I watched the roll of Pearl’s buttocks as she walked away. I knew she meant well but that would never make me like her. She was rough and ready, her accent painfully broad, her manner abrasive. Although, I preferred her to Miriam. Pearl didn’t come across all bossy and pompous and she had some decorum, unlike that hairy-arm-pitted Frankie, who might as well have been a man, even with her pendulous breasts hanging unsupported beneath her shirt. As far as I was concerned, Frankie was terrifying; the sort of woman who resembled a thug. I didn’t think I was exaggerating, even though she was probably very nice once you got to know her, and I supposed living out in the mountain wilderness would make anyone a bit rugged in their ways. But still.
I suspected I reacted most strongly towards her be
