It’s over now. I am sunk down with exhaustion, as if I had fled this day for twenty years.
This leaden ache of loss and sorrow, made much worse by shame: His daughter turned her father from her door. Shame that is never to relent, that is the awful knowing.
Oh Mama, our Lord seems far away. I open my torn heart to you, knowing you know how much I loved him, praying that wherever you have gone, you might hear me and forgive me.
It’s for the best-that’s all Walter can offer me in solace. It’s for the best, says Eddie, who sounds as pompous when he copies Walter as Walter sounds when he copies Mr. Cole.
Mama, I need you to hug me! Because I’m glad it’s over. Do you forgive me, Mama? I grieve with all my heart yet I am glad. I repent but I am glad. May God forgive me, I am glad. I’m glad! And yet I am ashamed.