She eventually told me that they had informed her about the trip on Tuesday.
“Daddy said it was a last minute trip for Toby’s birthday, even though his birthday is in October,” she explained.
I asked her what Amber had said, and Daisy replied that Amber told her she was ruining the surprise.
“My dad did not talk to me for three days after I asked if I could go too,” she whispered.
Silence as punishment is a coward’s weapon because it leaves no physical bruise but teaches a child to be afraid.
Daisy explained that she had stayed in the house instead of going to Mrs. Gable’s because her father looked annoyed when the neighbor offered.
“Has anything like this happened before?” I asked gently as I reached for her hand.
She mentioned a camping trip in September and a hockey tournament where she was left behind because it would be boring.
She listed several other trips and events while her voice remained flat and careful.
“They said the aquarium was too expensive for everyone to go,” she added while looking at a magnet of a shark.
I stopped asking questions because I did not want her to feel like she was being interrogated by a lawyer.
Daisy fell asleep on the couch after breakfast and I watched her from the kitchen while I checked my phone.
Patrick had called me four times and had left several voicemails that I needed to listen to.
In the first message, he told me that things were more complicated than they seemed and asked me to call him back.
The second message was more aggressive as he told me not to do whatever it was he thought I was doing.
The third message was from Amber who claimed that Daisy was perfectly safe and that she was just being dramatic.
She mentioned that they had left frozen pizza and a tablet for her as if those things could replace a parent.
The fourth message had the sound of a theme park in the background and Patrick told me to just keep her calm until Sunday.
I opened my legal pad and wrote down the words pattern and documentation and court.
I spent the morning photographing the house and the absence of Daisy’s presence in the family areas.
I went into her bedroom and saw a drawing she had made of a family where three people were in red and one was in blue.
I turned on my recorder and noted the visual evidence of her exclusion from the family unit.
At noon, Daisy woke up and I told her that we were leaving the house to go find some lunch.