“There is something I want you to have. Something your mom must have forgotten to pack.” She fished in her bag and pulled out a white envelope folded in half. She opened it and spilled its contents into the palm of her hand. Two gold hearts with each of our names—Franny and Matilda—engraved into them. It was the fancy jewelry that we were only allowed to wear on special occasions. My grandmother strung both onto a thin pink ribbon. She handed them to me and I held them between my fingers, snapping the charms together over and over and finding satisfaction in the way that the metal hearts clicked against each other.

“You keep that one for Matilda and give it to her when you see her.”

“I promise.”

She went into the kitchen and she and Leah whispered so that I couldn’t hear. Then, my grandmother got her coat, hugged me, and went to the door. I watched her get into her car and fumble with the keys. After she left, with the sound of the car engine still humming in my ears, I wondered why it had never occurred to me to ask her to take me with her.

I thought about talking to Leah more about where my mother had gone, but by the time I figured out the right words, I was already in bed. The next morning, Leah told me we were going to school and then the letters started to come so fast that it was all I could do to finish swallowing the cereal in my mouth.

My new teacher’s name was Mrs. Fern Ficsh. The C was silent. Whenever anyone said her name, it created a soft whooshing sound in the classroom that reminded me of the ocean. Leah came with me and introduced me to Mrs. Ficsh. They whispered as she led me to my seat.

The tables were set up in twos, and the girl I shared my desk with had thick blond hair and glasses. She was too busy arranging her things to notice when I sat beside her. First, she took her pencils out of their case and lined them up in perfect order, each sharpened to the same point. She had a hardcover three-ring binder with a picture of a white kitten on it, two glue sticks, one pair of scissors, one box of colored pencils, one pack of index cards, and a brand new pink eraser. I figured out that her name was Evelyn because each and every one of her belongings, including a mitten that had fallen from her coat pocket, was labeled with her name.

eVelyn.