Davis relates how the softball bat that the girls won in the skit contest became a weapon against the rats that haunted their dwellings. Her sister Anita used the bat to kill rats. For Viola, rats became associated with the idea of winning, and she is still scared of them. There were some happy moments of her childhood, like celebrating holidays and playing games with her father. But there was always the trauma that returned afterward. Young Viola acquired the power to dissociate from her physical body, which she found an empowering experience but painful when it ended.

Living that life formed a close bond between Viola and her sisters. They often attempted to play away their suffering, pretending to be rich and famous. They started a pretend band together, played with firecrackers, and generally figured things out without their parents. However, their parents did give them new clothes for Easter every year, and her mother straightened and curled the girls’ hair. They tried to go to church one year but were turned away for not being Catholic, so they went to the movies instead. Certain battles the girls won, but they could not win against the pervasive sexual abuse from various adults in their lives. They fought to live through these horrifying experiences, which Viola now sees as part of her journey. As an adult, she told her mother about these experiences, but her mother responded only with silence.

Davis briefly touches on the many fights and traumatic physical experiences she had growing up. In particular, she tells the story of watching a Vietnam veteran with PTSD murder their cat in front of them and how he chased her sister through town, hunting her like an animal. The girls did not have the tools they needed to heal from all these traumas.