The Lost Boy

My Blessed Life

I sat in my room and closed the book.I thought to myself 'The lost boy must not be real.' My mother came in and tucked me in."Goodnight Darling." she said as she slightly shut my door and turned my light off.My mother,Katherine is a widow.My father passed away during his trip to Africa to care for the homeless.He has been there multiple times.Thats why he chose my name.Now my older brother Andrew cares for my mother and I.He is a talented teenager.Instead of focusing on homework he cares for me while mother is working and I would be sick.I love my family.I wonder if the lost boy ever did.I decided it was time for bed and I snuggled in my blankets and I quickly fell asleep.I had a dream that the lost boy was real.It got interrupted by Andrew waking me up.My mother did my hair and put me in a white church dress.Andrew called my name, "Jamila Grace!" My name is Jamila Grace Johnson. Jamila is an old African name. Jamila (Jah-mee-la) means beautiful. Grace means blessing. I quickly skipped to Andrew's room. Andrew politely gave me my shoes and I learned to put them on all on my own. I am a 7 year old girl. My folks tell me many folktales but my favorite is, 'The Lost Boy'. My mother,Andrew,and I are all going to Church.My Family always goes by the word of God.We left our home and walked to Church.Our Pastor talked about hope and blessings.Big mama says that we are gonna get a blessing some day.It just takes time for the Lord to help all of us good folks at once.Andrew says we need a blessing because we live in a beat-up one-story home.He doesn't like sharing a room with Peter.Peter is my golden retriever.Andrew wants to get blessed with a beautiful big house in a beautiful nice and quiet neighborhood with friendly white and black folks.We came home from Church and I hung up my dress and put on a T-shirt and basketball shorts.I helped Andrew cook dinner while Mother was washing.We ate dinner and rinsed our dishes.I grabbed Peter's leash and took him out for a walk.We walk to our backyard and ran around.Mother called us inside.We were walking back to the house but I saw a boy sitting on our swing.He waved.I smiled and ran to the house."Mama,Mama!I saw the lost boy!" I exclaimed."Darling,you know that's just an old folktale." she said as she swept the kitchen floor."He waved at me Mama."She kissed my cheek and she signaled me to go to bed.I sighed.I slowly walked to my room and Peter was on the bed.Its been a few hours.I looked at the microwave.The time read 2:32am.I went back to my room.Everyone was asleep.I put my slippers on and quietly went to the back patio.I waited.A few minutes passed.I saw him.He sat next to me and smiled."I am Griffin." he said smiling. "I am Jamila." I said in amazement. "Are you the lost boy?" I questioned. He nodded and we laughed. We talked and giggled for a few hours.He went home and I went inside.The clock read 7:46am.I woke Andrew up.We got dressed for school and we brushed our teeth. We kissed Mama goodbye and shut the door behind us.At school my teacher Mrs.Anderson told all the children about the famousfolktale that I mentioned multiple times already.I told everyone Griffin was real.They all believed me except Meredith Foster.She called me a liar.She said her daddy would hurt me because I lied.I ignored her and walked home.Griffin walked with me and we raced home.I won and we hugged.He left and I went inside my house to eat dinner.Its been months.Griffin is in my grade at school now.I think Griffin was the blessing we were hoping for.