My Sister

Summary

When I was ten, for my sister’s birthday, she wanted a porcelain doll.

My father said, "Go on, slap your sister, and I'll buy it for you."

And so, I took a hard slap across the face.

When I was seventeen, my father sent my sister to study abroad but refused to pay for my college.

I begged him for days. He threw fifty dollars at me. "I don't owe you a damn thing, Elara."

When I was twenty-seven, my sister returned from overseas, took a liking to my husband, and began to subtly, and not-so-subtly, flirt with him.

My father sneered at me. "If you can't keep a man, that's your own failure."