As the sun peeked up over the bruised horizon, the phone rang pulling Shannon out of her restful slumber. She lifted her boyfriend’s heavy arm off of her chest as she rolled over him, exposing her nude body to the sun.
Who is the world would be calling me at this time of morning? I hope nothing happened to my brother or sister. Most people know to call the house number but who ever this is has my cell phone number. Why did I put the phone on Hakeem’s side of the bed? Dead to the world and he wouldn’t wake up even if the house was on fire. Usually I’m up early but last night was an unusual marathon of loving.
She smiled and then cleared her throat and picked up the phone and was instantly slammed with turmoil.
“I’m gonna kill myself!” A frantic and hoarse female voice wipes the groggy out of Shannon’s body.
Sitting up fast in the bed, Shannon takes a startled moment to place the voice. “Kim?”
“It keeps crying and I don’t know where Mike is! I can’t take anymore!”
“Listen Kim!” Her eyes scanned the dead to the world body of her boyfriend as she got out of the bed causing her to stomp her toe on the foot of the bed. She grimaces as she hops to the bathroom and sits on the cold toilet seat. “What can I do to stop you?”
“Take it away! I don’t want it anymore!”
“I need you to make a bottle and warm it up! I am on my way ok?
Silence on the other line other than the baby’s cries.
“Kim, I need you to answer me!”
“Yeah, yeah….I’ll make a bottle! Shannon?”
“Yes Kim?”
“Please hurry!”
The next few minutes of hours were a blur to Shannon as she got dressed, drove over to calm both mother and child down. Kim was just one of many young mothers on her overwhelming caseload. The potential of curing family dysfunction is what kept Shannon on the job. There were many nights she woke up out of her sleep wondering where were the babies tonight.
Kim was an 18 year old who had an extensive history of mental breakdowns and based her entire world on her current boyfriend. She had gotten pregnant as a way to keep him and expected him to be with her at every moment of the day. Shannon had gotten involved after a call had come in from the hospital alerting Child Protection of Kim’s mental instability throughout the pregnant and there was concern on her parental skills. Shannon had been involved for 2 months and had gotten close to Kim and was proud of her attentiveness to baby Mikayla. The only reason she hadn’t released the family is because she knew that there was a severe co-dependency issue and things were always fragile when Mike needed time out.
As Shannon climbed out of her car, she noticed the baby stroller outside of the duplex and all the lights on in the house. The door was cracked open and the house was deplorable as the furniture had been broken, clothes were strewn all over the place and food had been spilled all over the floor.
Despite the chaos the house was quiet as she maneuvered her way into the bedroom, to her horror she found Kim holding a dirty pillow over Mikayla’s face. Shannon ran into the cluttered room and pulled Kim and the pillow off the baby and proceeded to give the baby CPR. As Shannon pumped the Mikayla’s tiny chest, she yelled for Kim to call 911 but saw that she was curled up in a corner with her thumb in her mouth. After a couple of minutes, Shannon felt the tiny heart flutter faintly giving her a little time to call 911. It was only after the call was placed that Shannon noticed the aspirin scattered on the floor along with a bloody and broken gin bottle. Kim wasn’t moving in the corner and there was blood everywhere.
Shannon wasn’t sure if she should pick up Mikayla so she gave her one more breath and watched to see if she would breathe on her own. As her small chest rose slowly, Shannon crawled over to Kim’s body and prayed that the ambulance would get there soon. She put her hand on Kim’s neck hoping to find a pulse; one was found however it was as faint as the baby’s. Shannon grabbed a flannel shirt that was on the floor next to her and wrapped it around Kim’s wrists as tight as she could.
Shannon signed the paperwork at the hospital after paging Mike and the on-call Investigator. She sat down and tried to make herself calm down but her mind was racing. Life was always full of trials and it was up to each individual to plead their case to the best of their ability. People never realized how much pleading Shannon has done in her life and she often wondered if it was worth it in the end. She could relate to the woes of all of her clients in one-way or another and if she had a questioning client she would tell them her story. She too was an abused child, abandoned and neglected without anyone to save her from the demons in her life. Just knowing how she grew up helped her clients understand her sincerity and need to alleviate the pain the world bestows upon us.
She is bought out of her daydreaming when she hears her name over the paging system. Mike is at the nursing station dressed in a green jumpsuit with the embroidered letters of “Quality Control Engineer” on the pocket. This was his third job since Mikayla was born as Kim made it impossible for him to keep one. He tried to make it easy on the family by working at night when he figured Kim and baby would be asleep. Shannon had to give it to him, he tried very hard to keep Kim stable as well as his head afloat.
Shannon walked over to him and touched his broad shoulders. His big eyes widen with questions and fear as he saw her blood caked shirt and jeans. Tears rolled down his pudgy face as Shannon pulled him close. He whispered “You paged me 730? Are my babies alright?”
Before Shannon could answer him the doctor called her name. She and Mike look over and he tells them that they stabilized Kim and Mikayla. A breathe of relief came from Mike as he then asked to see them. Shannon peeked in for a moment and reported the incident to the investigator when he came. She knew she would have meet with the lawyers when she got in the office to discuss the recent threat to the child’s well-being.
The sun was up and people were on their way to work as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot. She was a morning baby so her greatest pleasure expectation was playing peek a boo with the rising sun. She loved the crisp morning air and how it all felt like being born again. Unfortunately, the sun didn’t wait for her this morning which left her in an agitated state.
The keys jingled in the lock and as the door creaked open not even the loud snap of the light switch changed the mood. Oh, the hate left its track like a slug as she walked towards her office. She was first there and glad she had a change of clothes. She thought about her feelings towards the job, as she wrote her report for last night’s incident. She felt that despite all the positive returns it brought, it wasn’t enough sometimes. After doing the job for several years with little to no advancement or change and as far as she could see no was coming anytime soon.
“Shannon, can you come into my office for a moment?” A dark haired male peeked into her office with his arms filled with paperwork.
“Sure, Roger. Let me complete this report and I’ll be right there.” She wondered with each strike of the keys what could he possibly want this early in the morning. She wondered if he had heard about the Reid case.
She stood up and walked what felt like the green mile to his office. She lightly tapped on his slightly ajar door as he acknowledged her with a flick of the wrist. She sat down in front of his cluttered desk and smiled.
He looked at her grimly and sucked his teeth as if he had something stuck in between them, “I’m not sure how to say this but we got something in the mail yesterday that disturbed us terribly.”
The smile on her face disappears as her thinks what next, “Ok?”
“The letter…” He removed a small folded paper out of a equally small envelope and reviewed it before continuing, “has some very incriminating information pertaining to you and your work here with us.”
Shannon’s mind racing around for the culprit to this bad joke, “Incriminating in what way?”
“Well, very incriminating and due to the nature of our job an investigation must be conducted to measure the validity of the accusation. ”
“Can you please stop beating around the brush and tell me what the hell is going on?”
“Shannon, you have been accused of child molestation!” He refolds the letter and looks at her with a stoic look on his face.
“Molestation! Are you nuts?”
Shannon looks up to see the local security guards at the door. Shannon stood up and pushed past the good for nothing rent a cops. She went into her office and started removing everything that meant something to her. Tears of rage streamed down her face as she tore out of the office into the crowded packing lot. Shannon dropped the box of goods onto the hot ground as she searched in her bag for her car keys. She did everything but dump her purse out in the road to find them at the bottom. As she sat in her car she tried to get her car to start but it wouldn’t. Tears streamed down her face as she called her boyfriend, Hakeem as just her luck his phone went straight to voice mail. She called the house and still no answer.
She got out of the car and looked around for someone she knew. Any other day, there would be somebody from her neighborhood at the office to either to re-certify their food stamps or to try and get some. Sweat dripped into her eyes reminding her that she was kicked to the curb by the State of Florida due to a vexed parent.
Just when Shannon thought she was going to have to foot it to the street, a shiny red Cadillac Seville pulled up in front of her. The car sat there for what seemed like minutes before the tinted window rolled down and smoke rolled out along with a tenor voice.
“Is that little Shannon Reynolds?” A man with gold teeth, a pug nose and sneaky eyes glared over at her.
“Hey Mr. Charlie.” She tried to suppress the habitual groan that usually followed behind him.
“Why you standing out here looking all hot and bothered?” He licked his ashy lips and winked.
“My car is out of commission so I’m stranded out here.” Shannon hated that she was in this predicament but needed help.
“Well, baby girl you know I always got you.” He got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side opening the door for Shannon. He was a short man with a major Napoleon complex.
Shannon was always a bit afraid of Mr. Charlie because he always looked at her in a lewd manner. He had a way of making her feeling naked and dirty. Mr. Charlie was her next door neighbor and he seemed to always show up when he was least expected. Shannon sat close to her door with her legs closed tightly.
Putting a cigarette in his mouth, “You don’t mind do you?” Before she could answer negatively, he had taken two puffs. Shannon tried to roll the windows down but he stopped her. “I got the AC on, girl, it’s hot at there.”
Mr. Charlie touched her a few times as it was his way. He needed to touch you to talk to you. Imagine that as a child, a dirty old man always touching on the little girls and boys. Parents were on the alert all except Shannon’s as her aunt actually dated him for a moment. This gave him an excuse to come by unannounced even when he knew she wasn’t there.
Shannon breathed through her mouth and prayed he didn’t take the long route home. The lord answered her prayers as they turned the corner to her neighborhood. Shannon couldn’t get out of the car fast enough as she slammed the door and thanked him profusely.
She marched up the stairs and saw the door was open. Strangely, no one was in the house, which was a blessing in disguise. Because if someone had been home they would have been laid out on the phone, which is what she needed desperately right now. She walks into the kitchen and reaches for the phone but it wasn’t on the base. Unfortunately, for her this wasn’t one of the cordless bases that you can press the button and it calls the makes a sound until you locate the sound.
Shannon heard her stomach growl and decided to find something to eat before searching for the phone. Opening the refrigerator to find an egg and some orange juice. Some is an exaggeration as it was more like a swallow. What the hell is going on up in here? She opened the cabinets to find nothing but ramen noodles and some canned beets. What’s really going on? The state of nourishment in the kitchen made Shannon forget about her hunger.
She walked out of the kitchen on a mission to find the phone. She checked the couch, lifted up the cushions, looked under the couch as well as all over the living room, dining room and kitchen before proceeding to the bathroom and bedrooms. After an hour search for the cordless phone she slumped on the living room couch with the remote control in her hand. She flipped through the channels absentmindedly as she analyzed what her life was about.
She was writing notes in her palm pilot when the door burst open. In came her mother, Diane, dressed to the tees with the cordless phone to her ear. Both of them were surprised as Shannon rarely came home since she moved out to live with her boyfriend and Diane talking on the missing phone.
“Hold on! Shani what are you doing here?”
“I just thought I would come by to see how ya’ll living.” Lying through the gap in her teeth. “Where you been?”
Putting her finger in the air, “I’ll be right back.” As she walks into the small bedroom and close the door on Shannon’s peering eyes.
Diane comes out of the room with a white tee shirt and some paint ridden jeans. She sits down heavily in the armchair and lights up her Newport and looks at the TV with Shannon. Shannon looks over at her mother and shook her head at her inability to maintain eye contact and a meaningful conversation.
“Where is the phone and what kind of starvation diet are ya’ll on up in here?” Shannon asks as she stands up.
“Oh, its in my purse in the room.” Scrambling up and pretty much knocking Shannon down in the process. Making Shannon wonder what should she have been looking for during her phone search.
Yelling into the room, ”Why is the phone in your purse?”
Diane walks out of the room with the phone in her hand, “Your brother has a nasty habit of running up the phone bill so I carry the phone on me.”
Shannon grabs the phone, “Who he calling out of town?” Sitting back down on the couch feeling more relaxed. Diane walks into the kitchen and begins to bang on pots and pans.
“Some girls he met at that Black College Spring Break in Daytona Beach. I told him those girls ain’t nothing but prostitutes but he claiming he in love with a few of them.”
Shannon nods her head in agreement, “Yeah, he told me he was supposed to go to the something that one of the chicks told him about in ATL.” Dialing the phone when she hears Diane turning the water on in the kitchen.
“Who is this and what you want, cause I don’t know you and I ain’t got it.” A deep voices booms through the phone.
“Babe, where you at?”
“Oh sup, slim! I’m up at the shop pricing out some rims for the cars. Why you calling from your folks house?”
“My car won’t start! I need you to come get me and stop by the house and pick up my cell, please.”
“Oh, well you gonna have to stay put for a couple hours cause they just took the tires off my car.”
“Well, I might see if I can get a ride to the shop. Call the house before you leave, ok?”
Shannon hangs up the phone and leans back on the floral print sofa. Looking around the room you would never know that this was her childhood home as there were no young faces on the walls.
