WriteRight4Life, LLC: Teaser for Raising Mother Nature by Everett R. Mane & Marjorie Wise Sedlacek

When the distance grows between siblings who have experienced abuse, the emotional pain can feel much more intense than the physical aspect of the ordeal. 

Calhoun Mane lay in his corner of the living room without a blanket. His stomach growled from lack of food in the small one-bedroom apartment. At least Michael Wheeler, one of the eighteen-year-olds who aged out of the Ohio Veterans’ Children Home, had a recliner. Chico Morena, the other man who aged out, slept in the bedroom with a neighbor girl, Tracy. She claimed to love Chico but flirted with Calhoun behind his friend’s back. Michael warned Tracy many times that her behavior would break his friend’s heart. 

Chico had just taken Tracy, Michael, and Calhoun to his foster family’s farm in northern Ohio. They spent a weekend working chores around the farm. Calhoun fed the chickens and even milked a cow, but his interest became clear once he met Chico’s foster sister, Rebecca. After he started holding her hand, they ended up making out in the barn. When Rebecca’s father found them kissing, he forbade the relationship from going any further. Chico comforted his friend and sister. The girl felt embarrassed for Calhoun, but he was only sixteen and lived a long way from the small town and Chico’s family. 

Now, Calhoun, being the only one in the apartment with family ties in the area, took responsibility for getting Christmas dinner for his roommates. He suspected his Grandma Fatso, as she called herself, or Annabelle Le Coureur, had prepared a massive feast with all the side dishes. He left and walked down the railroad tracks as a shortcut to her house. When he arrived, his brother Gerry was on the steps talking to their step-grandfather, Carl Guillot. Gerry, a competitive guy, grabbed a basketball from the neighbor’s yard and bounced it a few times. He asked his little brother to catch it, then slammed the ball into Calhoun’s nose. Blood trickled out as he tried to hide it with his sleeve.

Carl laughed and ordered Gerry inside. He asked Calhoun if he needed a handkerchief. Calhoun took it and followed Carl into the house. The living room had filled with the usual suspects: his grandma, great-grandma, and Uncle Martin with his wife and child. Calhoun knew that his Great Grandma Elizabeth would offer a smile and possibly some money as gifts, but she couldn’t because everyone was yelling at her for refusing to interact with Martin’s son. Elizabeth shrugged off their insults and yelled back at her daughter, telling her to leave her alone. She rocked aggressively in her favorite chair, then gave Calhoun a frown. 

The actions of Calhoun’s family revealed their intentions, spoiling the child who had replaced Calhoun as the youngest. Calhoun whispered, “Merry Christmas,” turned around, stepped out the front door, and began to cry. He ran faster than ever before, wishing his brother had run out after him.

Just days before the New Year arrived with celebrations around the world, I left Ohio to find the comforts I was missing. Little did I know that God guided me through both the worst and best of times. I lived in many new places, but I never found the comforts I was looking for.

Read Raising Mother Nature now: https://books.by/writeright4life