I stole the backpack. It was easy. I just took it from a table in the library and walked out wearing it. The librarian even flashed a smile at me as I passed.
Inside were several books and a few blank worksheets. There was a notebook with a crude unicorn drawn on the inside cover. There were scraggly fringes caught in the wire binding, like tails caught in traps. It was perfect.
Written on a laminated price tag on the back was an address. I found the house. It was about two blocks from the library. Plastic toys littered the yard. The toys were pink and white.
Perfect.
I pressed the tiny button next to the door and a woman answered. Hi, I said, I found this backpack? It has this address on it?
Oh that’s wonderful, she said. That’s just wonderful. Come in, Christina will be so excited.
Christina sat in the corner of the room on a sofa. She looked at me with skyscraper eyes. Say thank you to the nice man, her mother said.
Thank you, she whispered.
It was no problem, I answered. No problem at all.