Chapter 15: Mother Infant
The One Who Leaves—the time I lived in prison with my mother
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Mother Infant was a prison program—like a halfway house—for non-violent, first-time offenders that allowed the inmates to live with their children as long as their kids were under the age of six. I was four. Brandon was three.
Mom had cryosurgery, and once she healed, they cleared her to go to Mother Infant. The bus showed up to take her to San Diego when Susan was on a family visit. Mom didn’t get to say goodbye, so she wrote her a note and stuffed it between the pages of her Bible.
Dad drove us kids down to San Diego once Mom was settled into Mother Infant. Grandma Fields had packed my clothes into a little green suitcase. She picked out all the outfits and folded them together with matching socks. Brandon’s things were shoved into a plastic grocery bag because Dad had packed them, just for the weekend. After the visit, Brandon and Dad were going to go back to live with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Pete, leaving me with Mom.
