It would be easy to say that everything changed the moment we drove through those gates, those rough wooden gates. Truth was, it all changed the summer before, after Daddy's accident. The road to Canaan was long, like the Israelites on their own way to the promised land. We were a chosen people, too, and we had Henrietta to prove it. But that was all before, before I knew what I know now. There are moments when I miss those days, those magical, mysterious, hopeful days. They were also days filled with darkness and secrets and ignorance. Try to remember that, too, I tell myself. I do remember, but it's harder now than it was before. I must tell the story now, before it passes and there is no one left to remember.

***

You could say the story began back in 1957. Mamma and Daddy met at academy but didn't start dating until