He thought it was just anger.
He figured I’d be crawling back to him,
begging for forgiveness.
Well, as the favorite, he always got his way.
I wasn’t going to waste my breath.
Let him spend his life running around to
doctors with his brain–damaged kid and
Shelly.
The papers for moving back to the city would
be coming out any day now.
Then no one would find me, Claire, and no
one could use me again.
The day they announced who could move
back to the city, I went to the bulletin board
early.
I couldn’t find my name.
People were whispering, shooting me nasty
looks.
The village chief called me into his office,
saying I was being denied because of my
“personal conduct” and that I needed to think
about my actions, and the village would
decide what to do with me.
I had done everything right this time! Why
was this still happening?
I staggered home, and someone dumped a
bucket of dirty water on me.
“Don’t walk in front of my house, you filthy
tramp!”
“Yeah! Having a baby out of wedlock and
then abandoning it!
“Thank God the kind Shane and Shelly found
the baby, or he’d be dead!”
This kind of thing wasn’t unusual in the
countryside.
