page 33

Cybil tells of a scuffle she had with her older sister in their common bed.

"When my father saw my bruised shins and red-rimmed eyes, he made Terry bend over, hands to ankles, and walloped her with his belt. She incurred a similar punishment every time she chased me around the house and attacked me, which was often because I regularly provoked her, awfully dumb since she was older, bigger, stronger, and faster. I hid over a floor furnace outside the den every time she was punished, talking to my plastic horses while my sister yelped, determined to avoid such punishment myself. I, Miss Perfect, rarely got spanked. My most egregious sins were repeatedly scribbling in crayon on the living room wall and taunting my brother to bite me, then telling on him when he did. The spankings came to an end when I stopped crying.

page 51

"I couldn't understand being punished for misbehaving by having to bend over and be spanked with a belt and my friend Martha was punished by having to memorize The Raven."