Hillbilly Elegy

Papaw’s neighbors would yell so loudly
that we could hear it from inside his
house, and it was so common that he’d
always say, “Goddammit, there they go
again.” I once saw a young couple’s
argument at the local Chinese buffet
escalate into a symphony of curse words
and insults. Mamaw and I used to open
the windows on one side of her house so
we could hear the substance of the
explosive fights between her neighbor
Pattie and Pattie’s boyfriend. Seeing
people insult, scream, and sometimes
physically fight was just a part of our
life. After a while, you didn’t even
notice it.
I always thought it was how adults