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        Then Mother and I went to the kitchen to bake some of Mother's delicious slice and bake cookies. These were only used for special occasions. Carl and I were a special occasion once again. I was chattering away obviously happy, when the world seemed to collapse around me.

        Daddy and Carl had started talking as we left the room. Now there was shouting from the living room. Daddy's voice said, 'I demand that you and Betty Jo live by yourselves.' Carl's answer was that no one 'demanded' anything from him. By the time Mother and I reached the living room, the two men were standing at arm's length, shouting in one another's faces.

        Daddy then turned to me and said, 'Go for a drive with him and discuss this.' As he said, 'with him' he waved his hand in Carl's direction. Then Daddy abruptly turned and left the room. I raced to my room, grabbed my coat, and joined Carl as he hurried out the front door, slamming the screen behind him.

        We drove in silence for a while. Then Carl said, 'Did you hear what your Daddy said?' I answered that I had. Carl then said, 'We'll make up our own mind where and how we live. No one will demand that we do anything.' I agreed.

        He drove me back home and walked me to the door. When I entered the living room Daddy was waiting for me. All the lights were turned out except the lamp beside Daddy's chair. He asked me, 'Did you discuss where you will live?' I answered that we did. 'What is your answer?', Daddy asked. I said, 'We will decide that for ourselves.' Daddy almost growled at me when he said, 'You're a damn fool Betty Jo. You're a damn fool!' Then he turned out the light and stomped out of the living room.

        The next day Mother talked to me and said that she and Daddy had married and moved in with his mother from the first day. She said they never had any privacy and that she and Daddy didn't want that for me. I understood her point. In fact, I understood everyone's point. But right now, I couldn't do anything to change matters. It was a funny thing, but no one bothered to ask Carl and I what we thought about anything.