"Paper
Matches�
� My aunts washed dishes while the uncles
squirted each other on the lawn with
� garden hoses. Why are we in here,
I said, and they are out there.
� That�s the way
it is,
� said Aunt Hetty,
the shrivelled-up one.
� I have the rages that small animals
have,
being small, being animal.
� Written on me was a message,
�At Your Service,� like a book of
paper
matches. One by one we were
taken out
and struck.
� We come bearing supper,
our heads on fire.
� Paulette Jiles