2020 Chronicles: I Don't Wanna Go to Jail

I grew up in East Point, Georgia in a community called Sumner Park. East Point used to be an all white middle class suburb until the late 1980s. The community had a rec-center, a velodrome, and a baseball field. The elementary school was right down the street. It was a sweet place to live. My parents bought their first home, a 2 acre, three bedroom 1 1/2 bath ranch in 1988. Our house number was 2020. I was...young. Here was this  young African family moving into their first home. The neighbor to the left of us was Mrs. Flowers. A very old white lady, who had become widowed just shortly before we moved in. She had a chain fence around her yard, and  a huge garden where she could be seen most weekends tending to her flowers. She was a volunteer at South Fulton Hospital where my Dad and Mom would eventually work. 

To the right of us was a single white woman, middle aged, with  a pixie haircut. Her name was Emily. She was a flight attendant. When I look at old photo albums, there are pictures of Emily in our home during one of my parents' many weekend parties. I find it hillarious. There goes Emily among all of these Congolese people, laughing, and enjoying herself. She had a metal fence around her back yard to keep in her Dalmatian, Dottie. I can't believe I still remember that lol. Well, I was afraid of dogs, including Dottie, so that might explain it.

Across the street were The Earls, a black family. There was a Dad, Mom, and three kids: older boy, middle daughter, and a baby boy who eventually was enrolled in my mother's home daycare. Next to
the Earls was a white family with three daughters: Stacy, Amanda, and Danielle; the oldest daughters boyfriend, and ANIMALS. They were the textbook definition of "white trash". Don't get me wrong, they were kind people, but at that time we called them "white trash." And that is how I remember them. They two younger daughters Amanda and Danielle always played outside barefoot and they always smelled like musty old running shoes and pizza . They had rabbits, dogs, cats, chickens...a rooster...ya'll...A ROOSTER!  Anyway, the two younger girls were around my age and I played with them from time to time. This is how it went, they would play in our yard, but I would never set foot in their house. Why you ask? Well... THEY HAD A DOG!! A white cocker spaniel named Snow to be exact.  So, I googled some cocker spaniel images while writing this and I felt myself starting to have a panic attack. Snow...along with a notoriously feared Chow Chow from down the street named Sabo [SAY-BOW], were my biggest fear. I totally identify with the boys in the Sandlot.

So, needless to say, I never went to their house or played in their yard. Except one time- and that was the last time. The two younger girls pretty much begged me to go over and play in their yard. Mona, my cousin, and bff since I was two, was at my house that day. Mona was at our house a lot but we'll save that for later. So, we slowly left the sanctuary of my yard and walked across the street. The youngest of the two girls ran up her steps and I knew! I just knew something was up! I saw it before it happened. Danielle, that little...you know what....swung open the screen door and SNOW came charging at Mona and I! We took off running. I mean booking it- at least I thought we were! But, yeah, I wasn't and of course Snow came after me! Just as I was about to hit my yard, Snow's little ass jumps up and digs her claws into my butt! Death was upon me! My life was over! I was going to die! I was screaming for dear life, but I don't remember what happened next; I think I blacked out. Mona tells me that my mom took me to the bathroom and I was flailing around and screaming and crying as she tried to clean and treat my wounds. Mona, standing at the door, was panicking and scared...she thought I was dying lol. She saw the scars...so I know I didn't make them up. I never returned to that house again.

Since I was not going to play across the street anymore, Amanda and Danielle came back to our yard. Back in the day, we played with everything, tire irons, old poles, metal we found, everything. And all of these things plus toys covered the yard. On this clear sunny day, we were all playing and my mom tells us that we need to clean up. So I decided to push all the toys toward Mrs. Flowers' fence. I was standing at one end of the yard, farthest from the fence and Danielle was standing in front of the fence. I picked up an old training wheel that had fallen off my bike. I held it up and yelled at her "Watch out, I'm going to throw it!" I don't know if she heard me or if she was ignoring me, either way she didn't move and I chucked the training wheel. The metal part that screws onto the bike was still attached to it. It went flying, quite smoothly actually. If I had put my mind to it, I probably could have been a great pitcher.

Anyway, the training wheel is airborne and plows Danielle in the face. She brings her hand up to her forehead and BLOOD starts pouring from her face, like in that movie Carrie. She screams and starts running back to her house...I panic and run into my house and hide under the bed. Soon after, I hear the sounds of sirens outside and I see an ambulance and police cars. That was it! I was going to jail! I was crying hysterically when the policeman came in with my mom. "I don't wanna go to jail mommy!" I kept saying behind a nasty hiccup cry. The policeman asked me things, I don't remember. My mom consoled me. And then the policeman left. I think I cried myself to sleep because I was awakened by my mom and Danielle standing in my room with her parents. She had a huge white bandage around her head. She was alive.
She had gotten one hundred stitches, but she was alive. And I was not going to jail. I had never been so scared! Not even when Snow tried to murder me.

Shortly after that Amanda and Danielle's family moved away and their  house stayed empty for a while. Then a black family moved in. I don't know exactly what happened to them. I did hear that Amanda took the car for a joy ride with Danielle in the backseat and crashed it, tragically killing herself. Yeah, I know... way to bring down the mood.

When I tell people this story, some say I did it on purpose. I didn't. I don't think I did. I mean, they did unleash Snow on me, but that doesn't mean...well...I mean...I wouldn't do that!