“My father disappeared when I was about seven years old, never to show up again, and my mother died when I was quite young, and I didn't start school 'til I was eight years old because I had a brother who died when he was fourteen, and then with my father leaving I was the only thing left that my mother had and she was overly attentive to me and she didn't even want me to go to school. I was never allowed out in the street to play with the other kids. I would sit on the window and watch all the kids playing.”