Callie liked their house in New York; it was big like their other house and also on the water. The first night they got there, her mama lit a candle and put it on a table by the big picture window. Callie asked her what it was for and her mama picked her up and stood so they were both looking out at the ocean. “Your papa was taking us to America, Callie. That night we were separated.” Mama rarely cried in front of her, and if she did, it was really quiet. Tears would run down her face but she’d pretend they weren’t there. When she was able to speak again, her mama said, “I lit it for your papa, Callie.” Then she placed her hand to the glass. “We made it, Alexander. We’re here.” Mama’s voice caught on a sob then and Aunt Sam took her from her mama’s arms.

They only stayed in New York for the summer before moving to a place called California where Mama had lived when she was a little girl. Aunt Sam and Mr. Finch came with them again. In California, Mama’s belly grew big, and she told Callie she was going to have a brother. Her mama used to cry before, a lot, but now she cried even more. Not during the day, but at night when she thought Callie was asleep. Callie didn’t like hearing her mama cry, but she knew it was because she loved her papa so much. Her mama didn’t think they were ever going to see him again. But Callie had been watching a lot of movies and she knew her papa was better than all those superheroes put together. He would be able to find them no matter what.

It was when they moved to California that Callie learned her mama was a famous songwriter and that people all over knew who she was. Callie went to a fancy school where she had to work really hard. One day at school, the fourth graders put on a performance about something called the American Revolution. Callie would never forget sitting there looking at the stage and all the scenery and decorations. She hadn’t thought about her old life for a long time. But she did now. There were pictures and posters of ships like her papa used to command. A ship just like the one he’d been trying to get them on that night she and her mama were taken by those bad men. And when the students came on the stage, she gasped at their costumes. The girls were in dresses like the ones she and her mama used to wear, and the boys were in uniforms. One boy in particular was wearing a uniform that looked just like her papa’s. Callie sat there stunned, hanging on every word.