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THAT evening after they’d roasted the last two hot dogs, eaten the rest of the baked beans and he’d ed to make some strawberry Jell-O that wasn’t rubbery at the bottoirl names If I happen to hit your name, you can nod three times or pull on my arm, or kick me in my shin Okay?"

She didn’t e Her lack of enthusiasive it a shot How about Jennifer? That’s a really pretty name Is it yours?"

She didn’t an?"

She turned her back on hih She didn’t want to play a naame But why?

"Draw me a picture of your ers fluttered over the blank sheet of paper She didn’t look at hian to draw It was a stick figure wearing a skirt, sneakers, and a head of curly hair The figure was holding what looked like a box with a knob in the front of it

He said then, "That’s just excellent Is her hair dark brown like yours?" She shook her head "Red?"

She sely and nodded Then she drew uessed red because it’s ?" She shrugged her shoulders "Okay, it’sa box?" She shook her head She pointed to people on the cover of a ain and again to her thurapher?" She nodded, again pointing to the pictures "And she photographs people?"

She nodded happily Then, suddenly, her face fell She was thinking about herwhere she was, and there was not a thing he could do about it He said, "No me a picture of your daddy"

She clutched the pen the way one would a dagger Then shesound in her throat "It’s all right, sweetheart I’m here You’re safe" Then, soure and he was playing a guitar and his er? Then she pressed down so hard the pencil tip broke So could her father have been the one who’d left her vulnerable? Abused her? No, certainly a father wouldn’t do that to his own kid Yeah, right With everything he knew about life, everything he’d watched and dealt with, he knew, of course, it was very possible He wanted to ask her questions about her dad, but seeing her reaction, he let it wait

She wadded up the paper She slowly pulled away froainst the back of the sofa

It would take time, he knew Ti to leave you here in the Jeep It’s just not safe You’re going to come with me Here, hold htly touched her cheek with his fingertips "It’s all right, sweetheart, I know you’re worried about this, but it’ll be all right No one’s going to hurt you You’ve got ood at it Sort of like Chuck Norris You ever hear of hiuys than Godzilla"

Sheht I know you don’t want to wear those clothes, but it’ll just be for a little while, just until I can buy you soe immediately and we’ll throw these out Better yet, we’ll just leave them here at the store" He’d washed the yellow jeans and the light yellow shirt in the bathtub along with his own T-shirts and underwear He’d hated having her put the clothes on, but there was no choice He couldn’t very well take her into Mr Peete’s Lucky General Store wearing one of his sweaters or undershirts, and barefoot He chucked her under the chin "Now, let’s go This will be an adventure Don’t worry I’ll keep you safe Think of ine what Geek would do if someone tried to hurt you? I’uy monkeys You ready?"

She smiled, a very brief smile, but he knew she didn’t want to leave the Jeep But he wasn’t about to leave her in here, even with the doors locked He said, "The faster we get in there the faster we can leave"

Finally, she nodded He lifted her out of the Jeep and set her onto the rough sidewalk He locked the Jeep door and held out his hand to her Slowly, she took his hand