Mia suggested sewing on an enormous purple replacement.

Eli said the rabbit would look funny.

‘Being funny isn’t bad,’ Sophie announced, surprising us all with a sentence clear enough for everyone to understand.

We sewed the ear that night.

It was too big, crooked, and purple.

Sophie hugged it fiercely and refused to go to sleep without it.

Some things, I thought, can be repaired without pretending the original damage never happened.

PART 15