The only thing I could do was continue taking the next reasonable step.<\/p>\n
I was thinking about that when Bentley came into the kitchen.<\/p>\n
He looked tired, but he was moving more slowly now.<\/p>\n
He wasn't scanning the room as quickly as he had the first morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cMorning,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMorning.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at the stove.<\/p>\n
\u201cPancakes again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou seem to have noticed a pattern.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave a small smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom used to say pancakes were breakfast and lunch if you made enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat sounds convenient.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe said it when she didn't feel like cooking twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
I laughed softly.<\/p>\n
Bentley smiled again, and this time the expression stayed for a moment.<\/p>\n
He sat at the table.<\/p>\n
His eyes moved toward the blue jar.<\/p>\n
Then they moved toward the telephone.<\/p>\n
I saw him catch himself.<\/p>\n
He looked back at the pancakes instead.<\/p>\n
I didn't point it out.<\/p>\n
I put breakfast on the table, and he began eating.<\/p>\n
When he finished, he asked if he could help me wash the dishes.<\/p>\n
I told him he could dry them if he wanted to.<\/p>\n
He stood beside me with a towel.<\/p>\n
We worked quietly for a few minutes.<\/p>\n
Then he said, \u201cWhat are we going to do today?\u201d<\/p>\n
I rinsed a plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll continue trying to get the information we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can have breakfast, play with Maddie, and tell me if you need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down at the towel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's all?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat's plenty.\u201d<\/p>\n
He considered that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if we need to go home?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can talk about that if we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
I handed him another plate.<\/p>\n
He dried it carefully and set it in the cupboard.<\/p>\n
When the dishes were finished, he put the towel beside the sink.<\/p>\n
He didn't ask what else he could do.<\/p>\n
That, too, was a small change.<\/p>\n
Maddie came into the kitchen a few minutes later.<\/p>\n
She wanted her blanket and asked whether she could have a cracker.<\/p>\n
Bentley started to rise, then stopped.<\/p>\n
I got the blanket and the cracker.<\/p>\n
He watched me bring them to her.<\/p>\n
Then he sat back down.<\/p>\n
Maddie climbed onto the couch and began talking to her toy.<\/p>\n
The morning continued without any dramatic change.<\/p>\n
There was no sudden telephone call.<\/p>\n
There was no message that explained where Amber was.<\/p>\n
There was only the ordinary work of keeping two children fed, comfortable, and cared for while I continued trying to find out what had happened.<\/p>\n
I knew that ordinary work mattered.<\/p>\n
But I also knew it could not be the whole answer.<\/p>\n
When Maddie was settled with her toys, I took my notes from the previous calls and looked at them again.<\/p>\n
I checked the information I had written down.<\/p>\n
I wanted to make sure I had not misunderstood anything.<\/p>\n
I wanted to be ready to explain the situation clearly the next time I spoke to someone.<\/p>\n
Bentley sat at the table while I read.<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you calling the hospital?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
Then he asked, \u201cCan I tell you something?\u201d<\/p>\n
I set the notes down.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Mom called the last time, I didn't tell her everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
I waited.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't tell her the food was almost gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
His eyes remained on the table.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought she would worry.\u201d<\/p>\n
I felt a sharp ache behind my ribs.<\/p>\n
\u201cBentley, you were trying to protect her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was already in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought if I told her, she'd feel worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
He picked at a tiny loose thread on his sleeve.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I said we were okay.\u201d<\/p>\n
I didn't interrupt.<\/p>\n
He continued after a moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her Maddie was sleeping and that I had food.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDid you have food at that point?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n
He swallowed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn't want her to think I couldn't do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I moved my chair closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn't have to prove anything to her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked up.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut she needed me to take care of Maddie.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe needed you to love Maddie and help her where you could. That is not the same as needing you to manage a whole household alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
He listened, but I could see how difficult the distinction was for him.<\/p>\n
He had made a promise to his mother.<\/p>\n
He had tried to keep it by hiding how frightened and hungry they were.<\/p>\n
He had thought that telling the truth would make him less dependable.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother might have wanted to know you needed help,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
He frowned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat if she was upset?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe might have been worried. But being worried about you wouldn't mean you had done something wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked down again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI should've told you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou told me when you were ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI waited too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou were scared.\u201d<\/p>\n
He didn't answer.<\/p>\n
I let the words remain there without trying to force him to accept them.<\/p>\n
After a while, he asked, \u201cAre you going to tell the hospital that we were alone?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes. I'll tell them what you told me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked nervous.<\/p>\n
\u201cWill they be mad?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can't predict how everyone will respond. But the important thing is that you and Maddie need help, and the adults involved need to understand that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pressed his hands together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don't want Mom to think I did something bad.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI won't tell anyone that you did something bad, because that's not what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI'll explain that you were trying to follow your mother's instructions and take care of your sister, and that you were frightened.\u201d<\/p>\n
His shoulders lowered slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n
I picked up the notes again.<\/p>\n
This time, when I reached for the telephone, Bentley didn't stand up.<\/p>\n
He stayed in his chair.<\/p>\n
He watched me dial, but he didn't ask me to put the call on speaker or tell him every word.<\/p>\n
I spoke calmly.<\/p>\n
I gave the information again.<\/p>\n
I explained that I was caring for Amber's children temporarily because they had been without her for several days and had not been able to reach her.<\/p>\n
I repeated that Bentley had been told his mother was in the hospital after a fall and surgery.<\/p>\n
I explained that the last call he remembered had been six days earlier.<\/p>\n
I asked what further steps I should take to make sure the concern was directed to someone who could help.<\/p>\n
I listened carefully.<\/p>\n
I wrote down what I was told.<\/p>\n
I asked one question at a time.<\/p>\n
When the call ended, I sat quietly for a moment.<\/p>\n
I still didn't have the answer I wanted.<\/p>\n
I didn't know whether Amber was recovering, whether she had tried to contact her children, or when she might return.<\/p>\n
But I had continued to make the concern clear.<\/p>\n
I had not let the silence persuade me to stop.<\/p>\n
Bentley looked at me.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
He nodded.<\/p>\n
For a moment, I thought he might ask whether his mother was all right.<\/p>\n
Instead, he asked, \u201cCan I have another cracker?\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled gently.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the packet from the cupboard and set it on the table.<\/p>\n
He opened it and took one.<\/p>\n
Then he offered one to Maddie, who came running when she heard the packet.<\/p>\n
I watched them share the crackers.<\/p>\n
The blue jar sat between them and the empty space where the telephone had been before I moved it.<\/p>\n
The jar still held the money Amber had left for them.<\/p>\n
The telephone still held the possibility of a call.<\/p>\n
And I still had no clear answer about the woman who had left both children waiting.<\/p>\n
I couldn't resolve all of that in one morning.<\/p>\n
I couldn't even promise that the next call would be different.<\/p>\n
But I could keep the children with me while I continued seeking help, make sure they had food, and give Bentley a place where he didn't have to pretend that he was managing everything.<\/p>\n
For now, that was the work in front of me.<\/p>\n
I watched him eat his cracker without dividing it in half.<\/p>\n
Then I turned back toward the kitchen and began preparing lunch.<\/p>\n
PART 16 END<\/p>\n
The next morning, I woke to the sound of the kettle clicking off. For a moment, I stood in the kitchen without moving. The blue jar remained on the table. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36419,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36399\/revisions\/36419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}