Chapter One, Courage in Patience

CHAPTER ONEWe go onâ€"because it is the hard thing to do.And we owe ourselves the difficulty.---Nikki GiovanniMy name is Ashley Asher. That’s right, go ahead, and laugh. Apparently, my parents thought it would be “cute” to make my first and last names nearly identical. My family and friends call me Ash. My mother calls me by my first and middle names, Ashley Nicole. Her husband, Charlie, thought he was real clever and called me Ash-Hole.I’m fifteen years old, and I live in Patience, Texas, an East