They Treated Me Like Dirt, So I Vanished for Ten Years

Through college I worked and studied at the same time, coming home every day wrung out, and there was never once a decent dish left for me at the table.

The barbecue ribs were picked down to the bone, the baked fish to the spine.

A few limp vegetable leaves floated in the soup bowl.

In the living room, my parents and my brother were laughing themselves sick in front of the TV.

I had no strength to argue, so I put water on to boil for noodles and started washing dishes.

My mother heard the noise and rushed in to shut off the burner.

"You think gas is free?"