Chapter 8 - The police calls us separately
Thanksgiving produced criminal problems too.
Rachel hit Lily.
I hit Rachel twice.
Video existed.
Thomas had a doorbell camera.
One guest had recorded part of dinner.
Another had taken a short phone video after shouting started.
Police separated:
Rachel’s assault on Lily.
My retaliatory slaps.
Rachel claimed:
“Corinne attacked me viciously.”
I said:
“I slapped her twice.”
“Was Lily behind you by then?”
“Yes.”
“Was Rachel advancing?”
“No.”
My lawyer later told me:
“That honesty prevents us from pretending self-defense.”
Good.
I did not want a lie.
Rachel’s conduct involved a child.
Visible cheek injury.
Witnesses.
Her statement:
“She deserved that slap.”
My conduct involved an adult.
Two slaps.
No serious injury.
Rachel’s medical evaluation showed:
Facial redness.
Minor lip swelling where her tooth caught inside her cheek.
No fracture.
No concussion.
The prosecutor handled the acts separately.
Mark asked me:
“Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
“Of charges?”
“Of what Lily learned watching all of us.”
That was worse.
Adults had turned Thanksgiving into a demonstration of hierarchy enforced by hands.
I had joined it for two seconds.
May you like
I could explain why.
I could not make that invisible.
