Ask Again, Yes

by Mary Beth Keane

because you try it and try it and try it a little longer and next thing it’s who you are.

Speaking was a habit she’d gotten into years ago, in the distant past, and now that she’d stopped she felt no desire to start again. It was pointless anyway—all the blah-blah-blabbing and, still, no one understood each other.

“The thing is, Peter, grown-ups don’t know what they’re doing any better than kids do. That’s the truth.”

But the worst times of all were when she punctured his strength on purpose just so she could see whether it was possible for those shoulders to wilt, to see if there was a limit to what he could handle.