I'm A Good Judge Of My Own

...i Knew He Would Be Dead, Because Dally Winston Wanted To Be Dead And He Always Got What He Wanted.

My Mother Was Physically And Emotionally Abusive. My Father Was An Extremely Cold Man.

We Had Played A Kid's Version Of Gang Fighting Called "civil War," And Then Later We Had Got In On The Real Thing, We Fought With Chains And We Fought Barefisted And We Fought Socs And We Fought Other Grease Gangs. It Was A Normal Childhood.

Things Were Rough All Over, But It Was Better That Way. That Way You Could Tell The Other Guy Was Human Too.

I Guess I Just Couldn't See Standing There -- Alive, Talking, Thinking, Breathing, Being -- One Second, And Dead The Next. It Really Bothered Me. Death By Violence Isn't The Same As Dying Any Other Way, Accident Or Disease Or Old Age. It Just Ain't The Same.