Chapter 20 - My Sister and Me
Violetta and I took longer.
Partly because she had hit Primrose.
Partly because I had hit her.
Mutual violence does not create symmetry when one target was a child.
But it does create separate responsibilities.
I apologized first for my slap.
Not for stopping her wrist.
Not for protecting the envelope.
For striking her afterward.
“I should not have hit you.”
She stared.
Then said:
“You think that makes you better?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She was still angry.
Fair.
Then:
“I shouldn’t have hit Primrose.”
“No.”
Silence.
“I hate that she’s afraid of me.”
“That is a consequence.”
“I’m her aunt.”
“Relationship titles do not create trust automatically.”
She looked away.
Then whispered:
“Does she ask about me?”
“Sometimes.”
“What does she say?”
I did not tell her everything.
Primrose’s therapy was private.
I said only:
“She wants to know why you got so angry about something she didn’t mean to do.”
Violetta covered her face.
That question apparently hurt more than legal documents.
Good.
May you like
Not because suffering was the goal.
Because accountability requires seeing the event from the person harmed.
