@samueltyler2 Yes, I do understand that.

But the central dynamics in my family were control, fear and violence. When I chose "unorthodox" methods to escape that, my sisters looked down on me. I was the black sheep, not to be mentioned in polite circles.

They were ashamed of how I lived. So I left them to their shame. And determined to make a success of my life, with whatever talent I had.

@SchoolBelle i wonder if they know how well you turned out?

@samueltyler2 Oh, they know, alright - have done for some time. And that's where the resentment and jealousy kick in.

Had I ended up homeless in the gutter, they would have rode to my rescue, full of self-righteous charity - we knew a along how this would end!

But it didn't end that way. I didn't end that way.

And that's what really pisses them off.

@samueltyler2 Really?

@SchoolBelle as i read it yes. certainly your younger sister.

@samueltyler2 Oh, that was a couple of years before the great falling out - before I ran away from home to live wirh a photographer twelve years older than me - live in sin! Just as my oh so respectable older sister was settling into her first job and setting her eye on her married boss.

@Justme264 I knew that boys were interested in my body - seeing me, touching me. I knew the looks I got from men - some men - when I was out and about, how they undressed me with their eyes.

I assumed these were common experiences for most girls my age.

But to be paid for letting a selected group of men see me like that was a new experience.

@SchoolBelle wonderful