Sophie’s Questions
Chapter 16 - Sophie’s Questions
Sophie began therapy two weeks after the hallway attack.
At first, she asked practical questions.
Would her father come home?
Could walls hear?
Was lying always wrong?
Then came the harder one.
“Did Daddy stop loving me when I kept the key?”
Claire sat beside her on the carpet.
“No.”
“Then why was he angry?”
“Because he wanted control more than he wanted to make you feel safe.”
“Is that love?”
Claire thought carefully.
“It may be a feeling he called love. But love must also respect what another person needs.”
Sophie drew three houses.
The first had no windows.
The second had broken walls.
The third had doors open on both sides.
She gave the third to Marta.
Years later, the drawing would hang inside the Morgan Center.
May you like
Not as evidence of a heroic child.
As evidence that children understood safety more clearly than adults who benefited from confusion.
