Larry

I little boy came into our life a few years ago when my sister’s daughter
moved to our little rural area. We were happy to have family moving near us.
Visions of doing those family things together danced.
We were wonderfully naive.

Her ass of a husband. Nhut, (yes it’s his name, he’s Vietnamese)
was known to fly into rages frequently. So I guess having children with
him was a “must do”. There’s nothing like watching someone knowingly
putting their head in the sand.

My sister’s daughter (lets call her Moon) was a bit of a wild child who
either needed or ignored you. My sister was beside herself when
Moon took up with this guy. They all lived in Holland near my sister, then
moved to Florida to be near Nhut’s family. Moon’s Dad has family here in
the Tennessee valley so they moved here. I now suspect all the moves
are due to them abusing a family’s willingness to help a relative.

Larry was the youngest child of three letter L named children.
(Levi would be the last L child born after Larry.)
Larry is a beautiful child. Asian features and a little shy grin.
He was around 8 months old when we met him. We fell in love
immediately. Moon was open to us taking Larry whenever we wanted to.
We jumped at the chance when we weren’t working.

His home life was pitiful. Filth and poverty was all he knew. We wanted
to save him. Often we saw things that were questionable. Our presence
in their lives was appreciated by my sister. She could go home and be
assured that we would take care of her family. She said those very
words to us. Adding that Moon wasn’t the most patient person and Nhut
could well be abusive to them all.

We could see that they adored all their children, but lacked general
knowledge on how not to ruin them.. Literally.
There came a time when we had to say something to my sister. The things
we saw worried us but we didn’t want to hurt Moon either. We opted to talk
to my sister and let her know our concerns. She stopped speaking to us.
Did not want to hear it at all. Luckily a neighbor took it upon herself in retaliation
for something Moon did and contacted children’s services. We were relieved that
the authorities were involved. In the meantime we had lost all contact with Moon
and our precious Larry. My sister turned right around and told her daughter what
we had said. Moon refused to allow us to see Larry. My sister, out of guilt I hope,
stopped speaking to me too. So much for her concern over her grandchildren’s welfare.

We were estranged from that point on. It worsened when my Mom died in
2003 and I was shut out of the entire family. It wasn’t until her funeral that we
saw Larry again. Slowly things improved. Moon needed something and called.
My sister came to visit, and I helped them paint a mural at Moon’s place.

It is a another substandard home for Larry and his three other siblings.
Moon calls when she needs something. She will talk for an hour about the
things she is ‘going’ to do to her home. They rarely ever do them. In the
background the children scream. It is impossible not to get a migraine
while talking to her. I try to be gone as much as possible when she calls.
There is no discipline except screaming from Moon. The kids do as they wish.
Write on walls, pull out food and dump it, trash the house, just anything they want.

This week Moon called, Nhut was in jail. Would I put my house up for his bail?
They needed someone in Georgia who would do it. Uh, no.
Are fricking kidding me? No I didn’t do it, and no I didn’t help with cash either.

It turns out that one of the other L named children called the police when
Nhut spanked him and left bruises. Moon admits to Nhut being out of control.
The last I heard, he was out of jail but had to take parenting classes to be able
to move back home. Bullshit.

Larry just had his fourth birthday. I still miss his smell.
Was his life touched by the short months he had only love with us?
Will it matter later that someone showed him what proper parenting
it is supposed to be? I pray so.

The first time I saw him after our three year forced estrangement, he
remembered me. His shy head bowed as he peeked through dark bangs
at me. He remembered. I said no words, but tried to speak all the affection
I felt with a returned shy smile of my own. Our eyes met and I knew he
remembered. Later, he called me Miss Annie as he used to.
I silently cried.

———————————————————
On another note, when I wrote my tribute on my Mom for the book,
I sent it to my sister to read. She has had no reply.
She has not called me about this situation with Nhut. BUT she
did tell Moon that she should call me. Maybe I would put my house
up for her husband’s bail.
pfttttt.