My Life as Mom's Living Warning

In the Kingston household, Mom rules her children through fear. Esther and Emily are driven to study, while their youngest brother, Elmer, is the living warning: when either sister steps out of line, Mom stabs him with an embroidery needle, lashes him with a belt, or starves him, so that the girls will obey out of guilt. Mom calls him the sacrificial dog beaten to keep a lion obedient, and Elmer believes his only purpose is to be made an example of.

After the SATs, Esther applies to a college out of state, and Emily claims she is eloping. Mom forces Elmer into a giant fish tank and films him as the water rises, threatening to drown him unless Esther withdraws her application and Emily gives up the young man. While Esther kneels and signs the local form, Mom live streams the whole lesson to an audience, and Elmer, hungry and freezing, dares not struggle against the one person he knows would kill him.

With the tap still running and the lid shut over him, Elmer waits in the rising water for Mom to return with the fried chicken she promised.