Page 37 - Daphne Hart - 89 and Feeling Fine
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CHAPTER SEVEN
M
y stepfather did not think education was
important. All he thought I needed to do
was be able to read, write, and do
arithmetic—as he called it, "cypher," meaning to be able
to calculate or count money. He, you see, was as dumb
as a bat; he could neither read nor write.
Growing up, I felt that something was not right. There
would always be quarrelling between my parents over
something I didn’t understand. He had this practice of
sharpening his machete with a threat that he was going
to chop us all up. To this day, I hate the sound of an
object being sharpened with a file.
My brothers would do mean things to me and threaten
to beat me up if I said anything.
I'm happy to say that I was what they would call a bright
child in school. Teachers recognized my potential,
despite my speech impediment. As I grew older, my
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