[ Julie snorts, because saying that there were rigidly defined expectations of little girls where she's from is putting it mildly. There were rigidly defined expectations of everyone where Julie was from. People from Pratt didn't go to Ivy League universities or make it big in Hollywood; the best and brightest of Pratt made it to Topeka if they were lucky. Everyone else was expected to shut up and fall in line, live a quiet, poor life of farming or menial labor. There was no room for someone like Julie, even when she was young. ]

Anyway, I guess... after that, I never much saw the point in tryin' to learn. Or at least at school. I used to read a lot, though. When I couldn't go to the farm when my parents were workin', they'd usually just leave me at the library until it closed.