Growing up in the violent hell of one mean, evil stepfather (and subsequent worse stepfathers), an alcoholic mother, and the reality of Welfare, taught Kristina Marie to be tough.  Her grandparents visited sometimes and she learned that another name for her hideous stepfather, “Bob,” (other than “Dad,” which she detested), was “Bastard.”  That’s what grandma called him while gripping her cigarette between her lips tighter than her clenched fists, talking to grandpa in their driveway one day – and that’s what Kristina would call him from then on. She was proud that at 5 years old she had learned a more descriptive, powerful word. Kristina Marie, named after her grandma, Christine Marie, with the strength and courage of her 7 year old brother, endure hardships unfathomable to the average mind.  They warm themselves by the heat of the oven when the gas runs out of the furnace for weeks at a time, and help each other when their mom is too drunk or beat up to even know where they were or what they are doing.  They are as inseparable as the freckles across the tops of their noses.  They plan a great escape almost daily to find their real dad in Alaska. Kristina Marie finds hope in red cardinals, and often wonders where they fly when winter comes.  She wants to fly away too, but will have to wait until she can drive or buy a Greyhound bus ticket.  She knows that red cardinals fly away when the winters get too harsh, to a place of warmth and peace; and she too is determined to find the place Where the Red Cardinals Fly.