Mrs.O's writing room.

I dialed her number. I didn’t know what to say, my heart was breaking. She said “Hello!” and I felt like my heart was being squished. She spoke in a monotone, flat, lifeless - drab, just getting the words out, that was all, just getting the words out. “Mary, my baby is gone” “Mary, we did all we could, we tried everything”. “You think, only 11 years and then again, all the 11 years” I wanted to scream. "WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT??!!" This is absolutely insane.

It feels like Huckleberry Fin and Tom Sawyer merged into one. It’s the quick answers, the fidgeting; the shaky pupils afraid to make eye contact, all in an effort to hide something. My young man is tangled in the lying web and he can’t save himself. As soon as he shakes his hand free, his leg gets caught. The web is all over his hair and face – an endless cycle. Just when he thinks he has figured it out mom and dad carefully unpack the story right before his eyes. At times there is an innocence to it and he will in fact give himself away, but other times wickedness rears its head without disguise and I want to scream. Alas! This is a contract that Adam signed for each of us as we came into this world. When he said he’d done all his homework and he hadn’t. When he said he’d brushed his teeth and the tooth brush was as dry as the Sahara. Then the DS he brought home that was given to him by his teacher for doing an excellent job in class. A few more questions and the story tanned...

Right now, a mother celebrates the birth of a child! Right now, a mother mourns the death of a child! To friends who have recently lost new born babies: I could write a card, but a card won’t allow me the space. Lying in that hospital bed, listening to heart beats through a heart monitor - they are fast and furious like rain falling to a rhythm. There is hope. News that the little bundle of joy will not live to blow birthday candles, kills apart of her. Things fall apart! The world goes spinning and spinning, the heart breaking and breaking, and they cry and cry. Sorrow as deep as the ocean floods every vein in the mother’s body she suffers silently with engorged breasts without the sweet lips to suckle away. The loss of a child is heart wrenching. A force inside compels her to scream hard, to shake off the pain but it holds on like her very skin. Writhing in pain, she is certain she's lost her mind eternally. The world is shades of gray. There, in ...

Hey! It's been a while. Lots going on but I will not bore you with my life's events. Instead, I will burden you with some fiction. Please be kind critics :-) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It’s Thursday evening, March 11, 2010. He sits in a corner mindlessly observing customers as they file in and out. The sun finally grudgingly takes a bow, its warmth lingers long after it’s gone. Three girls stroll in, giggling and elbowing each other, something about their gaiety stirs emotions of déjà-vu. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee sips through the air, Robusta or Arabic? It’s hard to decipher. Two men at the table to his left stand up to leave, one in a dark suit, the other in a light blue shirt and a red tie. They shake hands and head towards the door. A man in a pink shirt with folded sleeves, sits reading a newspaper, slurping on a cup of hot tea. A woman and a teenage girl sit in the centre of the room, the girl fiddles with her ...