This is a true short story about the author’s childhood. His father was abusive and unkind. Every day was like preparing for survival in an unpredictable, hostile environment. The family often braced itself for the worst each day. The family was living in constant fear of the man who should have been their protector. To the world outside, he was loved by nearly everyone who knew him. Outsiders would have never imagined the frightful man he really was at home.