Quintessence of Dust
Page 25
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Milton Ball’s gift to his mother for giving him life was to take it from her. She was alive long enough to hold him in her arms, smell his head, and ask the doctor if it was normal for a baby to look so wrinkly. Before the doctor could assure her Milton would gradually iron out, she suffered a major haemorrhage and died. Milton’s father, unprepared for the responsibility of being the only parent did what most young men would do and took to the drink.
With no parents left to raise him, the day after the house fire, Milton moved in with his Aunt Bea, his guardian by default. She was a spinster with a skin condition that Milton seemed to aggravate whenever they were in the same room. To keep him happy, and as far away as possible, Aunt Bea would buy him pets, which she made him promise to look after in his bedroom.
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