Chapter 006 – Ruth Ellen Carter
Chapter 06 - Chapter 006 – Ruth Ellen Carter
My name is Ruth Ellen Carter.
I was seventy years old that morning, though I felt older by noon and ancient by dusk.
I had raised three children in a yellow house on Alder Street. I had buried one husband, survived breast cancer, worked twenty-six years in the school cafeteria, and learned to stretch a paycheck until it begged for mercy.
I was not helpless.
That is important.
Helpless was the story my children needed me to become.
Helpless women can be relocated, managed, signed over, discussed in kitchens while their medicine sits on the counter. Helpless mothers can be called confused when they disagree and ungrateful when they ask questions.
I was tired.
I was old.
I was frightened.
But I was not helpless.
May you like
Abandonment does something specific to the body. It makes you feel as if the floor has forgotten your weight.
Still, I kept both feet planted under that bus-station bench.
