Emperor's Children

Author's name: Claire Masoud

"Oh, I see. The thing is, you, my nephew, had to stomp through my private papers in my drawer and let the whole damned world know your opinion of me. You know what you are? You're a little shit, a nobody, with the intelligence of a moth. You're a dingy speck of that village, which is a dingy speck itself. You're nothing. And do you know how I know? Because I was just like you. Hell, I was you, except I wasn't fat. But I knew my place, so I stayed away. I knew what I had to learn, so I hunkered down and kept my mouth shut and listened and learned and worked, you little shit, worked until I made something of myself." * Murray Thwaite, a famous critic who left his village young, learned and worked his way up to the cultural elite in New York, and never returned. He is cared for by his devoted wife and his only daughter, who he secretly believes is a bad writer. That is, until Butty comes along He repents, fleeing the village to his uncle Murray, who sees in him a legendary figure and looks up to him with great esteem. While Murray sees in his nephew a seed worthy of care and takes him into his home, Potti discovers his uncle's falsehood by flipping through the papers in his office and getting closer and closer to him. He decides to strip him completely naked in front of his high-class cultural circle and secede from this family.