Chapter 7 - Emma Began Keeping Track of Time
After the fire, Emma’s therapist asked:
“What happened in the sunroom before the fire night?”
Emma said:
“I counted.”
“What?”
“Numbers.”
“Why?”
“So I know when Grandma’s coming.”
“How high did you count?”
Emma said:
“Sometimes one thousand.”
She counted slowly.
One Mississippi style.
Not accurate time.
But close enough.
She described:
five incidents.
Maybe more.
Once for not finishing:
green beans.
Once for throwing:
a pencil.
Once for saying:
“I hate you.”
Once for asking to call:
Mom.
Once because Margaret believed she lied about:
homework.
Margaret never left the house during those earlier confinements.
That was important.
She was not abandoning Emma alone for:
hours.
She was using the locked room as:
punishment.
That remained wrong.
But the distinction mattered.
The fire night was different because danger appeared and Margaret chose:
control
over:
rescue.
May you like
That was the escalation.
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