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My name is Lisa Christine LeBlanc. I was born in Dorion, a small town west of Montreal where the streets bear our family’s name. Ten days before my second birthday, our town experienced an accident involving a school bus and a train. Nineteen teenagers died on their way to a high school dance. Because the bus was too full my cousin was sent away by the bus driver, who also died. Though she wanted to, my sister wasn’t allowed to go to the dance. Our family was spared but the accident (often whispered) was a tremendous tragedy our whole town suffered. It was kept a secret, never spoken of in public. Many families were permanently scarred. I was sad and cried a lot during my early childhood. I was empathic, and didn’t know. |
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I’m visiting my friend at her back door. We’re both five. Her face is red and drenched with tears. Her eyes are puffy and she’s sobbing deep, long sobs. She tells me her mommy’s dying. I think to myself for a split second and decide the best way; in fact the only way I know how to deal with her terrified tears is to deny the inevitable. “No! Your Mom’s not going to die,” I say as adamantly as a five-year old can. “Yes she IS!” She yells at me. “She told me today! She said I have to be brave and that my auntie will take care of me.” |
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I went straight into denial. My friend’s mommy was my second mommy. She took me under her wing when she showed up with my friend on her hip, asking my mother if we could play together. We were three. At eleven, we sit far apart from each other at the funeral. I can hear my friend’s wails from where I’m sitting at the back of the packed church. We grow apart for a few years. I'm hurt, sad, angry, frustrated, in pain. I was empathic, and didn’t know. |
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5:30AM, the phone rings in the kitchen. The heat of the summer has me sleeping downstairs in the living room, off the kitchen, where it's cooler. I'm thirteen. The woman on the phone asks to speak to my mother. I wake her up and hand her the phone. I wait until I see my mother buckle with a groan and exhale “No.” I feel my body shutter. “What?” I exclaim. My brother has been in a serious car accident. He is in a coma. My parents aren’t letting me know what is happening. I feel hurt, angry, frustrated, in pain. I was empathic, and didn’t know. |