Caged Bird

"My mother was bipolar, she would lay in bed for weeks to months then throw one of us a birthday party only to leave us on a street corner to buy drugs. Shall I need to go on?" My voice cracked as Reed stopped jotting down my sad life.
"Delilah, what about your father?"
If I'm going to try when I get home, I have to be open to her. I can't keep drawing mountain birds and avoid any personal information worthy of her therapist certifications to diagnose me properly.
"My absentee father was said to be an alcoholic. I guess that excused him from being a proper father."

"There's that was again. He didn't die as your mother did."

"He took what he pleased and offered no support. He went on a bender for months before last Christmas then came stumbling into the living room; the first thing he asked me was how much money I had on me. He is dead to me. If you say so otherwise, then you're wrong. He died a long time ago."