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The One Who Had Potential, Part Iv

IV.
Of curse trying to raise a person right
is much more than a matter of finding work,
Miles didn’t think himself a great person,
so he started bringing them all to church.

He figured Whitney would need real wisdom,
that was something he couldn’t provide himself,
but Father Thomas seemed a decent guy,
and he hoped that his example would help.

They settled down into a new routine,
and though sometimes it made him chomp at the bit,
a good, settled life was best for Whitney,
so he would just fake it until he made it.

Within a few months Martina quit the club,
and got a job in a local crafts store,
Whitney did will in school, and seemed better,
they heard he laughter in the house once more.

He took the time to help her with schoolwork,
the best he could, since he was no genius,
and made sure each day his little sister
was up and ready to catch the school bus.

And as the years went by things got better,
though the occasional hiccups occurred,
Miles took meetings to keep himself clean,
Martina feared someone might recognize her.

But on the whole they did a good job of
pretending to be all respectable,
until the point it became second nature,
and they embraced the suburb life in full.

About three years in Miles decided
that he had to get Martina a ring,
despite her having lived with him for three years
she was in tears at the sight of the thing.

But outside the joy of their engagement,
some troubling issues soon would appear,
Whitney’s grade were slipping, and for Miles
it spoke to a dark, unsettling fear.

That was the age at which he had begun
to walk the path of his own downward slide,
he was well aware that, had things not chanced,
it was unlikely he would have survived.

He asked her one day what was going on,
and at first young Whitney just rolled her eyes,
Miles said,”I have been where you are now,
maybe I can help, you might be surprised.”

She just scoffed and said,”I don’t see the point.
Why keep trying, they’ll hate me ’cause I’m black.
Why work so hard when I cannot succeed?”
Said Miles,”Wo told you nonsense like that?”

But Miles knew the answer already,
he’d said similar crap at age fifteen,
it was so easy to just blame someone else,
and to give up on the difficult dreams.

So heartfelt he said,”I’ve been down that path,
the only places it leads to are bad.”
Whitney just snarked back at him with a sneer,
said,”Do not talk to me like you are dad!”

CONTINUES N PART V.

Copyright © David Welch | Year Posted 2020

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