“Daddies and Sons” by Kim Coleman Foote on THE RUMPUS

When he was a little boy, Jeb Coleman would pick at the scabs on his knees and elbows, imagining how his daddy would suffer before dying. The old man would often get drunk on Four Roses whiskey and start itching to punch everything in sight. Jeb took the brunt of it. His muh, too, when she intervened. Jeb would try to defend her and get whupped some more. Meanwhile, his three sisters would look on and cry. They could outfight Jeb—they brazenly did it in public—but when it came to standing up to their father at home, they were too chicken.

from The Rumpus.net