The Names

by Florence Knapp

Would things have been different if she hadn’t laughed? If she’d threatened to leave?

They call him he or him. Julian notices that people talk about God in the same way.

They all agree the sins have to be not so bad they could get in trouble, but bad enough to justify confessing.

It makes her think sex is probably something her father does to her mother. Not the reciprocal act they talked about in part two of the periods chat at school last year.

At school, if he sees someone being given a hard time, he steps in, and he’s not sure why, but the bully always stands down without putting up a challenge.

“And she loved books. He didn’t let her have her own, but she liked reading to me, my books. Every night before he came home. Anne of Green Gables. Little Women. To Kill a Mockingbird. She was still reading to me—to us—right up until the end. Whatever I chose from the school library. She never judged, never said, Not this one, or, You shouldn’t be reading that. I can still remember it. That feeling of being read to, of being wrapped up in her voice, those words, whatever place the story had taken us to. It sounds stupid, but it was like a magic carpet.”

She, Maia, is a helper. She is tireless in the care she offers her patients. Admired by colleagues for always taking the time to see the bigger picture. Respected for the way she will connect the dots to treat the whole person, rather than just the symptom they present with.

“I’d always thought humans were essentially good. I knew there were bad ones out there, but they somehow hadn’t seemed as real.

That maybe freedom is just about choosing the life you want.

I love how graceful you are. And I love how much grace you’ve given me.