about how Cheryl, his ex-wife, had changed his life. “I thought I had nothing else to live for, Ma. Then I met her a couple of years after the war. We got married, Ma, too fast. I wanted to hurry up. I felt I was losing control. She didn’t protest. She put up with me for ten good years. But I gave her hell. She couldn’t take it anymore. Derick was born a couple of months after we married. Then, a few years later, Shannon came. I couldn’t handle it no more, Ma.” Sonny talked more about how his drinking started after Shannon was born. Every day he drank. He began to beat on his wife. He didn’t know how to talk about his frustrations, his pain about the war, his inferiority complex from not being a good father. He had to drink. Like right now. He wanted it; he could taste it. He grew quiet. He didn’t talk any further. Pearlie Mae got up and went to the window. She closed the curtains. And then turned out the light. She told her son everything was gonna be alright now. The Good Lord was speaking to him. “You’re gonna be alright, now, Sonny. It gonna take time.” She kissed him on the forehead as he lay there quietly, sleeping. As she closed the door behind her, she thanked God for bringing her son home, finally bringing him home.
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