My mother

is the strongest person

 I know.

She has done everything

she can

 to make my life

the best one

she can.

 My father is

 a conniving,

sleazy,

two-

timer

without

an ounce of regret.

 

Let me set the stage

 for a scene stranger

than fiction.

A blustery afternoon

Two sisters admitted

to the hospital in

labour,

a few hours apart.

 

 One

sister had her pregnancy

induced a week

early, because

 her doctor was going out of town

The other

 Sister

had been in labour

for the entire morning.

 

They did not know the other

was there.

A young man was

in the waiting room for

 both

 sisters.

The father to

Their

children.

 

One

 Baby

 was born

 that evening.

 A healthy

baby girl.

She named her

after her

grandmother.

 

 The other

 Baby

 was born

two hours from midnight.

Another girl.

She was named

after

her grandmother.

Strange that

these two sisters

 named their daughters

the same thing.

 

After

one was

born,

the father came

in to see her.

He was

Not

 a patient man.

 

After

the other was

born,

the father came

to see her.

 

Dear God,

could that man

run.

having two

women

who were rightly justified

chase.

 

 They caught

Him

 before he

even got out

of the elevator

he had hidden in.

when they got through with him.

 Nurses and doctors

 were everywhere

 

This was

the story I

grew up hearing

over and

over.

 

So here I

 am.

Living

in a house

 with my half-sister

 cousin,

 my mom, and

 my aunt.

I couldn’t

be happier.