“Okay. Good. So are you saying it’s cathartic?”

“Cathartic?” Chelsea asked the guy next to her.

Toby Reynolds leaned over and said, “Yeah, like or-gas-mic.” Then he bumped fists with Adrian.

Chelsea squished up her pert nose. “Really?”

“He means like liberating,” Cole corrected. “Like a release.”

“Oh, yeah, yeah, that’s what I mean, it’s like an incredible release,” Chelsea said with a smile.

Toby grunted. “Yeah, that’s what an orgasm is, duh.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s stay focused. For the purposes of this discussion, catharsis is the act of bringing complex emotions and feelings that burden us into consciousness and affording them with a releasing expression. Sometimes that expression includes artwork and poetry—like we see in the postcards on the Web site. It also involves an element of physical release, a sense of getting the bad stuff out of our bodies, our minds, which is why simply making the postcard is not enough. We have to send it. We have to pass it to someone else, preferably someone who won’t also be burdened.”

“Which is why an anonymous Web site works.”

“Right, Ashley, very good. So let’s talk about some of the postcards that stood out to you and why they might be cathartic.”

My mind flashed to the picture of the man kissing my mom. A secret picture of two people carrying on a secret life they weren’t going to stop. A secret inside of a secret. I knew and I didn’t tell you.

There was nothing cathartic about it.

As if a stupid little postcard could set people free of their pain, their guilt. Making it all better. So quick. So easy. I wanted to laugh. These cards didn’t set people free. The two people in the picture were still carrying on their affair. Kori never had to tell me the truth. And worse, with her little words—I knew and I didn’t tell you—she came off like such a martyr. No, the postcards didn’t set you free. The postcards made something ugly look beautiful. That’s all.

I raised my hand. Doc wanted participation out of me; he was going to get it. He nodded in my direction. “It’s not cathartic.

It’s mocking. These aren’t people telling their secrets to liberate themselves. They covet them.”

“Covet. Great word. Interesting. Why do you think they do that?”