I watched as the officer sighed then turned to look at my mother, “Mrs. Peters, we have a whole filing cabinet full of complaints about your neighbors here, but they’re all false.”

“No they’re not. What are you talking about?”

The officer ignored her and continued, “And soon I’m going to come her and arrest you for fraud. Now I’ll be off.” He got into his cruiser then and drove off, my mother’s mouth agap, “So how is that daughter of yours anyway?” Mrs. McCullen asked, “I haven’t seen her in years.”

My mother turned away from our house to look Mrs. McCullen straight in the eye, “Yeah, and that’s the way it should be.” Then our front door slammed shut. I quickly rushed back into my room and sat on the ground, staring at the door to the outside world.

I know Mother will take her anger out on me. So I just sat and closed my eyes, preparing for the blows that I knew would come soon.