Chapter 4

I never told anyone about my time at the electronics factory. It wasn't that I didn't want to. It was just too humiliating to say out loud.

At fifteen, other people were sitting in classrooms. I was on an assembly line tightening screws. I stood for twelve hours a day, with only a half-hour break to eat.

I made 600 dollars a month.

On payday that first month, I counted the money three times.

600 dollars.

Six crisp 100-dollar bills.

I tucked the money under my pillow and slept on it all night.

The next day, Mom called.

"Em, your…