Selina stared at her. “But you taught me. I was supposed to be perfect.”
Her grandmother nodded slowly. “Good. That’s the first true thing you’ve said in years.” selinas shame
“I taught you to see ,” her grandmother said. “And seeing begins with admitting you are blind. Your shame isn’t a punishment, Selina. It’s your new eyes. The only people who never poison anyone are the ones who never feed anyone. The question is: will you let your shame make you small, or will you let it make you careful?” Selina stared at her
That was the useful part of the story.
For weeks, Selina hid. She stopped answering calls. She pulled down her foraging blog. The word “expert” now felt like a brand on her skin. She was certain everyone was whispering, “She nearly killed her own niece.” She avoided the woods entirely, as if the trees themselves might judge her. “Good
And in the end, Selina saved more people by admitting her one mistake than she ever had by being perfectly right.
Selina’s throat tightened. “I… I don’t know anymore.”