Daisy dropped her crayon on the concrete floor, and it rolled against Nathaniel’s boot.

“Does the red star mean I can’t go back to school?” Daisy asked.

Nathaniel picked up the blue crayon and put it back in her small hand.

“No,” Nathaniel said.

“It means your mother knows how to build a wall the right way.”

Martha tucked the check back into the folded paper.

“Take this to your sister.

Brenda knows how to read the legal clauses Arthur hides at the bottom.”