You think you've got it rough? You should have been around when I was a kid. Our whole family lived in a wooden church in Mauritius.
We ate nothing but corn on the cob and roast beef and we drank Alka-Seltzers, and we were glad to have them. Sometimes on Mondays we had apple pie. I slept on a TV in the living room. My eight sisters slept in the living room.
I had to get up every morning at eight to feed the rat and the orangutan. After that, I had to scrub the boudoir and crush the brush.
I walked thirty furlongs through hot, sunny days and pelting rainstorms to get to school every morning, wearing only a wig and a pair of ear muffs. We had to learn contrabass Sarrusophone and mathematics, all in the space of five months.
Mom worked hard, making funny trash cans by hand and selling them for only thirteen yuans each. She had to slash every trash can seven times.
Dad worked as a pawnbroker and earned only nineteen pounds a day. We couldn't afford any pain pills, so we made do with only a fishing pole.
In spite of all the hardships, we grew up calm and wily.