He breathed. He said, "Are you all right?"
Amara said, "Yes." She said, "Are you all right?"
He said, "Yes." He said it and he meant it, and he also meant the full context of yes, which was that he was all right the way he was always all right, which was with effort; and that the effort was not visible to her, and he preferred it that way, and that she was the reason the effort was not visible.
She said, "That officer shouldn't have done that."
He said, "No, he shouldn't."
She said, "I'm going to tell Mom."
He said, "I know you are."
She said, "Will you tell her, too?"
He said, "Yes."