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Show in my father's house/ 92 My mother winced and her hand drifted to her heart. "I wish you could forget all about that. You're not even supposed to know." "How can I forget it?" She shook her head. "I wonder if the authorities have any idea what they're doing to us." "Doing what? Are they sending Daddy back to prison?" "I don't think so, darling...I...I hope not." "Did they say so?" I She shook her head, then nodded slowly. "They said Daddy mustn't live with anyone but Aunt Gerda. All you little ones prove that he disobeyed them." "But he already went!" "I know." "It isn't fair!" "I know." Then she grasped me by the shoulders. "Listen, Jeannie. You must not tell anyone about these things. If you tell the wrong people -- even some of your own brothers and sisters--they might tell someone else. Then the authorities would find out and take you away from me!" I gasped. "Away from you?" She nodded. "Do you understand?" A great black terror grew within me. I nodded very hard. My mother gazed at me for a long time, her eyes misty. I followed her down the hall to her bedroom. She knelt beside |