My mother and I looked at each other then, full in the face, more frankly than we’d done since I was small. I realized with a jolt that I was taller than she was by at least half a foot. When on earth had that happened? The realization made me want to sit down on the stairs and cry. It seemed to signify something terrible about the world: something that couldn’t – or mustn’t- be put into words. And I could see, looking down into her startled, anxious face, that my mother felt exactly the same way.

My mother and I looked at each other then, full in the face, more frankly than we’d done since I was small. I realized with a jolt that I was taller than she was by at least half a foot. When on earth had that happened? The realization made me want to sit down on the stairs and cry. It seemed to signify something terrible about the world: something that couldn’t – or mustn’t- be put into words. And I could see, looking down into her startled, anxious face, that my mother felt exactly the same way.

– John Wray –

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