The officer told me one of Odette’s children had been found wandering near my parents’ driveway shortly after sunrise. Nobody was injured, but when police asked who could help, my parents immediately gave them my name and said I was the children’s “secondary caregiver.” I drove back because my nieces and nephews were not responsible for the adults around them. When I arrived, Odette was furious that the police had been called, Mom was crying, and Dad kept insisting this proved exactly why they “needed” me. Then the officer handed me an emergency-information sheet containing my phone number, address, and workplace.
I had never filled it out.
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