The Next Part of the Beginning

Dad and mom lasted about 4 years, until she was pregnant with me. Mom, somehow, had graduated LPN school before having children, so she was always able to get a job. Said job supplied her with copious amounts of drugs. Looking back, I realize she took jobs on the overnight shift at nursing homes (the poorly run ones, with those beautiful, sad old people dripping out of their chairs in the hallways, ladies faintly calling, "Help . . . Help . . . Help . . . " from their rooms where they have been lying in their own feces filled diapers for hours) because