Esther pulled the cardboard flaps apart and peered inside the box. “Oh, shit.”
It was their sixteen-millimeter movie projector and a reel of film. She turned to her mother.
“Home movies,” lily said with a forced smile.
“Don't tell me you want us to bond over old times?”
“I want to watch them, that's all. You can join Me ... or you can set it up and leave me ... alone.”
Esther was trapped. Whether she watched the movies or not, she'd know that the film was here, in the house, waiting like a monster beneath a child's bed. She reached deeper into the box and found a folded white sheet and a set of thumbtacks. Their old “screen.”
She set up the projector on a table in the living room, clicked the reel into place, and plugged the cord in. Then she tacked the sheet onto the wall.
She refu
