I had almost stopped thinking they were real at all. It feels like such a long time ago that I last had to talk to them. It feels as though they should have just stopped when I went. As though they should have just put themselves away in a little cupboard like the good set of spoons that never gets used. I can't picture them going to church and coming home and washing the car and making dinner even when I'm not there to see.

I should probably feel sorry or sad or something like that. But I don't. What makes me feel weird is that all the teachers at school and all the kids and Billy Gibbs and everyone is going to see my picture on the news looking like I'd just been crying, and they're going to see Maisie and Donald and they're going to know what they're like just from watching them on TV. Even people I don't know are going to see.