They rode together in a big truck. Callie was scared at first because she had never seen one before. But her mama explained that it was quicker than a horse and it was how they traveled places. Mr. Finch lifted her inside right onto her mama’s lap, then put what he called a “seat belt” over them both. Her mama rubbed Callie’s back and hummed pretty music while Callie looked out the windows. They went super fast, reminding her of what it felt like when Gregor would spin her around. And even though the house and the land they drove by looked kind of the same, everything was so very different.

It was dark by the time Mr. Finch stopped behind a building. A man was waiting outside, and he told Mr. Finch that it was “clear” to go in. That was when her mama told her that she had to have surgery. Callie didn’t really know what that was until the man who was waiting for them told her that he was a doctor. He said that her mama probably needed to have part of her bone replaced because it had been crushed. Callie felt her own wrist then, imagining it crushed instead of nice and whole. The doctor told her mama he would fix her finger and the back of her hand, too, so there wouldn’t be scars, but Mama shook her head. “They don’t have to be ugly,” she said, her voice firm, “but I want to be able to look at these scars forever.”

Right before they took her mama to the operating room, she turned to Callie and gave her a long, hard look. “We’re going to be okay, baby. I promise,” she said. “Mr. Finch is going to take care of you and Aunt Sam will be here tomorrow.” Callie cried because she hadn’t been away from her mama for so long before. But then Mr. Finch picked her up and hugged her tight, just like one of Papa’s hugs. And it wasn’t too much later before she and Mr. Finch were able to sit in the same room as her mama until she woke up.