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harder than they were for Mama. She managed to get

me in the house and up the stairs to my little room. It

was actually a bit smaller than the room I had been

living in at the Tate house, but it was my room and

full of my memories. It was like seeing an old friend

again.

"It's so good to be home, Mama," I said. She helped me into bed. "Just get some rest,

honey. I'll be right here if you need me," she added.

She said something else, but I didn't hear it. Before

she had completed the sentence, I was asleep. Daddy returned sometime before morning,

bitter and angry about the money he had lost

gambling, raging that he had been cheated and that he

would get revenge. He was quite drunk and smashed a chair in anger, splintering it to bits. It woke me and sent Mama flying down to bawl him out. I heard the shouting, his pounding the walls and stomping the floor. I heard the door slam so hard, the whole shack shook, and then it was deadly quiet. My eyes shut themselves and didn't open again until the sunlight brushed my face. They fluttered open, and for a moment I didn't know where I was. After a moment, it all came rushing back over me, including the racket I had heard in the middle of the night. Mama, anticipating my awakening, stepped into the room with a cup of rich Cajun coffee, the steam rising from

the mug.

"Got to get you up and about, honey. Women

who lay around like sick people after they give birth

usually develop some problem or another," she said. I sat up and took the mug of coffee. "Was I

dreaming or was Daddy screaming and yelling last

night?" I asked her.

She shook her head. "I wish you had been

dreaming. No, he came home in one of his drunken

states again, claiming he had been cheated out of the

money he lost at cards. Instead of finding a good job

and working hard, he keeps trying to make a killing

somewhere. He works harder at not working than he

would if he worked," she added.

"Does he know I'm home?"

"I tried to tell him, but he wasn't hearing

anything but his own stupid voice last night." "Where is he?"

"He fell asleep in his truck last I saw, but when