Chapter 040 – Elaine Comes Alone
Chapter 40 - Chapter 040 – Elaine Comes Alone
Elaine came alone on Wednesday.
She stood on the porch in her work blazer, holding a white bakery box as if lemon cake could negotiate a moral disaster.
I spoke through the locked screen door.
“What do you want?”
Her eyes filled immediately.
“Mom, please don’t do this like we’re strangers.”
“You left me like I was luggage.”
She flinched.
“I didn’t want it that way.”
“But you did it that way.”
She held up the bakery box.
“I brought your favorite.”
“My favorite cake did not drive me to the bus station.”
The sentence hit her hard enough that she lowered the box.
Good.
For years, Elaine had managed me with remembered tenderness. She knew which tea I liked, which hymns made me cry, which stories from her childhood could make me forgive too quickly.
Manipulation often wears the shape of memory.
“Leave it on the porch,” I said.
“Can I come in?”
“No.”
May you like
“Mom—”
“No,” I said again, and realized the word had become easier the second time.
