Temporary Fosters

Anthony.

Feburary 2011.

Anthony

The bus dropped me off that day, and as I walked up the driveway, I noticed something was off. Why was my mom's car parked half in the grass? It looked as if she parked while drunk.

"Mom?" I said, walking into the silent house, I took the bus home today because my mother wasn't feeling well, she came home from work right when I was supposed to leave, and said she wasn't feeling good. "You home?" I asked, a little louder this time. I pulled out my phone, it was a Pantech Razzle, I flipped it to the keyboard side and called my mom, placing my bag at the end of the hallway as I walked to my room.

I felt a chill up my spine as I heard her phone ringing in the dining room, "Mom?" I questioned, slowly turning a corner and peeking my head into the dining room. I gasped as I saw her laying there, face down on the ground, broken cup of orange juice it looked like. I ran to her side, Picking up her head and placing it on my lap, thinking back to what she taught me about emergencies.

"One: Chin up, Anthony, don't panic. Two: If someone is hurt, call 911 and tell them our address, you remember what that is?" I nodded, "Ok good. Three: Repeat 1, and stay calm and wait for help."

I repeated her words in my head, pulling out the phone I just had and dialing 911, "911, what's your emergency?"

"3802 Hamilton Drive, Charlotte, NC."

"Okay, what is the emergency?" I heard them repeat through the line.

"My mom is not moving. Something is wrong." I said, trying to breathe and keep my chin up, but I was sobbing into the phone.

"How old are you?" She asked.

"I'm 12." I said, starting to lose my cool.

She sighed, "I need you to stay on the line with me until help arrives, okay? What's your name?" She asked, so I told her, "Okay, Anthony, do you have any pets?"

"No ma'am."

"Okay, good, is there anyone else in the house?"

"No ma'am." I repeated, why's she asking all these weird questions? I bet my mom would know.

She kept on with the odd questions until I told her the ambulance was here, they pulled her off of my lap and checked her pulse, there was nothing. I sat there in shock as they tried to revive her with those shocker things. A woman came up behind me as I watched them shock my mom and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, taking me outside.

I saw them come out with a white sheet over her body.

2/19/2013

"Happy birthday, Anthony!" I tried to smile, but couldn't manage one after the past couple days. My caseworker had a cupcake in her hand, I shook my head no, she just frowned and put it on the desk, "I do have good news, buddy." She smiled, "I found you a family." That was the first smile I managed to break in the past 3 days.

She was a small redhead, her name was Amanda.

"Is this your first foster home?" Amanda asked me.

"Yes ma'am." I said as I shifted uncomfortably in the dining room chair.

My real mother taught me to always say please, thank you, and use ma'am and sir when addressing anyone older than you, and never call an adult by their first name, always use their last with the proper prefix.

"This is Anthony, everyone." I was 14 at this time, my first family dinner. It was winter, so everyone was home. I smiled and met everyone as they introduced themselves, it was basically the same group of people as it is today, except Lucy.