White people are always alright, the adults tell us. So, no one worries too much about Jennifer. She’ll be all right. They always are. Too bad her clothes are tattered and her frame thin. Sometimes, we give our lunch leftovers to her when we see her on our way home. She is always walking at all hours of the day and night. No one knows where she lives, but it’ll be okay. She’ll get her chance because they always do. Her chance will come in the form of a warm truck at the end of highway fifty-five at two a.m. during an unseasonably cold January.  Some years later, we’re sure she’ll sign our copies of her latest book, or we’ll see her on a TV show and know she got her chance. The adults were right, as usual. We never did catch that nighttime news bulletin about the missing girl.