At seven, Jacinta Martos saw figures in light, the earth's sun in parhelion. She'd been taught what to think these were, but her own thoughts we'll never know. Too much around her was coaxed, and coded. At seven, a child understands implications, powerlessness, the cloak of evasion, the comfort of an operational concreteness. Eye gaze and attention. Avoid retribution. Seek the solidity of the ordinary.
Children of Jacinta's age are enveloped in complex emotions that they are beginning to understand. But do they have the language to express it? Do they wish to? Heart secrets are part of the human character. Stories will be modeled to prevent extraction.
A girl child in an open field.
A girl child child in a closed locked room.
Innocence isn't ignorance. Children Jacinta's age are beginning to suspect this.
