"Dad. It's not even four yet."
"What happened?"
Aria stood up. "It's nothing. Someone came to pick up his stuff. An old volunteer. He got upset about being let go and he was loud about it. Evie was in the room, but it's over now. He's gone."
"Someone yelled at her?"
"No. He yelled about the situation. About getting fired. I got him out of here in maybe five minutes, and that was it. It's done."
"You don't even have security here."
"We're a nonprofit in Brooklyn. We don’t need security." She crossed her arms. "I handled it. He's not coming back."
I looked at Evie. She was picking at her thumbnail, eyes down.
"She's twelve years old."
"I know how old she is."
"Well, she doesn't look fine to me."
"Dad, I'm literally right here," Evie said. Her voice cracked a little. "And I am fine. He was just being loud about getting fired. He wasn't even looking at me. Aria made him leave and it was like, two minutes. Maybe three."
"He shouldn't have been anywhere near you in the first place."
"Dad." She closed her eyes. "Stop."
I could feel my teeth grinding together. Aria was watching me, her chin up, not backing down. The room felt smaller than it had a minute ago.
"Dad, oh my god, stop it."
I looked at Evie. She was standing now, holding her poster against her chest with both hands. Her face was red, and I couldn't tell if she was embarrassed or angry or both.
"I'm fine. Okay? I promise I'm fine. Just… Can you stop?"
Nobody said anything. I could hear someone laughing in the hallway outside, and a phone ringing somewhere.
The poster had bright red letters across the top. YOUR HEALTH MATTERS. Below that, graphs and stats in different colors, all neat and organized. It looked professional. Too professional for a kid her age.
"Let me see that," I said.
"What?"
"The poster. Let me see it."
She glanced at Aria, then back at me. Held it out slowly, like she wasn't sure if this was a trick.
I took it. The statistics were actually good, clearly sourced, and easy to read. She'd broken down screening rates by income level, by geography. Color-coded the whole thing so you could see the patterns. It looked like something I'd expect from an intern at the firm, not a kid doing a school project.
"Did you do all of this yourself?"
"Most of it. Aria helped me with the layout stuff because I couldn't figure out how to make it look, you know, not terrible. But I found all the research myself. I spent like three hours on it."
I kept looking at it. The numbers were solid. The presentation was clear. She'd actually thought about who would be reading this, what would make them care.
"It's good work," I said.
Evie's whole face changed. "Yeah?"
