Father

Scott’s father is in prison now, decades after the abuse began, and more than two years after the law finally caught up with him, because he made a deal: plead guilty and they would allow him to first finish his research . . . and allow Scott the time to build on the lies he’d grown up with: the case had never gone to trial; his father had sacrificed himself for science . . . and besides, why had she waited so long? And why had Scott gone back to sleep that night, his father’s voice in the room next to his, and his stepsister crying?

Photo by Adriano Agulló