I came from a single-parent home with a brother, a sister and grandparents. Most domestic violence incidents are instigated by the paternal member. In our house, my mom is the tormentor.  She terrorizes everyone, including my late father.  Once, Mom dislocated my sister’s arm because she could not find the milk bottle for my brother.  Another time, I had problems with Math and Mom choked my neck, strangled and tossed me to the floor.  I have been living in fear. 

Another time, with my brother in arm, she played mahjong into the late night.  Around midnight, she crashed into my room.  Before I could react, she had dragged me to the living room and started to beat me with a cloth hanger and a stool. All because she had lost in Mahjong and she needed a punching bag to vent her anger.

Our house roof is another woe in my life.  It leaks into every room when it rains.  One time I was sleeping while it rained. I turned and was startled by the drenched cold in bed.  It was exactly as the poet Du Fu has described in his poem of “My Cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales”: “The roof leaks over my bed, leaving nothing dry. The rain falls like ceaseless strings, dripping with no end.”