I kicked off my shoes and had just tugged my T-shirt off when I heard my bedroom door open. I turned to see Mom walked in with some of my jeans folded up into a neat stack. "I did some wash when I got home and I..." Mom stopped dead in her tracks and just gawped at me. It confused me at first and then I realized she was staring at Rosalita's claw marks on my back.

Mom stared for a long minute and then shook her head. I was speechless and waited for the yelling to start, but Mom sat the jeans down in a chair and said, "Don't...