“Leave my home,” screams the angry mom
“You’ve forfeited your only chance.”
“But mom,” she cries
With tears streaming down her cheeks
“Don’t mom me, leave my house!”
In silence, she packs her bags
She looks at her now swollen belly
She regrets what has happened
But what can she do now?
Where can she go?
Standing there in deep remorse
She remembers vividly
The mellifluousness of his words
His charms, which skillfully knocked her off her feet
His promises of a utopian life
Her complete trust in him.
All that, she now realizes, were just empty words, void of meaning
Now reality faces her
He is gone
Her mother orders her to leave home
Her father is dead, no one to lean on.
She laments, “What have I gotten myself into?
If I had just obeyed what mom said.”
She feels rejected, alone, afraid, but not despondent
She refuses to go under
She is determined to be a success in spite of her mishap.
“But I don’t have much education,” she painfully reminds herself
Her mother watches her, wondering at what she has just said to her daughter
Her heart moans for her child
Her pride refusing to yield to her motherly pangs
She watches her only daughter, only thirteen years old, pregnant, in second form at high school.
She looks toward heaven, sighs heavily
“God,” she says inside, “Where did I go wrong, what didn’t I do?”
She again looks at her child
Her pride still hurts, but she longs for her child
“Maria,” she finally says. “Come here”
Maria turns, runs toward her mother.
“Mom,” she says
“I’m so sorry, I’ll never let it happen again.”
They both cry
Mom hugs her daughter
Daughter hugs her mom
Silence engulfs them at first
Then, only crying is heard.
__________________________________________________
Contact Angella Barrett-East@[email protected]
