Chapter 7: What Kari Saw

Dad was calling an ambulance for Mom with the phone in one hand and his other hand on her chest.

"Kari," he said without turning around. "Get her out of this house."

He did not say my name.

Kari grabbed my wrist.

We went out through the kitchen, past the stove, and into the back lane.

It was snowing hard. Neither of us had a coat.

She pulled the key to Dad's work trailer off the hook by the back door as we passed it.

"He'll look for you at the hospital first," she said. "Come on."

The trailer sat behind the half-built apartment block where Dad had worked since August.

Kari unlocked it, put the heater on and pushed me into a metal chair.

She found the first-aid kit and wiped the blood off my face with a wad of gauze.

Her hands were shaking so hard the tape came off twice.

"It's going to scar," she said.

"I don't care. Kari, I need you to tell me exactly what you saw."

She sat down on an overturned bucket and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes.

"I can't."

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