Chapter 8 - Emma Had Been Counting
The first time I spoke with Emma after the hospital, a trained child forensic interviewer handled the questions.
I watched from another room.
Emma sat with her feet barely touching the floor.
The interviewer asked:
“When does Olivia get the medicine?”
Emma shrugged.
“Before people.”
“What people?”
“The asking people.”
“What does that mean?”
“People who ask if we’re okay.”
That sentence turned my stomach.
“Does Emma get medicine too?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Emma answered:
“Daddy says I have too much imagination.”
The interviewer did not react.
“What happens to Olivia?”
“She gets sleepy.”
“Anything else?”
“Her tummy hurts.”
“What does your dad say?”
“He says she gets nervous.”
“Do you think she gets nervous?”
Emma frowned.
May you like
“She gets medicine.”
Children can be devastatingly literal.
