The Descending of Jessica Ch. 15

"Damita is going to stay with us," Brent spoke. "Momma Allison, as Sarah calls Mom, has allergies. But we aren't far away, and you'll see her all the time. Is that okay? I promise Jessie and I will take great care of her. She'll have a yard full of squirrels to chase that she can run and play in, and its fenced so she'll be safe."

"She'll like that. We used to take her to the dog park on Saturdays. She's really fast. And she doesn't bite or anything." He smiled.

"You named her Damita? Is that Spanish? What does it mean?" I asked.

"It means 'man' if you translate it, like, uh all man, people uh.... But it means 'a woman that is small and respected' too. My mom helped me name her." He sniffled.

We all grew quiet, not wanting to upset Alex as he was clearly thinking of his recently murdered mother that had left him so suddenly and senselessly and he was close to breaking down in tears at her memory. None of us could think of anything to say that would help. None of us except one.

"Me, too," Sarah softly said. "I miss my mom everyday. You don't ever get over that. You just, well, it gets better and you remember the fun parts instead of the bad parts. I was at the same group home. So was Sissy and Brent. Brent misses his mom and dad I bet, and Sissy just got her other mom back. You'll meet her soon. Her and Momma Allison well, they're always doing stuff. But we all have Dr. Ron and Momma Allison to take care of us. Its okay to cry here if you need to. Nobody minds."

Alex did. He leaned into Allison's loving embrace and just blubbered, holding Damita tightly as she whimpered and licked the tears from his face.

And the rest of us cried with him. Even Ron and Allison.