Sweetie, if love could take away sadness, I'd be the happiest woman on earth. Sometimes the sadness is so deep, we have to sift through all the layers before we can find it and send it packing. That's what I'm trying to do in this place. Find my sadness.

Mama covered her ears with her hands, but I knew she heard me. Tears streamed from her eyes and dribbled from her chin. Part of me wanted to blot her face with a tissue, real tender-like, but the evil me, the girl tired of keeping her feelings bottled up for fear I'd upset mama, was blissful at causing a commotion. Maybe it was cruel to make mama cry, but at least I had cracked her shell and got a reaction. Any response was better than talking to a zombie