Hillbilly Elegy

clambered out of the pool as I looked
around fearfully, terrified of any sign of
my mother. We went inside, and I called
Mamaw and repeated the woman’s
address. “Please hurry up,” I told her.
“Mom is going to find me.”
Mom did find me. She must have
seen where I ran from the highway. She
banged on the door and demanded that I
come out. I begged the owner not to open
the door, so she locked the doors and
promised Mom that her two dogs—each
no bigger than a medium-sized house cat
—would attack her if she tried to enter.
Eventually Mom broke down the
woman’s door and dragged me out as I
screamed and clutched for anything—the