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“Molly, if I proo with your doctors?” I hoped she would loosen up

She shook her head “Grown ups lie, you won’t come Daddy lied, he said I would feel better The doctors lied, saying the other doctor would o home!” She cried harder

I glanced at her dad, who just looked broken His shirt was rumpled, his shoulders hunched, and his five o' clock shadow see on its tenth hour

“Okay I won’t lie then,” I said, shifting her “You are sick, Ms Molly, and these people are trying to help Running aon’t make you feel better, and you won't win in the end You liked the drawing, right? I can’t come to play, but I can paint you any picture you want Just tell me”

“My mommy,” she whispered “Can you draw her?”

I s “I will have it to you in a week, and if you don’t receive it, you can tell everyone I ao with your doctors?”

She frowned, but nodded

I handed her to a dark-skinned doctor with glasses “We will take her to get her labs done, and then she’ll be back in her room,” he said as the trio escorted her away

Her father—Toby, I now reo “I know this is a very duht?” I asked

He picked up his head so

His blank look was like he'd forgotten I was there, which was understandable

“My daughter calledfroht” He put his hand over his face and took a deep breath “I’m sorry to dump that on you”

“It’s okay, I said it was a dumb question You look like you need a mental break Would you like to sit with ?”

“Oh, that's why you look familiar Yes Ms Poe, correct?” He followed me to sit in the chairs by the wall “Is this your work station?” He glanced over at the light sketching on the wall

“Yes I officially started on it today” I leaned back in aze My sketch was pretty hard to see with the naked eye, so I wasn’t worried about anyone figuring it out yet When the paint cao up