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Show in my father's house/ 127 "Those LeBarons," muttered Aunt Helga. "You'd think they'd know better than to put an eight-year old boy on a wild bronco." "Yes, they were really something! But some of them were so nice to us. Maud, for instance: she couldn't have been kinder, pulling vegetables from her garden for us, sharing everything she had. And Joel's another one. I remember how Jake followed him around all day, and I never had to worry as long as he was with Joel." "But some, like Ben...and Lucinda..." Aunt Helga shook her head. "Wasn't that sad?" My mother stared at the highway for a long time before she spoke. "She...wasn't in her right mind. Sometimes she got angry, even dangerous. Her brothers would chain her to her bed or in the goat pen. It made my heart ache, listening to her cry and howl out in that hot sun. They didn't seem to care how hot and thirsty she was. And to this day, I don't believe they had to chain her up like that, like she was a dog. There must be some other way to control such people." "That was probably Ben's bright idea, chaining her up." Aunt Helga said. "You know, he's locked up in the state hospital himself right now." "Is he sick?" I asked. "In the head, like Lucinda. Insanity runs in the family. Dayer always said the madness came from Maude's side, but it could just as well come from his. The story of how he got his |