Its lid was closed again.

For the first time that day, the room could look somewhere else.

PART 8 — Let Us Help

Marcus held the microphone with both hands for a moment.

He did not try to turn the silence into a joke.

He did not praise the confrontation as if every guest had come to watch it.

“I think it’s time for the father-daughter dance,” he said.

The musicians waited for the coordinator’s signal.