Arts & Letters
Willowbrook
(excerpt)
Within a family, silence becomes its own language. The silence of disapproval, a cold shoulder of absence, can hang in the air like an echo. It waits for you to notice. The silence of denial hoards its safety, fingers in its ears. The silence of inattention might sound like ice cubes in a glass, adult laughter. Might feel like independence, or invisibility. Families speak gentler silences, too. A wordless acquittal. A hand on the shoulder that feels like forgiveness.
What can I say about the silence around Michael? I noticed a heightened attention, a change in vibration in the room, when I asked about him, as if there were static on the radio.
