Chapter 20: The File Closes

The caseworker came to my kitchen at five o'clock with her folder, her lanyard and a sealed box of doughnuts from the gas station.

She put the box on the table in front of Birdie, and Birdie looked at it with suspicion.

"Are those for a true thing?" Birdie asked.

"They're for nothing," said the caseworker. "I'm told people bring something."

Birdie opened the box, counted the doughnuts and said, "That's a dozen, and one is broken."

"That's the one I will be eating," said the caseworker, and sat down.

Officer Cobb stood by the back door with his hat in his hands, because he had been asked to stay and had not been told where to put himself.

On the counter beside the toaster sat the big tin with the red bow, with a paper evidence tag looped through the ribbon.

Gil sat across from me with his elbows on the table, not joking, and not leaving.

Birdie was home.

She had come home at two-fifteen in my arms, down the church steps, in front of every parent from Little Acorn Preschool.

The caseworker opened the folder.

"Mrs. Kimball," she said.

"Rena," I said. "You said it once at the hall."

"Rena." She paused, as if trying on the word. "I'm closing the file."

I held on to the edge of the table.

"I'll write that the report was unfounded and that its source has been identified. The safety plan ends today. Birdie sleeps here tonight."

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