Chapter 8 - The Hospital Asked Lily a Question I Had Avoided for Years
The social worker’s name was Janet Mullins.
She spoke with Lily without me for part of the interview.
Standard.
Appropriate.
I hated every second.
Not because I feared Lily would lie.
Because I feared what truth she might finally say when I was not in the room.
Janet later asked me:
“Has Carla physically disciplined Lily before?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Hand slap once.”
“Grabbing.”
“Any object before today?”
“No.”
“Any threats?”
I thought.
Carla had said things like:
“Keep acting like that and see what happens.”
Common adult phrase.
Not ideal.
Then Lily told Janet:
Aunt Carla sometimes made her:
stand in the laundry room
until she “stopped acting stupid.”
No lock.
No hours.
Usually ten or fifteen minutes.
I did not know.
Another:
Carla once threw Lily’s favorite stuffed animal into a trash bin because Lily refused to clean her room.
She later removed it.
I did not know.
Another:
Carla told Lily not to “run crying to Mom every time your feelings get hurt.”
That one made me physically sick.
Because now I understood why I had received fewer complaints.
It was not improvement.
It was silence.
Janet asked:
“Did Lily ever tell you she was afraid of Carla?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“A few times.”
“What did you do?”
I answered:
“I talked to Carla.”
“Did you change the childcare arrangement?”
“No.”
There.
No accusation in Janet’s face.
She did not need one.
May you like
I heard the answer myself.
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