Chapter 25 - Gigi sees Arthur
Gigi was almost five when she saw Arthur again.
Public park.
Me present.
Dr. Foster had helped prepare.
Arthur arrived without our parents.
No gift.
No touching.
Gigi stared.
“You hit me.”
Arthur swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was angry and did something wrong.”
“You hit other people?”
My stomach tightened.
No one had prepared that.
Arthur looked at me.
I did not answer for him.
“Yes,” he said.
“Before?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Same kind of problem. I thought being angry meant I could scare people.”
There.
Gigi looked at him for a long time.
Then:
“Don’t.”
One word.
Arthur’s eyes filled.
“I won’t.”
She turned toward the swings.
“Push me, Mama.”
Meeting functionally over.
Arthur did not ask for a hug.
Good.
Later he said:
“I expected something bigger.”
“What?”
“Forgiveness. Anger. Something.”
“She’s five.”
He laughed.
May you like
“Right.”
Children are not sentencing judges for adult redemption arcs.
