Isaiah introduced himself and, feeling foolish all at once, asked whether he had ever known a girl named Victoria Hayes who attended the school years ago.
Mr.
Barnes stared at him for a moment, then at the fence, then back at Isaiah.
‘The little girl with the red ribbons?’ he asked.
Isaiah forgot how to breathe.
‘You remember her?’
Barnes gave a rough laugh.
‘Hard not to remember a child who shared lunch with that skinny white boy everybody pretended not to see.’ He shifted the paper sack to one hand.
‘You were him.’
Isaiah could only nod.
Barnes looked down at the glass frame Isaiah had pulled from his coat pocket without realizing it.
‘I saw that ribbon once around your wrist.
Haven’t thought about it in years.’ He tipped his head toward the corner.
