The Healing

Chapter 39





Gran Gran stopped her story. She looked over at Violet, and when she saw the rising horror in the girl’s eyes, the old woman noticed the cold terror that had formed in her own chest.

No, she shouldn’t tell the girl any more. It wouldn’t be right to say it aloud. There was no way Violet could be ready. For a while Gran Gran said nothing. There was only the sound of wood knots popping in the stove.

“What happened to Rubina’s baby?” Violet finally asked, breathless.

Gran Gran could not look the girl in the eye now. Since Violet had found her voice, her presence was becoming more real to Gran Gran. The girl wasn’t deaf and dumb. She was understanding exactly, taking the story inside of her and stitching it together with her own thoughts. Those stitches can last forever.

Gran Gran finally found the girl’s eyes. “She had her a beautiful little girl, Violet.”

“But what happened to—”

“It’s time to get you and me both to bed,” Gran Gran said, her tone final. She could not bear to be around the girl now, not with the memory so near. She heaved herself up from her rocker. “I’m wore out and I bet you are, too.”

After she turned the lantern in the girl’s room down low, Gran Gran stood for a moment and studied her through the dim light. Violet smiled at her and again Gran Gran found herself unable to keep her eyes rested on the girl’s. She had lied to Violet. But it wasn’t just to Violet. That one lie shone a light on so many others.

The old lady said good night and pulled the door behind her, only to return to her rocker by the stove.

Gran Gran sat wide awake, her heart still beating fast from the undammed rush of memory. For so long it had been a distant recollection with no more weight than a story heard in passing—a terrible thing, yes, but something that had happened to someone else. Only tonight did Gran Gran feel its pulse again.

There was no shoving it back into the closet to let the lie sleep another century. The memory was alive tonight, demanding that she look it in the face. There was no choice but to let it take her.