My mother, along with the help of the BC judicial system, had succeeded in breaking me, and she was smug about it. She would almost flaunt it as she commanded that I perform one demeaning task after another. I never resisted. I did as I was told. It took her ten years, but she finally got me to submit. In the morning, she would have me bow at her feet and kiss them. Then I would make her Twinning’s loose leaf Earl Grey tea exactly as she specified. Anything less got me a mug to the head. One time the mug cracked on impact, and my eyes filled with blood as the wound gushed like a fountain.
