The man in yellow whistled, a long, sad oh my gracious note. “You got shy dookie, and you an orphan?”
“I’m like Nemo,” Sophie said, still nodding, lots of lower lip to show her tragedy.
“You don’t say, you the captain of a submarine?”
“No, not that Nemo. The clown fish.” Her daddy had been a huge nerd and had taught her about Captain Nemo and the Nautilus, but she meant the real Nemo.
“Shoot, that the saddest story I ever heard, Shy Dookie.”
“That’s not my name.”
“That’s what I’m gonna call you.”
Sophie considered it for a moment. It could be her hip-hop name. Her secret hip-hop name. She shrugged, which meant, “Okay.”
“What’s your name?”
“You can just call me the Magical Negro,” said the man in yellow.
“I don’t think you’re supposed to say that word.”
“It’s okay. I’m allowed.”
“Some words hurt people and you’re not supposed to say them. I have a word I’m not supposed to say. A really bad word.”
“You do, do you? What that word?”
“I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.”
“You got a lot of secrets.”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe this meeting we havin’, this be our little secret.”
“When a grown-up tells you it’s our little secret, it means they might be up to something. You should be careful.”
“You don’t never be lyin’, peanut. You don’t never be lyin’. I do need to be careful. How long it been since you seen them dogs of yours, child?”
“This morning,” she lied. It had been a week since the giant hellhounds had disappeared. “I like your hat,” she said to change the subject. “It’s nice. Daddy said you should always say nice things about a person’s hat because it was an easy way to make them feel better.”
“Why, thank you, peanut.” He ran his fingers around the brim. “You miss your daddy, don’t you?”
How did he know? That wasn’t right. He was a stranger. She nodded, pushed out her lip, went back to coloring her ponies.
“You miss your mama, too, I’ll bet.”
She had never met her mama, but she missed her.
“You think they gone because of you, peanut? ’Cause of how special you are?”
She looked up at him.
“Don’t look at me like that. I know. I’m special, too.”
“You should be careful,” Sophie said. “I need to go.”
She stood and looked toward the building. The mean nun pointed for her to sit back down, but then the bell rang and the sister waved her in.