Chapter 14 - BELLA
Bella asked to speak with me.
Twelve years old.
Her father arranged through Dr. Levin.
I agreed.
She sat across from me holding both sleeves over her hands.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Laughing.”
I waited.
“When Mom said dog.”
“Yes.”
“And before.”
“What before?”
Bella cried.
“I knew Grandma put Grace in the laundry room.”
“Did you put her there?”
“No.”
“Did you lock it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell an adult?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Grandma said Grace was dramatic.”
There.
Children absorb authority.
Bella continued:
“One time I gave her crackers.”
“Grace told us.”
“She did?”
“Yes.”
Bella cried harder.
“I should’ve opened the door.”
“You were eleven then?”
She nodded.
“It was not your job to overpower adults.”
“I still laughed.”
“Yes.”
We did not erase it.
She apologized to Grace later.
Short.
“I laughed when you were scared. I’m sorry.”
Grace asked:
“Why?”
Bella answered:
“Because everybody else was.”
Grace said:
“That’s dumb.”
Bella laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Cousin relationship returned slowly.
No forced best friends.
Birthday invitations eventually.
May you like
Text messages.
Years later, the incident became one terrible day in a much larger childhood.
