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90 houSe traininG Every Saturday mornng, I got up before everybody else, everybody except her. She always had one eye open. Wth my bucket and my rags, I cleaned the ktchen and the rest of the basement, scrubbng the yellow walls that are stll yellow after forty years. Scrapng and rubbng, I got the black-and-whte ktchen floor so brght the tles shned when I put on the lqud wax. I had the bathroom lookng lke a pcture. Mama was proud of me, and she talked wth her ssters about how nce I dd everythng. I could cook. I could wash clothes and ron, too. One day one of Mama’s ssters sad, “Mchael sure wll make some grl a mghty fine husband, mghty fine.” Only God and Mama knew the truth— Mama was preparng me to be alone. ...

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