My son was murdered in front of my house

September 28, 2019

“My son Richard was shot and killed in his car in my front yard a year ago on June 24. There were two guys and one walked up to the car and started shooting. Both of my sons were in the car. It was at night and I was in the house. We jumped to the floor when the shooting started. I heard every bullet that went into my baby’s body. I ran to the door and saw him slumped over. I knew he was dead. I couldn’t believe it. He was 24, but I still saw him as seven years old. I wouldn’t even let my sons play with water guns when they were growing up. My boys grew up protected. I worked my ass off so we wouldn’t be on welfare. I took it for granted that this wouldn’t happen. I figured they would live longer than me and talk about how crazy their mother was. Everything in my life has changed.

Richard quit school in the 9th grade when he discovered marijuana. He worked in fast food and liked it. Then he started selling drugs. I asked him over and over not to do it. He was shot in the face a year before when a guy tried to rob him. The guy who killed him was a friend who had spent the night at our house. He was jealous of the business Richard was doing selling marijuana. Rich loved the notoriety marijuana gave him. He hobnobbed with doctors and lawyers, not just street people. He never hurt anybody and was doing something he felt proud of. His funeral was packed.

I have been a security guard and a maid. I did standup comedy and bombed every time. People booed me off the stage. My friend told me to stop telling jokes, just be myself. That is when I am funny. People ask me to speak at funerals. Making people laugh is my therapy. I joke a lot, but I don’t laugh much. I have become a serious person and that scares me. I drink and smoke to help get through.
I work the breakfast room at a motel. I have cleaned motels before but didn’t realize I had gotten older. There are some things I can’t do anymore, so they gave me the breakfast shift. I like joking with people here and making them happy. I have to take a taxi to get to work at 4:30 in the morning because the bus doesn’t run that early. It is ten dollars for the cab ride. I make eight dollars an hour and work five hours a day. Getting to work takes up a lot of what I make. Sometimes my daughter drives me and that helps.
I keep going for my grandbaby and a son who still needs me, whether he knows it or not. There is also a man who wants to marry me. The poor thing doesn’t know any better. I have had plenty of husbands, but only two of them were mine. Try telling that joke at church.”

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