Danny waited for the polite applause to end. He quietly took the
previous speakers place at the podium. For a moment he looked out at
the crowd, terrified of his upcoming speech. From the second row, two
familiar faces appeared. He smiled and nodded to George and Kat, his
confidence renewed. Tentatively he cleared his throat, staring
unseeing at the sheet of paper in his hands before letting it drop,
forgotten to the floor. He took a deep breath to steady himself then
started.

"My Mom by Danny Jackson

A little more than three years ago my parents were killed in an
accident. I was watching when it happened and I guess it made me a
little crazy. Afterwords I didn't talk to anyone, mostly cause I was
still learning about your culture and stuff. You see, we had just
come to America from Egypt and things are alot different there.
Anyhow, after the accident no one really wanted me. I was passed
around foster homes for a long time. Some of the people were really
scary, but most of them were ok. Most just didn't know what to do
with a kid like me. One day, one of the foster dad's hurt me really
bad and I wound up in the hospital.

My social worker Trina didn't really know where to put me after that,
but she had an idea. She took me to her sister's house.

Now, you gotta understand, her sister didn't want kids anymore. Her
little boy had been killed and she was real lonely just like me. She
and I were alot alike back then. We were both angry and afraid of
caring again. She let me stay though and we sort of started healing
each other. She got me talking again and she realized that English
wasn't exactly my first language so she helped me learn it better.
She also helped me understand things when sometimes it was hard. Now
I do pretty good with English...and French and German and a few other
languages.

It was awhile before I took to calling her my Mama Kat, and even
longer before I called her Mom, but she never pushed it. I think I
was afraid for her to take my real Mom's place, but you know, she
never tried to.

Over time we've gotten to love each other. She understands me like no
one else ever has. Whenever I cry she cries too, and when I'm happy,
well, her smile can just about light up a room. We've been through
alot together and even though there's been bad things happen, the
good ones stand out most. Now I have a brother , Jason, and my Dad
George. Someday maybe George and Kat will have kids together and our
family will get even bigger.

My Mom has never tried to change me. She accepts me just the way I
am. She doesn't scold me when I have bad days, instead she holds me
and rocks me and loves me no matter what. Some of you may think I'm a
baby cause I let her hug me and tuck me in at night, but I don't care
what other people think, I still love her.

My Mom doesn't work in a fancy office somewhere. She works out of our
house writing books that alot of you have read to your kids at night.
She doesn't dress in suits, they'd just get dirty when she's out
digging in the garden or playing tag with me and Jason. She doesn't
usually greet us at the door with fresh baked cookies after school
like some moms either. Most times she's so busy she forgets to cook
supper and we eat out alot, but she always remembers I really like
chocolate fudge ice cream for dessert and she never gets mad when I
sometimes eat the dessert first.

Sometimes when we go to stores, I hear parents yelling at their kids
to shut up or be quiet. Kat never tells me that. There's times she
lets me talk for hours at a time, even when she doesn't really
understand what it is I'm talking about. Sometimes I've even seen her
looking up stuff I've tried to explain to her just so she can
understand it better.

Mom thinks a little different than most moms. Just last week after my
brother and I watched some old western, Mom caught us throwing knives
in the yard like they had done in the movie. She didn't get mad at us
and lock the silverware away. Instead she spent the next few hours
showing us the right way to throw so we wouldn't hurt ourselves.

There's alot of other reasons I love my Mom too, but there's one
that's most important of all. You see, after being shoved around all
those families when my real parents died, I really felt unloved. Mom
took me in, cared for me and treated me great, but most of all my Mom
wanted and loved me and that's why I love her.

The End."

The room fell silent as the little boy turned away from the podium,
then one by one his audience stood up clapping enthusiastically.
Danny walked off the stage and pushed through the crowd at the
Mother's Day reception. Kat caught him as he launched himself at her.

"I love you too Danny" she murmured as she held him close.

The End.