On a warm July evening my parents got into this huge argument. I didn't want them to ruin my day any more than it was, so I went down to the court and played ball. When my friends and I finished playing I decided to go home and take a shower. As I was walking into my house I saw my mom walking into her room with tears in her eyes.

Right then I knew something bad had happened. I tried comforting her, but she told me to leave her alone. I couldn't leave her alone and I tried talking to her again. She then told me about their argument which made tears start to flow again. "I'm going to move out," she said still sniffling. I asked if there was any way I could keep her from leaving. There wasn't any chance, she said. She'd had enough.

The next day I helped her pack, as much as I hated to. The next morning my mom went down river with my sister. I called her that night and told her I'd visit in a couple of days when everything was settled. I told her that my brother was coming with me. She got excited and couldn't wait to see us. She told me that my sister was having fun with her cousins, but wanted to go back home. When I hung up the phone my dad asked how they were doing. "They're fine," I said sadly, "but Kris wants to come back home." Then my dad went on with what he was doing. I told him that I was going to visit them. He agreed and made reservations for my brother and I to go down river.

During the two days I was down there I spent most of my time with my mom. My mom really didn't want me to leave but I had to because someone had to cook and take care of my dad and and my other sister, Sharon. So she let me come back up. I was hesitant, though, because our house wasn't the same anymore. It was lonely and quiet without my mom. Sometimes I'd imagine how it would be with my mom still living in the house, and my brother and and my sister running around all over the place making a mess. But our house isn't a jungle anymore because my brother has nobody to be full of mischief with.

With my mom gone I stayed home most of the day and cooked and cleaned. This took away most of the time I usually spent with my friends. My dad was always out and I had to stay in and babysit my brother and make sure he was okay. One day I couldn't handle it anymore and I blew up at my dad. "You should watch boy once in a while too!" I yelled. I talked to him about how much I wanted to go out and socialize with my friends. He must have understood because that night he stayed home and I went out and stayed with friends.

The next day I called my mom to tell her about my problems with my dad and how much I wanted her to come back home. I asked dad to talk to her and he did. "Ask her to come back home, dad," I said bossing him a little. So he asked her, and he looked at me with a smile which made me smile too. I was glad that my mom was coming back home. I told my sister and my brother, who were also happy to hear that she was coming back.

In preparation for her return, I cleaned up and made the house look nice. When she got back up here she was happy to be with us again. And we were all happy to have her and my sister back!

By: Cheryl Hunter