Chapter 2: Into the System
1058 Words
It was a beautiful l day.
The sun was shining, everyone was in a good mood, and our days at the yellow house were over sadly.
we had many great memories there.
We had to pack up and move to a different place.
This place we went to, was a shelter for women.
It was huge.
We arrived in a black car.
We were greeted at the door and went inside for a tour.
The place smelled wonderful.
They had a small room with four bunk beds, it was cramped but it was perfect for us.
next door was a small closet where Mama could do my hair.
on our left was a small drinking fountain.
and down at the end of the hall was a toy room.
we went inside, the place was huge.
we were greeted by a woman who was in charge of the toy room.
I don't remember her name but she was a good woman.
We then went downstairs.
We went inside a large cafeteria area, and man, it smelled wonderful every day!
we went inside this small room where they hold meetings sometimes and outside was a vending machine.
life was good.
We moved that same day.
we started school not long after we moved in.
our mom packed our lunch.
We had awesome lunches, we had a sandwich, maybe some chips, milk, and a small snack like a Little Debbie or a Baby bottle pop, which is my personal favorite.
I didn't care for the sucker part, I was into the sugar at the bottom.
If you don't know what a Baby bottle pop is, it's a hard candy sucker on top, and the bottom is filled with sugar for dipping the sucker in.
Mama made sure my hair was done every day.
I loved it when Mama did my hair, especially when she did a zig-zag part down the middle of my hair.
then she did two pick tails, I loved it!
When something bothered me, and she couldn't figure it out, she would take part of her hair and brush it against my face, very softly.
When I laughed, she laughed.
mama never harmed us, she disciplined us with the belt one time, that's it.
One day, we had to go somewhere, somewhere we had never been before.
it all happened so fast, we didn't even see it coming.
We had no warning.
We were with our mom for five minutes and then they came and started to separate us.
as a scared child, I started to cry and reach out to her.
they took us out of the room, then the building, and placed us in the back of a police car.
I cried for her until I fell asleep in the back of the police car.
I was awakened when we arrived at our new temporary placement.
It was called Kid's First.
Kid's First is a temporary foster place for kids.
the living room was huge, and so was the kitchen.
They showed us where we would sleep.
the room was a little small. we had one cot, so we each took turns.
The first night was long without Mom, so I snuggled with Sara and Jeremy, at least I wasn't alone.
We finally stopped being nervous and just took slow steps.
by the third day, we were completely comfortable.
Sara and Jeremy were playing around while I did a puzzle.
We weren't there for long, On the third day, a staff member came in with a woman.
Her name was Ms. Lauren.
she was going to be our new foster mom.
She signed some paperwork and we packed the stuff that we had and left with Ms. Lauren.
from the looks of this woman, she had cash.
When we arrived at her house, it was a two-story house.
her house was very clean and organized.
When we got inside, she got straight down to the house rules, what's allowed and what isn't allowed.
she showed us where our bedrooms were.
Jeremy had a full comforter set in his room, and Sara and I had the basement and a couple of sheets for our bed.
It was quite obvious Ms. Lauren took an instant liking to him like he was her son.
Monday through Thursday, we cleaned the house and were in bed by eight.
Friday nights we cleaned and got to stay up late watching wrestling.
The food options weren't that great.
We had two options, ramen noodles, or chicken pot pie.
If we didn't finish our dinner, we had it for breakfast cold.
We continued to go to school, for our bus stop was at the corner.
The longer we lived with Ms. Lauren, the more of her true colors came out.
I went into kindergarten while living with Ms. Lauren.
One day, while we were sitting in Ms. Lauren's minivan, I wasn't feeling the best.
it was hot inside her minivan.
I think it was because I was eating cold food, and my body couldn't take it.
I told her, but she just said, "Hole it in, we're almost home.'
well, that lasted for three seconds, cause the mom said that I barfed all over the place.
She was mad and made me clean the whole van all by myself.
I was only two and a half, close to turning 3 years old.
I had to throw a toy away that my biological mother gave us on one of the visits.
It was a stuffed lion with a little crown on his head.
When we went into the foster care system, we were given a case manager.
Her name was Deb.
She was very kind and made sure we got our visits with our mom.
We went to D.A. Blodgett for our visits.
When Mom came, she brought us our favorite snacks and some toys.
it was beautiful seeing her again.
It's like she never left.
The hardest part is, saying goodbye.
I remember, her eyes said it all.
The tears were nonstop with me and her.
Both our eyes filled and flooded with tears.
I don't know how Sara and Jeremy just sat there without dropping one tear.
I guess deep down, they already forgot about her.
But I didn't, I was the only one who saw the sadness in my mother's eyes.
- Writer
