They Buried My Name, Now I'm the One Burying Them

Synopsis

My name was scraped out of the family Bible with a knife. Not crossed out. Not scribbled over. My oldest brother, John Carter, took a paring knife and carved the name "Lila Carter" off the page, stroke by stroke. I was twenty-five that year. The whole family stood in the living room and watched. Nobody said a word. My mother stood in the doorway, clutching an old winter coat, but she didn't say anything either. I walked out the front door of the Carter house carrying two plastic bags, and I heard John's voice behind me. "As of today, this family has no one by that name." That was 2006. Now it was 2026, and I hadn't been back to that town in twenty years. But they called me. They said my name was in the will.