"...Then I might - not give them their allowance, or not let them watch television they like, or say that they can't go out to see their friends. I'm not allowed to hurt you and I never would, any more than I would hurt Jeremy."

(She's actually pretty limited by fostering agency policy in how she can respond to unacceptable behavior. Jeremy would have been grounded for a year for some of what her former foster teens got up to. Emily will have STORIES, probably, and - on reflection it might actually be good for these poor kids to hear them, and hear that Evelyn never once got angry, or punished her any worse than making her return the shoplifted magazines and refusing to drive her anywhere.)

"I - you don't have to obey me. If I say, come help me make dinner, and you would rather read or practice English, you don't have to help me. I do want you to follow the house rules, like not breaking things or stealing things or going into people's rooms without asking, but - if you do break the rules, then the very worst that I could do is say I can't handle it and ask for you to go to another foster parent. Which I wouldn't do - I've hardly ever done, the only time was because a boy kept trying to set the house on fire." 

"...Boy set house on fire, you say boy still alive?" She sounds skeptical.

"He's fine! ...He didn't actually set the house on fire, I stopped him, it just scared me a lot, and I had two children Lily's age and younger living here and needed to know they would be safe. He went to - a secure facility, sort of like a house in a hospital, where they could keep him safe and stop him from starting any fires, and he's okay now and doesn't do it anymore." 

(Evelyn feels really bad about that placement breaking down, honestly, and it kind of shows in her body language. Kevin needed support and love and she - wasn't the person who could give him that.) 

Iomedae absolutely does not believe this.

If true that's only a little bit of a reason to think foster children are not like slaves and much more reason to think that America is an insane place with insane laws that do not punish attempted arson.

And it's probably not true, because, what. Any place like that would have been literally burnt to the ground a long time ago.

"If no one is ever sworded for anything, then first person with smart idea to sword people for things take over whole place fast."

"...I see why you would worry about that but it's actually okay? Most people don't try to do very bad things, and sometimes people do set buildings on fire, I guess, but there are people whose job it is to put fires out, and - the police have ways to stop people that don't kill them. And we do - if people do things like that, even if they're children, they can be kept somewhere and not allowed to leave or allowed to have anything they could use to hurt people - and a lot of people do think that's unfair, but I think it's better than killing them." 

"...and...eated?"

CONCERN. 

"- Oh, do you mean, like, do they get food? Yeah. Food is - not actually very expensive, here, because for a lot of kinds of farming we have machines. ...Adults who commit very bad crimes, like killing a lot of people, might sometimes be killed by the government instead of just having to stay in prison for the rest of their life, but it's very rare. I could look up how many in the country in the last ten years, if you want." 

Iomedae is at this point deeply unsure if America has just given up on enforcing its laws or if Evelyn is just delusional or lying. 'This is why you say even if I fight the law when they come to make me a foster child again, I not die? Because people kill the law and the law go 'that not reason to kill them back'?"

"Yes I mean do they get food. The president pay for - person boxes and food for every person do crimes?"

"Yeah. There aren't that many people who do crimes and have to go to prison, though it's definitely expensive and - something we do because America can afford it and killing people is worse."

She winces slightly. "...The police do sometimes - if someone fights the police with a weapon and the police get scared, sometimes they get killed when the police are trying to stop them. I'm - not going to say it's exactly by accident but it's not the thing that's supposed to happen, though - I definitely wouldn't recommend being scary at the police. The police do have ways of catching people that don't risk killing them as much as stabbing would, like - using the electricity we use in lights to zap them so they can't move and run away." 

"...That not kill people?" She is pretty sure being struck by lightning kills people.

"I think almost never unless they were sick and had a bad heart. It's not very much electricity, I think? It would be more dangerous to put a fork in the plug, please don't do that." 

"I think that the place you describe no make sense and no could be and I am - no seeing something. Lots of people do bad things. More if they no put to die for it and get free food."

Sigh. "I think I'm probably doing a bad job of explaining it, I - know there's a lot less violence and murder and stuff now than there was historically but I don't know a lot about why or how. We'll keep working on your English, and you can - read books and websites about how the government works, look up statistics, uh, numbers people counted and wrote down, about crime and violence and things - and eventually I think it'll make sense–"

She catches herself. "- oh! One thing is lead poisoning, I remember that. There's, uh, a kind of metal they used to make pipes with, that would end up in water for drinking, and being exposed to it makes people less smart and more - impulsive, likely to just do things in the moment when they were upset - and once we stopped doing that, there was less crime and violence. At least that's the theory that - people who study this - have." 

Iomedae isn't sure she understood that but it feels - in any event like it doesn't strike directly at what she cares about, here.

"Where I from, most child not run away. Not because law bring them back; because they die, of bad man or of big cat or big dog or big bird or starve. if a child run away, maybe child idiota or maybe home so bad, they think run away is better. Or maybe they have plan to get money and be safe and no starve, and that - no really run away, that just be no more child. Maybe a rich man pay people bring child back, if he not have as many child as he want, or if it a place where he can sell a girl.

Where I from, slaves run away. You do need law to bring slaves back. Because slaves may no die. They can get work. So you can only make slaves stay with the law."

That’s…probably normal, in poor third world countries? Especially a bit about - it sounds like either a dowry or bride price, she can never remember which is the one where girls cost money versus earn money for the parents. 

There’s something terribly sad about it. There’s something differently but even more sad about Iomedae clearly, on some level, having preferred things that way.

She nods. "I - think that's probably one of the things which is different because America is very rich, and the police can afford to worry about missing children even if their families are poor," though of course the police don't try as hard, if the family is poor and the parents aren't making a fuss. "We don't have to worry much about wildlife - big cats or dogs - hurting children, at least not in cities. But we do worry about people hurting children, and - you can't really earn money on your own, here, until you're nearly an adult. So a fifteen-year-old who runs away, if they have a plan to earn money, is - probably doing it in a way that's dangerous for them. And probably isn't in school, and school is important, it's really hard to have any kind of career without a high school diploma. If a child runs away because their parents are hurting them, and they tell the police when they're found, then they don't have to go back, but they do have to live with a family. I've had children like that as foster children before."  

She's doing such a bad job of explaining this, probably, but it's not actually an option to bow out in the middle of the conversation and hand it to someone more qualified to explain society. 

Shrug. "I think, just, children aren't experienced enough to make good decisions for their future. And - I guess the government has enough money and enough people that they can investigate all the murders and thefts and still have time to look for missing children. I think wherever you were from was poorer, and couldn't necessarily do that, even if it meant that sometimes children would make a silly decision and run away and starve or be killed by wild animals. 

- keeping slaves is against the law. I - know people do talk about some things being like slavery - the government making people in prison work, and some people say it about children, not foster children all children - but the kind of slavery you probably mean, the kind that was in the story, where people are born slaves and stay slaves their whole lives, was ended about a hundred and fifty years ago. There was a war over it." 

“…Alfirin and I have no trouble make money and save money. A fifteen year old who is not idiota can live very good in America because America is rich. Maybe is true of child has ten years, they have a hard time making good money choices, but at fifteen? 

When you say no slaves America do you mean no one made to work for no pay and law bring them back if they run, or you mean it call different words.”

"...I think that's something where different people would give you different answers. There are some people who are very against prisons, because if someone is convicted of a serious crime in court and goes to prison, the government does make them work and the law does go after them and bring them back if they run away. And children...have to go to school, or be taught at home, and aren't paid for that, and there are definitely some people who think that's - sort of like treating all children as slaves. I guess the government decided it was worth it, to try to make it so more children learn to read and stuff." 

Sigh. "The way you were living before isn't considered very good, in America. It's - obviously better than the standard of living in some other very poor countries, that's why people come here to work without papers, but the government wants children born here to do better than that. ...I guess the government also - gets something out of it, has selfish reasons to do it - because the economy is better– uh, the whole country is richer and makes more wealth - if more people have been to enough school to have good jobs." 

Evelyn absolutely feels like she's being graded by her tenth grade civics teacher and about to receive a failing grade on her end-of-term essay. Ugh. 

So people who have broken the law are enslaved and the government insists on every person under 18 spending their time unpaid in 'school' but you can only be enslaved for a crime, and only made a 'foster child' if you are not 18. It's really very reasonable, except that America has an impossible number of laws. Though Evelyn says it's still the case that almost no one ever breaks them.

"I am happy to do a school learn the things for a good job, though I think when I am freed I will go home where I can be a holy warrior, which is a good job. America want to spend money send me to school even if I will not make America rich with my work?"

She might change her mind about going back to...wherever she's even from (does she have the slightest idea how to get home? Evelyn supposes that is the sort of thing a kid might not be honest about with a social worker)...by the time she's eighteen, and knows a bit more about the space of her options. Evelyn doesn't say that. 

"Yeah. Some people who are born here and go to school their whole lives end up moving to other countries to work, and America doesn't stop them from leaving. It's - I guess the government can't know what any given kid will decide to do with their lives, and it's still better overall to try to send every kid to school." 

Iomedae seems...slightly less confused? Like something Evelyn just said finally made sense? Maybe it was the bit about the economy and why the US government even cares about the children of low-income parents having better futures. Evelyn...thinks that claim is more or less true, not that she's an expert on educational policy or anything. 

"i think I do not believe school will be good at teaching me the things I need to be a holy warrior, but I understand America does not know about holy warriors, and it makes sense to make people learn a job if they are not holy warriors, so it would be hard for America to do good here. And I think it not true at all that a person who has fifteen years and is not a holy warrior no can make good choices on how to spend their time and money, but the people I work on farm with say all Americans very, uh, no strong no work hard no obey God, so maybe it is true Americans have fifteen years no can make good choices."

Nod. "I do think you've - had to grow up faster than most children who were born in America do. I think - and a lot of people think - that can be bad for most people, and make it harder for them to have a happy life, if they have to focus on earning money and supporting themselves when they're that young. ...I honestly don't think that's true for you, specifically? But the government rules are what they are, and you're - very unusual. Most people aren't like you." 

"I am a holy warrior. But if my brothers or sisters was here at fifteen years, they would still have save half the money they make and know how long to buy a car house and learn how to take care of car houses and learn Spanish and learn English. ....and they would lie to not get made a foster child, say they eighteen. I think that is what most fifteen year olds who are not childs do, so you do not meet them."