Destitute

Prologue

The earth settled from the rain and left a humid atmosphere behind itself. Stephanie pressed her thumbnail into Cari's car seat buckle and pulled her out. Cari's sleepy demeanor expressed as she wiped her eyes and held onto her drink from Chick-fil-A. Stephanie closes the back door and takes her bag out the front and fishes for her apartment keys. Once she has found them, she locks her car doors and holds Cari's hand as they enter inside. Stephanie's hair was a matted mess of curls. The rain dampened her appearance and disposition of the night. She had lost hope she could stay up to catch up on her stories, and the fact that she could not have any down time tomorrow on her day off since Reb would not answer the phone. He played with her and Cari's emotions, barely even cared about Cari. Stephanie would never regret having her joyous daughter, but Reb was a mistake himself. He did not have good intentions and was still immature. On top of matters, Stephanie has to visit her sick mother in the hospital a few times a week to ensure she is okay. Stephanie believes her mother's world is coming to an end but the doctors believe and say otherwise. They are like newscasters, they can't tell you everything all the time.

Inside it was a lengthy hall to reach 10a where the two resided alone. Cari supposed she could check her mail the next morning, as she was too tired to travel five floors up just to get it. Sinking inside to the apartment, her nail flickers on the foyer light and Cari walks inside heading straight to the kitchen table of two chairs. Stephanie relaxes her feet from her heels and tosses her black trench coat the ruby red suede couch to the left of the kitchen. The low lighting over the table was enough for the night as she looked in the cupboard for a glass of wine.

"Mommy are you about to drink your grown woman drink?" As Stephanie refers her wine too. She loosens up and chuckles as she pours herself a glass.

"Yes honey, how are your nuggets?" She turns her head to watch Cari place a nugget into sauce, then pops it into her mouth.

"It's delicious mommy, oh no. I forget to say my grace." Cari worried and hurriedly says her grace before eating again. Stephanie turned to lean against the countertop and drank from her glass. She tried to raise Cari to the best of her ability. Teach her while she was young about manners, and showing grace through her attitudes. Where else would she learn from, not the cruel world or society at that.

Glancing at the stovetop clock, it read 10:15 pm. It was an ideal time to get Cari into her bath and to her bed sooner than later. She made sure to clean up behind Cari and made sure she went to the bathroom to get undressed and ready. Stephanie worked a normal nine to five at a law firm as a receptionist, but in reality wanted to be the lawyer. However she could not afford to put herself through college along side of taking care of a child. She placed her career on the back burner and has left it for quite some time, unsure if she will ever return to it in due time.

Before assisting Cari with her bath, she waltzed into her bedroom and began moving her wet clothing from earlier, tossing it into the hamper and placing on an oversized t-shirt she had forgotten she owned. A pair of thin ankle socks kept her toes warm as she walked over to the thermostat to assure the heat nor air was circulating. Walking back into the hall and towards the bathroom, Cari sat on the toilet seat quietly as Stephanie started up the luke warm water and began to pour her soap into the bathtub. She sat onto the plush like rug and soothed the water around with her fingers, deciding if it was warm enough. Once the water was perfect, she instructed Cari to get in carefully and sit. Stephanie was too exhausted to play duck racing with Cari, and Cari knew so-- so she did not even ask her mother to play. She simply extended her limbs when told to and was washed.