BC Jeb and I knew each other so little, I could quantify a lifetime of words between us.
I have never invited Jeb, bc she treats me the same as the other women in our family. I was thrilled whenever she somehow showed up (I'm guessing Stella). I was happy to have a person at the party, I had been told Jeb's entire life that she is the most talented beautiful person ever born, it felt nice people got to see I'm sisters with a celebrity. At the parties, she never talked to me bc she was immediately so popular.
The year she got married, she said "isn't it interesting, you don't have to trim babies nails. They tear off cleanly."
I'm flashbscking a flashback. For several years, Stephen would have Jeb watch as she trimmed my nails very short bc I would cut my palms if I had any nail. The bleeding quickly stopped within a day, but the fresh skin beneath gets infected easily, and my Hindi neighbor, mother of 4, usually in one of 3 sari, university professor would end up using an entire box of bandaids on my finger tips, that Stephen claimed we were too poor to replace. Stephen said washing my hands and asking for a new band-aid is selfish.
That's why I'm not angry with Jeb. Jeb doesn't know her self is not necessarily stacked with Stephen's self, and when Jeb discerns her self is ven diagrammed with her mother's self, that another section completely undiscovered and limitless awaits, Jeb needs grace and pity.
