Chapter 9 - Linda had been keeping score
The police requested relevant messages.
I searched.
Linda had been documenting grievances against a two-year-old as if preparing a lawsuit.
Three months earlier:
Ellie took Caleb’s truck again. Megan laughed.
I had not laughed.
I had said:
“She’s two, give me a second.”
Another:
She threw food on my floor and Megan says it’s developmental. Everything is developmental now.
Yes.
Toddlers dropping peas is fairly developmental.
Another to Ben:
You need to stop being afraid of your wife and correct your own child.
Ben:
We correct her.
Linda:
Not in a way she notices.
Then:
If she grabbed something hot maybe Megan would finally teach her not to touch everything.
I stared.
Date:
Nine days before the coffee.
I showed Ben.
He went pale.
“Did you see this?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When she sent it.”
“What did you say?”
He searched his own thread.
Response:
That’s not funny, Mom.
Linda:
I’m not joking. Kids learn from consequences.
Ben:
Just don’t do anything stupid. Megan is already on edge with you.
I looked up.
“You never told me.”
“I told her not to.”
“No. You told her not to do anything stupid because I was on edge.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It is what you wrote.”
He rubbed his forehead.
“I didn’t think she would throw coffee.”
Neither did I.
That did not make the message meaningless.
“You knew she was talking about Ellie touching something hot.”
“I thought she meant natural consequences.”
“A two-year-old?”
“Megan, I don’t know.”
Again.
May you like
I don’t know.
I stopped letting the sentence end conversations.
