PART 2
Everyone turned around.
It was my daughter, Rosie.
Nine years old.
Standing there, in her shiny shoes… and holding a decorated box.
“My name is Rosalie Cole,” she said, her voice trembling. “And I brought the receipts my dad asked me to hide.”
There was complete silence.
Garrett stood up.
“This is inappropriate.”
“Sit down,” the judge ordered.
Rosie walked to the front and opened the box.
Inside were:
receipts
photos
a notebook
and a tape recorder
“This is the food receipt from Monday,” she said. “My mom bought everything before he took the picture of the refrigerator.”
Then she took pictures.
Garrett throwing food in the trash.
One after another.
All on the same day.
The judge looked at her.
“Did you remove food from the home?”
“It was old food,” Garrett replied.
But then Colton spoke up:
“It wasn’t old. I was going to eat that cereal.”
The atmosphere shifted.
Rosie opened her notebook:
“I wrote dates here… when Dad came and moved things around.”
Garrett tried to stop her.
But the judge ordered him to be quiet.
Then Rosie picked up the tape recorder.
“Listen to this.”
PART 3: on the next page.
