- 7.
“Enough!”
Uncle Joe’s face was thunderous.
He charged at Mr. Peabody, beating him
senseless, then threw him out the door.
“Get out of here! And don’t come back, or I’ll
break your legs!” Uncle Joe yelled.
Г
The commotion had drawn a crowd of
neighbors to our front yard.
Mr. Peabody, seeing everyone staring, scrambled to his feet and limped away, red-
faced.
My grandparents grabbed whips and started
whipping my mom. They told her to give the
money back.
Mom screamed and writhed on the ground.
“It’s gone! I spent it all!”
Finally, to pay him back, she sold most of her
jewelry to him.
Once they left, Mom collapsed in bed,
begging me to put medicine on her bruises.
く
I went outside, dug up some mud, mixed it
with weeds, and smeared it on her back.
Mom screamed in pain, telling me to go to
the drugstore.
I refused.
“What are you talking about, Mom? This is
what you always did when Mikey and I got
hurt. And we turned out fine!”
“Besides, this is a family recipe! It’s better
than anything they sell at the drugstore. That
stuff’s just a rip–off!”
I kept putting my “family recipe” on her every
day.
After a few days her bruises got infected
She had to go to the doctor.
The whole thing was a complete disaster.
On top of that, Mr. Peabody told everyone in
town that Martha tried to sell her own
daughter for twenty grand, but then wanted
to marry him herself.
Mom got a new nickname: “Crazy Martha“.
Every time she went out, the neighbors would
ask when the wedding was.
There was no explaining it.
It was all pretty funny.
