Mama Excuses Her Chad

He has not been feeling well his mother said, excusing four-year-old Chad. He has asthma, she said at five, he did not mean to shove the child off the slide. He has headaches she said when he turned six, and another child is sent to the hospital. He is having a hard time, he is dyslexic, she said at seven, trying to get him on a field trip. The other children were terrified of him; he bragged about torturing animals. He has a hard life she told the policemen who picked him up for a home invasion at eleven. He went to juvenile hall but was returned by a judge who dated his mama. He ran away at fourteen, sixteen, and seventeen; but he was brought back. He broke a child’s arm, knee, and nose during his absences. He is supersensitive, his mama explained. That other child started it. According to her the other children always start it. Today Chad is in federal prison. Convicted of murdering three women. Suspected in the disappearance of three others. His mother tries to date the right people, so she can get him out. She has not found the right man, so she is still making excuses for Chad.