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"...and that's why I don't live with my mom and my stepfather anymore," finished
little Timmy O'Toole, taking a step back from the podium and beaming proudly.
"Very good, Timmy," said Mrs. Lansdale, watching as he sat back down at his
desk. "Our next student to read their essay will be Holly. Holly, why don't you
come on up, so we can all hear about your family."
The class's eyes turned collectively to the smiling little blonde girl as she stood
up and went to the front of the room, clutching her report in her hands.
"My Family, by Holly Beecher," she began.
"My name is Holly Beecher and I live in a big house with my daddy and my
other daddy. My daddy's a lawyer. My other daddy's an 'independent
contractor'."
"My real daddy met my other daddy, Uncle Chris, when he was in prison.
He went to prison because he ran over a little girl on her bicycle while he
was drunk. Uncle Chris says that daddy got 'screwed by the system', but
he was kind of glad he did because otherwise they wouldn't have met each
other."
"Other people in my family are my grampa. My grampa didn't like Uncle Chris
at first, because he was in prison. Uncle Chris said that daddy was in prison
too, so what did that make him, and then daddy got mad and had to yell at
them both. After that they liked each other. I used to have a brother, but he
died. My mommy died too, so I went to live with my grampa until daddy and
Uncle Chris got out of jail. Daddy's case got overturned and Uncle Chris got
paroled, so now I live with them. The End."
Mrs. Lansdale looked at the girl a little dubiously. She'd heard about the girl's
unusual family background -- everyone at the school had -- but she seemed to
be doing all right. And when she thought about it, Holly's family was probably
no weirder than any other kid's in the class. "Very good, Holly. You may sit
down."
Besides, she mused, the two former Oz inmates really kept those rowdy PTA
meetings in line.