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Show in my father's house/ 10 7 explained. "Like medicine." But the wine did not help. The next week they went to another doctor. This time, my mother came home with a tight mouth and clenched fists. "He said it's all in my head, that we women enjoy our depressions!" she told Aunt Sarah. "I could have hit him over the head with a frying pan!" Aunt Sarah smiled. "Too bad you didn't have one handy. It would have done you good." But my mother did not stay angry. Soon she was sad again, weeping over the laundry, the ironing, the bread dough, the baby. Whenever I went outside, I reassured her I would be right back. "Can you take care of yourself for awhile, Mama?" And she nodded, biting her lip as though she wasn't quite sure that she could. One day in late summer, they took Grandmother Allred to the hospital. I asked my mother why she was sick and why my father could not make her well. "She's just very old, darling. Old people get sick and no one can do anything." "Are you old, Mama?" A shadow passed over her face. "Not very. I'm only thirty five." "Then why are you sick?" |