Character Analysis: The Perfect Bonsai

"The Bonsai and other short stories by “I"- The Perfect Bonsai cont... The bonsai rebels Part 17

“My child, you are not responsible for his death. He was a sick man. He was on …”

“No, he has been faking it all these years. He bought his pills. He stashed them under one of the pots. He faked it. He took placebos to fool everyone. He never had any health issues. He just used it to manipulate us.”

“How do you know?”

“He told me... He told me when he was high on drugs.”

And I revealed all what Tommy had told me. I cried. I screamed, I wept with rage and grief. Grief for my wasted life. Grief of what I could have been. Grief at being so stupid that I allowed my fire to die. I become a torch in Tommy’s hand, to be used as he wished, to be placed where he wanted to me to be.

“Tessa, what you say in this confession will go

He cried. But I felt no pity. I made him beg for food, I made him beg to be changed. I made him beg to die, for he asked me to finish him off. I made him beg… beg…beg… his eyes pleaded but I did not relent.

To be cont….

"The Bonsai and other short stories by “I"- The Perfect Bonsai cont... The bonsai rebels Part 18

My sobs filled the small cubicle, the church, and my whole life. The tears ran down my face, my neck, wetting the top of my blouse. My hiccups overwhelmed me. I felt like my lungs would burst. I cannot say how long I sat and drowned in my own sorrow, sorrow for a life abused and used, for wasting my love, my emotions on a worthless man.

No matter how Tommy’s past had been painful, he had no right to punish me for his parents’ neglect. I felt sorry for the baby and child Tommy, but not for Tommy the husband. As a father, he had tried to make amends to his sons. As a husband, he had failed miserably.

At last, there was silence, “You must be thinking I am a terrible person?”

“It is not for me to judge you. There is high3 power above. I am here to help