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student work, no teacher does—you’d drown in it!—but I made a habit of photocopying the best
essays. They make great teaching tools. I never would have used Harry’s in class, it was far too
personal for that, but I thought I remembered making a copy of it just the same, because it had
provoked such a strong emotional reaction in me. I pulled open the bottom drawer and began
thumbing through the rat’s nest of folders and loose papers. After fifteen sweaty minutes, I found it. I
sat down in my desk chair and began to read.
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It wasnt a day but a night. The night that change my life was the night my father murdirt my mother
and two brothers and hurt me bad. He hurt my sister too, so bad she went into a comah. In three years she
died without waking up. Her name was Ellen and I loved her very much. She love to pick flowers and put
them in vayses. What happen was like a horra movie. I never go see horra movies because on Halloween
night in 1958 I lived thru one.
My brother Troy was to old for trick and treat (15). He was watching TV with my mother and said
he would help us eat our candy when we came back and Ellen, she said no you won’t, dress up and get
your own, and everybody laughed because we all loved Ellen, she was only 7 but she was a real Lucile
Ball, she could make anybody laugh, even my father (if he was sober that is, when he was drunk he was
always mad). She was going as Princess Summerfall Winterspring (I look it up and that’s how you spell
it) and I was going as Buffalo Bob, both from THE HOWDY DOODY SHOW we like to watch. “Say
kids what time is it?” and “Let’s hear from the Penut Galery” and “Kowabunga, Buffalo Bob!!!” Me
and Ellen love that show. She love the Princess and I love Buffalo Bob and we both love Howdy! We
wanted my brother Tugga (his name was Arthur but everyone called him Tugga, I dont remember why)
to go as “Mayor Fineus T. Bluster” but he wouldnt, he said Howdy Doody was a baby show, he was
going as “Frankinstine” even though Ellen she said that mask was to scary. Also, Tugga, he gave me
some s--t about taking my Daisy air rifle because he said Buffalo Bob didnt have any guns on the TV
show, and my mother she said, “You take it if you want to Harry its not a real gun or even shoot preten
bullets so Buffalo Bob wouldnt mind.” That was the last thing she ever said to me and I’m glad it was a
nice thing because she could be strick.
So we was getting ready to go and I said wait a sec I have to go to the bathroom because I was so
excited. They all laugh at me, even Mom and Troy on the couch but going to pee then save my life because
that was when my dad come in with that hammer. My dad he was mean when he drank and beat up my
mom “time and again.” One time when Troy try to stop him by argueing him out of it, he broke Troys
arm. That time he almost went to jail (my dad I mean). Anyway my mom and dad were “separated” at
this time I’m writing about, and she was thinking about divorcing him, but that wasn’t so easy back in
1958 like it is now.
Anyway, he came in the door and I was in the bathroom peeing and I heard my mother say “Get out of
here with that thing, youre not suppose to be here.” The next thing was she start to scream. Then after
that they was all screaming.
There was more—three terrible pages—but it wasn’t me who had to read them.
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