Chapter 5
JeffI couldn’t believe a child could love anything as much as Olivia loved that bounce house. She and her school friends bounced in the air-filled tower for an hour straight. Their cupcake-powered screams filled the backyard and pushed parents into the house for occasional respites from the noise.
“Daddy, can we keep it?”
“The bounce house goes back tonight, sweetie.”
“But can’t we keep it? I’ll do it every day. It can be exercise. We’re ‘posed to exercise every day.”
I peered down into the wide and pleading chestnut brown eyes of my now seven-year-old daughter. Her normally freckle-dusted face bore spots, whiskers, and black button nose. Olivia had a fascination with leopards. Her curly blonde hair rambled wildly around her painted face, escaping the two well-intended ponyt
