Chapter 6 - Jonah Had Practiced the Fire Plan Without Me
The child interviewer spoke to Jonah separately.
He was eight.
Terrified.
And convinced he had done something wrong because he had been the one carried to safety.
He told them our parents had practiced the evacuation route with him twice.
Bennett would grab him.
Corinne would follow.
They would go to the back window.
“What about Maren?” the interviewer asked.
Jonah looked down.
“She knows the other way.”
“Did she practice with you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Dad said she doesn’t need everything explained.”
That sounded exactly like Bennett.
Then Jonah said something worse.
“Mom said if there was ever a real emergency, they couldn’t waste time arguing with Maren.”
The interviewer asked:
“Why would Maren argue?”
Jonah shrugged.
“Because she asks why.”
I remember hearing that later and almost laughing.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was so accurate.
I asked why.
Why did Jonah get to stay up later when he was younger than I had been?
Why did Bennett attend every one of Jonah’s baseball games but miss my school performances?
Why did Mom call me dramatic when I complained?
Why was I expected to understand things nobody ever explained?
Questions made the imbalance visible.
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So eventually the problem became the child who asked them.
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