Hope Almost Died on Shiloh Road

I walked out of my front door and into a plague. The parking lot was swarming with boys throwing dice in hope of gaining back the $20 they lost the previous day. Young girls were strolling around the apartment complex wearing clothing that left little or nothing to even the most vivid of imaginations. Each one had a baby conveniently placed on her hip and possibly another walking along side her. The forecast for the day was bright with constant sunshine but a dark cloud seemed to rest eternally over my neighborhood.

That day, my doctor’s appointment had run over the expected time so my mother decided against my wishes and refused to bring me back to school for the last period of the day. It was Friday and I wanted the full weekend to be able to make up any missed work. However, the other teenagers that populated the area didn’t have a doctor’s appointment that day. They didn’t have a doctor’s appointment, a dentist appointment or even an eye appointment. I was one of few that remained in high school. The rest had been restrained by drugs, gambling, and unexpected babies. On that particular day, a very special unexpected child was born.

While on the Internet I heard the faint ring tone of my mother’s new mobile phone. Assuming she would answer it, I decided to continue my web surfing and ignore the phone. The ringing didn’t stop and became what seemed to be as loud as a smoke detector rather than the faint ring tone from a few minutes ago. Finally I decided to make the journey to the back room and answer the phone. There were 5 missed calls all from my brother who was right around the corner. I called back and he quickly and rudely ordered to put my mother on the phone. Reluctantly, I did as I was told assuming there was some type of minor emergency. Since I didn’t hear any ambulance or police sirens, I dismissed it as being nothing to worry about and returned to my place at the computer.

Within a few seconds after I got comfortable in my seat, my mother sprinted out of the doorway without a word or glance in my direction. I quickly grabbed the closest shoes available and attempted to run after her. My furry pink house shoes weren’t the best for the job, but I managed to arrive on the scene at the same time as my mother. Not knowing hat the problem was, I ran passed both the bathrooms to my nephew’s room to check on him. His grinning face reassured me he wasn’t harmed. Then what was the emergency? Cries came from one of the two bathrooms I passed on my way to the back. I slowly walked back to the bathroom and walked past looking over out of the corners of my eyes. There was a new baby that had just been born. Of course he had