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Show Woodworth/258 "Do you remember Mrs. Watkins? Lucy's mother?" Marty nods. "She was an alcoholic. Can you imagine that? She drove your carpool. I don't know what I am, Marty. A lot of things I'm not." She stops talking and swallows hard. The trace of a frown brushes her face, and her eyes wander in the glom. The room has the warm, sweet smell of mother. Her forehead is warm. "But here I am. I could have been driving. I could have been on a ladder." Her voice catches on a sob. "I could have been killed, or paralyzed, and just a burden on all of you." She turns her head sharply away from Marty and gasps. Marty can feel her body heaving, then slowing. "I've made mistakes with you all. Certainly with Jake, there are..." "You haven't made mistakes, Mom," Marty interrupts. Her mother shakes her head quickly and starts again. "I've made mistakes with you all. With you, and Jake, and your father. But I never knew..." She stops again, closing her eyes. "I wish I had a cigarette," she says. Marty can see the glitter of tears on her face. "Do you want me to get one? she asks. "Un-huh," her mother says. She holds her breath, swallows a sob, and gasps. "I just thought. I thought I just had to try harder. To be perfect. Now I guess I've stopped. Trying for perfection. I just want to be. Adequate. Start at adequate. Who knows with Jake? Who knows with..." "But I should have told you. If I'd asked Jake..." Marty interrupts. "If we hadn't sent him to boarding school," her mother bursts in. "If we had been stricter with him when he was younger. If |