Chapter 16 - Cordelia’s History With Appearances
My mother had always curated.
Christmas cards.
Family portraits.
Funeral flowers.
Table settings.
Clothing.
She once made me change ties before a hospital fundraiser because mine:
“photographed cheap.”
I was twenty-seven.
I obeyed.
Why?
Habit.
Cordelia grew up in a family where social standing mattered intensely.
Her own mother taught:
Never give people an image they can use against you.
That sentence explained a lot.
Not disability prejudice specifically.
Image management.
Cordelia did not spend six years despising Bram.
She read to him.
Bought him ridiculous toys.
Sat beside his hospital bed during surgeries.
Learned how to collapse his first wheelchair incorrectly three times before someone showed her.
Love existed.
That made her behavior harder to flatten into:
Grandmother hates disabled child.
She loved him.
Then chose a public image over his dignity.
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People can do serious harm to people they love when another value becomes more important in the moment.
That is often more frightening than simple hatred.
