“Listen to me now, girls.” Mamaw spoke as seriously as ever. “Power is not only physical. It’s not some muscleman lifting all the weights. It’s much more than that. It’s being smart. It means you endure.” “What does endure mean, Mamaw?” I can’t remember if I was the one who asked this or if it was Daffy. “It means you suffer something, toward a greater end,” Mamaw Milkweed said. “Because in this world you must be smart and you must endure. Most importantly, you must be ready to be treated like a woman. If you are not ready for that, you’ll break wide open.” “How is a woman treated?” I asked.
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