“Tell us about your family,” Mavis asked.

   Alice looked around to find she had the rapt attention of the entire table.

“Well, I live with my Mama, my brother Bernie, and my baby sister, Cecilia. We call her Sissy,” she began. “My daddy had a heart attack about two years ago. I got called out of class one day, and they took me to the hospital. He had another heart attack that night, and he just died.”

   “You poor child,” Mavis said.

   “I miss my daddy,” Alice went on. “I was his baby girl. He took me to the park every Saturday. He even bought our house 'cause it was next to the park so we could go there to play and ride ponies every weekend.”

   &ld...

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