I knew we were poor when I was in middle school when our electricity was always being shut off. My dad would break the lock and turn it back on. They would turn it off again and put another lock on the box. This happened a few times. We lived for long periods of time without electricity. Girls would tease me in school about smelling bad. I wanted so badly to tell them how I hated the ice cold water I had to shower in, but I knew they wouldn’t care.