Her Journey Begins Read online

  Her Journey Begins

  CHRIS’ JOURNEY

  TURNING DIFFERENT CORNERS

  Book 1

  Her Journey Begins

  By Karen Einsel

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author‘s vivid imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2011 Karen Einsel

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  ISBN-13: 978-1478132462

  ISBN-10: 1478132469

  DEDICATIONThis first book in Chris’ Journey is dedicated to one of my Best Friends

  Cindy Cotter

  Who has always believed in me

  Love you Cindy!

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHRIS

  CHAPTER 2

  BRANDON

  CHAPTER 3

  HER DOWNWARD SPIRAL

  CHAPTER 4

  SAVED BY SUE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A big Hug and Thank you to

  

  Jarrod

  

  for helping me design my cover.

  CHRIS

  Sitting there staring at the cake, Chris watches the flames flicker on the candles as the colored wax drips onto the chocolate frosting. Her eyes blur with the hot tears that spill over and roll down her cheeks. Barb puts her arm around Chris’ shoulder,

  “Chris, honey, what’s wrong?”

  

  A few hours earlier….

  Chris changes the one year olds diaper and laying him down in his crib she hands him his bottle. Picking up the sleepy eyed two year old Chris hugs her.

  “Are you ready for your nap too?” The little girl lays her head on Chris’ shoulder and Chris smiles. “Okay, give me an Eskimo kiss.” The little girl giggles and rubs noses with Chris. Carrying her over to the crib, Chris lifts her up and over the rail. The little girl holds her hand out.

  “Uh, uh.”

  Chris picks up the doll from the floor and holds it out to her.

  “You can say, dolly please.”

  The little girl wiggles her hand.

  “Dau-eee, pease” Chris smiles.

  “Now go to sleep, pease.”

  Going in search of Jason, Chris finds him sitting on the floor in her bedroom playing with his two cars. Chris ruffles his curly black hair and holds her hand out to him.

  “Come on Jason let’s go make us a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You can spread the peanut butter for us.” Jason grins up at her and Chris sees the delight in his eyes.

  Trying to be quiet as they walk through the living room Chris hears a thump and the one year old starts to cry. Chris glances at her foster mom who is lying on the couch.

  “Dammit Chris, I told you to keep those brats quiet. You know I have a pounding headache.” Chris flinches and Jason squeezes her hand tighter. Chris whispers down to him.

  “It’s okay Jason. Let’s go see why he’s crying and then we can eat lunch.”

  

  Pouring Jason a glass of milk Chris hears someone knocking on the front door. She tilts her head listening to see if her foster mom will get her fat butt off the couch.

  “Chris!”

  Chris sighs and mutters to herself, Guess not. Eat your lunch Jason and I’ll be right back, okay?”

  Opening the door, Chris looks at the lady standing there.

  “May I help you?”

  “Hi, are you Chris?” Chris nods. “Hi Chris, my name is Miss Vetro. I am your new social worker. Is your foster mom here?”

  Chris looks over at her foster mom who is getting up off the couch muttering. “Shit, what does she want? Well don’t just stand there, let her in.”

  Chris smiles and opens the door wider, “Please come in.” Miss Vetro thanks her and steps inside. Jason comes looking for Chris and clutches her hand as their foster mom gives Chris the look that says, Go in the other room, I’ll take care of her. Chris tugs on Jason’s hand.

  “Come on Jason, we will go finish our lunch.”

  “Chris, I need you to stay. I have some questions for you also. May I sit down?” Picking up the magazines from the chair, Chris cringes as her foster mom snaps at her.

  “I told you to pick those up earlier.”

  Chris lowers her eyes wishing she could disappear and Jason tugs at her hand.

  “Chris, I’m hungry.” Still looking down, Chris shuffles her feet.

  “May I?”

  “Yes, but please come right back, okay?”

  

  Coming back into the living room Chris sees Miss Vetro writing in her notebook and Chris sits down on the foot stool across from her. Clasping her hands in her lap, Chris stares at her big toe that’s peeking out from her shoe.

  “Chris, why haven’t you been in school?” Chris looks up and looks over at her foster mom. “No. Chris I’ve already asked her, now I’m asking you.” Clenching and unclenching her hands Chris looks back at her shoe and shrugs her shoulders. Miss Vetro reaches over and pats Chris on the knee. “Chris, do you like school?” Chris nods her head. “Do you have friends at school?”

  Chris whispers. “A couple.”

  “Don’t you miss your friends?” Chris doesn’t answer. “Okay, let me ask you this, are you a good student?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I am.”

  “Chris, I talked to your teacher, Miss Bailey, this morning and she tells me that you are a very good student. She says you are sweet and kind and that you are very helpful. She also told me that you are a very bright young lady.” Still looking at Chris, Miss Vetro takes a breath. Her mind is spinning in every different direction. This is the first case she has been assigned and she was told, First rule, don’t get emotionally involved. Go in, assess the situation and see if the child should be removed from the home. How can she not get emotionally involved? Looking at Chris she feels sorry for her. Not only are Chris’ clothes stained with holes in them, but Miss Vetro can clearly see that Chris’ shoes are too small, making her wonder, What do these people do with the money they receive to take care of these kids?

  “Chris, I am going to take you and place you in a different foster home. While I sit here and go over paperwork with your foster mom, I need you to go pack up your stuff.” Chris stares at her, not moving and Miss Vetro pats her on the leg again, “Chris, please.” Chris gets up and goes into her room grabbing the few things she owns and puts them in a grocery bag. Coming back into the living room Chris sees Jason. He walks over and grabs her hand.

  “Chris, where you going?” Getting down on her knees, Chris looks into his eyes.

  “I have to go Jason. They are going to put me in a different home.”

  “No Chris, I don‘t want you to go.” Chris sees his bottom lip start to quiver.

  “It’ll be okay Jason. I want you to do me a favor though, okay?”

  Jason nods. “I want you to be good. Don’t get into trouble and help take care of the little ones, okay?” Jason nods again and with tears in her eyes, Chris hugs him before standing up. “I love you Jason.” Not wanting Jason to see her cry Chris quickly walks out the door with Miss Vetro right behind her. After opening the car door for Chris, Miss Vetro walks around and gets in the other side assuring Chris it’s going to be alright. Still fighting back the tears that threaten to fall, with a trembling voice Chris lashes out at her.

  “How can you say it’s going to be alright? Who’s going to take care of them if I’m not here? I can’t just leave them! Why are you taking me away? Why not take th
em and place them in a new home?”

  Miss Vetro sighs, “I can’t because I’m not their social worker, but as soon as we get back to my office, I will talk to my supervisor and try to have them placed elsewhere, okay?”

  Chris looks over at the house and sees Jason watching her through the steamed up window. Seeing the tears run down his cheeks, she whispers. “I’m sorry.”

  It has been cloudy all morning. Chris watches the first few drops of rain splash onto the sidewalk and she shivers.

  “Are you cold? Did you bring a jacket?”

  Still staring out the window, Chris sadly shakes her head, “I don’t have a jacket.”

  

  Miss Vetro takes Chris into a small office. Chris looks around the room at the sparse furnishings. Nothing fancy, kind of plain actually. There is a desk and chairs, a small table in the corner and a filing cabinet against the wall.

  “Chris, I’m going to have you wait here while I go talk to my supervisor, okay?” Chris nods her head. “There are some books on the table over there if you like to read.” Miss Vetro points to the corner of the room, walks out, and closes the door behind her. Chris walks over and shuffles through the stack of books. Surprised to find one she had started reading in the library at school a couple of weeks ago, Chris picks it up. Not being allowed to check the books out from school and bring them home because of her erratic attendance, Chris is eager to pick up where she left off. She sits down and flips through the pages.

  

  Hearing the squeak of the hinges startles Chris out of the make believe world of the book and she looks up. Miss Vetro smiles at her.

  “Chris, come with me. My supervisor would like to talk to you.” Chris furrows her brow and looks down at the book. Miss Vetro smiles and nods. “You can fold down the corner if you want.”

  “No, it’s not my book.”

  Miss Vetro hands her a sheet of paper.

  “Here, use this as a book mark.”

  “Thank you” Chris slips the paper between the pages and lays the book back on the table.

  

  Miss Vetro knocks and opens the door.

  “Chris this is my supervisor, Mrs. Vickers, and she’s going to ask you some questions while I go make some phone calls. Mrs. Vickers stands up and nods to Miss Vetro. Chris notices this office is about the same size as the other one, but it has more of a personal touch to it. The supervisor has a couple of plants, a large bookcase filled with books, and various picture frames with pictures of smiling people on her desk. Chris walks over to the window. Looking out at the rain reminds Chris of Jason’s tears running down his chubby cheeks and she turns away.

  “Hi Chris, please sit down.” Chris sits down in the chair across the desk from the supervisor and Mrs. Vickers looks at her, “Chris can you tell me a little bit about the foster family that you are with and why you haven’t been in school?” Chris has her hands clenched in her lap. Looking down at them she doesn’t respond. “Okay, let me ask you this, Does your foster mother hit you or any of the other three children?” Chris shakes her head no. “And why haven’t you been in school?” Afraid to say anything, Chris doesn‘t answer. “Chris I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

  With determination in her eyes Chris looks up at her, “Are you going to help the other three that are still there? Because if you aren’t, then I need to go back.”

  “Chris, I will do what I can to find another home to place them in. What you have to understand is…”

  Chris puts her hands up and shakes them, “No, what you don’t understand is, that if I’m not there, they won’t get dinner tonight and even though Jason is a big help, he can’t take care of the other two. There‘s only so much a 4 ½ year old little boy can do.”

  “I will do whatever I can to get them moved on Tuesday.”

  Chris stands up and Mrs. Vickers can hear the unwavering tone in Chris’ voice.

  “Then take me back there until then.”

  Mrs. Vickers gets up and walks around the desk. Chris looks at her with tears in her eyes and Mrs. Vickers puts her hand on Chris‘ shoulder. “Here, sit back down, okay?” Looking away Chris sits down.

  “Chris your foster mom told Miss Vetro that the reason you haven’t been in school is because you refuse to go, is that true?”

  Chris grimaces, takes a deep breath, clenches her hands, and looks Mrs. Vickers in the eye.

  “Let me ask you a question. Do you know what it’s like to listen to a one year old scream when you put him in the tub after he has sat in a wet, messy diaper all day? Or hearing his tummy gurgle because all he’s had to eat all day, if he was lucky, was a bottle of cold milk?”

  Mrs. Vickers stares at the child who is aged beyond her years.

  “I’ll make some calls to see if I can find a place for the others and I’ll go pick them up myself, but my main concern right now is finding you a place to stay, because we are not sending you back there.” Knowing she doesn’t want to send Chris to the juvenile facility and have her get lost in the system, Mrs. Vickers is hoping Miss Vetro can convince the Clancy’s to take Chris until Tuesday. Miss Vetro taps on the door and Mrs. Vickers steps out into the hallway with her. With the door partially open Chris listens to the two women talking softly.

  “I talked to Mrs. Clancy and she has agreed to keep Chris until Tuesday.”

  “Okay, that’s good, now go back and make a few more calls because we need to get the other three out of there today.”

  “I’m way ahead of you. I made a couple of other calls and I can get the two younger ones in one home until Tuesday and Jason into a different one, but that’s the best that I can do for now. I can’t seem to find one that will take all three for the weekend, so we will have some driving to do.”

  Mrs. Vickers and Miss Vetro walk back in and Miss Vetro hands Chris her bag of clothes and the book Chris was reading in her office.

  “This isn’t mine.” Chris tells her as she attempts to hand the book back to Miss Vetro.

  “I want you to have it. Just think of it as a birthday present from me, okay?”

  Fighting back the tears, Chris’ voice trembles. “Thank you.”

  Miss Vetro looks at Mrs. Vickers.

  “We going to take your car or mine?”

  

  The rain has slowed down to a drizzle as they pull up in front of a two story house. Chris notices it has a wide porch that runs the length of the front with railing all around. She closes her eyes and takes in the scent of the neatly trimmed rosebushes along the front of the porch as they walk up the four steps. The door opens and a slim woman with shoulder length brown hair steps out. She is wearing a pair of faded jeans and a pull over sweater. Chris can see crinkles at the corner of her eyes as she smiles and puts her hand out to shake Mrs. Vickers’ outstretched hand.

  “Please come in.” She leads them into the living room and motions for them to sit down. Introducing themselves, Barb holds out her hand to Chris. “Hi Chris, I’m Barbra Clancy, but you can call me Barb, okay?” Chris nods and then sits quietly and looks around the room as the three women talk. Finally Miss Vetro stands up and holds out her business card to Barb.

  “Here is my card. I’ve written my home number on it. Please don’t hesitate to call if you have any questions or need anything.”

  “Oh don’t worry, I will.” Mrs. Clancy says with a nervous laugh.

  “Also, here is twenty five dollars from the emergency fund for anything she might need. I’ll be back on Tuesday at, let’s say 10 a.m. Will that work for you?”

  Taking the card, Mrs. Clancy smiles. “Yes, that will be fine.”

  

  Miss Vetro puts her arms around Chris.

  “We are going to go pick up the three little ones now, so don’t worry and I’ll be back to see you on Tuesday, okay?”

  Chris nods and whispers, “Thank you.”

  

  Chris smiles at Mrs. Clancy’s incessant chatter as Mrs. Clancy leads her up the st
airs to a small bedroom.

  “I’ll show you where everything is and where you are going to sleep. I hope it’s okay. I decorated it in blue though. I‘m sorry. Do you like blue? Maybe I should have decorated it in a neutral color, like yellow, or green. It’s just that blue’s my favorite color and if we had gotten a little boy, then pink wouldn’t have worked. Oh listen to me going on and on.” Looking around the room Chris notices that it smells nice. A clean fresh smell, much different from the stale cigarette smell of her other foster homes and yes it is decorated in blue. From the light blue cover on the twin bed to the matching curtains, to the two throw rugs in a darker blue. There’s no carpeting, but Chris sees the hardwood floors are clean and shiny.

  “You’ll sleep here. You can put your clothes in the drawers if you want. And follow me this way and I’ll show you where the restroom is.” Chris follows her down the hall. “You’ll use this one. There’s soap, shampoo, a new toothbrush and toothpaste. Let me know if there is anything else you need. Let’s see what kind of clothes you have, so I can get an idea of what we might need to get tomorrow.” They go back into the bedroom. Chris averts her eyes not wanting to look at Mrs. Clancy as she pulls her worn tattered clothes out of the bag. Looking at the clothes Mrs. Clancy tells her, “I think you are about my size. I have a pair of jeans that just might fit you, but you might have to cuff them up a little, since you are a little shorter then I am. Let me go check.” And she walks out of the room. Mrs. Clancy is carrying a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, and a pair of flannel pajamas when she comes back. “How about you take a bath and get cleaned up before dinner. You can put these on and I’ll put these…” Mrs. Clancy holds up the pajamas. “In the drawer for later tonight. And tomorrow we will go clothes shopping, okay? I’ll take your clothes and will be downstairs in the kitchen, so when you’re done, come join me there. It’s right…” Mrs. Clancy starts pointing with her hands, first one way then the other, making Chris smile. “Well it’s down there somewhere. If you get lost, just yell.”

  

  Seeing Mrs. Clancy peeling potatoes Chris walks over to her.