A Child Raising a Child

Calming Spirit

"YOU DID WHAT?" Donna shouted.

Donna put her hands on her hips, she poked her head out closer to her husband to hear him clearly. She had heard him clearly the first time, but wanted him to repeat it again to be sure.

"I was just trying to teach her lesson Don" Ed calmly said.

"TEACH HER A LESSON? " she scoffed. "ED ARE
YOU HEARING YOURSELF? YOU SENT THE FUCKING POLICE TO SCARE HER? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DUMB YOU SOUND?" She rolled her eyes.

"So you think the best thing for us to do is to just let things go?" Ed started raising his voice.

"IT IS NOT OUR JOB TO TEACH HER A LESSON! THAT GIRL IS 18 WITH A CHILD! SHES NOT A KID ANYMORE! WHAT THE HELL COULD WE TEACH HER NOW?"

"DON ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Ed yelled back.

"SO SERIOUS RIGHT NOW! SHES NOT A KID! ELIJAH IS HERE NOW AND THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO NOW!" Donna reasoned.

"SO YOU THINK ITS OK FOR HER TO LIE? ESPECIALLY ABOUT SOMETHING SERIOUS LIKE THAT" Ed gestured around.

"YOU KNOW I DONT!" She pointed in his face. "BUT THATS TAKING SHIT TOO FAR! YOU KNOW IT IS!"

"THATS WHY SHES SO DAMN SPOILED NOW CAUSE YOU LET HER GET AWAY WITH EVERYTHING!" He grew frustrated.

"SPOILED? AINT YOU THE SAME ONE THAT GOT HER HER OWN PLACE? THAT GIRL HAS WORKED HER ASS OFF PREGNANT AND ALL! SHES NEVER ASKED US FOR MUCH OR COMPLAINED BECAUSE SHE KNOWS HOW YOU ARE! SHES WORKED FOR EVERYTHING!"

"HOW I AM?!" He looked confused.

"YES HOW YOU ARE! JUST BE HONEST! YOU ARE ONLY UPSET BECAUSE SHE GOT PREGNANT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

"THATS A LIE!" He replied.

"STOP LYING! YOU KNOW YOU ARE!" She got closer to him.

"You know what! Yeah, I am! She shouldn't have gotten pregnant in the first fucking place. This is not what I had in mind for my child but lying isn't the way either"

"And I agree but you had two police officers show up to her door and she has a brand new baby and they snatch her baby out of her arms and you stand by and let it happen?" She questioned.

"You are supposed to protect her! Not harm her! That's not how you do it Ed and you know it!"

Donna had horror painted in her eyes as she thought about how her daughter and grandbaby were put in jeopardy. She could only imagine her baby screaming as they held her away from her child. The already cracked heart she had broke as she thought about her father who was gunned down by police when she was only 13. She remembered how he respected the police and did everything they commanded, but they still took his life. She remembers the blood that stained his face as they beat him, and they finished him off with a bullet in his back. She remembers her crying and yelling from the backseat of the car for them to stop.

She saw everything they did, and her father pleaded for them to stop. He didn't just cry for them to stop beating him, but he cried for them to stop beating him in front his daughter. He begged for them not to hurt his precious daughter. Those cries haunted her for years and the faces of those officers never left her mind, she could spot them in a crowd. Ever since then she never trusted the police.

She recounted everything over and over again, but no one believed her because she was a young black girl, who would believe her anyway?

She lived with that painful memory and the thought of the same thing happening again just worsened her anxiety. She couldn't believe her husband, he knew everything she had been through and he still thought it was a bright idea to send white police officers to his black daughter's house and have them take her baby out of her arms.