“Momma, why are those boys laughing at you?”Beth asked scowling at the two scraggy boys sitting on the sidewalk of the loud, dusty playground; the teachers had assembled the entire third grade, waiting for the last day of school to end.
“Their parents didn’t teach them any better, baby.”Mrs. Nowell said, holding her daughters’ hand, as she staggered her way past the two boys, who were now making faces and crossing their eyes, as mother and daughter walked by.
“Ew, Don’t touch them, you might get cooties Ben!”The tallest boy shouted, darting toward the gym wall.
Her momma continued to walk, not glancing at the boys even once; Beth didn’t understand why her mother didn’t scold them.
She watched her sweet momma strain to hobble on the gray sidewalk, tripping several times as they made their way to the maroon Buick, where her grandmother waited for them.
As Beth sat in the back of the Buick, she listened to her mother cry and wished they had taken a different way, but there had been no other way in which to go.