Dad reached for it. I pulled it back.
“No,” I said.
Mom covered her mouth.
“Who is he?” Simon asked.
No one spoke.
The courtyard seemed to tilt, every sound too far away.
Denise looked at our parents, then at me. Her eyes were no longer angry. They were terrified.
“Joanna,” she said, “please don’t.”
“Don’t what?” My voice barely came out.
Simon took the photograph from my hand and stared at the man beside his hospital crib.
Then he looked at Denise.
“Is he my father?”
Denise’s lips trembled.
Before she could answer, Principal Harris appeared at the auditorium doors again, holding a second cream envelope.
Her expression was uneasy.
“Joanna,” she said, “I’m sorry, but someone asked me to give you this only after Simon opened the first one.”
I took it slowly.
Inside was one folded sheet of paper.
There were only seven words written on it.
Ask Dorothy what happened at Lake Erie.
I looked at my mother.
She sank onto the fountain ledge as though her knees had finally given out.
END OF PART 2 – LIKE, SHARE AND COMMENT “THE ENTIRE STORY” IF YOU WANT TO READ THE FULL STORY