You think you've got it rough? You should have been around when I was a kid. Our whole family lived in a polished mobile home in Vanatu.
We ate nothing but fried okra and cabbage rolls and we drank Bacardis, and we were glad to have them. Sometimes on Thursdays we had brownies. I slept on a rug in the cage. My nine sisters slept in the parlor.
I had to get up every morning at seven to feed the android and the troll. After that, I had to scrub the conservatory and swirl the fire hose.
I walked thirty-seven steps through sleet storms and gales to get to school every morning, wearing only a shawl and a pair of galoshes. We had to learn classics and herbalism, all in the space of nine years.
Mom worked hard, making soft fossils by hand and selling them for only fourteen half-crowns each. She had to vacuum every fossil twenty-four times.
Dad worked as a bank teller and earned only six francs a day. We couldn't afford any candy bars, so we made do with only a pearl.
In spite of all the hardships, we grew up thoughtful and sociable.