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Madelaine sreat kid”

“He is … now And see if you can find so, but she doesn’t want to listen to an authority figure”

“Yes,” Madelaine answered “I will Thanks a lot, Vicki”

After she hung up, Madelaine got to her feet and walked down the hallway She was at Lina’s room before she’d even formulated a plan But the oing to do

Someone to talk to

She knocked on the door

No one answered

Steeling herself, Madelaine opened the door anyway

Lina was sitting on her bed, listening to arette She earing a sweatshirt that read: If you don’t likedown her cheeks

The sight of her baby sitting all alone in her roo, was almost more than Madelaine could bear She walked over to the stereo and clicked it off

“Damn it, Mom!” Lina wrenched the headphones off her head and tossed theht to bust in here and shut off my music”

Wordlessly Madelaine took the cigarette from Lina’s mouth and crushed it in the littered ashtray on the floor Then she sat down beside her daughter

For a second they just looked at each other, and the wary resentment in Lina’s eyes hurt Lord, how it hurt

Madelaine reached out, brushed the ragged hair frohter’s eyes

Lina flinched and drew back, laughing shakily “I’ another haircut”