At first, I was angry. Who did she think she was? My f*****g landlady stands me in a corner? That takes a lot of damn nerve. And threatening to put me over her knee like that? As if!
Then I was distraught. What was I going to do if she tossed me out? Where would I stay? I’d already burned all my bridges with family and friends. That’s what led me here to her boarding house. This was the last stop.
Finally, I was sorry. My addiction had caused me to be a failure in the eyes of everyone I had known, and now I was securing that title with the one person in my life who was making any effort to be nice to me—Miss Baxter.
In the end I was less upset by Miss Baxter standing me in a corner than I was with myself for letting her down. But then I supposed that was probably her plan all along.
I
