“At the time, I thought I knew about sadness. What it felt like to cry after a screaming match with your sisters, to be told you couldn’t go somewhere, like the public swimming pool at the end of the street. I recalled moments in which I’d banged an elbow against a counter, the shock more intense than the pain, thinking this must have been what my mother’s ailments were like. In truth, I understood little about her. She remained se-cluded in her room behind a door clicked shut.”
