Vincent in “Sticks and Stones”

[writing in his journal] It is late. Yet, I cannot sleep. I am thinking of Laura. Cold up there tonight. I can feel it. The chill down through the layers of pipes there to protect us, insulate us. What is happening to her? Can there be anything so painful as watching a child that you love falter in the world? Refuse your help? At what point do you draw quietly away from their lives? At what point do you say, "I am no longer responsible." We taught Laura to depend on herself, to think her own thoughts. Do we now tell her to disregard those lessons, to doubt herself, to change? She is a woman now, no longer a child. What is happening to her up there?