Winn Dixie

said, "I don't care what your mama says. She's not my mama, so she can't tell me what to do." "I'm going to tell my mama you said that," shouted Stevie, "and she'll tell your daddy and he'll shame you in front of the whole church. And that pet shop man is a bad man and he was in jail and I wonder if your daddy knows that." "Otis is not a bad man," I said. "And my daddy knows that he was in jail." That was a lie. But I didn't care. "And you can go ahead and tell on me if you want, you big bald-headed baby." I swear, it about wore me out yelling at Dunlap and Stevie Dewberry every day; by the time I got to Gloria Dump's yard, I felt like a soldier who had been fighting a hard battle. Gloria would make me a peanut-butter sandwich straight off and then she would pour me a cup of coffee with half coffee and half milk and that would refresh me.

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