“Daddy watches from his phone at work.” She said it at the volume she used for everything, which was meant for one person.

“He watches the dining room.”

“Does the box make a noise when you sit?”

“At night it hums.” She laid the rabbit over her shoulder the way you carry something heavy.

“I put my rabbit on it, but it still hums.”

I stood and set her chair square to the table.

Five places had been laid, and mine was at the end, near the kitchen door, where Marcus could see my plate and my hands and my face all at once.

A small triangle was etched into the plastic at one corner of the box.