But it could take photographs and videos, and Jordan sometimes used it to record his toy dinosaurs or send short messages to his father.
Vanessa disliked the device.
She said Jordan spent too much time on it.
She also became irritated whenever he tried to call Marcus during the workday.
Eventually, she introduced a household rule requiring the children to leave personal devices on a charging station outside their bedrooms.
Caleb and Mia could sometimes negotiate extra screen time.
Jordan rarely could.
But he kept the old phone because it contained photographs of his mother.
Short videos.
Voice messages.
And a recording of Grace singing softly to him when he was four.
He was terrified Vanessa might take it away permanently.
So he began carrying it in his school backpack.
At night, he hid it inside the zipped pocket of an old dinosaur pencil case.
It was one of the few things he felt he could control.
The idea to record what happened came from Mia.
She didn't understand the full seriousness of the situation.
She was only eight.
But she'd watched Jordan lose meals while she and Caleb received food.
She'd seen her mother speak cruelly to him.
And she knew something about the arrangement was wrong.
One afternoon, after Vanessa ordered Jordan to stand beside the kitchen island while the other children ate snacks, Mia approached him.
"Why don't you just tell your dad?"
Jordan shook his head.
"She said he won't believe me."
Mia frowned.
"Your dad loves you."
"I know."
"Then he'll believe you."
Jordan looked toward the hallway.
His voice dropped.
"She says he'll get tired of me."
Mia stared.
For a moment, she seemed shocked.
Then she said quietly.
"That's mean."
Jordan nodded.
Mia thought for several seconds.
Then looked toward the old smartphone sticking out of his pocket.
"You could show him."
Jordan frowned.
"Show him what?"
"What happens."
The boy looked toward the kitchen.
For a moment, he seemed frightened by the idea.
Then he looked down at the phone.
He remembered Marcus once telling him that photographs could help explain things that were difficult to describe.
Jordan didn't know whether recordings would make his father believe him.