Once upon a time there was a young girl about eleven or
twelve years of age named Shirley Curleyiam. Shirley Curleyiam grew up in the
windy state of Washington in a well-known city called Seattle. Shirley was
adopted and never met her biological parents. Unfortunately, Shirley grew up
with a number of foster parents but her current foster parent, Ms. Hembocker,
was the worst of them all. Ms. Hembocker had a total of seven foster children
and treated them as if they were her employees of her local convenient store
that she owned in Seattle. She made the children, including Shirley, work early
morning and late nights at the store.
Shirley went to live with Ms. Hembocker at the age of six.
Ms. Hembocker was big and round with a huge black mole on the left side of her
chin with hair growing out of it. Shirley was uneasy about moving in with this
new lady but she had no choice. On the day she moved in, she meet the other
children and was told the rules of the house by Ms. Hembocker. Ms. Hembocker
made it very clear that she was neither Shirley’s mother nor her friend. She
was simply her caregiver. She said that Shirley would have to work for whatever
she wanted in this house including food. Shirley was not sure exactly what this
meant but she would soon find out! This made Shirley very sad and made her wish
she was never born. Shirley always imagined what her parent looked like and why
they gave her up for adoption at such a young age.
On her second day in the house, Ms. Hembocker took her to
the store and made Shirley work from 6am to 10 pm. Shirley was exhausted and
was given very little to eat by Ms. Hembocker. This mistreatment lasted for
about five years.
One summer day when Shirley was about eleven years old she
ran away from Ms. Hembocker’s house with only the clothes she had on her back,
the clothes in her cupboard, and a few snacks. She had had enough of the way
Ms. Hembocker treated her and believed that she could make it on her own. Shirley
began living a life of mischief. She had to steal food and clothes from stores
and out of people’s houses. She never wanted to go back to Ms. Hembocker’s
house again and did whatever she could to survive.
One cool and breezy evening, Shirley was walking through a
rural neighborhood with big green trees on both sides. She stumbled upon a large
red brick house with green vines coming up the side of the house. Shirley saw
that no lights were on and there was not a car in the driveway. She peeked in
the first floor windows and saw that no one was home. She was use to picking
locks and had her tools in her backpack. She took them out. And then, 1-2-3,
she was in!
She walked around the well-furnished three-story single
family home and gazed at the family pictures on the walls of the Three Wolf
family named Ferguson. She went from the living room then into the kitchen
because she was starving. Shirley smiled. She saw a big pot of spaghetti and
three bowls made already on the dining room table. To her delight, she took a fork
and headed to the first and biggest bowl. She sat down in a large chair and dug
in. “Eww, ” Shirley thought to herself spitting out the spaghetti. “Too
oniony,” she said aloud. With much frustration, she went to the second smaller
bowl. This chair was lumpier than the first. She picked up her fork and went in
for a taste. “Yuck, too sugary,” Shirley said. By now Shirley was very
disappointed in the first two bowls and hoped that she would enjoy the last
bowl as her meal for dinner. Shirley sat down and snuggled right in to the
chair that was perfect for her size and very comfortable. She picked up her
fork and closed her eyes before tasting the spaghetti. She opened her eyes with
a big smile. It tasted delicious. Within five minutes she had finished the
smallest bowl and was suddenly feeling very tired. She went upstairs and went
into what appeared to be a child’s room and layed down. She instantly fell
asleep and did not wake up for many hours.
A few hours later, the Ferguson family arrived to a very
drafty home. Papa Ferguson had planned long day with the family picking out new
plants and fruit seeds for his garden. He wanted Baby Ferguson to have fresh
fruit on his first day of school. Papa Ferguson wondered how the side window
got unlocked and quickly closed it to not let any more cold air get into the
house. The family went into the kitchen and saw that the lid to the spaghetti pot
had been removed. With a puzzled look on their faces, they went into the
dinning room and saw the Baby Ferguson’s spaghetti had been eaten up
completely. Furious, Papa Ferguson growled to the top of his lungs and headed
to his bedroom to call the police. Mama Ferguson followed him closely up the
stairs trying to keep him calm. They passed Baby Ferguson’s room and saw
Shirley sleeping peacefully. Papa went and charged at the young girl. Mama
Ferguson jumped in front of his and said, “She’s only a child. Please let me
wake her up and talk to her first before calling the police.” Papa Ferguson was
upset but allowed his caring wife to talk to the curly headed girl first.
Mama Ferguson startled Shirley as she woke her up by shaking
her on her shoulders. Shirley was scared and embarrassed. She has never been
caught before and did not know what the family would do to her. Out of the
kindness of her heart, Mama Ferguson began to speak to Shirley in a soft tone
about how she had gotten in the house and why she broke into the house. Shirley
began to weep and explained to Mama Ferguson why she was homeless and told her
about her last adoptive mother, Ms. Hembocker. Mama Ferguson took Shirley into
her arms and told her that everything would be ok with time. But she also told
Shirley that living a life of stealing is no way to live for a young girl her
age.
Mama Ferguson gave Shirley the option to go back to Child
Protective Services or to live with the family. Shirley never wanted to go back
to Child Protective Services because she knew that they would simply return her
to her foster mother. Shirley asked to stay with the family. Mama Ferguson
agreed but under one condition. Shirley would have to start seeing a
psychiatrist in regards to her childhood and her depression. Shirley agreed and
moving in with the Ferguson family changed her life forever. She still dealt
with issues of depression and abandonment but she knew now knew that someone in
this big cruel world truly loved her.
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