I didn’t want to cry in front of all these people. Didn’t want to lose it in front of my mother. The one time I had, after cancer stole my dad from me, she’d snapped at me. “Stop it right now. I can’t deal with your hysterics.” I’d shut up right then. I’d spent the last ten days escaping to the woods behind our house. Finding what refuge I could in the trees and creeks.
