The Truth About My Mother's Best Friend Who Never Married

Aunt Leona, my mother's lifelong best friend, was like ivy grown deep into the wall of our home. She looked harmless, but little by little she drank up all the sunlight and air in the whole house. She lived with us for a full six months, polite and courteous at first, then treating it all as her due. She used our water, ate our food, and even had opinions about how I ran my life.