Silent Stranger

9 - Evan Opens Up

The rain hadn't let up. I didn't want Sophie's new sneakers to get soaked, so I asked her to wait under the store canopy while I fetched the truck. After she climbed in and buckled up, she looked at me and smacked her forehead, the universal gesture for being forgetful.

"What is it?"

She reached over and plucked the grocery list from my shirt pocket.

"I didn't forget. We'll go to a grocery store after we stop for a bite to eat."

She grew animated, excited. She pulled out one of her newly purchased purple pens and wrote on a pad: McDonalds, yay! Shamrock shakes.

"Sorry, princess. It's the wrong time of year for shamrock shakes."

Sophie pouted and rubbed her eyes with her fists, pantomiming like she was crying.

"How about Cracker Barrel? Are you down with that?"

She raised a palm inviting a high five.

I obliged her and smacked her hand.

We sat at a table across from one another. Sophie gawked all around at the ranch themed décor. I really enjoyed observing her, the way she regarded everything with curiosity.

Sophie wanted only water for her drink. I had the same. I watched her as she studied the menu, her blue eyes darting from the top of the menu to the bottom, then from page-to-page.

When the waiter returned for our order, she pointed to a photo on the menu of a chopped salad garnished with salmon. To keep things simple, I ordered the same.

She knew how to choose a healthy meal. I continued to file away little things like that, hoping to later recall those facts to connect the dots and hopefully bring Sophie's life into focus.

After the waiter walked away, she met my gaze. I wondered if now was a good time to trick some information out of her. "Some people don't look like the name they are given. Do you know what I mean?"

She cocked her head.

"The guy at the electronics counter. Did he look like a Brad to you?"

She didn't respond.

"I think he looked more like a Steve."

She shrugged.

"You definitely look like a Sophie. I'm sitting here trying to figure out what your middle name might be. Hmm, I'm thinking Jean. Yeah, you look like a Sophie Jean."

She rolled her eyes.

"Sophie Mae?"

She shook her head.

"Sophie Jo?"

Another shake of the head.

I kept my tone light and teasing. "Well, I've exhausted my three guesses. You win. So, what is your middle name?"

She pulled her purple ink pen from where she had parked it behind her ear and wrote on the paper napkin: Marie.

Not wanting to break the momentum, I continued, "Sophia Marie...?"

She wrote: Sophia Marie Bieler.

I mulled it over. Sophia Marie Bieler. She had told me she came from Minnesota. It was a start. Maybe I could work with that. "Such a pretty name. I like the way it rolls off my tongue."

She blew out her lips as if scoffing.

After our food arrived, we dug in.

While eating Sophie looked at me wearing a puzzled expression.