Chapter 5 - SOPHIE’S VERSIONSophie’s child interview happened two days after the party.
No Daniel.
No Margaret.
No me in the room.
She said Grandma got angry because Sophie heard her talking to Aunt Patricia near the kitchen.
Margaret said:
“Claire is making Daniel raise somebody else’s child.”
Sophie knew enough to understand:
somebody else’s child
meant her.
She confronted Margaret.
“Daddy is my daddy.”
Margaret told her not to interrupt adults.
Sophie said:
“You’re lying.”
Then she ran to find me.
Margaret followed.
On the porch, Sophie tried to go inside through the side door.
Margaret told her she was having a time-out.
Sophie refused.
Margaret removed the decorative chain.
“What happened next?”
“She put it around me.”
“Was it tight?”
“No.”
“Could you leave?”
“No.”
“Did it hurt?”
“No.”
“Were you scared?”
“Yes.”
“What did Grandma say?”
Sophie thought.
Then:
“She said I can sit there until I learn not to make trouble in families that aren’t mine.”
I read that sentence later.
Once.
I could not read it again for months.
Margaret had not physically injured her.
May you like
She had done something more deliberate.
She made belonging the punishment.
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