Half a decade after our father’s death, Ricard took his own life. Too weak from wracking pain, he couldn’t wait for natural causes to bring him a last breath. I was badly shaken. I had lost half of my soul and most of my conscience.
Let someone other than she, she decides, take the rap for causing an embarrassment of witches. My sorrow is my castle. She winks, and fifteen miles away, some car runs over a cat. Simple earthly mechanics.
My father, having stopped at the thermostat, perhaps thought he was being subtle. But the metallic screech still sliced through the pre-dawn quiet, clear as a bell, even when he only raised it a crack to duck under.
There’s a peculiarly modern kind of alienation built into losing in a contest deemed by the authorities to be fair. It’s enough to make you think unkind thoughts about whether the people who planned the game...
He would periodically forget that he was holding a pistol down at his side, and when he became conscious of its weight, he brought it up to the ready position before ultimately becoming overwhelmed with confusion and fear and letting his arms fall to his side only to repeat the process.
He shut the door and had her undress and wrap herself in a stiff paper gown. He made her do everything Dr. Wolf would have had her do, yet there was something about his methods that felt different to her.
You have to sing but not too much. You have dance but not too much. You have to help but not help. You have to access their confidence but not too much. You have to be honest but not too honest.
