Syesha (Five of Five)

Child Services slob came in around 10, had coffee breath like sour watermelon rinds. Mumbled a lot. His eyes kept darting out the window when he wasn't trying to look down Dara's shirt. Never even looked in Syesha's direction. I was hoping she had family somewhere, but Syesha didn't know. Dara couldn't find anything on her, and the only name she knew for her mom was Mommy.

I wasn't sure I wanted to leave her with this slob, but he had access to resources we didn't, and he could do a lot more, and he was getting paid for it. Besides, I'm too old to be raising a kid. It was nice to see what my daughter mighta turned out like, but that time is long gone [Are you sure you're not hiding a secret love child with Joan? Why didn't you have children with her? Did you have kids outside wedlock? Tell me! -Dara]

Slob told Syesha she couldn't take Tabitha with her. Syesha didn't understand where she was going, only that she couldn't take that cat. Started sniffling when the slob led her out, and Dara held onto Tabitha. We heard her cry all the way down the hall. It was worse than when Dara screamed at me, cause the only thing she wanted was the one thing she couldn't have, that cat.

28 cents from the client. After bandages, blood, time spent, down hundreds of dollars. Still, a case's a case. Do what you gotta do to survive.

[Trace doesn't lie, so much as omit. He spent three weeks drinking and fighting his way across the city, trying to find any lead on Syesha. They helped him do research at the library. The library. I watched him pore through microfiche for two days, before his head pounded “worse than that time [he] ended up in the drunk tank.” He had me doing research non-stop, night and day. I barely passed Algorithms because of Syesha.

He only gave up because his rent was overdue, and he had to take on another paying client. Trace was so depressed he went without bourbon for an entire week.

The cat, Tabitha? Trace left food and water out on the fire escape for the better part of a year. Every once in a while, I caught him talking to Tabitha.

It took a bit of time, and our continued efforts, but Syesha ended up at a foster home in the suburbs. Trace visits once every couple of months, usually when I don't go. He'll deny it, because you're not supposed to care about your clients. I think that's really why he took her money in the first place.

I think he almost got it correct. Do what you have to in order to survive, sure. More importantly, do what you have to in order to live with yourself. -Dara]