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Chapter 1 - THE EXPULSION AND THE STRIKE

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My family threw my 5-year-old daughter and me out in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner. “Don’t come back,” my brother said. “The holiday’s better without you,” my dad added. I didn’t scream or beg. I only said, “Then you won’t mind what I’m about to do.” Five minutes later, they were begging me to undo it.

The first ins:ult came before the turkey was carved.

My mother looked at my daughter’s plastic barrettes and sighed like Lily had dragged mud across her white carpet. “Couldn’t you have brushed her hair better, Claire?”

Lily, five years old and wearing the red dress I had stayed up hemming the night before, lowered her eyes to her plate.

I set a hand on her shoulder. “She looks beautiful.”

Across the table, my brother, Mark, snorted. He had brought his new wife, his two boys, and the same smug smile he had worn since he inherited Dad’s confidence and none of his restraint. My father sat at the head of the table, carving knife in hand, ruling over the room as if every person there owed him gratitude.