Chapter 52 - An Ordinary Friday
Friday belonged to the bookstore. Natalie let me test the new seating arrangement with cardboard boxes where the furniture would go, and three neighborhood children immediately crawled into the pretend reading nook.
“Looks approved,” she said.
One girl asked why the shelves were so low. I told her that being able to choose a book without asking an adult mattered. She considered that and picked the fattest book in the stack.
Later the accessibility consultant confirmed the aisle widths and turning space, then identified a door swing I'd missed. I changed the drawing while he watched.
It felt good to be corrected for something measurable, with no implication that I was disloyal or difficult.
That night Adrian sent a photograph of a small paper dinosaur Leo had made. It was green with an absurd orange smile.
Apparently he wants it mailed to you, Adrian wrote.
I asked why.
May you like
He said Dorothy told him you're helping make places easier for kids to use.
I stared at the message. It had crossed an unexpected line between my separate life and Leo's, but without a demand. I replied: Please thank him. A picture is enough; he should keep the dinosaur.
