Chapter 13
Victoria took longer.
She wrote letters to Noah she did not send.
Her therapist suggested it apparently.
Years later she gave them to me.
Not for Noah automatically.
For me to decide with him when older.
I read none.
They were addressed to him.
Boundary.
She told me verbally what changed.
She had always seen hearing loss as vulnerability.
Something to protect Noah from socially.
She corrected people who spoke too softly.
Made sure batteries were charged.
Learned basic troubleshooting.
Good things.
Then once the hearing aid threatened her secret, all that care inverted.
The device stopped being Noah’s access to the world.
It became a threat to her.
“That scares me most.”
She told me.
“Not that I became cruel.”
“But that I could become cruel to the exact thing I used to protect.”
That was useful insight.
People often imagine goodness in one context guarantees goodness under pressure.
It doesn’t.
Values reveal themselves when they cost something.
Victoria’s kindness toward Noah cost nothing until his hearing threatened her future.
Then she chose herself.
She knew that now.
Would she choose differently next time?
May you like
Maybe.
I was not required to risk Noah to find out.
