“Tyler keeps asking Sofia about her glasses, Mom.”
“What does Sofia say?”
“She tells him to stop.”
“Does he?”
Anna shook her head.
“Tyler keeps asking Sofia about her glasses, Mom.”
I meant to ask her teacher whether the teasing was continuing.
I wish I’d done it that day.
The following Tuesday afternoon, Anna came home crying.
She was gasping so hard I could barely understand her.
I wish I’d done it that day.
One backpack strap hung from her elbow.
“Mom!”
I hurried across the living room.
“What happened, sweetie?”
She grabbed my shirt.
“They did it!”
“What happened, sweetie?”
“Who did what?”
“The boys! They took Sofia’s glasses!”
I set my hand on Anna’s shoulder and waited for her to finish.
“Where is Sofia?”
“Her mom came and got her.”
“The boys! They took Sofia’s glasses!”
“Was she hurt?”
Anna nodded, then shook her head.
“I don’t know!”
I sat her on the couch.
“Start at the beginning.”
“Was she hurt?”
At recess, Tyler and two other boys followed Sofia behind the play structure, demanding to see her eyes.
Sofia told them to leave her alone.
Tyler laughed.
Then he reached forward and snatched her sunglasses.
Anna said Sofia screamed.
Sofia told them to leave her alone.
The bright sunlight made her squeeze her eyes shut.
When she opened them, the boys stared.
One laughed while another copied the way her eyes moved.
Anna tried to grab the glasses back.
When she opened them, the boys stared.
A teacher heard the shouting and rushed over.
By then, Sofia was crying so hard she couldn’t explain what had happened.
I pulled Anna close.
“Those boys had no right to touch her.”
Sofia was crying.
“Yes, Mom.”
She pressed her face against my shoulder.
Then she whispered something I almost missed.
“Mom, her eyes wouldn’t stay still.”
I gently lifted her chin.
“What do you mean?”
She whispered something I almost missed.
“They kept moving back and forth. Sofia tried to look straight at me, but her eyes kept moving.”
Anna’s lip trembled.
“She couldn’t make them stop. And Tyler started copying her.”
I kept my voice calm.
“That doesn’t mean something terrible happened to her eyes today, sweetheart.”
“Her eyes kept moving.”
“But the boys were laughing.”
“That was cruel. It wasn’t Sofia’s fault.”
Anna wiped her nose and began picking at the cuff of her sleeve.
“Mom, she thinks I told them.”
“Told them what?”
“The boys were laughing.”
Anna stared at her shoes.
“Her secret.”
I waited.
“Anna?”
She began crying again.
“Her secret.”
And I realized the playground incident wasn’t the only thing she was afraid of.
A few days earlier, a girl in their class had asked Anna why Sofia never removed her sunglasses.
Anna had answered without thinking.
“She only takes them off when nobody’s looking.”
The playground incident wasn’t the only thing she was afraid of.
Tyler had been standing nearby.
He heard.
“So she does take them off,” he said.
Anna remembered him laughing, but she hadn’t understood why.
He heard.
“I didn’t tell him to take them, Mom!” she cried.
“I know you didn’t.”
“I just said it!”
I held her hands.
“Anna, you shouldn’t have shared something Sofia wanted private.”
“I just said it!”
She nodded miserably.
“But Tyler chose to grab her glasses, Mom.”
“That was his decision, not yours,” I said.
Anna stared at me.
“After the teacher came, Sofia asked if I told.”
“What did you say?”
“Tyler chose to grab her glasses, Mom.”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
“Because I did.”
She started sobbing again.
I took her upstairs.
“Because I did.”
She sat on her bed, clutching a stuffed rabbit Harry had given her.
“Does Sofia know you told someone?”
Anna shook her head.
“She just thinks I did.”
“Why was it a secret?”
“Does Sofia know you told someone?”
Anna hesitated.
Then she told me about their game.
Sometimes, when Sofia’s eyes were tired, she’d ask Anna to turn around.
She’d take off her glasses.
Anna would describe things.
She told me about their game.
The view outside.
