In this part of chapter seven, I am four years old and  looking at my favorite comic strip, Mandrake the Magician, in the attic of my grandmother’s farmhouse,

Chapter Seven  –  Nobody Argues with Grandma

My grandma is calling me to come and eat. I have mixed emotions. I want to stay in the stillness of the attic with my heroes, but the smell of the food is enticing, and my grandmother’s insistent voice is coming closer. I must go down to the kitchen.

The humming has ceased. Grandma is at the bottom of the stairs, sternly calling me to come at once. Lydia Airaksinen has raised four sons and two daughters, who even in their older years would not dare to disobey this tight-lipped, little lady. I fold Mandrake and Becky in half. They will still be here when I return. But for now, the voice that beckons will not wait. Nobody argues with Grandma.

I’m sad to say, the devil caught me in the vegetable garden in the rest of this chapter.