NEVER LOSE HOPE
Hello, my name is Michael Benjamin. I’m thirteen years old and, until recently, I was all alone in the world.
My father left home when I was five and I hadn’t seen or heard from him since. Three years ago, my world fell apart when my mother died from an accidental drugs overdose. I have no brothers or sisters.
My two surviving grandparents, who live in Jamaica, are both elderly and suffer from dementia. They had no clue about my situation.
After my mum died, life was one big struggle. For three years I was under the care of the council. They do their best but it was no sort of existence really.
Then, suddenly, everything changed. One day after school I was taken to meet a young married couple, John and Lynn, in their large modern house on a small estate in the suburbs. Parked outside on the drive were a black BMW and a white Mercedes sports car.
They welcomed me inside and I was introduced to their seven year old daughter Rosie, and son Jake, age ten. Entering their huge lounge I nearly tripped over the black and white, thick pile, carpet.
I glanced across the room and couldn’t believe my eyes. In front of a gold coloured wood burning stove was a shaggy ‘union jack’ hearth rug.
I sat down on the white leather settee. On the opposite wall was the largest flat screen television I’d ever seen. Through the French window I could see a massive garden, with a Wendy House, trampoline and football goal.
‘It’s lovely to meet you Michael. Hope you like our house because we’d love you to join our family. We’d like to be your foster parents,’ said Lynn.
As she spoke she gently touched my knee with her left hand, displaying her numerous gold rings, each encrusted with ‘precious’ stones. I couldn’t tell whether they were real or fake.
I was amazed they wanted to take me into their home but I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to accept their kind offer but couldn’t help voicing my concern:
‘Well that sounds very good. I love your house and you all seem very nice. What worries me though is a black kid joining a white family. Isn’t that going to cause problems?’
‘Not at all,’ said John as he fiddled with the large gold medallion nestling in his lush chest hair. His white frilly shirt was unbuttoned to the waist.
‘It makes no difference to us. Rosie and Jake are looking forward to having a new brother.’
I decided to give it a try. If it didn’t work out then either of us could put a stop to the arrangement within the six month trial period. It would be worth it just to be able to watch films on the huge flat screen T.V.
***
A month had passed and all seemed to have gone quite well. John then suggested that I should start a paper round to earn some pocket money. It meant getting up early before school but I didn’t mind. It would enable me to make a small contribution to the family finances.
The paper round was fine but something was bothering me. How had John and Lynn made their money, and why were they so keen to show off all the time, what with the flashy cars, lavish furniture and expensive clothes?
One evening, as I was lost in my thoughts, Lynn came into the bedroom.
‘Can we have a chat please Michael, as John and I have had an idea. You seem to have settled in really well. We all love having you with us.’
‘Yes I’m enjoying being here thanks Lynn. I’m having a lot of fun with Jake and Rosie. What did you have in mind?’
‘Well it’s great you’re doing the paper round. We need some parcels to be delivered to different houses in the neighbourhood and wondered if you could drop them off on the way.’
‘That’s fine.’
***
Well, delivering the parcels was no problem. I had no idea what they contained but I always had to ring the doorbell, check I had the right person, and then accept another small package in return. There were generally three or four ‘special deliveries’ each day.
One day in June I woke up quite early, with the bright sun illuminating the purple velvet curtains. Suddenly I heard what sounded like three or four cars crunching the gravel on the front drive. I peered around the edge of the curtain and, to my astonishment, saw a group of armed policemen rushing up to the front door. One of them rang the doorbell quite aggressively.
‘Open up, police!!’
Jake and Rosie rushed to their parents’ bedroom. I leapt out of bed, dashed along the corridor and hovered outside the open door.
John and Lynn sat up with a start and rubbed their eyes. There was loud hammering on the front door.
‘Open up immediately or we’ll break down the door!!!’
‘What are we going to do Dad?’ asked Jake.
‘Better let them in I suppose,’ said John, coolly.
***
Well it’s now six months since the dramatic dawn raid. It emerged that John and Lynn had taken me in to work as a drugs ‘mule’, delivering packets of cocaine to their clients. They were big time drug dealers, but had finally been caught.
They say that every cloud has a silver lining. Well that’s certainly true in my case. There was much publicity over the raid, which came to the attention of my long lost father. He’d only just found out about my mother’s death and had been trying to contact me.
I’m now living with him and everything is great. It’ll soon be our first Christmas together, and we plan to visit my grandparents in Jamaica next year.
So never give up hope that life will turn out fine in the end. Expect bumps along the way though!
THE END