Broken Descent (Bruno Mars)

Advocacy

In the weeks following the teacher conference, Bruno sat with Charlotte as she did her homework. The teacher was right; Charlotte had no problem with her homework or any of the second grade curriculum. One night, after putting Charlotte to bed, Bruno went straight to bed himself. Recently, he'd been exhausted, over-worked, and emotionally drained with trying to balance work and fatherhood.

In the middle of the night, a loud noise woke him up. On the way toward the main part of the house, he passed Charlotte's room and noticed that she was out of bed, which heightened his anxiety.

The light was on in the kitchen, as well as another one on the ceiling above the large pantry, where the door had been slid open. A cowering, whimpering Charlotte stood back against the wall of food. Broken glass and food scattered all around the floor. Stretching his arms across the mess, he smiled at her, but she only looked down.

"Sorry..." she whispered shakily.

Without a response, Bruno grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, continuing to hold her high up on his chest. He turned his head to the side and spoke softly.

"I think we need to talk. What do ya think?"

To Bruno's surprise, Charlotte pulled herself away from him just a few inches, and nodded. Despite her previous compliance, Charlotte was a bit unresponsive when Bruno set her down on her bed.

"Charlotte you said you would talk to me," Bruno whined. "C'mon."

"I don't know...what to talk about..."

"Well...how 'bout we talk the food? What are you doing in the kitchen in middle of the night?"

"Aaron..."

"Aaron?" Bruno asked, furrowing his eyebrows. "What are you talkin' about?"

"He doesn't...he doesn't get food when he goes home...and I...and I...I give him stuff to eat."

"Oh..." Bruno said. "So that's where all our food has been going."

Getting closer to her, Bruno moved his arms further under her arms, resting them on her bed, which allowed his face to get closer to hers.

"What's goin' on?" he asked, kissing her cheek a few times.

"Aaron...his...foster his parents aren't...they're not...nice to him..."

"They're not nice? What does that mean?"

Charlotte told him the whole story that she'd been struggling with for months upon months. She talked about the bruises on his arms and how often he'd been missing school and how worried she had been feeling. By the middle of her stories, her eyes had been saturated in tears.

"You need to help him, Dad. He's in...trouble...big trouble. Please help him..."

When a bit of unsteady breathing stopped her from speaking any longer, Bruno took over so she could relax. What she'd been holding in all that time was a lot for one person to handle, especially a seven year old.

"Of course I'll help. You're such a good friend. Aaron is so lucky to have you. I have some work things to do on Saturday but how 'bout we invite him over for Sunday? How does that sound?"

Charlotte gasped without saying much of a word.

"You like that idea?"

"And..." Charlotte began to say enthusiastically, "and maybe Madison and Kim can come over too!"

"That's a great idea. Alright, I'll make it happen."

Bruno was unsure if Aaron's foster parents would even allow him to come over. However, when Sunday morning came, Aaron got dropped off outside Bruno's open gate at the end of the driveway. The adults had a very quick exchange before Aaron's parents left. Bruno watched, as it seemed in slow motion, as they drove away.