She was waiting in the parking lot when I came out for lunch. Microphone. Cameraman. A big smile.
“Megan Holt? You’re the mom from the Help Harper Fight page? Can we get two minutes? People are so moved by your son’s story.”
“I didn’t write it,” I said.
“Sorry?”
“My son wrote it. In my name. Without asking me. He’s fourteen.” I walked past her to my car. “Please don’t put him on television.”
She put me on television anyway. Thirty seconds on the six o’clock news. Me walking away from the camera with my lunch bag. The caption said MOM DECLINES TO COMMENT ON VIRAL FUNDRAISER.
By that night, the comments under the fundraiser had turned.
Scam.
Who is this woman? Why won’t she talk?
Where’s the money going? Has anybody checked?
My boss, Dr. Patel, called me into his office the next morning and asked me very politely to keep my personal life out of his parking lot.
