Chapter 1

At midnight, I got a call from the management office of my mother's apartment complex.

"Ms. Summers, the cardboard and plastic bottles your mother's been collecting have completely blocked the stairwell, and the neighbors are all up in arms about it."

"And, well, she's been dumping filthy waste water everywhere too. We're really out of options here, so I'm afraid we have to ask you to come over."

By the time I rushed over to my mother's place, I found her standing with her hands on her hips, screaming back and forth with a dozen or so neighbors.

"The stairwell is common property! Why shouldn't I be able to use it?!"

"Let me tell you, the cardboard I've collected these past few days is worth at least a hundred bucks. If anybody dares touch my stuff, I'll camp out in their home and never leave!"

Days of overtime and too little sleep had my emotions right at the breaking point, and the stench of filth in the air made me want to gag.

I lost control and screamed at my mother.

"Didn't I just clear out all this garbage of yours last week? How is there this much piled up again?!"

"I give you five thousand a month—isn't that enough? What is it you actually want?"

At my shouting, my mother's eyes turned red in an instant, and her voice shook as she spoke.

"You... I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you, and now you're ganging up on me with outsiders too?"

"Your uncle was right. Daughters can't be counted on. He's the only real family I have."

With a heavy bang, the door slammed shut in my face.

Ha. That uncle who only cares about money?

I dialed Uncle Gerald's number right away.

"Uncle Gerald, I need you to come over here. Mom's causing trouble again."

Section 1

After I hung up, I turned around and apologized to the neighbors.

They were all old neighbors who'd lived in this complex their whole lives, and a lot of them had watched me grow up.

Seeing me apologize, they were still unhappy, but at least they didn't say anything more cutting.

"Jessie, honey, you really do need to talk some sense into your mother. All this cardboard and plastic piled up in the stairwell—never mind the stink and how hard it makes it to get in and out, it's a real safety hazard too."

"That's right. This is an old building. If there's ever a fire or something, all that cardboard of your mom's is nothing but tinder."

"We don't want to give her a hard time, but this really isn't a small matter. You need to work on your mother."

I nodded again and again, said every soothing thing I could, and finally saw the neighbors off.

Once they'd gone, I worked with the management staff, making trip after trip up and down before we finally got all the junk my mother had piled up cleared away.

When it was all finally done, the property manager was breathing hard and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Miss Summers, thank you for cooperating with us."

"But the root of the problem is still your mother. Please have a real talk with her."

I nodded and went back to my mother's door.

From the moment she'd slammed it, her door hadn't opened again.

I took a deep breath and knocked.

The second I knocked, my mother hurled something against the door.

After a huge bang, her furious voice reached my ears.

"Get out of here! You ungrateful traitor, all you do is stand there and watch your own mother get bullied!"

I knew she was in the heat of her temper and wouldn't take in a word I said, so I switched tactics.

"Uncle Gerald will be here any minute. Let me in first."

Sure enough, the instant I mentioned him, my mother opened the door.

But she still didn't say a single word to me. Once the door was open, she went back and sat down on the sofa with a dark look on her face.

I ignored her expression and went straight to the question I most wanted answered.

"Ever since I switched to this job, I've given you five thousand every single month."

"Do you have any idea how many young people only make five thousand a month? Is that really not enough for you?"

Under my questioning, my mother's grim expression wavered a little, but she still steeled herself to come up with excuses.

"Last month your cousin's daughter was starting preschool. Do you know how expensive tuition is these days?"

"She's my grandniece too. Was I supposed to just stand by and watch the child have nowhere to go to school?"

To keep from making things worse, I forced down my anger and kept pressing.

"Then what about the money from the months before that? Don't tell me you're living paycheck to paycheck."

This time, she clearly had far less to stand on.

"The month before last, your aunt took a fall and had to be hospitalized—that cost money."

"And the month before that, your uncle said he had to catch up on his Social Security payments, so I lent it to him..."

My mother's voice grew softer and softer as she went on, until at the end I couldn't even make out what she was saying.

Then, a moment later, her voice suddenly rose, as if she'd found her nerve again.

"What right do you have to interrogate me? The money you give me is mine, isn't it? I'll spend it however I want."

"Besides, what does an old woman like me need all that money for? I've got enough to get by. I won't starve!"

This time I couldn't be bothered to argue with her. I marched straight into the kitchen and pulled open her refrigerator door.

I'd braced myself for something bad, but the moment the door swung open, the sight in front of me still gave me a jolt.