Mario’s star fell to earth with a clunk. His months in his mother’s crack cocaine infused womb meant he was born super-charged full of energy not easily separated from. He only had a brief glimpse into his mother’s weary face before being whisked away to the neo-natal unit. He was pierced with multiple intravenous needles and tubes were inserted in his nose and throat.
Mario spent two months in a special tupperware container before getting an endorsement for continued life without special measures by the neonate critical care unit. The matter then became where would baby Mario go when he left the hospital. You see, Mario was the eighth crack-addicted baby that Missy had given birth to. The first one was weaned from crack and allowed to go home with Missy when she stopped crack, went to treatment, and participated in all social service programs the court ordered. She was a model parent during their involvement and the case was successfully closed after six months of service.
After the hearing, Missy left the courtroom, baby in her carry sleeper, and headed to Fifth and Birch Street, where they stood with their little baggies. As it was the middle of December, when Missy went out of her head after not using so long, it was a matter of an hour before her baby stopped crying. You see Missy had put the carrier down just for a minute in order to light the glass tube, and then baby Robert faded away.
Missy was charged with negligent homicide and spent a year in jail awaiting trial. Somehow, someway, she was six months pregnant when sentenced to five years in prison. Missy’s file was marked with a big red “X”, which indicated all further births would be immediately removed from her care.
So, you see, by the time little Mario was born, Missy was long past any human feeling due to the rocks burning out her soul and the repetition burning out her heart.
They say, “All [humans] are created equal.” Um, no.
Paula Light is the host of Thursday Inspiration. Paula says:
This week’s theme is city and the picture is [above.] Here is the song snippet from “In the City” recorded by Joe Walsh in 1979:
I was born here in the city
With my back against the wall
Nothing grows, and life ain’t very pretty
No one’s there to catch you when you fall
Tao-Talk 
😢😢😢
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I wish it was 100% fiction…
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Wow! Life is so unfair. I quite agree- not all humans are equal-from the point of view of circumstances. So sad!
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Vivian, it is a tragic legacy that ripples for generations :(
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Riveting right from the clunk and sad from the tupperware container on.
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Thank you for reading and commenting, Colleen.
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I was thinking today about the ravages of drink and the price paid by all those who interact with and try to help the alcoholic…and of course the same is true with drugs. The children who suffer for their parents’ addictions are heartbreaking. They have been marked even before birth. (K)
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Missy is one bad mama.
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Like her mama before her, and her mama before her….
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Well, that rips out the old heart :( You’ve captured it perfectly.
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I wish it wasn’t so, Lael :(
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What a tragic story.
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Kids like that are behind before they even start. Almost…almost impossible to break the cycle.
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They usually end up going to a relative or get adopted by people who don’t have a clue what they are in for. When they reach puberty they often become more difficult for parents to handle — so they call juvenile court and say “lock him up!” I wish I had kept a tally of the times I heard that, like throwing him in a cell will fix everything. These kids often are “million dollar babies” also by the time they age out of juvenile court. And in MI they are trying to raise the age of adulthood to 18, which means juvenile court paying for another year of placement for them at an average if $300/day. Which they won’t be able to do, so they’ll have to either keep them in juvie to terrorize and/or corrupt the younger kids — or turn them loose on society.
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A vicious cycle over and over agian. The last sentence is really awful. Influence the younger kids or harm someone on the outside.
That is a lot of money…
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What a sad and tragic tale. 😢
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A bitter truth that accompanies life as we know it. Nice to read something that hides no reality under pretense. Excellent piece.
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Violet, thank you. Bitter truth is an excellent way of putting it.
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