The Third Drop-Off

July 2, 2025Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Childhood Adversity, Childhood trauma, Finding a home, Flash Fiction, Foster Care, Friday Fictioneers, Micro Fiction, Social worker 57 Comments

“Is that it?”

The girl’s face remained pressed to the window.

“Yes,” the woman nodded. This was the third drop-off today and it better be less dramatic than the previous two. It was late, and she still had reports to write.

She thumbed the folder to remind her of the names, exited the car and walked around to open the child’s door. It could not open from within. For safety. Some kids escape.

“Come,” she said.

The child blinked, swallowed hard. “It looks nice,” she managed.

The woman’s eyes softened. “Yes. It does. I hope this foster placement works out.”

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © David Stewart

For Old Times

January 31, 2024Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Childhood Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, Making meaning, Micro Fiction, Overcoming, Repair 32 Comments

She’d see it on her way to school. A shell of itself.

A bit like her it was, she felt. Unprotected. Exposed to the elements.

Years later she returned to do her duty by those who birthed her. She took a walk, eager to escape the cloying empathy of people who knew exactly why she’d left. She saw it. Still a shell. But now a possibility.

“I’ll build you up,” she said. And did.

The thick walls welcomed her, insulating. The roof salvaged old beams into current protection.

A home at last. For old times sake. For new beginnings.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Susan Rouchard

Oceana

September 29, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Childhood Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Making do, Making it work, Micro Fiction, Nostalgia, Ocean, Sailing 23 Comments

They never understood, when they “put her into care,” that she already had all she needed: a trundle, a trunk, a life-vest, as many friends as any needed. Sure, she’d fallen overboard, but only in stormy weather, which meant all hands on deck to sound the “Lassie Overboard Alarm” and save her.

For years she pined. For the salt air. The open space. The freedom. Even for the callouses that Papa said were part of a sailor.

Now grown, and anchored by children of her own, the sea remained away.

But she could bring it home.

Create her Oceana.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Photo prompt © Jennifer Pendergast

A Slivered Thing

September 4, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Poetry, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Childhood Adversity, Creative writing, Dreams, dVerse, Loss, Poetry, Quadrille, Sliver, Trauma 27 Comments

(Photo: Beth Hope on Unsplash)

She became an essence.

A sliver

Of her dreams.

Nothing near the child

She’d been, who played

A fairy’s magic theme,

With arms a fledgling’s

Widespread

Wings.

Life tossed her

From the nest.

Unhinged.

She a feather now.

A mere sliver

Of a being.

For the dVerse Quadrille challenge of: Sliver

The Ride Home

August 16, 2023Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, adoption, Childhood Adversity, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Home, journey, Micro Fiction, Photo prompt, Revisiting 26 Comments

(Photo prompt: Brenda Cox)

She saw the red bus nearing. Her eyes stung. Must be the jet-lag and little sleep. Home seemed far. Unreal, almost.

Or was this home?

She pressed her bag against the fullness in her chest.

This question was part of what she’d come all this way to explore.

The crush of people carried her onto the vehicle. Up the staircase. To the top.

She leaned into the seat and let the sounds of a language she’d forgotten wash through her. Awakening belonging. Remembering despair.

She’d been four when her adoptive parents came.

One day she belonged here. The next, nowhere.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Bookended

May 11, 2022Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Professional Development, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, adoption, books, Childhood Adversity, Finding a home, Flash Fiction, Friday Fictioneers, Getting ready, Micro-fiction, Photo prompt, Support 46 Comments

lr-prompt

She stood back to appreciate her handiwork.

A mix of tidiness and lived-in disarray. The books. The pillows. The cozy afghans on the couch.

“She’ll love it,” he said from behind her, and she jumped. She hadn’t heard him enter.

She leaned against his chest. Felt the thrumming of his steady heart.

“How do you know?” she fretted.

“Because it’s not about perfection, but about having enough support so that no matter how you wobble,” his hand rose toward the bookshelves, “you’re bookended by love.”

She kissed his palm.

“Let’s go get our new daughter, then. Bring her home.”

For Rochelle’s FridayFictioneers

Photo: Dale Rogerson (thank you for the homey, inviting photo prompt inspiration! This room makes me wanna curl up with a good book on the couch. xoxo, your NYNF)

Wild Away

December 5, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Breathing Space, CCC, Childhood Adversity, connection, Finding a way, Flash Fiction, Foster Care, healing, Home, Micro-fiction, New Beginnings 12 Comments

ccc160

Margot leaned closer to examine the stake. Her smile grew.

The child should be called Gretel, with such clues.

Then again, Margot was no evil stepmom. Or at least, not evil … The two of them couldn’t help not being biologically related.

Not any more than the girl could help being wild.

The social worker believed the latter a hindrance. Understandable, perhaps, given how many placements the child had lost. The system found it inconvenient to have a lass with more wilderness than tameness, who needed space and took it. Knowing Grenadine’s history, how could they not see why she’d tolerate no leash?

“This child will run away,” the social worker had warned when Margot said she’ll have her. “You’re so rural, you’d have no help keeping her contained.”

Margot had no plan to do so.

The child was free. The sticker meant that she’d be home by dinner.

For Crispina’s Crimson’s Creative Challenge

The Scene Setter

November 3, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Current events, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Professional Development, Reflections, Speech Language Pathology, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: 100WordChallenge, Adversity, Being heard, Childhood Adversity, Childhood trauma, Communication failure, Friday Fictioneers, Giving voice, listening, Telling without words, Through children's eyes 57 Comments

jennifers-legos FF

“And then what happened?”

The soft-spoken woman in ugly tweeds shifted in her chair, and Thomas knew he was in trouble. He almost told. She expected him to. She was nice so he’d do what she wanted.

They all wanted to trick him. Especially those pretending to be nice. So he’d do stuff. Make mistakes. Be punished.

Thomas fiddled with the pencil. He wanted to pull Santa’s head off. Instead, he drew circles.

He hated circles.

He put toys inside them.

Made the toy-boy lie down. Ran him over.

“Well,” the woman sighed, “perhaps you’ll be more talkative tomorrow.”

Note: Dedicated to the brave children who find a way to tell, even when they tell without words, even when those around them may not see that they are, indeed, trying. May you find someone who understands.

For Rochelle’s Friday Fictioneers

Unsuitable For Your Kind

August 21, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Professional Development, Reflections, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: adoption, Childhood Adversity, empathy, Flash Fiction, Micro-fiction, New Beginnings, orphanage, Trauma and Development, Weekend Writing Prompt 27 Comments

(Photo: Kristian Strand on Unsplash)

“The best,” the man swept a heavy arm across the offerings.

“And there?” the woman gestured at the shadows.

“Nothing worth your time, Madam.” He looked pointedly at her tailored attire, “Unsuitable for your kind.”

“Nonsense,” she ordered.

He frowned but snapped his fingers. “Silvia!”

The child looked underfed even in comparison to the other orphans.

“Trouble,” he warned. “Used up her chances twice.”

“Or,” the woman smiled, “very insufficiently pre-loved.”

For Sammi’s Weekend Writing Prompt: Pre-loved in 71 words

The Shucker

July 19, 2021Na'ama Yehuda Anecdotes of Life, Life and love, Muse and Flow, Reflections, Things Kids Say, Trauma and Development, Writing Tags: Abuse, Child labor, Childhood Adversity, dissociation, dVerse, Exploitation, Hine Lewis Wickes, History, Prosery, Quote, Survival 35 Comments

A girl’s voice protested. A cackle followed.

Leah kept her head down and her eyes on the task before her. There was a quota to complete if she wanted anything in her stomach, and she could make her body dead to wandering fingers. She’d learned how. The hard way. The only way.

When the foreman finally moved on, she gritted her teeth and tried to not compare slime to slime.

Not that she would ever touch the stuff. And not only because it was forbidden.

Beside her, Mandy sniffled. “How can you stand it?”

“Perhaps she doesn’t mind him,” Becca hissed. “Seeing how she never cries.”

Leah clenched her teeth, locked her knees, and steadied her breath. She focused on the fading light glinting on the blade. “No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.”

For the dVerse Prosery writing prompt

Prosery prompt quote: “No, I do not weep at the world – I am too busy sharpening my oyster knife.” (Zora Neale Hurston, from “How Does it Feel to be Colored Me” in World Tomorrow, 1928)

Photo: Hine Lewis Wickes, The Library Of Congress https://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/nclc.00919/