Chapter 9 - The Broken Sailboat Wasn’t Really About the Boat
Two hours before Jenna snapped the mast, Eli had opened:
his backpack.
Inside was a small envelope containing:
$160
he had earned from helping a neighbor with dog walking and watering plants.
He was saving for:
a remote-controlled sailboat.
Jenna saw the cash.
“What’s that?”
“Mine.”
She laughed.
“Rich kid savings account?”
Eli pulled the backpack away.
“Don’t.”
Jenna said:
“Your dad could buy you a hundred boats.”
“I’m buying it.”
“Why?”
“Because I want to.”
That irritated:
her.
Why?
Because Eli was learning something Jenna had struggled with:
having access to family money does not mean every want should be funded by someone else.
She later told me she had been angry all week because Mom refused to pay:
$14,000
toward a new business launch.
Mom said:
“Ask Daryl.”
I said:
“No.”
Jenna arrived at the cottage already furious.
Then saw Eli carefully holding:
a cheap wooden boat
while living inside an expensive house.
Something about the contrast triggered her.
She said:
“You act like this junk matters when your dad has millions.”
Eli answered:
“It matters to me.”
Then:
“Don’t touch my backpack.”
That was when she grabbed:
the sailboat.
The mast snapping was not about:
wood.
It was about Jenna’s belief that people who had more could not legitimately claim:
small things,
private things,
personal things.
If Daryl has millions, why protect:
a key?
A weekend?
A bedroom?
A toy?
Money had made all boundaries look:
selfish.
May you like
That was the family illness.
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