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all: she got herself a night job at One-Eyed Bill's

waitressing and helping out in the kitchen.

"By then I was able to make dinner for Rodney

and me, and I cleaned the house and did most all the

chores. That's why I told you earlier that it got so my

little brother didn't know who was his mother and

who was his sister.

"Momma was supposed to always be home by one o'clock, but there were many nights when I know she didn't come home until three or four. She'd be so dead out of it in the morning, I could drop a frying pan next to her bed and she wouldn't as much as bat an eyelash. Lots of nights she was too drunk or tired to bother getting out of her clothes. She smelled so bad from beer and whiskey, the whole bedroom reeked like a One-Eyed Bill's. The stench would reach through the walls into my room. I'd have to open all

the windows in the place."

"Ugh," Misty said holding her stomach. Jade

swallowed hard and turned away for a moment,

pressing the back of her hand against her mouth. I

couldn't blame them.

"You get used to it:' I muttered. "You'd never

dream you would, but you do. There ain't much else

you can do, but turn the other way most of the time" "I understand," Cat said in a quivering small

voice. She was holding her attention on me. "You do? That's good, because I don't," I said.

She just continued to stare, but I felt she was looking

at her own memories now, not mine. After a moment

she seemed to snap out of it and look down again. "Granny came by often to help out and

occasionally make us a real good dinner:' I continued. "She and Momma had some big fights, but Momma would wail and claim she was doing the best she could, deserted by a husband and left with two kids to

raise and support.

"'Why do you think that man left you?' Granny

would ask her and that would be the same as lighting

that wick again. Momma wo

uld go wild, her arms and

legs and even her head swinging so hard, I thought

they might just fly off her body and bounce against

the wall along with her screams.

"'How can my own mother blame me for that