Chapter 19 - HATTIE AFTER PRISON
Hattie was seventy when she completed custody and supervision.
Older.
Less glamorous.
Still proud.
She requested contact with Donna.
Donna said no.
A year later:
No.
Three years later:
One letter.
Hattie wrote:
Donna,
I spent decades believing Coleman House was proof that my family had survived. Because your money saved it, I treated you as the person who could take survival away.
You never threatened me.
I created the threat.
I made your kindness into debt and then punished you for having rights you rarely used.
I am sorry for the kennel.
I am sorry for the chain.
I am sorry I trained everyone around me to see your gentleness as permission.
Donna read it twice.
Then put it in a drawer.
“Do you forgive her?” I asked.
“Some of it.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
May you like
Good.
No forced clarity.
