Chapter 1- It started when I was a child.
How old were you when you found out that the favoritism was strong in your family? When I was eight, my parents told me that I was going to stay with my Grandma. I was dropped off at my Grandma's house, my parents dropped my duffel bag on the floor, and they went to leave.
My Grandma said, "Wait a second."
My Mom turned around and said, "What?"
She turned to me, "Sweetie go play in the room you stay in."
I took my teddy bear and walked to the room. Shutting the door behind me, I started to listen, I heard, "How long this time?"
My Mom sighed as my Dad said, "Does it matter?"
"Your taking the other two with you," She said. "The bag is pretty full and I saw the boxes at the bottom of the stairs. So be honest with me."
Dad said, "If you do not take her, I will send her to my Great Aunt Mary's house."
"You know that there is no place for her at Mary's house," She said. "How long?"
Mom said, "We do not have a time frame. Is that a problem?"
Grandma said, "You have papers for me?"
Mom pointed to the table and said, "We had custody papers signed at the courthouse, and all her information is there."
"Where are you going?" She asked.
Mom said, "We really do not want to share that."
My Grandfather came in from work and said, "Leave and do not come back. She is better off with us."
My Dad said, "Gladly."
I opened the door and came out as they left. My Grandparents looked at me, and I said, "They did not say goodbye."
Grandpa said, "Do not worry about that, sweetie. Why don't you go to your room and let me and Grams talk for a moment and I have to bring the rest of your things up."
Grandma said, "Frankie don't send her back in there. Sweetheart, you're going to stay with us. We do not want you to worry at all."
Grandpa went outside and brought in two boxes and another garbage bag of things. He said, "They kept all the good gifts she was given by the family for the other two."
Grandma said, "We should go to their apartment and get her things."
I said, "They will not be there. The apartment is empty. Everything went into a tow behind except for my things. They were telling my sisters that they had to wait in the car so they could leave right away."
Grandpa said, "Let's go to the fishing dock, kid. We can see if the hotdog guy is still there."
Grandma nodded and said quietly to him, "I will make some calls."
Grandpa and I went to the fishing dock and although the hotdog guy was not there we found a ice cream truck and sat on a bench eating some ice cream. Grandpa said, "You know this is not your fault right?"
"They seemed happy I was not going with them," I said. "Dad said he was happy to get rid of this burden."
Grandpa muttered something under his breath and then said, "You are not a burden. You are to young to understand everything now, but when you're older, we will explain everything to you. Do not worry, you have Grandma and me, and we will make sure you have a good life."
We sat watching the fisherman for a while, and as the sun started to set, we headed back to the house and found Grandma cooking dinner. She said, "Dinner will be done in about ten minutes."
"Did you make calls?" Grandpa asked.
"Yeah," Grandma said. "I will explain what I can during dinner. Age appropriate."
When I came out from washing my hands, my Grandparents stopped their conversation and we sat down to eat dinner. Grandma made chicken, potatoes and green beans. When we sat down and started eating Grandma said, "After you left I called your Great Aunt Mary and she had told me that she had spoken to your parents and had told them that they could not take you as they have a small home. I called your Grandma Irene next, and she said your parents needed to be responsible and also declined taking you because of her work schedule. Sheeven tried to drop you off at your AuntKay's house but your Uncle Mike said no because they did not agree with what they are doing. So Grandpa and I nowhave full custody of you. It works out since I work at the school. You will have to go to school earlier with me, but it will be okay."
Grandpa said, "What about doctors and such?"
Grandma became irritated and said, "Well, I have to take Abbie to school tomorrow and re-enroll her as her parents removed her from the school last week. I already called my boss and explained I needed coverage until I was finished in the office. They were more than happy to cover for me. Why they did that is beyond me."
We ate and Grandma had me go take a shower. When I came out she was sorting through my clothes and making a pile in the corner of the room. I asked her, "What are you doing?"
Grandma said, "A lot of these clothes are much to big for you. I will have to sew a lot of these to fit you right. I picked out an outfit for you for tomorrow already, its on the chair with tights and your shoes."
Grandpa asked from the doorway, "What does she have that fits here correctly?"
She pointed to two drawers with very little in them and a few outfits hanging up and said, "Not much. I should be able to work on the clothes that are to big on her and do something with the stuff that is to small as well. I have one last bag to go through and I will bring this to my sewing pile while we watch some tv later."
"Let me know what she needs, we will go this weekend to the shops on Saturday," He said. Picking up my shoes, he said, "She needs new shoes right away."
Grandma smiled and said, "Well, Abbie, it looks like you will be having your first trip with us living here."
After twenty minutes, Grandma picked up two baskets of clothing, one with clothes that were to big and one with clothes that were to small. Grandma looked at my closet and drawers which did not have much in either and said, "You get some sleep. Did you take anything out of your backpack since you were pulled out of school?"
"Mom went through it and took stuff out," I said.
She picked the backpack up to take with her and said, "I will sort it out."
She came back a few minutes later and tucked me in. I said, "Mom never came back in to say goodnight. I do not think she ever came into my room. She normally told me to go to bed and that was it."
Grandma pulled the blankets up and kissed my forehead saying,"Don't worry about things like that you are here now. We love you Abbie."
Curling into my bed I said, "I love you too."
When I woke up the next morning, I saw some of the shirts that were to big for me were back in my closet and they were now dresses. I also saw some of the shirts that were to small and short for me were also made into dresses as well. Now that I am older, I realized she took the shirts that were too small and had them split, and new material was put in the split section along with the dress skirt. I got dressed, and found Grandma in the kitchen making breakfast. That was the day that my new life started.
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