A chance to give a little

STEVE SMITH

No one asked him if he wanted to be born. No one asked him where he

wanted to live or what he’d like his mom and dad to do for a living.

No one asked him if it was OK to move far away from the family

members who could offer help when it was needed. No one gave him a

choice on anything important. After all, he was only a kid; what did

he know?

So when his mom lost her job because the company wasn’t doing

well, it didn’t really matter what he thought. He had no voice in

where they would go, what they would do or how they would live. He

was only along for the ride.

A little older now, he is beginning to recognize that he is

different. He is beginning to realize that most children do not live

in a group home, or multiple group homes, the way he has. He

understands now that most kids who have slept in their cars did not

do so because it was an adventure, as his mom had told him, but

because they had nowhere else to sleep.

Then the car was gone -- sold to buy food and clothing.

Attending his third school in as many months, he struggled to make

friends. Knowing that the other kids in school returned home each

afternoon to the same house or apartment, he could not ask them over

to the shelter to play. They wouldn’t understand and would probably

tease him.

But he watched television from time to time, and he began to

understand how it was supposed to be. He began to understand that a

family was a mom, a dad and a child or children. He watched and saw a

parent going off to work; sometimes both parents went to work. The

kids went to school, often walking and laughing with chums they met

along the way.

At night, the TV people had dinner together and talked about their

days. After dinner, the mom tucked the kids into bed and kissed them

goodnight.

Most of all, on television and through his schoolmates’ lives, he

saw security. It overwhelmed him to the point that he thought of

little else. His yearning for a permanent home, a good job for his

mom and the chance to walk to the same school over and over again for

months or years became a beautiful obsession.

After school, when no one was watching, he acted out the family

life he promised himself. He had a wife and two children and a house

of their own. They were happy.

Then, one day, his mom took him to a different type of group home.

This one was in a place he liked immediately because when he arrived

in August, he noticed that he did not need air conditioning at night.

He’d never had air conditioning in the other homes and had suffered

during the hot, sleepless nights.

This place was different. During the day, he went to a school

where his teacher did not judge him because he was different. At this

school, his teacher gave him just as much time and attention as the

other children.

During the day at this place, his mom had things to do. They were

no longer sleeping in a room with other moms and dads and kids, but

one of their own. This one even had its own bathroom. All this meant

that mom would have to keep house again, the way she used to do in

their apartment when times were good.

During the day, they taught his mom how to use a computer,

something he was learning, too, in his new school. “You can get a lot

of jobs if you know how to use this well,” they told his mom. When

she knew enough, they gave her some nice clothes and sent her on job

interviews.

But as soon as he saw hope, he also saw dread. It was now

Thanksgiving, and he began to see signs of Christmas. Christmas meant

gifts. Toys. He had been a good boy, he thought, and even with all

the bad stuff happening around him, surely he’d get something. But at

10, he was old enough to know the truth.

He knew there was no Santa Claus, and he knew his mom didn’t have

enough money yet to buy him anything. So for him, Christmas morning

would be like every other morning.

But he awoke last Christmas morning to a miracle. That morning, he

had wrapped gifts at the foot of his bed. As he opened them, the

miracle grew. He got the one toy he’d wished for and some brand new

clothes -- these had the labels still attached -- and they were

exactly his size.

But the best was yet to come. Just after he opened his last gift,

his mother leaned over to him and said, “Baby, I’ve got some good

news for you. The computer classes I took here helped me find a job.

And some very nice person has given us the money we need to move into

our own apartment again, one that’s two blocks from the school you’ll

be going to. So, I’m sorry that we have to move again, but this time,

it’s gonna be for a long, long time. Merry Christmas.”

*

This dream was made possible by the miracle workers at the Orange

Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa. You can help them make these

dreams come true through your donations of food and clothing or by

sponsoring a family to make their Christmas dreams come true. But

most of all, your donations of cash are needed to help kids who don’t

have a choice.

Please be generous this year and make a donation today. Send it to

the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter, 1963 Wallace Ave., Costa Mesa,

CA 92627. Or call (949) 631-7213.

Thank you very much.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(949) 642-6086.