. it's m-my fault your father is dead."I was stunned. How could it possibly be her fault? "Mom, that's ridiculous. It was an accident ... an accident,... that's all." No, baby. If it hadn't been for me, Bill wouldn't have been in that accident in the first place," she whispered.I stared at my mother in perfect incomprehension. "What -- Mom, what in God's name are you talking about?"She sighed, staring down at her hands. "On the day he died, right before he was going to work, I picked a fight with. All the jobs had me usin my gun."Tyler stared up at the full moon for more than a minute with a somber look on his face and then he smiled. "I was in a saloon in San Antonio and a man standin next to me got a telegram. He couldn't read so the bartender read the wire to him. That's when I heard he was Josiah Reading, a hangman. I also heard he was goin to Uvalde and who he was supposed to hang." Tyler chuckled, "y'all know the rest." Where did you go after Uvalde?" Well ... I tagged along behind. "Or shall I ring the nice man?"Again I felt trapped, one way I would be spanked by him in front of hisidiot young teenage son and in the other I would be sent back to the evilMaster, with god knows what punishment and a life of threatenedprostitution. He watched me carefully, waiting for me to make up my minduntil I slowly tip-toed back to him."Across my knees girl." He knew he had won and he pointed to his denimcovered lap.Reluctantly I bent over him before he gripped me about the waist. The next day the removals van arrived and all my worldly goods were loaded into it. Beth was helping and rode with me to my flat and then helped me to get settled in. That night as I lay in my bed it came to me, I could hear Uncle Harry voice saying the words 'Sleep Beth Sleep' and how he told me to remember it as one day I might find it useful. That was the trigger phrase that Uncle Harry had installed; then some nasty thoughts entered my mind.a, would it still work after all these years andb,.