His voice wobbled on the word home. He closed his eyes.
If you can’t see me, look up high,
I’m the one who waves goodbye.
The gym was completely silent. Not a cough. Not a chair creaking. Even the baby in the back had stopped crying.
I looked around and saw dads wiping their faces. A grandpa near the aisle had his hand pressed over his eyes. The teachers standing along the walls had gone very still. Ms. Barnes, his old homeroom teacher who’d come over from the elementary school for some reason, was crying openly.
Half the room was already in tears by the second verse.
Caleb opened his eyes and started it.
I could see his hands shaking now. I could see how hard he was working to hold the glass steady. He was looking at the ceiling again, singing up, not out.
And that’s when the double doors at the back of the gym swung open, and two uniformed police officers walked in.
