Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Respecting Privacy

In the process of piling the clothes on top of Shawna's dresser to fold, Stevie jostled the desk, causing the computer's mouse to move. As she matched and folded athletic socks, Stevie surveyed the list of names on the screen. She recognized all of them— Shawna's friends from school or church—except one: someone by the name of Rik. Stevie stopped folding to study the screen. Is this Rik a boy or a girl? Why hasn't Shawna mentioned him or her? Is this someone or something she doesn't want me to know about? Stevie had always respected her children's privacy, but it wasn't until after their seventeen-year-old's fatal overdose that they found the paraphernalia hidden in the back of his closet. Stevie was convinced that, had she and Jon been less concerned about Dougie's privacy and more attentive to the subtle danger signs in his behavior, they might have been able to help him, to save him.

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