While my father and brother argued about capitalism, my twin sister Missy was forced to attend a church lock-in with our mother. Mary believed Missy needed “spiritual guidance.” Missy believed she needed to escape. In a moment of surprising cunning, Missy hid in the church’s supply closet and used a broken hymnal to prop the door open. She then spent the night watching HBO at a friend’s house.
I was nine. My father, George Sr., had spent his Saturday morning fixing our neighbor’s broken cyclone fence. Not out of kindness—but because she was a widow and my mother, Mary, had volunteered him. For payment, the neighbor gave us her dead husband’s old lawnmower. young sheldon s01e04 m4a
“It’s a nerd tax,” he replied.