After what seems like a twenty-hour wait, it's finally four o'clock. I sit on a bench with three other kids, waiting outside the cottage manager's office on the far side of the dayroom . Inside, I hear a kid's voice go up and down as he talks on the phone. Why can't he finish up so it'll be my turn? Mom'll be so glad I called. She doesn't say much mushy stuff, but she'll be glad. And I can talk to Nick and Lori. We've got a neighbor who sent his kid away to military school. Maybe Nick'll think I'm in a place like that. But what if Mom hasn't talked to anybody about getting me out? I sit on my tailbone on the hard wood bench until I hurt all the way up my back.

       Delgado comes up to the office door and calls out to the kid on the phone, "Time. You've got one minute to sign off." He turns to me. "I see on the tag board you're on yellow level. You'll work your way out of here yet." He sticks his head back into the office. "That's it," he tells the kid inside. He looks back at me. "You're up now."

       Hurry, hurry, I tell him in my head while he puts the call through. What if no one's home? What if they're outside and they don't hear the phone ring? Delgado hands me the phone. "Five minutes. I'll give you a warning before your time's up."