When the neighbors saw me, they often praised me to Mary, "Alicer is sensible and well-behaved. My daughter runs away all day long like a boy."
"Sam is so lucky to have such a good daughter, and he even has a pair of twins. It's enviable."
Mary smiled, and I saw on her face the pride of receiving approval from others.
It turned out that as long as I behaved well, she would be happy.
It was easy to be sensible as long as I didn't want anything and just let them take everything from me.
If I couldn't give them what they wanted, I would become an ungrateful person or a jinx.
I was not even worthy of having my name in this family.
None of them thought about whether something happened to me.
5
I followed them out the door and sat in the passenger seat.
I fell lightly into Mary's arms.
In my memory, Mary's embrace was warm, but I couldn't feel it anymore.
It was ridiculous. I saved up money to buy this car for my family. But when I was alive, I never sat in it.
They usually didn't take me out. Even if they took me, Tony and Yolanda wouldn't let me sit in the back seat because it was too crowded.
Mary told me to be more sensible, "Taxi is expensive. Just squeeze in the trunk."