Lanie was in a rush to get seven-year-old Christopher ready to catch the school bus. She sighed. It seemed like she was always in a rush. She never had a chance to do anything but rush around and try to keep herself and Chris in a place to live, with food, clothes, and other necessities. She was so tired of struggling to survive. Time was flying by, and she never had the chance to sit back and enjoy these years with her son.
He was growing up before her eyes, and all she could do was watch as he was shuffled from school to Sally’s, and then home to bed. She had to work two jobs to make ends meet. Even on weekends, he had to stay with Sally, a grandmotherly neighbor of theirs, while Lanie worked.
Lanie didn’t have a choice. She had no formal training. She had hooked up with Chris’s dad st
