Page 19 of It’s Me They Follow

My Gee,

You are a very talented storyteller, always have been. But that is not quite how I remember that night, but I was also a child, not a baby but if you were twelve, I was nine. You have some facts mixed with make pretend, yet I love the descriptions. The storytelling is top-notch.

With that said, I guess whatever stories we need to tell ourselves are the ones we will recall.

As I remember it, Daddy was not drunk that night; he was very sick and had been for some time.

And he did not choke you; he tried to help you stop choking. Yes, on an eggshell.

They did go for a drive after dinner. It was raining horribly.

That was the last time we saw them, but I don’t think Ms. Harriett had anything to do with it.

I am truly sorry that this is the story you have told yourself all these years, but it simply didn’t happen that way. I hope you can let that story go and tell a new one.

—Your Sister Friend, Elle