My Mother, My Sister, My Stranger

Summary

The year my mother remarried, she took me, just ten years old, to the Vital Records Office.

"Your new dad already has a son and a daughter. It wasn't easy for me to find someone, so I didn't tell him I have a daughter too."

I looked up, confused and innocent. "Mom, then what about me?"

The new household register was issued. My mother gestured for me to open it.

My grandparents had become my legal "mother and father" in the relationship column, while my mother had become my legal sister.

"You should call Grandma 'Mom' now," she said, pocketing the document.