"Paper Matches�

� My aunts washed dishes while the uncles
squirted each other on the lawn with
� garden hoses. Why are we in here,
I said, and they are out there.
� That�s the way it is,
� said Aunt Hetty, the shrivelled-up one.
� I have the rages that small animals have,
being small, being animal.
� Written on me was a message,
�At Your Service,� like a book of

paper matches. One by one we were

taken out and struck.
� We come bearing supper,
our heads on fire.

� Paulette Jiles