I was young and eavesdropping, listening to them discuss my mother. That's when I heard it. I knew what it was and i knew i had heard it. It meant she was dying, it meant she was dirty. I screamed, I had to, my mother had AIDS. Not a cold but, but AIDS. I burst into to tears, only to met with blank faces and a harsh punishment. How dare I step out of line, how dare i claim that I didn't know? How dare I cry when I found out that she couldn't afford her medicine? How dare I not know that the tests they gave us when i was little, were testing for the virus? How could I not have known at such a young age? How could I not have known that what she was doing when she left me was not for pleasure but for money? why didn't you know Rosie, I feel like a bad Auntie. I just assumed that someone had told you. Now it was time for me to recede further into my mind, and push forth my condolences. Your not a bad Auntie, your just fucking stupid. Years later, I worry again, because my unborn baby brother, my only kin, might be born with the virus, the product of her sin. AIDS affects everyone, don't be fucking stupid.