Sadie Goldberg

Sadie Goldberg is Abe Goldberg’s partner and one of the people whose quiet trust helps Will Klein pursue a vulnerable child when ordinary recourse to the police seems too dangerous. The novel first presents her through affectionate exchanges with Squares; later, she becomes part of a decision to help, and her concern culminates in a simple charge to Will: find the girl.

Identity and Introduction

Sadie appears at the Goldberg Pharmacy, stepping down from behind its stand when Abe calls for her. His announcement identifies Squares by his tattoo and yoga, a detail that suggests the couple know him well enough to recognize him by familiar, informal markers. Sadie immediately takes up that familiarity in her own way: she studies Squares and tells him he looks skinny. Abe tells her to leave him alone, but she turns the rebuke into another expression of concern, asking whether he is eating enough.

Her introduction establishes a distinctive presence without a long account of her past. She is an older woman, notably short even when compared with Raquel in high heels, and she speaks to Squares with the easy insistence of someone who feels entitled to look after him. The exchange is comic and domestic, but it also places Sadie inside a web of lasting acquaintance. Squares is not merely a visitor at the pharmacy; he is someone whose wellbeing Sadie notices.

The Goldberg Household and Its Trust

Sadie and Abe act together when Squares asks for help. Their first response is apprehension: they recognize that talking could put them in danger. Abe reassures them that no one will know and gives his word, but the decision does not become casual. The two look at one another before Abe names Raquel, and Sadie confirms the trust behind the choice, saying that Squares is a good person, even as she jokes that she is sometimes unsure whether to call him a man or a woman. The humor marks familiarity rather than distance; she can tease him while still standing with him.

Abe explains why they may be willing to speak: he trusts Raquel and Squares, whom he describes as people who dwell in darkness but bring light. He contrasts their work with his and Sadie’s own life together, presenting the couple as people who share a moral outlook with those who move through more dangerous parts of the community. Sadie does not simply follow Abe’s lead. She closes up the shop, comes downstairs, and joins the conversation, making the decision to participate a shared one.

Concern for the Missing Girl

The stakes become more immediate when Abe tells Will that Squares has mentioned a little girl. Will explains that she is the daughter of a woman living with homelessness and crack addiction, and that the child is probably about twelve. Sadie reacts first with dismay, then with a practical question: Will does not know where the girl is. The exchange makes clear that the child’s vulnerability is not an abstraction to her. She attends to the gap between knowing that a girl needs help and knowing where to find her.

After Will looks down at a scrap of paper, Sadie approaches and puts a hand on his cheek. She tells him that he looks like a nice man, then urges him to find the girl. The gesture is intimate and direct, unlike the guarded negotiation that precedes it. It conveys trust without removing the danger: Sadie has already understood that speaking may expose the people involved, yet she chooses to place confidence in Will and to make the child’s safety the point of the encounter.

Narrative Role and Significance

Sadie’s part in the story is brief, but it gives the investigation a human route into a community reluctant to involve the police. Her presence at the pharmacy connects everyday care—asking whether Squares is eating, closing the shop, touching Will’s cheek—to the risks of helping someone in crisis. The scene does not turn her into an investigator or claim that she knows where the girl is. Instead, it shows how the search depends on people willing to offer trust and assistance despite uncertainty about the consequences.

That role resonates with the novel’s wider account of outreach to runaway and street-involved young people. The Covenant House van enters places where young people are difficult to reach, and the work is described as an attempt to connect with a community’s dangerous underside before life on the street becomes harder to escape. Sadie is not shown doing that outreach herself; her contribution belongs to the neighboring, informal network of care. By closing the pharmacy, joining Abe’s decision, and asking Will to find the child, she turns concern into a modest but consequential act of support.