Someone Had to Stay
Fear at least contains love, distorted by terror.
This was just a set of priorities, calmly held, in which his daughter came in second to a slideshow.
And I remember thinking, with a strange detached clarity even in the middle of my fear, that I would never be able to unknow this about him.
Some things you learn about a person can be unlearned, softened by later evidence, folded back into a generous overall picture.
But there are a few revelations that are permanent, that reorganize everything you thought you knew and cannot be reorganized back.