Home Entertainment Game Technology Advertisement Part 2: For eight years, my parents made me leave the house every time my brother brought his fiance over; Mom said, “She comes from a good family, don’t embarrass us”; Dad added, “Just disappear for the weekend”; I did; then one weekend, I never came back; it took them four years to find out where I went.

“What does that mean?”

Mara opened the insurance file.

The policy was real.

Dad had purchased a $400,000 life-insurance policy on me while I was still a minor.

Parents can insure dependent children.

The policy continued into my late teens.

After my hospitalization, my parents filed a death claim.

The insurer received what appeared to be a certified county death record.

Payment followed.

“Four hundred thousand?”

“Four hundred twelve thousand after additional riders.”

My hands shook.

“What was the cause of death?”

Mara turned the paper.

I read:

Sudden cardiac arrest following acute medical complications.

That was close enough to what had actually happened to be horrifying.

I had suffered a severe cardiac rhythm disturbance after a reaction to medication.

For several minutes in the emergency department, my condition had been critical.

I had stabilized.

Spent eleven days in hospital.

Gone home.

Someone had taken a real medical emergency and moved one line.