“I will, Danno.” She meets his eyes in the mirror and smiles. He watches in the rearview mirror as Grace rolls her eyes, but nods along with what he is saying.

“Remember Gracie, listen to your teacher and the nurses, okay? And don’t wander off. Hence why Grace is about to bounce right out of the car with excitement.Īs they inch closer to the front of the school, Danny turns back to her and tries to hide his trepidation with a smile. Just in time too, as today is their first trip. Finally, after talking with Grace’s teacher, and a few of the nurses at the facility, he signed the permission slip for Grace last night. She taped the permission slip to the coffee pot every morning and gave him her best puppy-dog eyes when he just glowered at the piece of paper. She came home each day and told him how many kids had turned in their permission slips and how much she wanted to go. He was sure he wasn’t the only parent that thought this way, but Grace was insistent on going.

He didn’t want his daughter going there and being scared by missing limbs and broken spirits. It seemed like a ludicrous idea, at first. The letter explained that the third graders were learning about community service and that instead of picking up litter in the parks or volunteering at animal shelters like the other classes, Grace’s teacher wanted to take her class to the VA to connect with soldiers returning from war. When Grace had brought home the permission slip two weeks ago along with the letter from her teacher, Danny thought she was crazy, wanting to drag a bunch of 8 year olds to a veteran’s hospital. A field trip was supposed to be fun, like a day at the aquarium or the zoo, not going to a hospital after school. In fact, he wouldn’t even call it a field trip. Truth be told, he wasn’t exactly keen on letting Grace go on this “field trip” with her class. “I can’t wait to go help!”ĭanny chuckles and turns back around, inching the car forward in line. “Are you excited for today, Monkey?” Danny asks, turning around in his seat so he can face his daughter. She’s got her backpack on her lap and her permission slip clutched in her hands as she waits impatiently to get out of the car. He spares a glance at her in the rearview mirror as he waits in the parent drop-off line.

Grace is practically bouncing in the seat with excitement as Danny pulls into the school’s parking lot.

Download digging through the darkness