You know, Lockie,’ she said aloud. ‘What?’ ‘The thing…

““You know, Lockie,’ she said aloud. ‘What?’ ‘The thing about parents is . . . the thing about good parents — and I think your parents are pretty good . . .’ ‘Yeah, Mum makes cakes, amazing cakes, and Dad takes me fishing even when there’s work to do. They’re good parents, my mum and dad. But . . . but they didn’t find me.’ ‘I know, Lockie, but I promise they were looking. When we get you home they’ll tell you. I promise they were looking.’ ‘I should have stayed by the stroller. Maybe they’re mad and that’s why they didn’t look. Maybe they know I’m a bad boy.’ ‘You are not bad, Lockie,’ said Tina. She said the words slowly, patiently. ‘You are not bad and your parents sound like they’re pretty good parents. And you know . . . well, the thing about good parents is that they kind of love you no matter what.’ ‘No matter what?’ ‘Yeah, whatever happens, whatever you do, they still love you. Sometimes they shout when you do stuff they don’t like but they always love you.’ ‘What if the stuff you do is really bad?’ ‘They’ll still love you. That’s their job.’ ‘No, I mean what if the stuff you did is really, really bad?’ ‘It doesn’t matter, Lockie. You’re just a kid. Nothing you could do could be that bad.’ ‘You don’t know what bad is,’ said Lockie, and then he repeated the words to himself. ‘You don’t know what bad is.””

— Nicole Trope