At church they say the world ended once by flood and will go by fire next time. When my world almost ended, it was by fire, that's for sure. But it wasn't really my fault. That much I do know.

My mother's boyfriend, Rondelle Jenkins, treated Mama like he owned her and he tried to treat me that way, too.

Mama tried hard and she worked hard, seems like she could find a man who would treat her right. I know her heart was broken four years ago when my step-dad left her. He walked out because she got sick and had to take some kind of treatments that made all her hair fall out. We ended up on welfare, because he ran out on his child support. That was a real bad time for our family.

Mama's younger sister, Aunt Rose, came to stay with us awhile until Mama got better. Between her and me, we managed to take care of the little ones. Aunt Rose got married last summer and Mama's well now. Everything was looking good until Mama got a new boyfriend. I know she's too young and too pretty to want to live alone forever. My own daddy died a long time ago and she had been alone a long time. But she could have found someone better than Rondelle. Mama's boyfriend is dead lazy. I always said he'd never be one to set the world on fire. How wrong can you be?