Do you know what welfare means?
It means I’m going with Ma and a big brown US Department of Agriculture bag
open in the shopping cart, to the Welfare Distribution Center in another project building,
across from the basketball court.
It means walking past the basketball court where all the guys hang out.
It means having gold cans of salty meat, pounds of butter, bags of corn meal and flour,
and boxes of powdered milk and American cheese piled high above the cart.
It means I am going to be cooking. I love to cook. I make fried salty meat squares and flour gravy
for white rice with Del Monte peas and carrots. My favorite is rolled biscuits from the Joy of Cooking book.
I modify her recipe by using powdered milk, cream and lots more butter.
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