Smiling Through the Tears: Memories of a Traumatic Childhood

I don't remember being in the house when mother arrived to pick up my sister. I went next door to my cousin's house and was sitting on their front porch steps. I was all by myself waiting for them to get into the car. I don't know if they knew I was there when they got into the car at that moment or not. When they drove out our drive, they had to pass in front of my cousin's house. They saw me crying, my sister waved, I knew she was happy and mother leaned close to the steering wheel to look around my sister at me. She had a concerned look on her face. I started to cry so hard at that time and didn't know how to really control myself. I was mad at Aunt Naomi for sending her away so I didn't want to go into the house. No one was around at my cousin's house, so I went to my own place in the bushes and finally stopped crying. I felt so sad and wanted to be with my sister and mother. I stayed there in the bushes until I was called to come in for supper. Everyone was quiet at the table that night, nothing was the same.