“It started when David was thirteen and I was twelve. You hardly knew my father. He didn’t even come to our wedding because he was too drunk. Not ...nly that, he beat us repeatedly: Mother, David, and me. He never seemed to need an excuse. Mother claimed it began when she became pregnant with David. Two months after David was born Mom was pregnant again.“Mom knew while in the hospital having me that this was what the rest of her life was going to be like. Pregnancies and beatings would be her. "She came in carrying a bucket of glowing coals, and a bundle of kindling wood. She walked to the fireplace and immediately built a roaring fire. Then she left, but returned in a few minutes with a couple of logs that she placed on the fire. They would sustain the fire, and the warmth, after the kindling had all burned off. After she was gone, I stood in front of the fireplace and warmed my body. It felt wonderful. I estimated that, within half an hour, the temperature in the room had risen to. My wife got to the alley and stopped, turned and looked at Dicky. Now he is really smiling. He didn’t say a word, just made a motion, an urgent motion for Jen to follow him. Ever so slowly Jen took a step, God she couldn’t believe she actually stepped into the alley towards him!!! Dicky was thrilled and ran a short ways down the alley and stopped by some bushes. Dicky motioned Jen towards him, she thought it would be ok to at least see what he wanted so she slowly went over to him. Now Dicky. "I'm fine, I'm fine." I shrugged loose from him and took three steps away, my hands on my hips. I steamed for a few seconds before coming to a stop and stretching out my neck. I took a deep breath and then looked up at the clock. 11:45am.Exhaling, I started pulling off my gloves and took my lab glasses off. "Let's break for lunch," I told my lab technician. "We'll clean up after that."After taking another look to make sure I was alright, Steve nodded. And then with an apologetic shrug, he.