Chapter 18 - HELEN’S LETTER
Helen wrote from custody.
The first letter went to me.
I did not read it.
Second.
Did not read.
Third.
Naomi asked:
“Do you want me to screen?”
“Yes.”
Months later Naomi said:
“One might be useful eventually. Not now.”
We waited.
When Lily was ten, she asked why Helen never wrote.
“She has.”
“Where?”
“Stored.”
“Can I read?”
Maya screened first.
Then Lily.
Helen wrote:
I gave Ethan better food because I believed active descendants should understand they carried the family forward.
Lily stopped.
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes.”
She continued.
I told myself you should not become accustomed to benefits your branch was not receiving.
Then:
The truth is that I knew your branch was being kept inactive through paperwork I had arranged. Treating you as less made the paperwork feel justified.
Lily looked at me.
“She knew.”
“Yes.”
Helen admitted:
The burnt steak was intentional.
The leftovers were intentional.
The pantry punishment was intentional.
The comments about money were intentional.
Then:
None of those things protected Hearthline. They protected my sense that I was allowed to rank people.
That was the best sentence Helen ever wrote.
Lily finished.
“Do I have to forgive her?”
“No.”
“Do I have to hate her?”
“No.”
“Okay.”
May you like
She folded the letter.
No reply.
