Fallout (Crank 3)

my best to enlighten

you, though I’m not sure

of every word of it myself.

I suppose I should know

more. I mean, it has been

recorded for eternity—

a bestselling fictionalization,

so the world wouldn’t see

precisely who we are—

my mixed-up, messed-

up family, a convoluted

collection of mostly regular

people, somehow strengthened

by indissoluble love, despite

an ever-present undercurrent

of pain. The saga started here:

FOREWORD

Kristina Georgia Snow

gave me life in her seventeenth

year. She’s my mother,

but never bothered to be

my mom. That job fell

to her mother, my grandmother,

Marie, whose unfailing love

made her Mom even before

she and Dad (Kristina’s stepfather,

Scott) adopted me. That was

really your decision, Mom claims.

You were three when you started

calling us Mama and Papa.