Sold My Life for My Brother's Birthday Present
"
My eyes turned red-rimmed.
Having been raised poor, I never fought back when other kids beat me up because I feared my parents wouldn't be able to afford the compensation.
Everyone at school knew that there was an idiot who wouldn't fight back or argue when insulted. Even stray dogs on the street seemed to dare to kick me around. Yet now, Mom and Dad blamed me for acting all timid and cowardly.
…
In the end, I didn't steal the 200 dollars.
Instead, I sold the only birthday gift Mom and Dad had ever given me. It was a camera—a piece of junk Clover had discarded, but it still managed to fetch 3,000 dollars.