HIS GRANDMOTHER BURNED A FOUR-YEAR-OLD’S TEDDY BEAR—BUT THE KEY INSIDE EXPOSED A $25 MILLION FAMILY SECRET
/
Chapter 19 / 27
Chapter 19 - MILO AND THE FIREPLACE
Milo avoided the ballroom.
Then fireplaces generally.
At home, our library had a gas fireplace behind glass.
He refused to enter when it was on.
Dr. Erin Bell, his therapist, said:
“Do not turn proximity into recovery.”
I had learned that lesson before she finished saying it.
“Then what?”
“Let him control distance.”
We kept it off.
Winter came.
One evening Milo asked:
“Fire?”
“You want it on?”
“No.”
“Then no.”
Two weeks later:
“Can little?”
Gas fireplaces do not have little settings? Ours did.
Low.
Glass front.
He sat across the room holding Bruno.
Five minutes.
“Off.”
I turned it off.
No applause.
Another month.
He sat closer.
Then forgot to be afraid while playing with blocks.
That was the real progress.
May you like
Not confronting a flame.
Forgetting it long enough to be four.
