He had been absorbed by a home that was already carrying too much weight.
By spring, Isaiah had already begun to speak more.
He told Victoria his name.
He
He admitted that he wanted to go back to school properly because he liked numbers and because numbers stayed where you put them.
He told her that his mother had said things would get better when he found a stable job.
Victoria told him that the teacher she liked the most was mean to everyone equally, which made her honest.
That was when he laughed for the first time, and she saw what he could be like if life would ever leave him alone.
In April, Colleen got a janitorial job through a cousin in Indianapolis and a church paid for her bus tickets.
Isaiah approached the fence one last time to tell Victoria that he would be leaving the following morning.
He seemed terrified as he said goodbye, as if gratitude had become more dangerous than hunger.
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