My six-year-old nephew crawled seven blocks carrying his little sister—then doctors and police uncovered why my brother’s children had vanished from my life for three years

and the afternoon and the ordinary absence of crisis.

That was what I had wanted for him.

Missing crayons. Broken toys. Arguments about which cartoon. Shoes lost five minutes before school. Childhood problems that do not require a child to assess whether his body can make it another block.

Epilogue: The Toy Truck

A year after Drew first appeared on my continue reading …