The Spare They Came Begging For novel · Chapter 19 of 32

Chapter 19: The Head Table

The invitation came by courier on the first Thursday in December.

The kid signed for it, because he was home sick with a cold and he liked signing things.

"It's fancy," he reported up the stairs. "It's heavy. I think it's a bomb."

It was a cream envelope, thick as a coaster, with my name on the front in my mother's hand.

Inside was an engraved card.

The Albright Hope Foundation requests the pleasure of your company. The Winter Gala. Friday, December twelfth.

Clipped behind it was a place card.

Clare Albright. Head Table.

Behind that was a sheet of foundation letterhead, typed and double-spaced.

At the top it said, "Remarks for Clare. Two minutes."

I read it standing on the stairs.

"Three months ago, I made a mistake. I was frightened and angry, and I let strangers turn me against the people who made me. Tonight, in front of all of you, I want to make it right. I'm giving my sister the gift of life."

There was a note at the bottom in pen.

"After this speech you'll come home, and we'll never speak of the autumn again. If you don't give it, I'll speak first. On the thirteenth I'll tell Commonwealth's board, and the Globe, that Harbor's transplant director is sleeping with his own donor. I have photographs. Think of your friends' jobs, darling."

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