Chapter 15 - Elodie Hears the Word “Fake”
I wish she had not.
One visitor whispered near the hallway:
“Grandma thought she was faking.”
Elodie heard.
At home after surgery recovery, she asked:
“What is faking sick?”
I hated everyone.
Then answered.
“Pretending you feel something you don’t.”
“Did Grandma think?”
“Yes.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Doctors?”
“No.”
She stared at scar beneath pajama collar? Cardiac surgery likely chest incision. She had a healing chest incision, restrained description.
“Then why Grandma?”
“Because she made a mistake about what she was seeing.”
“Three times?”
There.
Children count.
“Yes.”
“Big mistake.”
“Yes.”
Then:
“Did I make you stay because Mommy died?”
That question.
I sat beside her.
“No.”
“Maybe little?”
Honesty.
“When you feel bad, I want to be near you. That doesn’t mean you caused feeling bad to keep me close.”
She thought.
“Can brain make body hurt?”
“Yes.”
“So Grandma maybe right?”
“About some people having symptoms affected by stress? Yes. About you pretending? No. About forcing you out of bed? No.”
Children can hold nuance if adults stop fearing it.
Elodie nodded.
Then:
“I still hate hospital.”
Excellent.
A child who supposedly loved being sick hated hospital.
May you like
Reality is often boringly obvious once you listen.
────────────────────
