Chapter 21: House Rules

I read my mother's letter on the front steps of my own house, with the cap and gown still on.

It was one page, in blue ink, and her handwriting leaned the way it always had.

Hallie, if you are reading this, you have graduated, and I am very sorry I am not there to see it.

The house is yours. I never wanted it to be a prize or a punishment.

Don't keep it empty. A house wants people in it.

Don't let anyone buy their way back through the door.

But if someone earns it, slowly, by what they do and not by what they say, you are allowed to open it.

You will know the difference. You always did.

I love you more than the whole sky, and I am proud of you.

Mom

I read it twice, and then I folded it along its old crease.

Esther sat down on the step beside me and didn't say a word.

After a while she handed me a paper napkin from her purse.

That evening, I called everyone into the kitchen.

It was the same kitchen where I had washed pans for ten years, with the same laminate counters and the same long table.

The refrigerator hummed.

Gary sat at one end, in his tie, with his hands folded in front of him.

Brett and Kayla sat across from him, and Esther took the chair at my right.

I had a legal pad.

I had written the list that afternoon, and I had crossed out half of it.

"These are the rules of the house," I said. "They're not a punishment. I'm just not going to make them up as we go."

"Okay," Brett said.

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