Assault of Laughter

Status: Available

Page Count: 204

Edition: Second

ISBN: 978-1-59092-149-4

SRP (USD): $12.99

Size: 5.5x8.5 trade paperback

Cover: Buster Blue

Genre(s): Nonfiction

Homepage: Melissa Hart

At home when I cried, Daddy and Elsa ignored me. No one ever came to get me. I didn't think Mother would come in now, but in a moment, there was a light tap at the door.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Mother sat at the foot of my mattress and leaned over to stroke my hair. I hid my face in the pillow. It felt good to cry this hard.

I sat up abruptly. "It's Annie!" I yelled. "I hate her! She doesn't belong in our family, barging in here and telling everyone what to do!"

I knew immediately that I'd hurt Mother.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way, Lissa," Mother said at last. "I love Annie, and she likes you kids so much." She stopped talking, and a tear rolled down the side of her cheek and disappeared into her hair.

"So why not find another man!" I yelled. "Then maybe I'd have a chance at living here. I don't understand why you want to be gay! I just don't get it!"

"I don't want to be gay," Mother said quietly. "I am gay."

When Melissa's mother, Maggie, comes out, she packs up her three kids and leaves the safety of the only life she's ever known. But a short time later, Melissa's father has Maggie declared unfit and Maggie loses custody of Melissa, Katie and Tim.

Caught between her mother's home filled with love and the verbal and physical abuse she experiences from her father, Melissa struggles to hold on to what's most precious, coming finally to understand her mother's simple truth: Home is where the heart is.

By This Author

Assault of Laughter