CHAPTER EIGHTEEN C: THE GIRL WITH THE RED BACKPACK
A girl with a red backpack appeared at the community kitchen on a Saturday afternoon.
She stood in the doorway until Jake asked whether she was looking for someone.
“My dad,” she answered.
“What’s his name?”
“Nolan Price.”
Jake looked toward the meeting room where Nolan had agreed to help repair a broken shelf.
“He’s inside,” Jake said.
The girl did not move.
“He said I could come after my soccer game,” she explained.
“I didn’t know there would be so many people.”
Jake offered to show her the room.
She followed him past the serving tables and stopped when she saw Nolan kneeling beside the shelf.
“Dad,” she called.
Nolan looked up and smiled with a surprise that made him seem younger.
“You found it,” he said.
The girl ran to him.
Jake returned to the kitchen, but he could hear their conversation through the open door.
The girl asked why Nolan had been coming to meetings instead of working late shifts.
Nolan said he was helping people explain what had happened at his old job.
“Did somebody do something bad?” she asked.
Nolan was silent for a moment.
“Some people did,” he said.
“I helped them by not asking enough questions.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“I might have to answer some difficult questions,
” Nolan replied.
“But I’m telling the truth now.”
The girl thought about that.
“My teacher says telling the truth is the right thing,” she said.
Nolan smiled sadly.
“Your teacher is right.”
“Then why do you look worried?”
Nolan looked toward the doorway.
Jake turned away before the man could see him listening.
“Because doing the right thing doesn’t always make everything easy,” Nolan answered.
The girl sat beside him on the floor.
“Can I help fix the shelf?”
“You can hold the screws,” Nolan said.
Jake heard the small metal pieces rattle in a plastic cup.
He returned to the stove and began preparing soup.
Later, Nolan brought his daughter to the counter for lunch.
“This is Grace,” he told Jake.
“Grace, this is the man who gave his dinner to somebody who needed it.”
Grace looked at Jake seriously.
“Did you get another dinner?” she asked.
Jake laughed.
“Eventually.”
“Good,” Grace replied.
“My dad gets grumpy when he doesn’t eat.”
Nolan looked embarrassed.
Jake handed them two bowls of soup.
“Then we’d better not take any chances,” he said.
