HLS No. 68: C'est Bob

A story of fraying found family by Jacqueline Chou

Life has been rough for Bob, but fresh out of another abusive home, maybe this time, he’ll finally be able to settle down in a nice, quiet place. And maybe, he’ll even find another family.

“Abandoned Gothic Cemetery” by Viviana De Cecco

I’m proud of myself. It’s my first time living in my own apartment, and it’s been two whole weeks. My first time living outside of a residence, and I can do it. I can keep myself clean, keep my apartment clean, and feed myself. Feeding myself is easy, because at Helping Hearts, I used to work in the kitchen. I know how to make sandwiches. I can make peanut butter and jelly, and bologna and cheese. I can make egg sandwiches too. First, I scramble eggs in the pan, until they’re all cooked through, and I put them on bread. Oh, but, first I put mayonnaise on the bread before I put the eggs on it.

But they closed Helping Hearts down because bad things happened there. Yessir, bad things. I do know that. Sometimes the bad things happened to me. Katherine was with me when the interviewers came. Katherine, she’s my case worker. That’s what she told me. I don’t know what a case worker is. I guess it just means she helps me do things. Anyway, the people asked me how I got my black eye and my cut lip and how my finger got broken, and I looked at Katherine, and she nodded at me. “Just tell them the truth, Bob.” I don’t know why they was asking me this time. Because black eyes and all that stuff happened before, and they didn’t ask about it back then.