"So your father, has he been gone a long time?" the lawyer asks.

"Yes he has been gone a long time now, I reckon close to four years maybe five."

"Do you know why he left?"

"Cause of her, my momma. She spent all the money, pushing him away and finally made him leave for good."

"Well that doesn't seem right. Why would she want him to leave if she needed the money to spend? If he left, she wouldn't have anything."

"Lady, the way I see it, you don't know shit, you don't know what it's like living with that woman. My momma would rather have a beer in one hand, a bottle of liquor in the other, trying to puff on a cigarette, while cussing you out like you ain't nobody special. My daddy just got tired of her shit all the time, lying around the house, not taking care of anything or anyone. All my momma ever cared about is being on her high and sometimes that involved other stuff and sometimes even other men. My daddy left alright and it's all her fault."

"I need to remind you to watch the language in here Star. Now you were trying to tell us that your momma had several other guys in the home besides Jackson?"

"There were lots of men friends; I stopped keeping up years ago. However Jackson was the last one."

"How old were you when Jackson came into the picture?"

I take a moment to think. "I believe I was around twelve."

"Around twelve?" She pauses, looking down at something on the table and then back up. "Your sixteen right?"

"Well I will be sixteen in a couple of months."

"So this Jackson guy, he been around for a while, a few years now?"

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." I roll my eyes. What is she getting at here?

"You guess so; he either has been or hasn't been which is it?"

"He was there; at first here and there been then yeah he moved in."

She kind of smirks and then replies, "So I guess being a pre-teen and having a man other than your father moving in may have caused a few issues in the house. Do you think he was trying to take your father's place in any way?"

I sat there for a few minutes letting that sink in; I fought back the tears that started to sting the edges of my eyes. My father, my daddy would have never treated me the way that Jackson had. No way in hell. He may have left me, left us but he would have never been that way with us. "No, he wasn't my father and I refused to call him anything but Jackson."

"So your mother or Jackson ever asked you to call him daddy?"

"Uhmmm! NO! My momma told us to call him Uncle Jack, so the kids called him that but I still refused to because he wasn't my uncle."

"Why, if that is what your mother wanted you to call him, why not? He was a part of your family now right and I'm sure he took care of you and your family or that is at least what your mother said."

"I just couldn't and I refuse to now as well, because...." I look over towards my mom. Was she even listening, I doubt it. I'm sure she was thinking of how to get out of her to get her next fix.

"Because why Star? There must be a good reason why; I mean the rest of the family did why couldn't you?"

"He wasn't my uncle. He didn't love me like an uncle would have; he could never love me like my father had."

"You don't feel like he could have loved you. Your mother says he gave you guys everything."

"Ahh!" I laughed. "Whatever lady, you have no clue what happened in that house. My momma has no clue she was never really there." I look over to here and she is still in her world, not even paying attention.

"Yes you are right, I have no clue. That is why you are here Star. You are going to have to tell us what really went on in that house because at this very moment Jackson is dead and all fingers are pointing to you."

"Even if I did explain, you stupid people will only see what you want to see. You will believe only what you want to believe. So what difference does it make?" I tell back at her.

"Star, you do realize if we have the evidence and we do have some you can be convicted of the crime. You can go away for a very long time for murder."

"Look lady, it can't be much worse than home."

That grabs her attention some as she stops to look at me. "Really! Why is that?"

"It was like living in hell, lady. I just don't know how to explain it to you to make you understand and even if you did you still wouldn't. "

"We have all day, make me understand; make the jury understand." She glances over at the jury and then towards the people in the pews, then back at the judge and over to me. "How about we start from the beginning?"