Chapter 31: It’s a Boy! The car ride to Janet’s house was easily the longest car ride in my life. It wasn’t because Janet lived particularly far away from school. Distance had little to do with it, though sitting in a pink backwards facing car seat didn’t help my sense of spatial orientation. It wasn’t […]

Chapter 30: My First I.E.P. Meeting. “Is everyone here?” “I think so.” “Then let’s begin with proper introductions.” “Hello I’m Tamara Bankhead, and I’m the Resource Compliance Specialist.” “Hi, I’m Chandra Skinner, Speech and Language Pathologist.” “Hello, I’m Maxine Winters, Physical Therapist.” “Hello, I’m Jasmine Sosa, Occupational Therapist.” “And I’m Melony Beouf. Maturosis and Developmental […]

Chapter 29: Preparing for Trial I woke up before I opened my eyes. A stiff plastic mattress cover rustled as I unconsciously shifted my weight. Even stiffer, my muscles ached as I rolled over, my hand grasping around the wooden bars that caged me. I was in a crib. Fuck. Slowly, my eyes opened as […]

Chapter 28: My Last I.E.P. Meeting “Is everyone here?” “I think so.” “Then let’s begin with proper introductions.” “Hello I’m Tamara Bankhead, and I’m the Resource Compliance Specialist.” “Hi, I’m Chandra Skinner: Speech and Language Pathologist.” “Hello, I’m Maxine Winters: Physical Therapist.” “Hello, I’m Jasmine Sosa: Occupational Therapist.” “And I’m Clark Gibson: Pre-Kindergarten Teacher.” There […]

Chapter 27: Back to Normal A week later: It was Monday. I was being a bad teacher. It was just after lunch; it was our class’s first naptime of the school year. The kids who needed protection were in fresh Pull-Ups. The blankets and nap mats were distributed. Quiet naptime music was playing just loud […]

Beouf rubbed her eyes and replaced her glasses. “Places like New Beginnings need to be shut down. They don’t care about the Littles there. They just want to make them into…into…” “Dolls?” I offered. “Yeah. That.” Her tone turned angry. “I have a Master’s in Early Childhood Education and a Bachelor’s in Child Psychology with […]

It was the sound of Daniel’s laughter that had awoken Ella from her nightmare. Her eyes were damp with moisture and her nightshirt clung to her body from sweat. She pulled the thin blanket over her head and cried softly into her pillow in frustration. Why? Why was she still having nightmares? Had she really […]

Ella had only had ten minutes alone with the tablet. Ten minutes! She had been completely transfixed by the brightness and colors of its loading screen, before it had been unceremoniously yanked from her grasp. At first she thought it had been Brian. Elle was already prepared to bite him if necessary, but it hadn’t […]

      Besides Heather’s failed attempts at having another child, Ella heard the truth to a question that had been nagging at her from day one. Why Ella? The answer had been so simple she wanted to slap herself. It was Ella, or it was nothing. The wait to adopt an infant was years. […]

There was the clanging of dropped utensils followed by silence. Ella knew from the look on Heather’s face she was in trouble. Her lips were pulled tight and her eyes narrowed. She looked like she was about to say something, but before she could, Danielle and Charlie had broken the silence with uncontrolled gales of […]