WHO GOT GAME? // Steph Curry

Chapter 9 - Homecoming

Ayesha
Fall 2002

They took Lebron away.

After Ms. Gloria's meltdown in front of their house, the police automatically assumed she was intoxicated. But her being drunk wasn't the reason they took Lebron. According to the "noseyhood" otherwise known as the neighborhood of Spalding Hills - the police took Lebron into emergency protective custody after they searched the James' home and found alcohol bottles and drug paraphernalia all over the living room coffee table. I didn't know what kind of drugs, but they found them. They also said there wasn't much food in the fridge and overall, the house wasn't suitable for a child... and just like that, Lebron was gone.

My mother sat me down, after everything happened and gave me some bogus story about Lebron staying with his grandmother for awhile. I actually believed her at first... Until I overheard her and Ms. Sonya gossiping on the phone. I remembered the exact words as if it was yesterday.

"Foster care isn't any place for a child." My mom had said, "I hope Gloria gets her act together so Lebron doesn't get lost in the system."

At the time, I didn't know what foster care or "the system" was. I just knew it sounded like somewhere I didn't wana be. But once school started and the rumor about what happened to Lebron spread there, I found out that Lebron was taken out of his mother's home and placed into another home that was more "suitable for children". I also found out Ms. Gloria didn't know where he was or who he was living with and she had to go to parenting classes, rehab and make her home liveable for Lebron before she could get him back.

To be honest, no one thought Lebron would ever come back.

It seemed like once Lebron left, Ms. Gloria started drinking and carrying on even more. Before Lebron was taken, Ms. Gloria's drinking and drug habits was something you had to see or actually hear from Lebron himself to believe. After he left, I guess you can say Ms. Gloria had a quick downward spiral. The parties got bigger and louder. She'd come outside drunk and belligerent, cussing people out for no reason and clumsily walking down the sidewalks hollering at other people's kids. Sometimes when I saw her come outside, I would run inside just to avoid her.

My mother and Ms. Sonya decided to team up to talk to her one time, about six months after Lebron was removed from her custody. I don't know exactly what they said, but I watched them walk across the street with high hopes of snapping Ms. Gloria to her senses. Not even five minutes later, I witnessed both women practically running back across the street, hollering, "That's it! That lady's crazy!"

A few seconds after that, Ms. Gloria burst through her screen door, yielding a kitchen knife. A cigarette was dangling off her lips as she yelled after the two women. "And don't you two heffas eva come over here again tellin' me what I need to do with my life! Who y'all think y'all is?! Dr. Phil and Oprah?!"

I lost all hope at that moment. I didn't know if Ms. Gloria was drinking and doing more drugs because it helped her deal with Lebron being gone or drinking and doing more drugs because Lebron was gone and she could get away with it.

Either way - a year passed before Ms. Gloria finally went to rehab. I only knew because within that year, something happened to Ms. Gloria's car and she couldn't afford to get it fixed. At that point, she swallowed her pride, apologized to my mom and Ms. Sonya then started asking them for rides to the rehabilitation facility. She had to go every day from 9am to noon for three months. My mom and Ms. Sonya also took turns taking her to her parenting classes and different job interviews.

It took awhile for Ms. Gloria to get a job because she had gotten so used to living off the government and hadn't worked in such a long time. But eventually she landed a job at Spalding Hills High School as a lunch lady. It wasn't the best job in the world, but it was obvious at that point that she was willing to do anything to get her Bron Bron back.