When I Refused To Babysit My Sister’s Child My Parents Turned Against Me But They Forgot Whose Name Was On The House

and fading.

I braced one hand against the wall and pulled myself up enough to lean back, my shoulders hitting the faded wallpaper. The pattern, tiny blue flowers Mom had insisted were classic, blurred into smudges.

I looked at them. Really looked.

At Dad, still holding the chair by the back, chest heaving with the satisfaction of a man who had just reasserted continue reading …