I would wake up in the twin bed at like five in the morning, and I could just feel the whole house full of family sleeping way above me and below me, and I knew I wasn’t by myself and I knew that if criminals or monsters or like enemy soldiers busted in, there were a bunch of people who would literally fight to make sure they couldn’t get at me and kill me, and it was the warmest feeling, and that was how I knew what love and family were. It was that kind of occupiedness-of-our-surroundings with other quieter folks.
