As an explanation, he said he wanted “space to find himself” and left one night, leaving me to take care of our eight-year-old son Damien and our newborn daughter Connie. Since he never returned, I suppose he discovered more than just space. “Cereal, please?” I asked my mother. The soft sound of Connie’s voice interrupted my train of thinking. From the kitchen table, her innocent, wide-eyed brown eyes looked up at me. I gave her the cereal box that was on the top shelf with an artificial grin on my face. At that moment, Damien, who is now fourteen years old, huffed his way into the kitchen while still sporting his trademark headphones. In a low voice, he announced his intention to meet Jake without raising his eyes to the sky. “Get home before it gets dark. I chased after him as he stomped out the door, reminding him to get his schoolwork done first when he returned.Trying to maintain a roof over our heads while juggling the responsibilities of parenting two children alone had become our daily reality. Working at a call center was helpful, but it wasn’t my ideal work. Having a job was the only thing that mattered during these difficult times. Unexpectedly, my new neighbor Emery—a woman in her early 30s—knocked on my door one day. It seemed like she hadn’t slept in days, and her eyes were red-rimmed. “Hey, Prudence, would you mind if I asked you for a huge favor?” she inquired, her voice quivering slightly. With a nod, I let her inside. With a struggle for composure, Emery collapsed into the sofa. The previous night, she had a wild party, and then her boss summoned her out of town for business. She was too busy to clean up her apartment, which was a complete mess. If I might be of use to her, she would compensate me. As I glanced at the time, I was hesitant. The thought of making a little more money was appealing, even if my shift was about to begin. We could really benefit from it. I went to work after we quickly settled on $250. Trash, half-eaten food, and empty bottles littered Emery’s home. I spent two full days cleaning, sweeping, and disposing of trash. I completed despite the fact that my hands and back hurt, since I kept thinking about the $250 that Emery had promised. We could do a lot with that money.It wasn’t until Emery came back that I went to get him. When I brought up the topic of money, she seemed perplexed and blinked at me. The money? “What kind of payment?” she inquired. When she insisted there was no deal, my spirits plummeted. She brushed me off, said she was too busy, and headed off to work. I was stunned and enraged as I stood there. She betrayed me, and I stewed over it for the remainder of the day. She had the gall to act as if we had never agreed to anything, after all my hard work. I would not stand by and allow her to escape punishment. My next move had to be strategic. An concept began to take shape as I walked the living room; it was a hazardous notion, but I thought it was essential. At the end of the day, I was filling up my vehicle with waste bags at the nearby landfill. In these last moments of hope, drastic actions were required. I drove back rationalizing my approach by thinking about our chat over and over again. It was dead calm on the street leading up to her home. With my pulse racing, I dragged the trash bags to the front door. I had an epiphany as I was working swiftly: Emery had completely neglected to return the home key she had given me.I was momentarily hesitant, but then I recalled how she had brushed me off. I entered her house after unlocking the door and proceeded to meticulously open the trash bags, spilling their contents all over her spotless house. Disgusting things like spoiled food, outdated newspapers, and soiled diapers were thrown together. Feeling a mix of elation and shame, I stormed out of her home in a heap. I put Connie to bed that night and heard a pounding on the door. Prior I opening it, I had a feeling it was Emery. What had I done to her house? She demanded to know as she yelled at me. Quietly, I refuted it all, bringing up the fact tha
