Twisting Thread

I made one loop and that was for Mother, a lovely woman who had moved to the country from the city to be with my Father, and that was another loop. My mother had been a high society girl, up on all of the fashions and always going out dancing with her friends. She was the daughter of a judge who then went into politics and made a name for himself. I still remembered my stern Grandfather, even though he had died a long time ago.

My Father had been a man born to a poor family on a farm. The eighth out of ten children, of course my grandparents on that side had no time for any one child so no one had paid a lot of attention to him. This my Father had quickly learned gave him a lot of opportunities to do whatever he wanted, including dating the judge’s daughter when his parents thought that he was helping somewhere on the farm.

When my parents got married both sets of grandparents were shocked. I guess Mother hadn’t told Grandfather about the country boy she was seeing just like Father hadn’t told Grandmother he was seeing the judge’s daughter. Well Mother’s father bought them a plot of land in the country for a wedding present just like they had wanted. So my parents settled down to farm in peace and they had several children, including me.

There’s another loop, that’s for my elder sister, Gillian. Gillian is one of the most charming and charismatic people I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. She always has a kind word for everyone, at least to their face, and that’s the problem. She decided to take after Grandfather and get into law and politics.

My older brother, I make a loop, his name was Gerald. He died young, joined the army and died with honor on the field of battle. I am glad of it; he didn’t have to see what happened later. I have always mourned him; don’t get me wrong, I wish that I had listened to his warning. A few days before he went to battle he told me to avoid Gillian and my future husband, that they would cause me trouble. I was always his favorite sister so he was worried about me, but I didn’t pay him any attention. He didn’t trust our younger sister much either.

Then there’s my younger sister and her loop, and I suppose that I can blame her as the source of all of my trouble. Her name is Grace, I wish she would live up to her name; I have never gotten along with her. She was the one to introduce me to my husband though, for which I don’t know if I should thank her or not, but there’s her loop done.

Here I am, already at my husband’s loop, Christopher. He was another politician, like my Grandfather. He did have a lot of charm, I will give him that, at first we all thought that he would hit it off with Gillian, they talked a lot together. In the end it turned out that their relationship was all business, politics in other words, and in romance I was his only interest though we had nothing in common.

Here we are at my loop, and I suppose I will have to actually think of my story, just as I have told the stories of the others as I make these loops. When I married Christopher I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I knew that he was a politician but even though my Grandfather and sister were in politics I knew nothing of politics. I had never taken an interest in such things. There would have been no way for me to realize that my husband and sister Gillian were in shady dealings together.

My sister Gillian has been in prison for the last two years, thrown to the wolves by my husband to get them off of his tail for a short time. My husband is gone now. I tighten the knot that I had been creating with our names and my thoughts, made by so many loops. I hung the knot on a string around my baby daughter’s neck before handing her to her nurse. I had no illusions that it would keep her safe; I have never been superstitious like that, but I thought it would be nice for her to have something of us. Then I stepped out of the house to face the angry mob, screaming for my blood in exchange for my husband’s sins.