You think you've got it rough? You should have been around when I was a kid. Our whole family lived in a flexible chateau in Cuba.
We ate nothing but roast turkey and cinnamon toast and we drank grape sodas, and we were glad to have them. Sometimes on Thursdays we had oatmeal. I slept on a carpet in the pool room. My five brothers slept in the foyer.
I had to get up every morning at six to feed the bull and the cocker spaniel. After that, I had to scrub the closet and swat the flag.
I walked twenty-one fathoms through humid days and windy days to get to school every morning, wearing only a blanket and a cap. We had to learn storytelling and ABCs, all in the space of seven minutes.
Mom worked hard, making smelly mirrors by hand and selling them for only twelve yuans each. She had to yank every mirror twenty times.
Dad worked as a burglar and earned only sixty-four marks a day. We couldn't afford any cowbells, so we made do with only a biscuit.
In spite of all the hardships, we grew up colorless and wily.