Then, in a voice so small Jack barely recognized it, he said: “Dad… I saw Mum.” Jack stared at him. A second later, they were sitting on the nearest bench. Eli wiped at his face and tried to explain it through sniffles. There had been a little girl near the gate, crying because her mum had left her there in a hurry and hadn’t come back when she said she would.
She knew which street she lived on, but not much else. So Eli had walked her home. Then, somewhere near the house, her mum appeared. Jack patched the rest together himself. Then Eli looked at him and said, with complete certainty: “It was her.” Jack said nothing. “Not someone who looked like her,” Eli whispered. “Mum.”