CHAPTER 1
“David, get in here and eat this food,” his mother shouted.
“Okay, Mommy!”
She was a single mother, trying her best to provide the bare necessities for her son. The
loss of her husband was a blow, but she knew for the sake of her son, she needed to go on. Every
time she looked in his eyes she saw Rudy. He was a handsome five-eleven, one hundred-eighty
pounds, green eyes, curly hair, and bo-legged.
The two of them were in love with each other despite the fact that their parents didn’t
approve. Mainly because she was a beautiful black woman and he was white. She was a short,
outspoken, brown-eyed, jet black hair, smooth brown skin, beautiful woman.
Every day she feared for her son’s life and hers, knowing what she knew. The
information was given to her by her husband that one horrific day on his deathbed. Hanging onto
this secret was like holding onto a bomb.
Wiping mud on his clean clothes, “Momma, did you cook macaroni and cheese?” David
asked.
“No, cheeseburgers and fries.”
“Yay,” he said, running to the bathroom to wash his hands.
She always followed him into the bathroom to make sure he did. Sometimes he would put
the soap between his hands and say they were clean. There were never any suds in the sink that
were dirty, so that was a giveaway.

“Look young man, you wash your hands with soap and water or no dessert,” she said,
turning on the faucet.
“Momma, why do I have to always wash my hands?” he asked.
“Because when little boys don’t wash their hands, they get sick and can’t eat dessert.”
She put her hands on his and started to wash their hands together. He looked up and
smiled at her as she smiled back at him. Elaine grabbed his favorite towel off the towel rack and
dried their hands. She gave him a horsey back ride into the kitchen.
Later on that night, David had eaten all this food and was ready for bed. She remembered
buying his pajamas with his father on his birthday. After tucking him in, she kissed him
goodnight and turned out the light.
Pretending he was sleeping, he opened his eyes, “I love you, Mommy, goodnight.”
“I love you too, baby, goodnight.”
She closed the door to his room and thought about the many nights his father and her
would kiss him goodnight.
While locking up the house, Elaine noticed a car parked in the front of the house. She
tried seeing who was inside the car, but it was too dark. What she did see was there were two
men in the car. Paying it little mind, she walked upstairs to her bedroom and went to sleep.
The next morning, Elaine felt something crawling on her face and woke up to find it was
David with his toy spider.
“Wake up, Mommy,” he said smiling.
“Give Mommy five more minutes, ok?”
“Okay, time to wake up again, Mommy,” he laughed.
Pulling the covers off of her, “What do you want Mommy to cook for you?” she aske