• Mother had been gone all night now "Im sure she'll be home in a little while." my older sister said. We were silent. We kept calm faces but knew that there was a chance she wouldn't come back "I have to go to school. I can't leave you here..." my sister said, hoisting her school pack onto her back. "Come on," she said, reaching out her hand.

    I took her hand and we walked to school. When we got there my sister went in ahead of me and told me to wait at the door. I looked through a crack in the door and saw my sister telling the teacher why I was there. She returned and motioned for me to come in, then pointed to a small stool in the corner and there I sat. I watched as the teacher wrote words and numbers I couldn't understand on the chalk board. I turned to the girl sitting closest to me. She was writing with a very fancy black and gold pin with a sharp metal tip and a pot of ink set on her desk. She wrote in a very fluid hand of what my sister said was cu..cur..si..v cursive. Then I examined the teacher herself, a frazzled woman with a sloppy frizzy haired bun on her head. She wore a white shirt buttoned up to her neck with a black skirt with little red and purple flowers on it.

    I waited and waited until the teacher looked at the clock and decided it was time to go. My sister took my hand again and we left, walking down the road again. Half way home I noticed my sister's face was starting to break into a frown and before I could say anything, she was crying, with her face in her hands. She dropped to her knees and continued to cry. I bent down to her and hugged her, "How could she do this? Just leave me here with you ?! How?" my sister said between sobs. "It'll be alright....I'll take care of you..." I said and right then my sister looked up at me, her face red and wet with tears and smiled.