DeAnna hated when Frank had time off from work. He would just drink all day & nite long. One day DeAnna was playing basket ball with her Aunt Marilyn & Aunt Sue. The ball had went over the fence. DeAnna jumped the fence to get it. Frank came out the back door with a belt in his hand. And Aunt Marilyn & Sue took off running home. Frank graped her arm and beat her so bad. DeAnna just screamed. She found out later they could hear her scream a block away.
The next day at school DeAnna showed her back to her teacher. She was beat so bad she had welt marks on her back. She was hoping she could help her. But she said there was nothing she could do. But sent her to the school nurse.
Another time she told her mom that Aunt Sue wanted to beat her up on the way home from school. It was because she was going steady with Joey, Linda's brother. And her Aunt Sue liked him. But she didn't tell her mom that. Frank took her into the bedroom and beat her for not fighting her.
And there was the time her mom told her to go to the garden to pick a green pepper for dinner. Her beat her for that. Every time she turned around she was getting beat.
She'd sit outside with her friends next door and told them what was happening. And how she wanted to run away.

One other nite DeAnna woke up in the middle of the nite to the sounds of yelling. She got up out of her bed and walked into the kitchen where all the noise was coming from. She stood in the doorway and seen Frank with a gun in his hand. He had Sheila pinned to the wall. Her mouth was wide open and he had the gun cooked holding it into her mouth.
"If you ever try to break up a fight between me & Rose again I'll blow your brains out. Do you hear me?" Sheila was crying and shook her head yes.
DeAnna ran back into her bed and pulled the covers over her head. Then she heard her mom running down the hall crying. She slammed the bathroom door shut.
DeAnna got up and went into the bathroom. As she opened the door there was blood everywhere. Oh no, DeAnna thought, he shut her! There was blood all over her face.
"I'm alright DeAnna. Go back to bed."
So DeAnna ran back into her room. Then she heard a knock at the front door. She heard Sheila talking. It was the police.
"We got a call about some loud noises." DeAnna heard the police say. "Is everything alright?"
"Yes, just a little family fight." Sheila said.
"Ok, we had to come check it out. Keep things down people are trying to sleep."
"Ok!" Shelia said as she shut the door.
DeAnna cried herself to sleep holding Dusty tight.
Finally came the day her mom took them to meet her new boyfriend.