The Hughes side

When I was a little girl, I loved to go over to my Aunt Maggie's house. She was like a Grandmother to me. But in the front room of her house lived her crazy nephew, my Uncle H.C. As a child I didn't know what was wrong with H.C., I just knew I was scared of him and his room. He didn't always live there, he was in and out of jail and when he was out, he cooled his heels at Aunt Maggie's house. He was tall,dark skinned, had a receding hairline and was bedeviled. Now as an adult I know he was always "chasing the dragon". I don't know what his personality was like before Heroine but by the time I came along, he had been in the service and like so many men that go to war and come back home, they're never the same. Back then they didn't have a name for what was wrong with him it's now known as PTSD. He self medicated w/ heroine. Never the less, as a child he was very scary. High as a kite and his body swayed from side to side. His room was dark, even in the daytime. When I went passed his room (and you had to go passed his room to get to the back of the house) it was like a siren went off in my mind to hurry passed there. The rest of the house was inviting an fun but I never liked that room, even when he wasn't there.