Switch swings, she said. She was the one in charge which is what I had been trying to tell Mama L.

We switched swings. The Outside Girl didn’t go back to her bench, she stayed near us. She took her tablet out but I wanted to tell her it wouldn’t keep her warm. I wanted to tell her that to keep warm she should build a fire. I could even have shown her how to do it with a bow drill because I knew she didn’t have any matches, but by now I knew she wasn’t interested and when she pretended to be interested it was a trick but it was a trick that didn’t dazzle me.

I sat on the stupid frozen swing and Mama L didn’t push me she just stood behind me with one hand on my shoulder like she forgot where we were. I didn’t tell her to push me, because I was tired of telling her to push me and also I was tired of being pushed.

The Outside Girl looked up and said, If there’s a problem we can try again in two weeks. It’s supposed to get cold again. If it’s snowing, we could meet inside the Center.

Mama L said, There’s no problem. Why would there be a problem?

The Outside Girl said, Ms. Marshall, you and Perley both seem upset.

Mama L said, Of course we’re upset. Perley’s been kidnapped. If we weren’t upset, we’d be dead.

The Outside Girl said, This visit is over. Perley, your mama is tired. We can see her again next time. It’s time to say bye-bye.

But then Mama L said, Can I have a project with him?

And I was like, A project?

And the Outside Girl was like, A project?

And Mama L said, I want to teach him to knit.

I just sat on the swing kicking my feet. My scar made noise on my face and I knew it was telling me what would happen next. Which was that the Outside Girl just kind of wrinkled her nose like a bunny which I think is something she practiced in the mirror to make herself look cute.

Mama L said, It’s an activity Perley and I could do together, besides swinging, on visitation days.

The Outside Girl said, Isn’t knitting for girls? But Mama L said, Knitting was invented by ancient fishermen making their nets.

Yeah, I said, even though it was the first I’d heard of it, but right then I knew that being an ancient fisherman was probably almost as good as being an elf.

The Outside Girl leaned down to me on the swing and looked meaningfully into my eyes and asked me, Perley, would you like to learn to knit?