Happily Fallible Child's Inexplicable Survival

After the loss of his father at the age of four, Gary develops a full reliance on his mother. Husbandless and pregnant with her third child, Gary's mom manages to take her small stopgap family from living in a car in a beach parking lot to a boarding house where she meets the man who will be the father of her next two children. She is cunning and resilient, but hopelessly devoted to the same destructive family members responsible for the failure of her marriage. Evictions and cut utilities force move after move from neighboring towns to different states. As the growing family relocates, neglect and abuse from relatives and family friends shadow the children's lives. The chaotic existence, including the presence of an uncle and step-father in and out of prison and an alcoholic uncle who will not leave, awaken Gary to the realization that his family is not like other families.

Even during the worst times, she surprises with a fiercely protective love, like when Gary is forced to come out as gay at the age of fourteen. He begins to question his mother's decisions and disappointment transitions to anger, but a bond remains between Gary and his mom. In spite of the unhinged way of living, the family is close. Gary and his younger brothers and sisters have no real friends but each other, and, in spite of her faults, they know their mother loves them deeply. Nothing prepares them for the moment she is taken away.

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