Chapter 14 - THE NEW RULES
Contact returned slowly.
First:
one hour supervised.
Then two.
Public places.
No meals.
Later:
meals with Claire present.
The Bennett Standards sheet disappeared.
No replacement chart.
But Claire did create house rules.
Irony.
They were simpler.
No hitting.
No forcing food.
No using Michael’s name to win arguments.
Adults ask before changing routines.
Ethan tells the truth about leftovers.
Claire reads school emails within forty-eight hours.
That last one was hers.
Margaret laughed when she saw it.
Claire said:
“I’m on the list too.”
Good boundaries lose credibility when only one person is expected to change.
Ethan added one rule himself:
NO TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT HERE.
Claire wrote it down.
Margaret nodded.
Best rule on the page.
Margaret never used the phrase:
Michael would want
in front of Ethan again.
Once she almost did.
They were arguing about baseball practice.
She started:
“Your father would—”
Stopped.
Closed her eyes.
Then:
“I think practice matters.”
Ethan noticed.
So did Claire.
Tiny correction.
But important.
The living finally spoke for themselves.
The Bennett Standards sheet stayed in Claire’s desk for almost a year.
Not displayed.
Not evidence for court.
Just something she could not throw away.
Eventually Ethan found it.
“Why do you still have this?”
Claire looked at the paper.
“I don’t know.”
He took it.
Tore it in half.
Then quarters.
“Can I?”
Claire laughed.
“You already did.”
He threw it away.
No ceremony.
May you like
No fire.
A chart only has power while people keep using it.
