You can put a for-sale sign on it or you can give it away for free. Nice girls don’t do that and 
sometimes we must suffer to be beautiful. That’s not for people like us. They can kiss 
my ass.  When you turn 18, you pay rent in this house. That’s not what a lady does.  That 
isn’t all the way clean. Someday I hope your child talks back like that to you. Those pants 
(your hair, that skirt) look like the very devil. Eat your peas, please, there are children 
starving in Africa.  I’m so proud of you, and don’t forget to read. Good night, dear, good 
night.

Nice girls suffer for free, especially in Africa, and people like us can just kiss my ass.  
Someday I hope you’ll be so proud of you. When you see that you look like the devil, 
you’ll know you’ve passed 18; then you’ll begin to pay the rent for being beautiful. Give 
it away till you are all the way clean. That’s not what I’d hoped, that you’d have a child 
who did not talk at all or who could not stop repeating the last phrase of the last thing you 
said. I’d have given my life to spare you my life, dear. Good night, good night. 

Back to Snip  ||  Next: That Was the Thumb of One