When she had eaten, and steadied a little, I sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand, and I asked her the question that my professional instinct had been circling since the moment I saw that meal chart.

Because a person who builds a system that elaborate is rarely doing it only out of cruelty.

Cruelty that organized usually has a purpose behind it.

“Mom,” I said.

“Did she ever make you sign anything?”

My mother began, very quietly, to cry.