Not: are our parents going to prison.

Not: what have we done.

What about me.

I looked at my sister for a long moment.

Her original offense, the fire, had happened when she was seventeen, and prosecuting a twelve-year-old arson committed by a drunk minor was legally uncertain at best, and I had never promised anyone that Jessica would go to prison.

I had never actually wanted her in prison.

But I had something for her that was far more immediate than a trial, and far more precise.