Pigs in Heaven
By Barbara Kingsolver
What changed your mind about Jax?
When the social worker asked Turtle about her family today, you know what she said? She said she didn’t have one.
Thats not right! She was confused.
Yeah. She’s confused, because I’m confused. I think of Jax and Lou Ann and Dwayne Ray, and of course you, and Mattie, all those people as my family. But when you never put a name on things, you’re just accepting that it’s okay for people to leave when they feel like it.
They leave anyway.
But you don’t have to accept it. That’s what your family is, the people you won’t let go of for anything.
Maybe.
Like, look at Mr. Stillwater. Cash. He’s still aching for Turtle after all this time. I hate to admit it, and I’m not going to say I think he should have her. Turtle is mine now. But he doesn’t accept that she’s gone. You can see it.
Alice has seen it in Cash. She saw it long before she knew what it was. A man who would go out of his way.