“Why didn’t you come find me?”

“Because you’d just told two thousand people what I was,” my sister said, “and you were right.”

Chapter 9 — How Much

Andre Boone came in on a Thursday afternoon with his daughter Zaya, who is nine, and who had been limping for six weeks.

He’d taken her to an urgent care in November and they’d said growing pains. He’d taken her back in December and they’d said the same thing more impatiently.

By the time he got to me she had a warm, firm swelling above the right knee and a limp she’d started hiding, which nine-year-olds do, because they learn fast that being a problem is expensive.

I examined her for eleven minutes and I knew inside of four.