Chapter 1: This is What People Do

“Would the mother of Renée Thyre please come to the front of the store?”

The assistant manager of Venture! stepped away from the microphone and wiped his mouth on his wrist. We were up in his managerial aerie, a skybox that looked out onto Kansas City’s first superstore. His nametag read “Garry” and he was a little greasy at the temples, but I could still imagine being happily adopted by him.

“Have some more popcorn, Renée,” Garry said, shaking the bag at me. “Don’t worry, I’m sure your mother will be here soon—c’mon, gimme a little smile!”

I smiled up at him the way an adorable seven-year-old named Renée would, batting my eyelashes like a Disney heroine. I reached for the popcorn daintily, and was just about to ask for something to drink when my mother rushed up the steps of the platform and shot through the half-door.

“Oh my god, Sarah! I have been looking all over this store for you! I was just having them cut the fabric and I look over and you’re gone! They still haven’t caught that kidnapper, you know!”

Garry took a little half-step between my mother and me, his feet in ballet’s third position. I felt so safe.

“Ma’am, I think there’s a misunderstanding? This is Renée. Renée Thyre?”

My mother threw back her head and burst into laughter, “Well, that’s what she told you. Her name’s not really Renée! It’s Sarah! But she’s always telling people it’s Renée! For some reason she just loves that name, Renée. I don’t know where she even heard it. Can you imagine?”

Garry swept his feet from third to fifth position and swiveled his hips away from me. In that swift, subtle shift of his body, he left my side—me, Renée, his future ward! - and went over to my mother’s. He and my mother regarded me with heartless, unchecked mirth. I half-expected her to get on the store microphone and say, “Hey everybody! That announcement a little while ago—about Renée Thyre? Well, THERE IS NO RENéE THYRE! It’s just Sarah Thyre. ‘Kay?”

“You’re always ruining my life!” I cried in the car on the way home. “Why did you have to go and TELL him?”

The whole thing would have been worth it if I knew that just one person, just Garry, lived the rest of his life believing my name was Renée.