Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

Allison’s family members are scattered. She includes a photograph of an aunt who disappeared without a trace. In addition, she remembers Lucy, an acquaintance in California who can’t stay sober, and speculates that they were related, noting that among the family photographs is a woman who looks just like the acquaintance.

Allison is curious about her family and her mother, who refused to tell Allison anything about her life. Mattie Lee Gibson, Allison’s grandmother, was always happy to share such stories, even when they scandalized people. A photo of Ruth as a girl with her best friend, Pat, appears here. Mattie tells Allison that no matter how difficult life was at home, Ruth put on a happy face at the restaurant where she waited tables. A picture of Ruth’s health department ID card appears here, and Ruth has a big smile on her face. Allison thinks that her mother’s putting on this happy face was masking or performance, and it’s exactly what Allison does now when she stands up in front of people to talk or read.

To augment her descriptions of the uncles and the other boys in her family, Allison includes a photo of one of her uncles and another man sitting in a bar and another of him standing with his foot on the bumper of a car.