3.
Helen is at school. It has been three days since the babysitter went missing and Helen is a wreck. She moves from class to class trying to focus on her teaching, on her students, seeing the babysitter’s face in every student, every young girl smiling in the hallway or patiently listening as she lectures. She sees the babysitter’s face in the books she is reading. Helen can’t sleep because the planes that pass over the city, over her part of the city, seem louder than usual. Each time one comes over the house Helen suppresses the urge to duck and cover, to roll under the bed, to wrap herself in quilts and disappear. The babysitter’s parents have been coming over with updates. The father still shouts at Helen and Allan, “You let her walk home alone!” and Helen feels all torn up inside, l
