L’Enfant unique

A woman and a man are awaiting the birth of their child. And as they wait for him, they wonder how they will protect him from all the dangers of the world. Then the child is born, grows up, is adored, learns what a child needs to know and what he needs to be able to do. And he grows up even more. His mother and father separate. He lives sometimes with one and sometimes with the other. And the more he grows, the more he rebels. And he becomes the terrifying voice that exposes all the lies, all the compromises, all the sacrifices, and all the flaws of the two people who brought him into the world. And we no longer know at all how to talk to him or what to say to him. And we no longer even know who he is—this child we brought into the world, who now eludes all the protections we had planned for him. Who eludes everything.