Chapter 11: Final Notice

At five o'clock on Saturday I propped my phone against Carly's salt shaker and waited for the call.

Carly stood at the stove with a wooden spoon, stirring a pot of soup nobody had ordered.

"Say hi from me," she said.

"She doesn't know you."

"She will."

The screen lit up with a photo of a yellow raincoat, and I answered on the first ring.

"Jo!"

Birdie sat on her bed in a nightshirt, with her hair brushed flat and her front tooth gone.

Behind her I could see the bare wall where her piano poster had been.

"I lost another one," she said, and bared the gap.

"That's a record."

"The tooth fairy gave me five dollars. She's inflated."

Carly made a noise into her spoon.

"Who's that?" Birdie asked.

"My sister. She makes soup in a crisis."

"Is there a crisis?"

"There's always soup," Carly said, and waved.

Birdie giggled.

I had her for four minutes.

She told me about the girl in the blue dress who cried.

She told me about a boy who said Für Elise was too easy.

Then a hand came into the frame and took the tablet.

It was Blaine's hand.

"That's enough, Bird."

"Dad, it's only been four minutes."

"It's been five."

"It's been four!" Birdie's voice went up. "Jo, don't go, I haven't told you about the..."

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