Downtown Girl. Uptown Boy.
I like it. I get to race the cars. Go to Memphis every other day. It’s okay. Not, much to do now a days. Maybe that’s why I decided to go uptown. I’ve been downtown. I wanted to see uptown. So, I did. That’s when I met Michael. He was a rich stuck up snob. Or so, I thought. He had proved to me that he was not. But that he was like me. Just in another world. Where I lived downtown and he lived uptown. I visited him whenever I could. He came to see me race whenever he could. Finally the day came. When he met my mother and stepfather. They liked him. Or so, I thought. One day, Michael didn’t return my phone call. One day, he didn’t visit me. I became worried. He never had done this before. Never. Not in all the days of the five months I had known him. Three months later. I got a call. It was Michael. He said that he had runaway from his over obsessed powerful father who had found out about him seeing me. Then I remembered. His mother knew and was very nice. His father could know nothing about it. He was the one who caused my heart to ache. I told Michael that he was welcome here. Three weeks later. He came. He was even happier to see me than me to see him. He then told me how he had survived the three months away from me. How he had used part of his collage fund to live off of. He said that he didn’t call before because he was afraid that I would tell his father. I told him why would I ever do a thing like that. He said because he knew that his father knew about us. But his mother had not told a soul. I knew my mother and stepfather did not either. They loved him like a son. Someone told. Someone had leaked out that we were seeing each other. Someone from uptown. Another month went by. Michael still afraid to leave downtown. He has asked me to marry him. I said yes. We rented a small house near my mothers. We had to put it in my name, we were afraid his father would find out if in his. Two months rolled around and I am to have our first child in eight months. I am only seventeen years old, Michael only sixteen but we didn’t care. We should have. His father found us. How did he know? We didn’t tell a soul. We only told his mother that he was all right. She came to visit once. She had a smile that she was soon to be a grandmother. Her and my mother got along fine. There must be a spy. Someone who is following us. Someone who knows our every move. Someone from uptown. We are hiding out at my mothers. Till the baby is born. Till the papers are settled. Michael is suing his father. We are winning. The baby came. He is a healthy boy. We won the court case. His father can’t touch us now. We moved out of the state. Far from his father. Far, far away. We arrived in Oklahoma just a few hours ago. Michael’s best friend lives here. In Tulsa. He contacted him a week ago. He said that we could say with them till we found a place of our own. The family is such a nice one. Michael and me hope to have one just as large. They are the Hanson’s. I asked Michael one day how he came to know them. He said they once helped him with a problem he had in the past. When he was around seven years old. He became a friend with Zachary. I asked him how they helped him, he said long ago his father used to beat him black and blue till one day he met Zachary. They talked for hours. Becoming closer friends each time. Then one day Michael had to go into the hospital. His father threw him down the stairs. Zachary was at his side. He lived with them till Michael’s mother came to get him. Zachary told him to call when he needed something or someone to talk to. I was crying. To know that Michael had such a ruffer childhood than me. Our little boy doesn’t have a name. We couldn’t decide on one. Then on a day as cold as any. Zachary came to talk to us. He had befriended our little boy who was now around a month old. Still no name. He said that we should name him. Michael told me last night that we should name our little boy. And that we should name him Zachary Walker. I told him that was a great name. Later that next day we asked Zachary if he would be the godfather to our little boy. I had to hold him up he was crying so hard. But the tears were full if joy. He couldn’t have been happier. So, here we are. Michael, me and little Zachary. I am soon to have our second child. We are hoping to have a large family. And teach them the values of true friendship. For as we have learned that Zachary had been taught the values and passed them on to Michael by always being there for him. I hope to do the same. |