My Five-Year-Old Grandson Called His Mother From Our Kitchen—Then Bank Records Revealed Where $41,200 Had Gone

“I would have come,” she said.

“I know that now.”

Evan pushed his chair back an inch.

“You could always have called her.”

The room went quiet enough for me to hear the ventilation above the door.

“Yes,” I said.

“I could have.”

I did not explain the difference between being technically free to pick up a telephone and feeling permitted to need the person who would answer.