Bell said Finn could make that choice without feeling pressured.

Then I asked him.

He thought about it for two evenings before he said yes.

The first letter never showed up.

Colby tore it up, the caseworker told us, because he was afraid he had written the wrong thing.

The second one was neatly printed and mostly about a lizard.

He admitted that Dwight had let Finn’s pet out the back door and told the boys not to tell anyone.

He said he had seen Finn crying outside the shed once and didn’t know how to help without getting in trouble himself.