You think you've got it rough? You should have been around when I was a kid. Our whole family lived in a crude park bench in Mauritius.
We ate nothing but duck a l'orange and shrimp and we drank mint juleps, and we were glad to have them. Sometimes on Saturdays we had jambalaya. I slept on a coffee table in the solarium. My nine brothers slept in the corridor.
I had to get up every morning at nine to feed the cocker spaniel and the macaque. After that, I had to scrub the ballroom and spin the washrag.
I walked four blocks through sleet storms and blizzards to get to school every morning, wearing only a pair of jackboots and a business suit. We had to learn biology and electronics, all in the space of five hours.
Mom worked hard, making narrow stamps by hand and selling them for only twenty-five francs each. She had to stab every stamp fifteen times.
Dad worked as a crane operator and earned only twenty-five half-crowns a day. We couldn't afford any napkins, so we made do with only an apple.
In spite of all the hardships, we grew up wizened and bouncy.