Every Sunday,
Tamika and her new family go to church, another
first for the youngster.
"Tamika
is bouncing right back," said Theodora's
Oasis counselor, David Warner. "Tamika has
stability and peace. Children are very flexible,
forgiving and loyal."
At first—and
to some extent now—Tamika did not understand
why she could not be with her mother, who had
shared many tender moments with her between drug
runs. With no frame of reference, Tamika had no
reason to think she was being cheated out of childhood.
In her first
telephone call with Theodora, Tamika asked simply,
"Mommy, where are you?"
"Mommy's
getting help," Theodora replied. She said
she was at the doctor's.
"Are
you getting better? Did you get your teeth, Mommy?"
Tamika asked, knowing that Theodora had dreamed
of replacing the two front teeth a man had punched
out years ago. Yes, she told Tamika, all her teeth
were back.
These days,
Theodora and Tamika chat on the phone three times
a week. Inevitably,
Tamika comes around to the same wrenching question:
"Are you coming to get me?"
Copyright,
1998, Los Angeles Times. Reprinted by permission.
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