“Contrary to belief,” his voice sneered out of the dark, “your beloved father wasn’t as great as he seemed.”
“How so?” I spat in anger & pain.
“You remember the time when your family was exceedingly close to going financially under?”
Did I ever; they hated to, but my parents seriously considered putting me up for adoption.
“But things, miraculously, got better! Luck?” I’d always believed it to be.
“Ha! Luck!” He spat on the ground. “He looked everywhere, day & night.”
He had, sometimes for weeks on end.
“It just so happens that around this same time I was prowling around your little town. It happened that on this night he bumped into my turf. Well, after what he found, I couldn’t let him go. He pleaded that he had to get a job to support his wife & darling daughter. So, merciful man that I am, I offered him a choice: his life, or his daughter. ‘Oh, sir! She’s only a girl!’” He laughed. “I revised my offer to when she came of age. He willingly agreed.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I just couldn’t