"I'm not bribing you to turn in Mason," George decided. Because that was teaching the kid all kinds of screwed-up ethics, and she didn't have twenty bucks, and she didn't ... honestly ... care that much if Mason dealt crack in the alley, in or of itself. It was more the using her kid as lookout.

Her kid. This girl was her kid.

... The attitude should have been a giveaway, right there. And, really, George needed a moment to be pleased that her kid hadn't been some sort of frou-frou Barbie type who'd spent too much time with Daisy.

"Okay," she said. "Mom and Dad are being extra-stupid today. Like usual. I'll give you ten bucks if you give us your full name and don't give us any grief about not knowing it, right now."

Should she explain the timeline thing? Fuck it. She decided, instead, to try, "We got hit on the head. So that's why we're extra-stupid."

Mother of the year.