S-Heroes

The Divine sometimes gives us a second chance to do the right thing.


What if you were given a situation that was too much for you to handle? What if you yourself were a meek person; a person weak of spirit? Or what if you were a little child in a world that was filled with big people who didn't listen?

We will call her "LeAudrey"...she and I would walk to school each morning one year. I was in public school then, learning the difference between 'haves' and 'have-nots'. LeAudrey was my favorite friend (maybe only friend) at that time; it was the manner in which she fabricated the sources of her injuries. If I'd been less swift, one would have believed LeAudrey to be just as clumsy as I was; I used to injure myself in the strangest manners. But her injuries were the result of her abusive mother.

"How'd you get that bruise?" "I flipped off the couch while I was watching Superhost with my brother."
"How did you black your eye?" "I was trying to peek in the bathroom keyhole to check on my brother like my mother told me, because the door was locked and he opened the door real fast, and hit me in the eye with the doorknob."

This went on for months, until the day her mother came to the door and told me LeAudrey would not be walking to school with me. It was the same the next day. As this began on Thursday, I went four days without seeing LeAudrey. When we met on the sidewalk again that Monday, LeAudrey had a bad limp. She always wore the prettiest dresses: her mother dressed her like a doll: frilly dresses, satin and velvet hair ribbons (depending on the season), delicate sweaters and tidy tights and knee socks. All that prettiness to hide the ugly bruises. I met girls in college that had THE most perfect 'little girl' style dorm quarters. Accent pillows and stuffed animals almost to the middle of the bed; the perfect flowered and frilly linens, comforters and duvets; the fluffiest pillows; bedskirts that rivaled doilies. Stuffed animals that embodied the Japanese word "kawaii"; and some even added posters and prints of rainbows, unicorns, fairies and other fairy tale fonder. As I got to know more about their childhoods, I realized they all had been victims of child abuse/molestation. This behavior is almost textbook but not definitive.

Her struggle with her injury was impeding our journey to school; I asked her to sit down and let me look at the ankle she claimed to have twisted. Through the knee sock I could see swelling along her calf; when I rolled it down she yelped in pain. Without taking it off (which probably would have been impossible due to her pain), I saw the deepest purple bruising surrounding a deep gash that she had inefficiently wrapped in toilet paper and gauze. It was too loose, probably due to her pain. "LeAudrey! We have to get you to a doctor!" "NOOO! Oh, no! My mother will kill me!-" this was the first time she mentioned her mother in any way involving an injury. I tried to re-wrap the wound making us late for school. Each child that was late had to fund the principal with an excuse; if it was found to be fictitious or invalid, that child's parents were called.

"LeAudrey ---" the office assistant called. "Please ma'am may I go first?" The office assistant thought it odd that I would want to participant in such a difficult inquisition sooner than most, but she allowed one to all the same. "Principal Brown, would you please call my mother?" "Let me hear your reason first." "You don't understand. I must speak to her about the reason I am tardy. If you would please?" The principal was in love with what he took for an accent in my and my mother's speech patterns. He commented once that we almost sounded British; I heard that quite a few times growing up. My gu-mere called our manner of enunciation and pronunciation 'The Queen's English'; but it was merely the contrast of 'broken English' and inner-city venacular versus Academic English that was the case. Any opportunity to hear my mother's voice got him on the horn. When he'd explained why he was calling he handed the phone to me. "Mommie?" "M.~ why are you late?! You left on time-" "Mommie, please listen, it's LeAudrey...I think her mother broke her ankle..." Principal Brown's mouth went agape and my mother heaved a deep soulful sigh. "Tell your principal to call the hotline and I'll be there by the time the police arrive." "Thank you Mommie."

My mother was a social worker, the type of person who would be called in this type of situation anyway. With all the confusion that followed and LeAudrey and her mother's denials, not alot was done in the way of protecting LeAudrey. She never spoke to me again. That is until we were in high school. I was with my friends in our preppiest attire going to a party; she was coming home very late from a school sporting event- or so she claimed. I first noticed a boy manhandling a girl, then I realized it was LeAudrey. When we approached her to ask if she was okay, she recognized me and assured me that she was just playing with her boyfriend. "I ain't yo' boyfriend, ho!" the young man protested. She was still LeAudrey: same beautiful hazel eyes; same flawless skin; same lies to cover maltreatment. Much to my friends' dismay I attempted to get her to come to the party with us. She seemed interested until my snotty boyfriend piped in "She may not like it; it's all Shaker kids." At that time in Cleveland, where LeAudrey was socially and where 'Shaker kids' were socially was worlds apart. I didn't see LeAudrey again for about many years...

She was explaining to one of the social workers at The Basket how her fiance had just left her- or died- the story seemed to change mid-sentence, but she and her children HAD been homeless and living in a car until her mother allowed them to come stay with her just a few months prior. Her down-on-her-luck story sprung the social worker into action and he signed her up for every program that she was eligible for within a few hours time. When I finally approached her, she gave me a look- oh! you know THAT look! The one that is all at once pleading and tough-as-nails. I would not betray our lives then, but I was determined to make a positive difference in her life now. I took her to the side and said, "Whatever has happened to you up to now LeAudrey, I guarantee with my help and the help of the people here, things are going to get better."

Before I left The Basket, through various agencies I managed to help get her an apartment, assistance with the downpayment, assistance with the utility deposits, furniture and (with help from my cousin) training and a job as a security guard. I felt like God had given me a second chance to be her S-hero...and I wasn't going to pass it up.


Know that The Divine works through us; use this knowledge daily to be a S-hero or a Hero. God Bless! M.~