Dasani is learning to hide her feelings. She shrugs them away, as if swatting flies. Her face goes blank. Her eyes drift. Sometimes she avoids the sadness altogether, preempting it the way detectives do with crime. She knows, for example, that when the school year ends, a cascade of goodbyes will come. She must part with the most reliable adults in her life—the teachers, the security guards, the cafeteria staff, the nurses. So Dasani pulls away first, acting distant or hurried. This year, the losses mount. Dasani’s counselor, Roxanne, won’t be returning to McKinney. “You the only person I can
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