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"Pops kept the books for the Blackwood Manor Bed-and-Breakfast on a coh he did put on a white shirt and suit to conduct the tours of the place now and then, he didn't like that part of things He preferred to be riding the lawns on his beloved tractor laer or doing any other kind of work outdoors

"He was happiest when he had a 'project' and could work side by side with the Shed Men -- Jasreat-uncles, brothers and so forth -- until the sun went down, and I never saw him in any vehicle except a pickup truck until Sweetheart died, at which time he rode into town in a limousine like all the rest of us did

"But I don't think, and it's hurtful to say it, that Pops loved his daughter, Patsy I think he loved her as little as Patsy loves me

"Patsy was a late child, I know that now, though I didn't then And when I look back on it as I tell you this story, I realize there was no natural place for her Had she gone debutante like Sweetheart, well, one country and wild at the same time, and this mixture Pops, for all his country ways, couldn't abide

"Pops disapproved of everything about Patsy, from the way she teased her hair and curled it down her back and over her shoulders to the tiny short skirts that she wore He hated her white cowboy boots and told her so, and said her singing was a bunch of foolishness, she'd never 'e doors when she practiced so her 'racket' wouldn't disturb the bed-and-breakfast guests He couldn't endure her flashy ed leather jackets, and he told her she looked like common trash

"She shot right back at hiet the hell out of here, and she broke a cookie jar once in a fight with hiht add -- and whenever she left the kitchen, she never forgot to slam the screen door

"Patsy was a good singer, I knew thatbecause the Shed Men said it, and so did Jas Ramona said it And I liked the music myself, to tell the truth But there was an endless procession of young uitar and drums for Patsy -- and I knew Pops hated thee stealthily, not wanting Pops to seeaith the band

"So to Patsy's ht up in dancing, and when he was dancing he rocked froestures with his arms, and did tricks with his feet that would have made a flesh-and-blood boy stu but never falling, and I would nearly die fro to see him carry on

"I got to liking this dancing too, and being his partner, and trying to imitate his steps And when Patsy caarette, and saw me, she'd swoop down and kiss me and call me 'darlin' ' and say I was a 'da that last phrase, as if it were an admission over opposition, but no one would have opposed her in saying it, except her own self

"I think I thought she was hts with Pops told me a different tale

"Money was the cause of Patsy's screaive her any, and of course I kno that there was plenty of ht over every nickel; Pops wouldn't invest in Patsy, I see it now, and so made me cry

"One time, when I was at my little table in the kitchen with Goblin, and one of these fights had broken out between Patsy and Pops, Goblin took uided my crayon to write the word 'bad ' I was happy when he did this, because it was right what he wrote, and then he sat real close to me and tried to put his arm around me, but his body was very stiff in those days I knew that he didn't want me to cry He tried so hard to coing to my left side

"At other ti for money, Goblin would pull me away, and he didn't have to try very hard He and I ran up to my room where we couldn't hear them

"Sweetheart was far too submissive to oppose Pops at the time of the kitchen quarrels, but Sweetheart did slip hter I saw that, and Patsy would cover Sweetheart with kisses and say, 'Mamma, I don't knohat I'd do if it weren't for you ' Then she'd ride off into town on the back of somebody's motorcycle, or in her own van, her much excoriated van which had 'Patsy Blackwood' written in spray paint on both sides of it beneath the s, and ouldn't see Patsy or hear any music from the studio for three days

"The first time I realized that Patsy was intiht when she and Pops got to screa at each other and he said, 'You don't love Quinn,' plain and simple, and 'You don't love your own little boy There wouldn't be any Goblin in this house, he wouldn't need Goblin, if you'd be the mother you're supposed to be ¡¯