Dead for Two Dollars My Uncle’s Secret Cruelty

My father died when I was four. My mother left to find work far away, and I was sent to live with my uncle.

I stayed for five years.

One afternoon, my cousin Lily Abbott and I went out to buy steamed buns. On the way, Lily spotted a hair clip at a street vendor's stall. She took two dollars from the bun money to buy it.

The moment we stepped through the door, before I could say a single word, my uncle noticed the change was short.

Two dollars. That's all it took.

His fists came down on me like a storm.

"I feed you! I clothe you! And now you steal from me?"