Flea Market Photo

Jewels, lace, silk - these are just a few of the things I encountered in my everyday life. I slept in silk and awoke to dress in the luxurious things my family could afford. Being an only child meant I got all the more of it, and having a father who felt guilty for being gone for so long and would shower me with gifts to remind me of his love for me played a part in that as well. My father was Glenn Rockefeller II, a wealthy man who did something in stocks and architecture, though I'm not sure what exactly he did. And as a I grew older and more strange men came to visit Father, I started to get an inkling that he had gotten some of his money in other ways than the stock market. I'm sure Mother got the idea as well, but she didn't speak. She was raised with strict guidelines on how to behave and live like a lady, and carried them out in her everyday life. Of course, she tried to raise me the same way, but gave up after I brought a snake to school and left it in snotty Mary Anne's desk to get her back for speaking nastily to me. It was just a common garter snake, but I suppose being thrown in the air would cause the one being thrown to want to bite the one throwing. Throughout my rowdy childhood, I always assumed I'd marry into money, as my mother had, and would never have to worry about doing what our help did.
The echos of the riches of my childhood bounce around in my head as I dig through frozen solid ground to start planting the seeds for this year's attempt at growing a garden. I no longer awake to dress in lace and silk, but calico and cheap material that I had to learn to sew together myself. I no longer ride the ponies on my father's farm and leave them to the help to take care of; I take care of them myself in between chores, like laundry and sweeping the constantly dirty floors. And I have to do this all around taking care of my two-year-old son, Glenn McBride III. I'd been a foolish girl to get pregnant before I'd gotten married, and I was a shame to even my loving father. I was cut off and reduced to this life of poverty. Reaching for more seeds, I pray to a god I no longer believe in to rescue me from this life.