It was a cold morning. My mom had no money.We had no shoes no food the power was cut off and it was snowing.it was freezing cold and there was only one blanket.i gave it to my little brother name Ben. My mom had three jobs in one day. i barely saw her.i took care of my brother while my mom worked. MY father walked out on us when i was eight.I am eleven and Ben is five.We can’t afford to go to school so i teach Ben how to read but we don’t have a lot of books. We are behind on rent.We only have one pair of shorts and one of pants and one shirt.WE only get one juice box and one box of animal crackers per day. We had no water to take showers. we can’t afford a car so my mom takes the light rail.. I have a hard life. i have no friends because on one likes me because i don’t have nice clothes and i can’t take showers so i stink. and so when i use to go places people make fun of me and bully me. because of that i don’t go out very much anymore.it’s hard to stay tough around my brother when i see people playing with their parents and hanging out as a family because it reminds me of what i don’t a family who does that stuff.Sometimes Ben ask me about our dad Rick and where he is. It’s hard to tell him that he left and when i tell him Ben tears up and so do i. It’s hard to sleep not knowing when your mom is coming home. sometimes i stay up and think about what would happen if i my life had gone different. Tommorrow is Ben's birthday he will be six. The bad thing about this is that I don't even know if my mom will be home tommorow for his birthday and we have no cake so i made him a card out of a cardboard box. It was morning Ben woke up and was very happy I gave him my card and I read it to him. " Dear Ben I hope you have a great birthday and even though mom can't be here just know that I'm here for you and always will be here for you no matter what happens.I love you so much. Love John." He started to tear up. He gave me a hug and said " I love you too."
