police, didn’t threaten to sue. What
were they going to do, arrest a
seven-year-old for arson? And we
were so poor you couldn’t actually
sue us for anything. Plus they had
insurance, so that was the end of it.
They kicked Abel out of the
garage, which I thought was
hilarious because the garage, which
was freestanding, was the only
piece of the property left unscathed.
I saw no reason for Abel to have to
leave, but they made him. We
packed up his stuff, put it into our
car, and drove home to Eden Park;
Abel basically lived with us from
then on. He and my mom got into a