The father had good intentions, but it wasn’t the right dose for a therapeutic moment. So, back to the issue of time. When the little boy looks up at the clerk and sees a woman about the age of his mother, with the same hair color, it’s an evocative cue. For a moment he is back to the memory of Mom, the murder. He looks at the clerk, makes one brief comment—five seconds, tops—and gets reassurance. That was enough.
