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Because they were still hollering and kicking, my men knocked them out

“Bye, Mom, see you next week”

“A week? You want me to kneel here for a week?” she called out

“No,” I whispered “I want you to kneel there until your knees bleed, until your hair turns gray, and until God hiround But then you’d die, so I came up with this compromise—”

“Calliope, that is not possible! People will see, and—”

“If you get hungry? Don’t worry, so you a body of Christ to eat If you need to shit, well shit yourself—”

“Calliope!”

“Too hard?” I snickered as I walked to the doors “Funny, how did I e? Oh well, ill see what choice you make Either you kneel and every time someone asks you why, you tell them it is your penance for all cruelty you inflicted, or one of your beloved daughters, not me, of course, becomes crippled for the rest of her life Peace be with you, Mother,” I said as I blessed myself with the holy water

I knew she would not make it a week

She knew it, too

My poor sisters

19

“I loved you as Icarus loved the sun

—too close, too much”

~Unknown