“Do you know why this was necessary?” he asked. “To punish this town as we have?” “Because you’re cruel and take pleasure in our pain?” That’s what I wanted to say, but I didn’t. Just as I rarely said anything that I really wanted to say, and never spoke if silence was enough. I merely held the words inside me, to protect them from what others might do or think. I wondered if my failure to speak was like an unread book, full of ideas that ought to be read, but living out its life in silence. The book had no control over who read its pages, but I did have control of myself. I had to speak up
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