9:55 a.m. - 2004-08-10
Feeding the children.
Last night was great. We had a picnic in the park with my dysfunctional family friends (including god children and respective gransmothers). My Mom decided to throw the picnic since everyone was stressed, and working and at wits end. It worked. The parents relaxed, the grandparents took a break from being critical and stubborn and interacted with everyone with a little bit of joy.
It was wonderful. The kids, who are poorly behaved and weird, had plenty of room to roam. An orchestra was practicing in the band pit, the weather was beautiful and all was well.
I took the girls to the band pit to hear the orchestra up close. They sat and enjoyed. I was really surprised that they enjoyed it so much. Their mother came up and announced that my mother was collecting strays. I assumed that she wanted everyone back to the picnic pavilion.
But what my friend meant, was that my mother had invited four little kids into the pavilion for dinner leftovers and cake. It was a little after eight, and these four children, all under 8, two around 5, had not eaten dinner yet. Their mother had dropped them off at the park hours before an dhad not picked them up yet. Can you imagine? Dropping off kids that age without supervision AND leaving them without dinner? She had another baby on the way according to the kids.
So they are a good meal of friend chicken, cake and chips. Topped off with Hawaian Punch. Apparently, the little girl in the group walked up to my mom and asked if she could have a hot dog, but we didn't have any, so my mom took them all in and fed them what we had.
Their mom picked them up at about 9pm.
I'm going to ask my brother about them. He works with all the abused children in town. He worked the projects for years. I'll bet he knows who they are. Maybe he can have someone tail the mom when she drops them off and charge her with neglect. But, I'm not so sure that "The System" would be any better. The kids looked very close. I'd hate to see them split up if they have a decent support system outside the home.
Makes me glad I'm me.
