Chapter 26 - MARLENE COMES HOME
Marlene left prison in her seventies.
Supervised release.
No fiduciary work.
No contact with Lily unless Lily requested after adulthood.
Lily was twenty-one.
She requested one meeting at twenty-three.
Neutral mediator office.
I did not attend.
I waited nearby because she asked.
Fifty minutes.
Lily came out.
“How was it?”
“Sad.”
“Bad?”
“Not exactly.”
“What did she say?”
“She apologized.”
“Good?”
“Parts.”
Then:
“I asked why she covered my mouth.”
I waited.
“She said because she needed five seconds where I didn’t exist.”
My chest hurt.
Lily continued.
“That’s the first thing she’s said that made sense.”
Not morally.
Psychologically.
Marlene wanted the witness gone.
A six-year-old body became the place she acted that wish.
“Do you want another meeting?”
“No.”
She never did.
May you like
Marlene respected it.
That was the final evidence of change Lily ever required.
