Ringring! Ringring!
goes the phone.
“Hello,”
she says.
“Yes, this is her,”
she responds to the murmur.
Her expression turns
to a face of disappointment.
“Ok. Bye,”
she hangs up.
She goes to their room.
He starts to shout.
BANGS on the walls.
I crawl to the corner
and hold my legs tightly.

The next day I ask if I can buy paper
for extra credit.
He nods his head no.
“I want you to give up studying.
I want you to help your mother and
start looking for a job to pay these bills,”
he retorts.
I storm to my room and cry.
“Why not you?
Why don’t you go to Wal-Mart
and get a job there?
Haven’t you tried McDonalds,
you old ***?!”
I shout in my head.

It’s not fair.
Did I choose to live?
Did I want to move to a bigger house?
Did I want the expensive heater?
I had no word for that like I have no word for this…
It sucks to have no power.