148 4 1 
      
			 
			
			
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				Each afternoon at three-fifteen, Jermanique’s father picked her up, pulled his white Ford 150 up to the gates of the school and rolled down the tinted windows and called, “Come on, Baby,” in a booming voice.  The other children looked on.  I’d wav 
					
				 
				
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3339 13 8 
      
			 
			
			
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				... honestly, the dishes were just tired. Too few in number and washed too often, they dreamed of an escape -- any escape, really -- from the endless cycle of hot water and being racked together to dry ... 
					
				 
				
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1518 6 6 
      
			 
			
			
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				   Man,  I'm not feeling  so happy   anymore.  I tried to tackle my money  but it slipped past me  and ran out the door.     I don't have a clue what to do.  I'm hungry  and I can't be worrying about you  while both of us are trying to snag  the same pair of… 
					
				 
				
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1310 0 0 
      
			 
			
			
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				On these days, while Momma counts the money, we go to Blockbuster where we can pick a movie each, play on the playground at McDonalds, lick tall ice cream cones.     
					
				 
				
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297 12 9 
      
			 
			
			
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				You are an idiot when you do not speak the language in rivers. 
					
				 
				
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71 6 1 
      
			 
			
			
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				All that was missing from this festival of the brain dead was Barney the goddamn dinosaur.  
					
				 
				
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2021 8 10 
      
			 
			
			
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				I find driftwood, long, smooth logs washed up on the beach, drag them to dunes still wet from the sea... 
					
				 
				
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1266 1 1 
      
			 
			
			
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				I dream about the boy in The Neverending Story, the gate of mirrors, and the Nothing, a dark cloud that floats in the sky, takes away everything.
 
					
				 
				
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141 2 1 
      
			 
			
			
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				something inside me/ rises out  
					
				 
				
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131 12 7 
      
			 
			
			
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				Sex, though...yes, I had some of that 
					
				 
				
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23 3 2 
      
			 
			
			
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				But these were seconds or minutes in a life of struggle and failure. 
					
				 
				
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1386 9 4 
      
			 
			
			
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				When it starts looking bad enough, I bundle up and head out the door.  
					
				 
				
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1793 0 0 
      
			 
			
			
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				“For  Chrissake! Just get me one of fucking Tony's half-assed, made in China  bullshit, getaway cars. My plate is hot!” I had never hated cars so much  before. Not so much the cars, but the sound the cheap ones made when they drove  past my house. The… 
					
				 
				
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1403 9 8 
      
			 
			
			
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				She wonders if he will do the dishes. He said that he would, but that doesn’t mean anything. He said he would do them last week, said he would save money, said he would come home last night. He didn’t do any of those things, either. 
					
				 
				
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1475 2 1 
      
			 
			
			
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				Miriam forced herself to focus on the kitchen door and on putting one foot in front of the other.
“Is everything alright?” she heard Ada ask the family.
“Of course, everything is fine,” the woman said. “What could be wrong other than the impossible serv 
					
				 
				
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