Mother, Don't Poison Us Please

Ever since I can remember, me, Jerome and Miranda have lived with Mother alone in a ramshackle house far away from the repugnancies of the civilized world. We have been happy that way. But the blight is here now, along with the famine and Mother is in more ordinary moods than ever, and far more often. So when an intruder comes too close to the house, perhaps, just perhaps, he has something other than death to bring to our door.