Chapter 23 - SHAWNA’S DEATH
Shawna lived to eighty-two.
Stroke.
Then heart failure.
No mystery.
No final conspiracy.
Keely was twenty-four.
She attended the funeral.
I did not.
Different choices.
Shawna’s estate paid remaining obligations.
Then lawful assets distributed.
She left Keely:
Daniel’s watch,
a family recipe box,
and a letter.
Keely kept the watch.
Opened the recipe box.
Laughed bitterly.
“Food.”
Then kept it too.
Objects are not guilty.
The letter said:
I spent years believing family resources gave me the right to decide what gratitude should look like. You taught me too late that gratitude cannot be forced by taking away what a child needs.
Keely cried.
Kept the letter six months.
May you like
Then shredded it.
Paper becomes paper.
