Where the Memories Lie

 

 

I rolled my eyes. I hated these in-depth ethics homework debates. Sometimes you just know things, don’t you? You know things are right or wrong, but you don’t want to spend all night analyzing why you know it. ‘Because people who kill and rape and torture shouldn’t have any human rights. They gave them up when they did whatever heinous crime they committed. And if a bunch of psychos were allowed to wreak havoc and do whatever they wanted without consequences, then we’d be living in a world of anarchy and chaos, wouldn’t we?’ Although I sometimes thought we already were living in such a world, anyway, but we were calling the psychos ‘governments’. ‘Every action has a reaction. Every deed 21

 

Sibel Hodge

 

has a consequence. There’s always a price to pay. And people have to think about that before they commit crimes.’

 

‘Yes, but two wrongs don’t make a right.’

 

‘Sometimes they do.’

 

‘You could make the criminal pay back to society by serving their time in prison instead. That would also give them punishment for what they’d done and would still protect the public.’

 

‘Not if they got let out again, which happens a lot now due to overcrowding. Most of the time they only serve piddly little sentences these days. And I wonder how many prisoners actually reoffend. Have you researched that yet?’

 

‘No, but that’s a good point, Mum.’ She scribbled that down.

 

‘Yes, I make them occasionally.’

 

‘Shouldn’t they have a second chance to become educated in prison and change so they could start a new life when they’re released?’

 

‘Not everyone deserves a second chance.’

 

‘What if the person was innocent, though, and they got the death penalty and were executed? Then you would’ve killed an innocent person.’ She sat back smugly and crossed her arms. ‘That wouldn’t be justice, would it? We’d be as bad as they were for supposedly murdering someone.’

 

‘Do you want a delivery pizza for dinner?’ I changed the subject, not really wanting to talk about death anymore. It made me think of what Tom had said again, and I wanted to get it out of my head because there was no way it could possibly be true.

 

The guilt of not providing a healthy, home-cooked meal like Nadia would be doing right now was cancelled out by the excitement on Anna’s face.

 

‘Yeah!’ Her eyes lit up. ‘Ham and mushroom?’

 

‘If you like.’

 

22

 

Where the Memories Lie I ordered the pizza, fed Poppy and poured myself a large glass of something Australian, fruity and red. Ethan knew all about differ-ent kinds of wine. I just knew about drinking it. Pulling up a stool, I sat next to Anna and stared into space.

 

‘What do you think?’ she asked a few minutes later, popping the cap back on her marker pen.

 

‘Pardon?’

 

‘Weren’t you listening?’

 

‘Um . . . sorry, I was miles away.’

 

‘About penicillin?’

 

‘I know all about penicillin. What about it?’ I said, thinking back to my medical training.

 

‘No, it’s OK. That would be cheating if I asked you. I’m going to do some research on the Internet about it.’ She slid off the stool, tidying her books into a neat pile. ‘I’ve just started doing the history of medicine.’

 

Conscientious to a fault, my daughter. I wondered how long it would be before it all went wrong. Before she locked herself in her room and only came out to eat. Before the only response I’d get from her would be a monosyllabic grunt. When she wouldn’t want to be seen dead in public with me or Ethan, and would take the advice of her friends over her parents. Before she stayed up all night partying and slept all day. I dreaded the thought of when it would all change. I didn’t like change.

 

Later, I was on my third glass of wine, staring through the window of the kitchen into the dark woods behind, when the phone rang.