Hillbilly Elegy

walking-around liberty, while the other
was sufficiently off the grid that
“summoning” him would require some
serious detective work. We also found it
frightening: Without a legal guardian
around to sign the letter, we didn’t know
what the hell to do. But as we had with
other challenges, we improvised.
Lindsay forged Mom’s signature, and the
school district stopped sending letters
home.
On designated weekdays and
weekends, we visited our mother at the
CAT house. Between the hills of
Kentucky, Mamaw and her guns, and
Mom’s outbursts, I thought that I had
seen it all. But Mom’s newest problem