Yesterday, I Cried_ Celebrating the Lessons of Living and Loving - Iyanla Vanzant [82]
The police said there was nothing they could do. She would have to go to family court on Monday. This was Friday.
“He’ll bring them back,” Nett said. “They always do. He’s just trying to upset you. Besides, this could be a good thing. Give you some time to rest your nerves before you have another breakdown.” Nett knew every sordid detail. She had given up on trying to get Rhonda to leave John.
“Upset me? What do you mean ‘upset me?’ He’s been trying to kill me for years!” Nett refused to argue the finer points.
“If he doesn’t bring them back, good! Maybe you’ll have a chance to get yourself together.”
Daddy’s approach was more pragmatic. “Is he at work?” It was 9:30 at night. “Try his mother’s house. If he’s not there, get back to me.”
Rhonda got the number for Dial-A-Prayer from one of the free community papers. A woman answered the telephone.
“How can I pray for you today?”
“My husband took my children, and I don’t know where they are.” Rhonda was exhausted, beaten, and trying to talk and not cry at the same time.
“God will take care of his children. They are not your children. They belong to God. They are safe. The power of God Almighty is protecting the children right now. God hears your crying, Mother. He will not fail to deliver the children.”
The woman listened to Rhonda cry a few minutes more, then promised Rhonda that she would hear from the children within twenty-four hours. Twenty-two hours later, John called and asked if he could come home. The children went on and on about Grandma Millie’s dog and their Daddy’s new car and all the fun they’d had. John and Rhonda didn’t speak to one another for the rest of the day. Rhonda waited several hours after John went to bed to make sure he was asleep before she lay down.
She had just fallen asleep when she felt someone shaking her body. Her heart skipped a beat. She opened her eyes and heard a voice: Get up and leave this house. Leave now! The voice was familiar and made Rhonda feel completely safe. He is going to kill you. You must leave this place now! You will be told what to do. Rhonda could hear her heart pounding at her temples. She eased out of bed and went into the children’s room. Wake the boy first. She held Damon up until his own legs could support him. She dressed him, then asked him to wake Gemmia, who was still sleeping like a log. She dressed Nisa, then helped Damon with Gemmia, who had collapsed on the floor, refusing to wake up. Take only what you need. Rhonda filled four plastic bags with clothing for the children.
They left the house and walked the two and a half blocks to the subway station. Damon kept tripping over the two bags he was carrying. Rhonda carried Nisa on her hip, carried two bags with one hand, and dragged Gemmia along with the other. As she approached the station, it occurred to her that she had no money and no place to go. She and the children stood at the bottom of the fifty or so steps that led up to the platform while Rhonda tried to figure out how she was going to make it to the top.
“Do you need some help?” the man asked.
“What I need is a token for the subway—and a cigarette for me,” Rhonda said.
The man gave her both without saying another word and walked up the block. He was out of sight before Rhonda thought to ask him to help her up the stairs. Don’t give up five minutes before the miracle. It was a lesson Rhonda would not soon forget.
Rhonda and the children were gone for two weeks before they returned home. One day, after John went to work, Rhonda went to the store and bought the hardware and tools she needed to change the locks on her door. She followed the instructions the salesman had given her, and by the time John came home, his key no longer worked. Rhonda wouldn’t let him in, no matter what he said, and she finally heard him retreat back down the stairs.
A few weeks later, she allowed John to take the kids out with him, and while they were gone, she realized that