ringlets, that now looked like half c’s that stopped at the doll’s chin. Miles frowned, “Why would you do that?” He looked at the culprit. “Excuse me, Mr. Stone, but I think the proper question would be directed at Ms. Ship. We don’t allow children to bring toys from home, and this is exactly why.” “Come on, her mother gave it to her, it obviously holds sentimental value to her, can’t you just give her a warning?” “A warning? Mr. Stone, this is the second fight Candace has gotten into; this is the warning. Candace is suspended for three days, and if it happens again, she will no longer be allowed to attend this school. Is that clear?” “Yes sir, come on, Candace, let’s go.” Candace stuck her tongue out at the little girl and followed behind Miles. “I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” Candace asked as soon as they got into Miles’ truck. “Yes you are, Candace if you get kicked out of school, the state is going to take you from me, do you want that?” Candace put her head down, “No, but I bet you do now, don’t you?” she asked in a low disappointing voice. “Of course I don’t, sweetie, but you can’t go around fighting. There are other ways to grieve, we talked about this.” “I’m not grieving,” she said out of exasperation. “I was just defending my property.” Miles had to chuckle at that one, “Really Candace? Why do you bring the doll anyway, don’t they have plenty of toys for recess?” Candace snorted, “I don’t play with her. I just like knowing she’s with me. I keep her in my backpack under my seat. I was minding my business and writing the math problem on the board. All of a sudden, Linzie Shoebaker grabbed her out of my bag and started waving her around, screaming, ‘Candy plays with dolls candy plays with dolls.’ Then she took the scissors and started cutting Mother Claudia’s hair.” This didn’t sit well with Miles, “And what did your teacher do?” “I guess she didn’t really have time to react because I jumped out of my seat and smacked the glasses off Linzie’s face, and then I took those same scissors and cut her hair the way she cut Ms. Claudia’s,” she shrugged. “Seems like I’m going to have to have a talk with your teacher because that doesn’t seem too fair.” “Tell me about it,” Candace cosigned. Miles just shook his head and smiled, “But seriously, we’re going to have to work on a better way for you to express your anger, let me show you something.” He spun a U-turn in the middle of the road, causing a bubbly laugh to rise out of Candace. “Don’t ever repeat that, by the way.” He said, checking the mirror to make sure he didn’t cause mayhem. When he got to his destination, he parked his car and helped Candace out. “Why are we at a cemetery?” She asked with confusion. “Enough of the questions, come this way, please.” He led her to the only mausoleum that was decorated with pink flowers. “This is where my Sheila rests.” “Sheila’s here?” She asked with wide eyes. “Yep, I come here all the time when I’m frustrated or upset, it’s like Sheila calms me down. I can hear her tell me to chill out.” He chuckles a little. “You never told me how she died.” She said, looking at the lettering of the tomb. “She… She had Galentosis. Her body would produce tumors for no reason. They had grown in her brain and couldn’t be operated on without destroying her overall life, so we went on vacation.” Miles had to pause to stop himself from sobbing out of control. “We didn’t make it to vacation though, Sheila passed out, and the last time I got to see her smiling face was in the back of an ambulance.” “Is that why you keep having those nightmares?” Miles’ face turned white; he was
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