Something in his face just shut down. You\u2019re still doing it. He said, \u201cI didn\u2019t say anything. I just sat there, pencil frozen midquas, watching his face go from tight to slack to something I\u2019d never seen before. It was like he was looking at a stranger, like he\u2019d finally given up on the idea that I was ever going to be the daughter he wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid,\u201d my mother said from the stove, her voice thin and warning. \u201cBut my father was already standing up, already folding his newspaper and setting it on the table with this terrifying calm, like he was about to do something he\u2019d been thinking about for a very long time.\u201d \u201cGet a bag,\u201d he said to my mother.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne bag? She can take her clothes.\u201d I remember the way my pencil fell out of my hand. I remember the way it rolled across my geometry homework and dropped off the edge of the table. I remember thinking this can\u2019t be happening even as my mother walked past me toward the hallway closet. Even as Vanessa\u2019s face split into this huge grin like Christmas had come early.<\/p>\n
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