Other times I would remember the dispatcher’s voice and feel gratitude so overwhelming that I had to sit down.

My counselor suggested that the phone could mean two different things at once.

It could remind me of something terrible and of the choice that helped me survive.

I did not have to force myself to feel only one way about it.

Eventually I moved the bag into a small box with copies of the final court documents.

I labeled the box simply: RECORDS.

I put Josephine’s hospital bracelet in a different box.