What's Enough? Part II

Please read Part I first.

When she tells the drug dealer she's pregnant, he's furious. He pleads with her to get an abortion. She's not havin' it. She wants his baby. She's terrified of being alone and she wants some more of his "good genes" for another child. He declares that she won't see a cent from him and he will never see her again.

He's good to his word. He never comes back to see her again for a "tune up". She carries the baby, demanding her friends show loyalty to her and throw her an extravagant baby shower, even though most of them think she's a fool. She finally gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. The dope dealer still no where to be found.

Her son is preparing to go to college. She demands that he choose a college close to home. He has his heart set on Morehouse, but he'll have to settle for a school in Michigan. He's also called upon to handle babysitting duties, effectively cramping his style during his senior year. His mother decides that she wants to be a stay at home mom, quits her job and cashes out her meager 401K.

During the spring, she feels that the indifference that the drug dealer is showing is too much for her to bear. She decides she's going to move to North Carolina with her daughter with no job and while running low on funds. Her son is heartbroken. He's committed to begin summer classes at college at a school he doesn't want to go to, and now his mother is leaving the state.

She leaves in an abrupt fashion and her best friend, a person who's counsel she has up to this point ignored, is asked to help her son transition into his college life. She moves to a bug ridden little hole of an apartment, miserable and lonely, except for her precious daughter. She calls her son constantly, even when he's in class. She complains to all her friends about the mistake she made.

After living in North Carolina for three months and her money running low, she tries to find employment to no avail. She talks to her son and he tells her his father has been berating her. "He said you're stupid for leaving here with no job and no family support." That was all she needed to hear. That was the drug dealers way of saying he missed her. She decides to come back to Michigan, breaking her lease.

She moves in with her mother and reapplies at her old place of employment. She gets re-hired, now with one of her subordinates as her boss, the lowest seniority in the place, and much lower pay. She is in effect right back where she started, but much, much worse.

She says she's going to take the drug dealer to court this time, to get child support for her daughter. I say good luck with that. But at least she got his attention, hunh?

KZ