called my parents and I’d be kicked out
of school. Instead, she gave me a lecture
about fighting and made me practice my
handwriting instead of playing outside. I
detected a hint of approval from the
teacher, and I sometimes wonder
whether there were school politics at
work in her inability to appropriately
discipline the class bully. At any rate,
Mamaw found out about the fight
directly from me and praised me for
doing something really good. It was the
last time I ever got in a fistfight.
While I recognized that things weren’t
perfect, I also recognized that our family
shared a lot with most of the families I
saw around me. Yes, my parents fought