No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

Author’s Note

For Lulu’s story, read Grampa’s Junkyard Captive and Giving In to Pa and My Twin. Those books have a bit of crossover but this book can be read as a standalone.

Too Many Mouths to Feed

“Jenny, come over here and change Ray’s diaper!”

I sighed. Why did Mama have another baby? We had so many kids at home, we’d run out of space for us all, and even food was scarce. Didn’t she hear of birth control or abstinence? Dad was always grabbing at her and humping her. He was like a dog that needed fixing. We heard them at night, keeping us up through the thin walls with their moaning and banging around on the bed. I didn’t get it. I was 20 and hadn’t had any interest in boys. I think I was turned off it from seeing and hearing it at home so much.

They kept saddling me with caring for the littlest ones. My next youngest sister, Scarlett, helped, too, and she had no ambition to do something with her life. She was better suited to being Mama’s helper than me. I kept complaining, and it pissed our parents off.

I finished high school, but there was no money to send me to get more schooling. I would have liked to take something practical, even a trade, but Mama kept saying she needed my help at home. It only made me less eager to help. I dragged my feet and grumbled, until Mama started saying to Dad that they needed to find another purpose for me. I hoped they would find me a job. I wouldn’t mind bringing home a salary to help out with the family, but I was bored and resentful just being a babysitter. It would be different if they were my kids. I wasn’t against being a mom, I just didn’t want to be one to my siblings.

I changed the diaper, and went to my room to sulk. I shared my room with three sisters, our two bunk beds taking up most of the space. Another room had another two bunk beds, and there were two cribs in Mama and Dad’s room. I hated how tight it was. There was always a racket, and all the kids were dying for attention.

Today was Christmas day, and I knew we’d get no gifts again. When I was little, and there were only a few of us, I got a dolly or crayons, and so did Scarlett, but once we got up to six, money was too tight. Dinner tonight would be a small turkey and potatoes, spread too thin amongst us all. I had to find a way out of this place. There had to be some way to get a real job and save up enough money to find my own place.

Late morning, Mama called me out to the living room. I expected she wanted me to help start getting dinner ready, or set the table. Instead, she and Dad were sitting on the couch, and gestured to me to sit in a chair. My pulse started to rise. What was this about?

“Jenny,” Dad started, “your Mama’s pregnant again.” I groaned out loud, not bothering to hide my disapproval. Dad frowned. “Never mind that. You’ve made no secret of how ungrateful you are for your family and home. We need space, and have too many mouths to feed. Lucky for you, we found you someplace to go where you can be useful. Gramps is getting on, and could use a live-in helper. He called and asked if he could have you. He’s not feeble, he just wants a girl there to take over some of the chores and other work so he can spend more time on his furniture making. It’s been doing well, so you won’t be struggling for money like you do here. It’s the best situation you can expect, and you’d better be grateful to us for arranging it for you. We’ll take you there in the morning.”

I didn’t even know how to respond.

Gramps didn’t come see us too often, and we’d only been to his cabin out in the woods a couple of times. He was a miserable coot with a hot temper. There was a reason he lived alone in the woods. Gramma died a while back, before I was born, and he’d been alone out there ever since. To be honest, the times I’d been around him, he scared me. He had a mean look to him, more so than my friend Lulu’s Grampa who I’d met once, when Dad took me along to his junkyard. Gramps was really young when Dad was born, and I figured he was around his mid-50s. He was tall and strong, with lean muscles and a couple of tattoos from a wild youth.

When he’d been around us kids, he barely paid us any mind, and just barked at us to stay out of his way. I hadn’t seen him at all in the last year or so, and couldn’t say I’d missed him at all.

This was not something I was grateful for.

Not only was Gramps scary, his cabin was far out in the backwoods. There was nothing around there—no town, no stores, no neighbors. I’d be so bored, and there’d be no chance for me to leave or get a job. I wasn’t even sure I’d have a signal for my shitty old pay-as-you-go phone to text or call. I only afforded that by doing a couple of odd jobs for neighbors once in a while. Most of the time I had no money to add to my plan at all. The phone itself was a gift from a classmate who was getting a new one. My dad tried to take it from me, saying it wasn’t fair I had a phone when my siblings didn’t, but I just hid it under my mattress. I needed that phone if I had any chance of finding a job and getting out of here.

“Who’s gonna watch the little ones?” I wondered how Mama would make do without me.

“Scarlett is a better minder than you, and doesn’t give us grief about it either.”

“Do I have a choice?” I had to ask, even though I knew the answer.

“No, you don’t. Where are you gonna go, Jenny? This is it for you. Pack up your clothes, and go see Lulu if you want to say goodbye.”

I stomped out, so mad I could spit. Angry tears flowed on the way there, and I swiped at them as I went.

I tromped down the road to see Lulu. She and I’d been friends for years, but I hadn’t seen her for a couple of months, or even texted her much recently. I’d been so busy taking care of the kids, and lately she seemed to be busy, too. Not sure with what, since I was pretty sure she didn’t have a job either.

I knocked on the door, and Lulu answered. She looked so healthy and happy, her full figure showing she was fed well too, and it just made the unfairness of my situation hit home.

Luke, her twin brother, came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. A bit more affectionately than a brother should, in my mind. Lulu had told me a few times earlier in the year that her father and brother were trying to cop a feel of her around the house, and it was making ...