Jenna: I read the book Cujo when I was really young and it scared the living daylights out of me. I wouldn’t put my foot down on the floor because I thought something would get me from under the bed. So I would sit in my room and cry —more like howling— until Tony came and took me to sleep in his room. I would sneak into his bed from then on until I was about twelve.

Tony: You cried all the time. I was like, “Jenna, if you don’t stop crying, I’m going to sleep in the living room so I don’t have to hear you.”

Jenna: And I’d say, “Don’t leave. I can’t sleep. I’m scared.” And Tony would say, “Get up and do jumping jacks then, so you get tired.” But I was too scared to touch the ground. And I’d make him hold my hand. I was so afraid of everything. I think back and wonder, “How could Marjorie not hear me crying?”

Tony: Do you remember the final straw? We had moved back to Vegas and you were jumping on your four-poster bed and you broke it. I came in and you were worried that Marjorie would spank you. I was trying to fix it really quick, and I was in my underwear. And she came in and said, “What are you doing in your sister’s room in your underwear? Are you trying to molest your sister?” And I stood up and went bam. And she screamed and went running to Dad.

Tony: So Dad came in and said, “What the fuck is going on?” And I said, “I will not live with that fucking cunt.”

Jenna: What happened was that Tony and I had a powwow and decided that we either had to run away or tell Dad we can’t live with her anymore. And Dad said, “Okay, I’m going to divorce her. I’m going to tell her tonight.” That night we were all at the dining-room table. He told her, and all hell broke loose. It was like this huge bawling scene, with her screaming, “You can’t do this to me.” I started crying because it was so traumatic, and I remember looking at Tony and he was just stone-cold quiet. He didn’t show any emotion. He always told me if he could kill her, he would. I locked myself in the room, and cried and cried because it was another upheaval. She was storming around the house, knocking stuff over and saying things like, “I’m taking everything and you will have nothing but those little brats.” And I kept thinking, “Did I just fuck this up for my dad?”

Larry: God no.

Jenna: That was a major turning point for the way I felt about you, Dad, because I knew you were there for us.

Larry: You saw her a few years after the divorce, right?

Jenna: Remember, she came and picked me up? It was weird because she was saying that she loved me and I was her little girl. It really confused me. She took me to lunch, and tried to take me shopping but didn’t buy me anything.

Larry: I think it was a ploy to get back with me.

Tony: I think that she realized her treatment of us was the reason why you left her.

Larry: Well, there was another reason: I just didn’t like her.