The Shadowy World of the Poor

Dear Readers, this is the promised second excerpt from the book that I am working on presently. This is actually the concluding paragraphs of the work. I wrote the very beginning and the very end and now I have to write the middle part which is going to be the biggest part. Enjoy what I have now, and if the book does'nt fly with the publishers then I will just go the AC rout instead of self publishing. At least I will be getting paid for page views.Enjoy.

Shirley: Hey That's Me!

I'm Shirley, and I was an important member of the mission church for a long time.I knew everyone in the hood, all the many faceted people who lived there. And they all frequented the mission. It was pain that brought them there, and it was love that kept them there.

There are many things that drive people to a life in the hood-alcoholism and addictions or disease or chronic unemployment or just being born in the wrong family on the wrong street. But we all live on Wrong Street for some reason beyond our control/

It was disease that led me to the hood. But I chose to make myself useful at the mission while I wrote my poetry and studied at the university. I was one of the lucky ones. I had my own set of wheels that still ran. And I used that old buzz-bomb jelopy to carrie my friends to the mission and to social services to get their food stamps and such.

There were a rainbow of colorful personalities at the misssion from all walks of life-some good and some bad, but even with all their body art, gold toned jewelry and problems, they were all made in the image of God, just like their more affluent counterparts in the berbs. These were my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ and the least of all His brothers, and I loved them.