JDC Short Stories: August 2008

General Questions:

What character would you choose to be?
Should social services or child welfare be called about the house?
Do any of these stories have happy endings? Which ones?
What do you think the future is of these characters? Where are they going?
What does home mean to you?
How did Keesha’s house help each of the characters?
Joe says we all need a little “space and time.” (p 35) Do you think that is true? What do you need?

Stephie (pages 2, 18, mom 36, 44, 60, 86, 103)

Why doesn’t Shephie want to tell her parents she is pregnant? What is she scared of?
What does Stephie mean by “home is perfect. I hate to be the one to shatter that”?
What do you think the answers are to Stephie’s questions on page 45?
What is Stephie’s mother’s secret? (p36) Do you think her father knows?
What hurdles do people face in life? What are the qualities of someone to face life’s hurdles with? (p 61)
Why is Stephie so affected by Tobias’ death? What events have brought you back to reality in a good or bad way?

Jason (pages 4, 20, coach 37, 46, 62, 88, 104)

Do you think Jason is being selfish with wanting Stephie to have an abortion so he can go to college and play basketball?
Jason doesn’t know how much he needs Stepie until she is gone. Do you think that you have to miss something to truly understand how much you need it? (example freedom and the JDC)
Jason gets clarity on the basketball court. Where do you find clarity?
How does Jason feel about Joe’s house?
What is your idea of freedom? (p 104)

Keesha (pages 6, 22, 48, 64, father 81, 90, 105)

Do you know anyone like Keesha? (p 44)
How did Keesha end up in the house?
What kind of person is Keesha? What are some words that describe her personality?
“A free bed” makes all the difference in Keesha’s life. Why? A changed bus schedule ruins Katie’s life. What small things make a big difference in your life? (p 22, 30)
Keesha ways she would rather stick with what she’s got than take what someone else thinks is good for her. (p 49) Do you agree?
What advice would you give Keesha bout her brother Tobias? (p 65)
Keesha tells Katie not to worry about Harris because Katie has enough problems. But Keesha is always going out of her way to help people. Why does she say that to Katie? (p 73)
What does Keesha mean when she says “getting found feels good?” (p 91)

Dontay (pages 8, 24, case worker 38, 50, 66, father 78, father 79, 92, 106)

What is Dontay’s problem?
Who are the adults in Dontay’s life? What are they like? Are they out to get him or do they want the best for him?
What keeps him from going back to his foster family?
Why does Joe step in for Dontay but doesn’t bother the other kids in the house? Was it right of him to call his foster parents? (p 92)
Dontay says there is a big difference between the way kids and grownups talk. Do you think that is true? (p 93)

Carmen (pages 10, 26, grandmother 39, 52, 68, judge 80, 94, 107)

What does Carmen get in trouble for? Was she trying to get in trouble?
Why doesn’t Carmen’s grandmother visit her in her first week at the detention center? (p 39)
Carmen dreams of fairytales to keep herself alive at the detention center. What stories keep you alive? (p 52)
“People pick out what they want to believe—all you can do is hope they pick the things that count.” (p 68) Do you agree?
Does Carmen believe in herself? Does she believe she has a say in her life? Does she?
Carmen realizes that she is addicted to alcohol which has caused her a lot of grief. What other kinds of addictions are there that can hurt you? (drugs, alcohol, popularity, drama)

Harris (pages 12, 28, assistant principal 40, 54, 70, mother 82, 96, 108)

How is Harris different from the other characters in the story? (his problem was not a choice)
Do you think what Harris did was stealing? (p 54) Why didn’t any of the other characters do this?
Do you think Harris’ mother is doing the right thing or is she not trying hard enough? (p 82) Why?
Can you open a window in someone else’s mind? (p 97)
“Home is in your mind.” What does that mean to you? (p 108)

Katie (pages 14, 30, English teacher 41, 56, 73, mom 83, 98, 109)

What do you think she means when Katie says her father went off the deep end? (p 56) Do you think she went off the deep end to fight her step father?
Do you think Katie’s mother loves her and cares about her? Would she care if Katie told her what happened with her step father? (p 83)
Katie wants a family but is afraid to have one. Why? (p 98) Do you want something that you are afraid to get? What is it?

Joe (p 35, 77)

What do you think happened to Joe that brought him to his aunt’s house? (p 35)
How did the house become Keesha’s? How does Joe feel about that? (p 77)

Sestina Poetry Words:
Stephie

P 2: girl, big, nothing, toss, go, now
P 18: talk, hate, breakfast, mourning, mix, home
P 44: shop, kind, alone, stay, across, you
P 60: touch, hurdle, time, watch, grade, we
P 86: brother, paper, street, afternoon, ask, age

Keesha

P 6: face, home, night, scared, hold, still
P 22: work, stay, questions, bed, pay, thought
P 48: parents, guess, whatever, run, grade, her
P 64: burn, home, stay, do, dad, show
P 90: good, hide, still, sound, see, keep

Dontay

P 8: run, ride, out, son/sun, house, me
P 24: night, want, stuff, place, next, out
P 50: time, phone, quiet, playin’, couple, up
P 66: Dan, been, now, here, hard, owe
P 92: want, distance, could, house, never, how

Carmen

P 10: left, drive, home, keep, month, could
P 26: back, grandmama, white, hours, stop, there
P 52: shoe, sheet, alive, sleepin’, everything, corner
P 68: judge, truth, matter, believe, pick, court
P 94: talk, bottom, first, stop, home, why

STEPHIE-
My parent’s still think I’m their little girl. I don’t want them to see me getting bigger, bigger every week. I’m not prepared for this. I know nothing about living on my own. At school there’s this girl I know named Keesha who told me there’s a place kids go and stay awhile, where people don’t ask questions. To lots of girls, it’s no big deal to have a baby. They treat it like a big attention getter – when the baby’s born, they go around showing it off to all their friends. But nothing like this ever happens in my family. Mom and dad won’t toss me out, but how can I keep acting like the girl they think I am – a carefree teenage girl with nothing big to worry me.

When I left home this morning, Mom said, We need to talk. I can’t face her. I’m not going home. They probably think I’ve gone home with Jason. Breakfast at their house is different than at home. They’re peaceful. Mom would hate it. She likes everything in order. Dad too. They talk about how kids should have a home where they know what to expect.

I’m afraid of what she want to talk about. I don’t want to mix her words about this baby with my own. Home to her and Dad means perfect, and I hate to be the one to shatter that.

Keesha found me crying in the doughnut shop across the street from where she lives. She sat down in the booth with me. Keesha’s face looks hard sometimes, but she’s kindhearted. Her eyes can look right through you. Straight across whatever secret you might carry. (I was thinking) if this baby stays with me, how will I take care of it? Keesha stayed and talked (well, listened) for two hours. When I asked, Where do you live? she brought me hee. She lives here alone, I mean no parents; the kids who live here kind of fend for themselves, I guess. A room across from Keesha’s is empty, sort of. Keesha said, No one stays here right now; you can use that bed. I kept thinking, Can I raise a child alone? Do my homework every night and then go out to shop for formula and Pampers? What kind of mother would I be? not one that stays home and sings lullabies, that’s for sure. Not someone you would trust to guide a child across the kind of world I see out there. You can’t shop for what you really need: patience, strength, a man who stays with you. Can I even get myself across the years ahead? Alone?

I FIRST MET Keesha in 7th grade where we competed in long jump and hurdles. I thought she could fly! I watched her take the hurdles, one at a time, like her life depended on clearing each one withouth touching. Or was it that she refused to let anything touch her? Lately, I’ve been thinking about the hurdles people face in their lives. It’s like us kids are just touching the starting line, with everybody watching. They measure us against each other, but no one knows what we go through to get where we start from. We judge people by certain standards that don’t touch who they really are. everyone is watching Jason (and me) now. Is he the one I want to face life’s hurdles with? How does one face an unexpected hurdle? That touches on what counts?

Oh God! It’s Keesha’s brother in the paper. The little brother she was always trying to keep track of. This age we are – it’s supposed to be so fun, but if you ask me, it’s really hard. When I lost the baby, I asked myself a lot of questions, and then one afternoon it came to me; I can act my age again, but something’s torn somewhere inside me. these friends at Keesha’s house help me laugh when I need laughter.

KEESHA
Stephie walked by this afternoon. When it rains like this, all day, into the night, that’s when you need a home more than you need your pride. She still goes home to her folks, but she’s scared. Soon, she’ll show up scared, like she’s the first girl that ever ran from home. I know how it is. The night I ran off, I still thought the cops or somebody would look for me all night, and dad would say he didn’t mean it. I’m scared when his eyes flash like that – don’t come back. Holding his bottle like a gun. I remember when Mama was still alive sitting on that brown couch holding Tobias. She was scared of Dad. I remember his face, so angry when one of us cried. And her face, softer when he wasn’t home. I’m never going to live like that, scared. No one’s going to see me acting scared.

When Katie came, she kept asking questions about Joe. Since he owns the house, she thought he’d tell us what to do. There was one room upstairs with a bed and a window, but she said she’d rather stay in the basement room. We all stay out of there unless she asks us in. No one asks questions about why she keeps her door locked. Even my ex-boyfriend thought the girls here must be going to bed with Joe. Not me – I won’t go to bed with anyone unless I want to. And I don’t pay for nothing’ with my body! Everyone deserves a place to stay. I go to school, I work, I eat okay and get to bed on time. I thought Child Welfare might ask questions, but as long as they don’t pay attention, I can stay.

So, that’s that. Stephie runs off; her parents search until they find her, bring her home; everyone lives happily ever after. So much fuss about one girl. Of course I’m glad she has a home, a brother, parents that want her there. Good for Stephie. She’ll be fine, whatever happens with the baby. I should be glad (I am glad) I got a bed. Not every kid that runs off is so lucky. Before she left today, I said, if your parents ask about me, just say the simnple truth; I’m a girl that runs track with you. don’t tell them how I live. I’d rather stick with what I got than take my chances on whatever someone else might think is good for me. Tobias knows I’m here, and I guess if anybody asked, he’d tell them. now I see he runs with older kids. They’re prob’ly glad he doesn’t have strict parents. Whatever they want from him he’ll do it. if Mama was alive, I guess her heart would break. But me, I’m strong – no tears run down my face.

I don’t know what to do. tobias came over here last night with a burn on his arm, under his sleever where it won’t show. I thought it was something Dad did, but turns out it didn’t happen at home. He says all he was trying to do was make a little money and he meant to stay away from drugs and gagns. I wish there was someone to show my brother there’s better ways to earn a living. People like Jermaine and Dan steip in where Dad should be. Should I try to talk to Dad? Tobias says he’s drinking worse than ever. i’ll be okay he says. When he tries to show that brave face, I see how scared he really is. I’m burning up inside about how my brother doesn’t have the kind of home he needs. Joe’s no dad, but he stays steady. God I miss Mama.

Sometimes I wonder if it’s fair, all the stuff that’s happened in my life so far. How do people find out who they are, who they’re meant to be? I want to call time-out. I want Tobias back. But – looks like I’m the driver. I shift gears, head uphill with all the life I’ve got – my lown. I might do something about all this someday.

DONTAY
They’ll be sayin’ I ran off, but that ain’t how I see it. to me – I went to Carmen’s house where all my friend chill out, and when I called home for a ride, my foster dad said, you got there on your own, son; you should be able to get home. They call me son like that. Their real son has a bathroom to hisself, and a sign that say KEEP OUT on his door. He got the whole crib on lock, runnin’ the whole show. But me – I feel like I’m beggin’ if I ask for a ride. My foster mom said, sorry, son, if you want to run around and stay out past suppertime, you can’t expect us to go out of our way to feed you. so now I don’t know what to do. it’s gonna look like me messin’ up again. but to me – they locked me out! If I had my own key I coulda got in last night when I finally got a ride from Carmen. It was midnight, and the hose was dark. Carmen thought I’d gone inside. I tried to catch her but she didn’t see me there in the dark street – no house, no food, no ride. I didn’t run off – but this ain’t no home to me.

Ain’t goin’ back there. if I go get my stuff they’ll yell at me for stayin’ out all night. I’ll yell back and I know what comes next – they call my caseworker. She say this isn’t working out. She start looking for a new place. Rather live out on my own, take my staff in my backpack, sleep outside at night when summer comes. Better that than findin’ out nobody wants me. Dad and Mama gonna want to know why I don’t go to visiting hours next week, but goin’ there just makes me mad again ‘bout the night they got hemmed up.

I thought I could chill at Carmen’s house a couple nights, so I stopped by, but it was quiet. Her grandmamma was talkin’ on the phone. When she got off, she told me Carmen got locked up a couple days ago. She said, This time it’s serious, they ain’t playin’ with her now. Might be times she blamin’ me for Carmen’s troubles. I wish I could phone Carmen, but there ain’t no way. I found a quiet place in the downtown library, spent a couple hours there, then came over here to see what’s up at Jermaine and Dan’s. I’m tryin’ to stay out of trouble, playin’ it safe, hopin’ Mrs. Mason gonna get a couple extra kids so they’ll take up her time and she’ll forget about me. every time I hear a phone ring, I wonder if she’s tracked me down.

I’m runnin’ outta couches. Been to six places in four weeks. Now I’m startin’ over at Jermaine and Dan’s. only trouble is, Dan think I owe hime somethin’ if I stay here. I’m hungry and it’s hard to say no to the money he talkin’ ‘bout. They been feedin’ me, only I know what I decide now I gotta live with. I could end up owin’ somethink’ I ain’t got or one of Dan’s friends could tell a lie about me. Dan won’t stop ‘em if they come down on me hard like I seen ‘em do Tobias, sayin’ he owe ‘em $300 ‘cause they don’t like what he delivered. Dan make it sound easy, and it look that way now, but somethin’ bound to go wrong. It’s harder to get outta this than in. I been thinkin’ ‘bout Dad and Mama, wonderin’ what I owe them. hard to say what I should do. I need money now, but somethin’ tells me run. Tobias told me it gets harder once you start that stuff. He gave me an address: Here’s a place my sister Keesha stays. Let Dan get some other under age to do what I been doin’. I owe Tobias a big favor now.

Only three days after I got to Keesha’s house, we heard what happened to Tobias. It could be me, buried six feet deep. Keesha started sayin’ how I should find out if my foster parents want me back. I knew they’d be plenty mad, how I stayed gone all this time. One thing about their house though – I know it’s safe. I started whishin’ I never left – might be good to put some distance between me and Dan. Joe must’ve been watchin’ how I’d pick up the phone and put it down. Finally last night he called there himself. I want to speak to Dontay’s foster father. How could he do that so easy when he never met him? Heard Joe say, How can you make rules that work for you, that Dontay could learn to live with? Man, there’s a big distance between kids and grownups. If I wanted to talk like that, I’d never know the words. this house is pretty far from that house, but when I said I wanted to go back, they said I could. Look at the distance between never and how I’m ready to tray again today.

I might do somethin’ about all this someday – how in my foster home I’m like a pet they know they can get rid of if I get ornery. But for now I’m doin’ okay. We talked, I made up my mind to stay, and if they pull that stuff, I try to let it roll off my back. I’m almost happy. Heard from Dad – they’re prob’ly getting’ out in three months’ time. Time off for good behavior. I know he’s had to put with worse’n I have.

CARMEN
I’ll be 16 in 7 months and I know how to drive. Dontay needed to go home and I know where Grandmama keeps her key. I just borrowed them and drove real careful. Tried to keep an eye out, but I got stopped before I made it home. That is, to Grandmama’s house – what I call home since Mam and her boyfriend left for Cincinnati. Don’t know why I keep on getting’ in this kind of trouble. Just try to do some little thing like drive a friend that needs a ride, and you keep findin’ yourself locked up. I wasn’t drunk. Just one beer a couple hours before. never woulda got stopped if I wan an adult. Or if I was white. That half-smoked blunt they found under the back seat – how would I know it was there? Coulda been in Grandmama’s car since she got it 5 months ago. She wouldn’t think to look for that. Visiting hours is over and she didn’t show up. I talked to one girl today, a white girl that’s been here thirteen weeks. She stopped thinkin’ about home she said. Forget about your grandma. If she don’t come to visiting hours the first week you’re here, she don’t want you back. I started a letter: Dear Grandmama, get me out of here . . . But then I stopped and ripped it up. I know I shoulda stopped drinkin’ that first time I got caught, back in seventh grade.

You wanna know, for real, what keeps me alive in here? They think I stay alive jus ‘cause they make me. I wake up every day, put on the shoes they gave me and think about the day I’ll get my own shoes back. I stay alive by lookin’ hard at one tree branch. I watch everything that happens on that branch. one day last week, sheets of ice covered every inch of it. Sun on those ice sheets was shinin’ like glass, and I remembered those shoes Cinderella wore. I know it’s just a story. It’s just that sometimes, everything in here makes me feel dead, and everything alive is someplace else. Instead of sleepin’ off the hours and days, I find some corner of my mind to keep alive. They give us two sheets of paper, once a week, for letters, and I treat them like new shoes to take me where I want to go. I write things down to keep my inside self alive.

Sometimes it seems like it don’t matter if you lie or tell the truth. People pick out what they want to believe – all you can do is hope they pick the things that count. Grandmama said I need to wear a nice dress to court. She said, Believe me Carmen, it’s important how you look. I do believe that, but there’s a lot about my looks that I can’t change. Judge me by my character, like Dr. King said. Well, I can’t pick my judge and I can’t change the facts or what they think is facts. Truth is, I’m part guilty, part innocent, and the court decides how to put that together. I know I’m the only one that can tell myself the truth and make me listen. I’m hopin’ I can go home after court tomorrow and stay out of trouble. Grandmamma believes me, that I want to try. She says, Girl, no matter what you do, I keep on believin’ in you. she should be a judge herself, the way she picks through lies and truth and court talk, and comes up with that one thing that matters.

Grandmama sat me down for a long hard talk the day after the judge sent me home. She said, we gotta get to the bottom of this drinkin’ business. Tell me why you started and how you plan to stop. When, why, how, where, who with? Strange thing is, I wasn’t mad. At the bottom of all her questions was one thing – love. Truth is I don’t know exactly why I started drinkin’. Just fun I guess. Okay, but can you stop when you decide to? That one scared me, ‘cause when I got home even after everything that’s happened, the first thing on my mind was Who’s around that I can talk into buyin’ me some beer? Why you need to know that? She stopped a minute. Somethin’ was hard for her to talk about. Then she said your grandpa and your auntie both hit bottom over this. if it’s hard for you, you ain’t the first one in our family. Nothin’ wrecks a happy home faster than addiction. I may need some help with this one. I want to stop now, not wait till I hit bottom.

Three months now on this mountain. I can climb it step by step. I say no to a drink; I’m one step higher. I stop and think before I head out to a party. Fine with me if they stop askin’. Old friends of mine say I ain’t fun no more. Used to sink into a funk about that. Now I hardly blink. Dontay still comes by a lot. He’s tryin’ to stay clear of trouble too. he knows some kids at Keesha’s house, and none of ‘em is into drinkin’. Friday nights he heads down there, and lately I go too. I made one good decision three months back. It spreads its light ahead of me, and I walk on.

JDC Short Stories

Friday, August 15, 2008

"What's Expected of Us"

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

You Hear Me?

Keesha's House

What is this for?

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