In Which an Atheist Recalls a Pivotal Moment from Age 7, 1973

By Tamm Walters

Latchkey daughter to a single working mother, she enjoys her afternoons alone with the soft-spoken Mister Rogers. A man who wears a tie every day and created a neighborhood of make-believe—with a castle, museum, a school in a tree, but not one single church in sight. She dances like a whirling dervish as he sings. She is his friend! She is special!

On this day, her dance is interrupted. The closet door behind her slowly opens.

She freezes.

Her mother emerges from the cleft.

“I just wanted to see,” Mother says, “what you do when you think I’m not watching.”