Chapter 22 - EUDORA’S LETTER
Eudora wrote Amos yearly.
At twelve:
No.
At fifteen:
No.
At eighteen:
One letter.
I made you kneel because I believed discomfort would teach you that resisting me had consequences.
Amos stopped.
“That’s worse.”
“Yes.”
He continued.
I told myself I was disciplining you. I was actually using you to frighten your parents into cooperation.
Better truth.
Then:
Your father feared me. I used that fear too.
Amos looked at me.
“Can I hate her?”
“You can feel whatever you feel.”
“Do you?”
“I don’t organize my life around her anymore.”
He nodded.
At twenty-two he chose one mediated meeting.
First question:
“Why scraps?”
Eudora cried.
“Because I wanted you to feel below the adults.”
“Why?”
“Because if you felt powerless, your mother would feel powerless.”
Amos stared.
“That’s awful.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know watch was recording?”
“No.”
“Would you have stopped if you knew?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Amos leaned back.
“So you knew it was wrong.”
Eudora closed her eyes.
May you like
“Yes.”
No second meeting.
