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fish boats meander through the maze of salt marshes and then unload their catch. Then we went inside, to a small table by the window, and I took Julie to the seafood buffet.
Faced with more food than she had ever seen at once, Julie went stiff. I loaded her plate, got us some crab legs, and led her back to the table. She tried the fried shrimp and the blackened tilapia.
When I cracked the second cluster of crab legs, Julie began to cry. She cried and ate crabmeat, dunking it in melted butter, licked her fingers, and cried some more.
On the drive back, she sat sullenly in her seat.
“So what happens to me now?” she asked finally.
“Summer’s almost over. Eventually, you’ll have to go to school.”
“Why?”
“Because you have a gift. I want you to learn and to get to know other people. Other kids and adults, so you can learn how they think. So nobody can take advantage of you again.”
“They won’t like me.”
“You might be surprised.”
“Is it going to be one of those schools where you live there, too?”
I nodded. “I make a very bad mom. I’m not home enough and even when I am, I’m not the best person to take care of a kid. But I can pull off a crazy aunt. You can always come and visit me on holidays. I cook a mean goose.”
“Why not turkey?”
“I don’t like turkey. Too dry.”
“What if I hate it there?” Julie asked.
“Then we’ll keep looking until we find a school you don’t hate.”
“And I can come to live with you when I need to?”
“Always,” I promised.
THREE WEEKS LATER I DROPPED JULIE OFF AT MACONKao Arts Academy. Her magic talents, combined with my dismal income, easily qualified her for a scholarship. It was a good school, located in a peaceful spot, with a decent campus that reminded me of a park bordered by nine-foot-tall walls and towers armed with both machine guns and arrow sprayers. I met every member of the faculty, and all of them seemed disinclined to take any crap. They had an empath as a counselor. She would help Julie heal. Can’t get better than an empath.