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Ah, youth! For this week’s challenge image consider how we view our youngsters. As blank slates to be written on by others? As Athena, sprung whole upon arrival and unchangeable? In the in between space, where do we begin to understand?
I’ll start with a story ….
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Last step off the bus. For a moment her hand refused to let go of the railing. Alone on the curb as it pulled away, she noticed, with the clarity born of being as “in the now” as cliché would have it, a single, yellow dandelion, pushing up proud from a crack in the asphalt.
She wasn’t streetwise by half and backed into the greys of the city even as she avoided the dark places. For as vibrant the city appeared from afar, it soon leeched of color for the inhabitants.
But that yellow! Ring after ring, then …
“Mom?”
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Now, it’s your turn.
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featured image, cropped, by Felipe Cardoso from Pexels
Debi says: “Come on, Billie Jo. Pick up already..”
“Hello.”
“Billie Jo, are you gonna pick me up or not?”
“Geez, Millie. Mom isn’t home. There ain’t no car to drive.”
“When’s the last time you saw Mom? Was she home this week?”
“No, but she called Wednesday. She needs more money.”
“But I’m already working three jobs. How can she need more money? And how much more does she need?”
“She said $1,500 and this will be the last time she asks. Found another boyfriend and this one has money. I don’t expect to see her again.”
“Okay. I’ll get you the money. And I guess I’ll catch a bus and go back to my dad’s. I’ll call you when I can. Miss you Billie Jo. ”
“Miss you too, Millie. Wish I had your dad..”
Wfjag says: “Mom? This is Lea. The job at BuzzFeed didn’t work out. I need to come home. Can I stay in my old room? A J-school degree isn’t in demand, but those student loan payments you co-signed on are too much for me to have anything left for rent, Or, food. Think that Mr. Winters will give me my old job at the Hallmark store? Oh, is Bobby dating anyone? I’d like to see him if he’s free. I need to leave a number for you to call me, since my cell phone was turned off.”
Andrew says: The first week was the hardest.
My one roommate drank constantly, and was out every night. The other two were giggling and cliquish and had a thousand friends each.
As for me, my parents had left only a few days ago after dropping me off. My mother had made up my bed before leaving, one last time. The phone company needed a week to set up an account. My new life: permanent homesickness.
Yet there was a public phone. And every day a pile of coins.
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