What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

by Helen Oyeyemi

There was affection between mother and daughter, but they’d given up trying to express it; rather than force a display they simply asked for each other’s good faith.

It was the usual struggle between one who loves by accepting burdens and one who loves by refusing to be one.

A key ring gets left in your care and you reject all responsibility for it yet can’t bring yourself to throw it away.

No harsh words were to be said in bed, or in the kitchen. Neither of them had made these rules, but since this had somehow become part of their code of conduct, Jill and Jacob continued to do their bit towards keeping their meals and their dreams untainted.

With boys there was a fundamental assumption that they had a right to be there – not always, but more often than not. With girls, Why her? came up so quickly.

You are without virtue and without serious vice. Do you really think you can go on like this?’