“She worked sixty hours a week for minimum wage.

What kind of life was that for a four-year-old girl?”

“It was her life,” I said.

“And it was my life too.”

“Frank had the hardware store,” Gene said.

He clicked his ballpoint twice, quick and hard.

“He had a three-bedroom house, a yard and a good family name in this town.

A little girl needs a father who can put food on the table, not a mother who leaves her with the neighbors till midnight.”