Uncle Otto should be back before night," she says.

I was the youngest of my father's children, born in 1955, and so Uncle Otto always seemed very old to me.

Uncle Otto, then twenty, was the only child to receive a full inheritance.

Also like Uncle Otto, he had inherited a sum of money.

Uncle Otto was stricken - or so he told my father - and offered to pay for the truck.

If not, you can be sure Uncle Otto points it out.

When Uncle Otto stopped coming to town, it was my father who made sure that he didn't starve to death.

By 1981 Uncle Otto had lost his few remaining marbles.

Even so, by 1981 people had begun talking seriously about having Uncle Otto put away for his own good.

Oil was pouring out of Uncle Otto's mouth and nose.