to add to this mix was the fact that i would be punished for being sick. this punishment was mostly verbal and i had frequent ear infections and my head throbbed constantly but my mother was very harsh with me to the point of being unreasonable. i remember that i got sent home from school with a fever. when i arrived home there was nobody there so i set on the floor of the front porch. it was spring if i can remember right and it was mild out. thank the LORD IT WAS NOT COLD as spring in the state of MAINE frequently got chilly. it is nothing for the temperatures to drop below freezing in APRIL. the neighbor lady as she drove by our house noticed me there and took me home and put me on her sofa. i was there for quite a while until mom got home. the neighbor lady was the mother of EDDIE ROLF the kid who bullied me and this is ironic that she would be helping me because her son was responsible for terrorizing me while i was walking to and from school. anyhow when mom came home the lady went and told her that i was there and mom came over to get me. mom was sweet to me until she got out of earshot. then she started scolding me for coming home. i was sleeping in the nurses office on a couch there. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO SENT ME HOME. i did not volunteer to go home because i knew what to expect when i got there. also i suffered with allergies and it was that i had to constantly clear my throat. when i would do it she would holler at me. so i would clear my throat as quietly as i could. i invented a system where it would disguise it with other sounds such as pretending to sneeze loudly and at the same time i would clear my throat. i could not do this too much though as she would catch on to what i was doing and i would get hollered at.