Born a Crime

and heartfelt with his apologies: He
didn’t mean it. He knows he was
wrong. He’ll never do it again. My
grandmother convinced my mom
that she should give Abel a second
chance. Her argument was
basically, “All men do it.” My
grandfather, Temperance, had hit
her. Leaving Abel was no guarantee
it wouldn’t happen again, and at
least Abel was willing to apologize.
So my mom decided to give him
another chance. We drove back to
Eden Park together, and for years,
nothing—for years Abel didn’t lay a
finger on her. Or me. Everything
went back to the way it was.