Chapter 20 - THE FREEZER IS DESTROYED
The chest freezer remained in evidence until appeals no longer required physical inspection.
Years.
Then the prosecutor contacted us.
Disposition:
destroy or return lawful property to estate owner.
I wanted destruction.
My daughter was nine.
Did she need to decide?
Not legally.
Therapist recommended asking only whether she wanted any involvement.
I did.
“The old freezer still exists in evidence.”
Her face changed.
“Why?”
“Court kept it.”
“Do I have to see?”
“No.”
“Do I have to pick?”
“No. I just want to know if you care what happens.”
She thought.
“Make gone.”
“Yes.”
No ceremony.
Police disposal.
Industrial scrap process.
No bonfire.
No smashing with sledgehammer.
No social media.
The freezer became metal recycling.
The stuffed rabbit had been returned years earlier.
One ear permanently flattened where the lid trapped it.
My daughter still slept with it sometimes.
Did we repair?
She said no.
“It’s okay.”
The rabbit could keep one scar because she chose.
Different.
Then pantry key ring.
Also evidence, later returned to house estate.
I did not keep.
No relic.
No shadow box.
Objects served legal purpose.
Then left.
My daughter’s new home with me had no chest freezer.
Not because chest freezers are evil.
Because I did not need one.
At her mother’s house, there was a small upright freezer in kitchen.
Visible.
Normal.
One day my daughter opened it for ice cream.
No reaction.
Healing sometimes happens accidentally.
Then at a friend’s house she saw a chest freezer.
Froze.
Called me.
I picked her up.
No forcing.
Later therapist worked gradually.
Photos.
Open lid.
Standing near one in store.
No closure challenge.
At eleven, she helped a neighbor get popsicles from one.
Choice.
May you like
No applause.
Her trauma did not need an audience either.
