Her voice broke slightly.
“That was ignorant.”
Jenna’s expression softened.
Linda held out the bag.
Inside was a red hair ribbon.
“I thought it might match her dress.”
Sophie immediately tried to put it in her mouth.
Jenna laughed.
“That means she likes it.”
Linda laughed too.
Then something happened I’ll never forget.
Sophie reached for her.
Linda hesitated.
Then took her.
Sophie grabbed Linda’s necklace.
“Strong,” Linda said.
“She is,” Jenna replied.
That might have been the end of it.
Except Linda began visiting.
At first, she pretended she was just stopping by to see us.
Then somehow she always ended up next door.
Three months later, she volunteered at a local parent-support organization.
People do not always change because someone shames them.
Sometimes they change because they finally see the person their assumptions had hidden.
By spring, life had mostly returned to normal.
Or as normal as life gets after your seven-year-old becomes known around town as “the red dress kid.”
