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for a moment before Marissa’s curiosity got the best of her. “Why do you call your mom by her first name?”
    Adam glanced at Savannah. “Well, she’s my stepmom.”
    “Oh,” Marissa said nodding.
    “What do you call your mom?” he asked.
    Marissa looked down. “I don’t have a real mom. The mother of the house where I live has us kids call her Mavis, only some of them are her real kids and they call her mom.”
    “Oh,” Adam said. “Are there lots of kids there?”
    “Six,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m the last.”
    “The last?” Savannah asked.
    “Well, the last one to be…brought there. That was three years ago. Erin was the first.” She smiled. “She’s the nicest one there. My other family went to jail, I think. But they weren’t my real parents, either.” She seemed to brood for a moment, then asked Adam, “Do you know your real parents?”
    Taken aback, Adam said, “Yes, I live with my mom and stepdad and sister. Right now I’m visiting my dad and stepmom and other sister.”
    Marissa’s eyes widened. “That’s real nice.”
    “Hey,” Adam said, pointing, “I saw a big spider over there. Want to go take a picture of it?”
    “Okay,” Marissa said excitedly, grabbing the wheels of her chair.
    “Do you need a push?” Adam asked. “I could push you.”
    “Not right now.” Marissa looked at Adam. “I can actually walk, you know. Just not very good.”
    “What’s wrong with your legs?” Adam asked, walking alongside the chair as Marissa wheeled it across the room.
    “I don’t know. Mavis told me my legs were broken when I was born or after I was born and nobody could fix them.”
    Savannah, overhearing this, turned away to stifle a flush of tears. Pull yourself together, she thought. You aren’t going to be any help if you fall apart. What is, is. Let it be. Deal with what you can and accept the rest, she silently chanted to herself.
    “Savannah,” Shelly said quietly, “you okay?”
    She took a deep breath and nodded; her eyes following the two children as they headed across the room.
    “It’s sad, isn’t it?” Shelly whispered.
    “Yeah,” Savannah said. “But don’t tell her that. She’s a ray of sunlight. She just sparkles.”
    Shelly pressed her lips together and nodded.
    Once all the children had arrived and were supplied with cameras, Shelly asked them to sit and listen. She introduced Savannah and then addressed each of the children. Savannah tried to focus on their names, but her mind wouldn’t cooperate. Her thoughts were with Marissa. She gazed at the child and noticed that Adam still sat next to her. She smiled when she saw him show Marissa something on his camera and they both snickered quietly.
    “Marcus, tell us about your experiences with photography,” Shelly invited.
    The rotund dark-skinned boy with a wild crop of black hair said shyly, “My tia lets me take pictures with her phone sometimes.”
    Brad, a bespectacled boy with spiked blond hair chimed in, “That’s not photography. She means with a camera, stupid.”
    “There will be no name-calling,” Shelly said sternly. She then asked, “Brad, have you had the opportunity to use a camera?”
    “Sure,” he said, “a real camera. I took a whole bunch of pictures of the neighbor’s dog.” He looked down at his hands. “…and got in trouble for using up the battery.”
    “There’s a battery in here?” a slight brown-haired boy asked while examining his digital camera.
    “Sure, stu… I mean…sure there is. How do you think it works?” Brad asked sarcastically.
    “Tell us about your experiences with a camera or a phone camera, Chuckie,” Shelly urged.
    “I get to use my sister’s phone to take pictures sometimes.” He turned to Brad. “There is a real camera in there.”
    Shelly nodded. “Indeed there is.”
    Chuckie continued, “But I don’t know how to take pictures with this camera you let me use, Ms. Shelly. Will you show me how?”
    “Yes.” She then