And then I went into the pantry and phoned the school and told them, in a completely level voice, that Nell would not be in for the rest of the week, and that going forward only I or Antonia could collect her, and that her grandmother was to be removed from the authorized list with immediate effect.

The woman in the office said, “Of course.

Is everything all right?”

And I heard myself say, “There’s been a family thing.”

There is a whole essay in that sentence.

I have thought about it a great deal.

A man discovers that his child has been taken somewhere in secret nineteen times by an adult who told her to lie about it, and inside three hours he has produced the phrase a family thing, in a pleasant voice, to a school administrator.

That is not cowardice.