Charlotte Martin
Check out Part 1 here.
Sometimes it takes a long time to put pieces of a puzzle together before you are able to begin seeing a picture. Imagine putting a puzzle together without the box that shows what the puzzle will look like when all the pieces are where they belong.
For years, my mom always had a puzzle on our dining room table, unless we were having company over for a meal. Frequent guests got used to the puzzles and seemed to enjoy helping put them together. I just almost spit out my tea laughing, thinking back to how Mom constantly tried to force pieces in. If it did not fit, she would turn it upside down and try to force it to fit that way. If that didn’t work, she would turn the piece sideways. Sometimes I crept away and brought a hammer to her and said, “Try that”. She always laughed when I did that and picked up a different puzzle piece.
After I began wondering what happened to all the children who had become conspicuous by their absence, it was years later before I even realized that I had been trying to put a puzzle together.
I was very happy that my little boy had a best friend who lived right behind our house, and another best friend who lived right across the street. They spent a lot of nights, weekends, and entire weeks with us. He also had two good friends who visited their grandmother next door about every weekend, and they also spent a lot of time at our home. At times, it felt like I had five little boys, all about the same age.
It is not necessary to watch little boys every second, but it is imperative that you are able to hear little boys every second – every single second. I always allowed them plenty of time to be rowdy and loud. I also made sure they had some time to rest and eat. One day, all five of the boys had been here for quite some time, and after playing outside, 
they came in and wanted to watch my little boy’s newest movie, “Lilo & Stitch”. Of course, I could hear them talking and laughing even as the movie played. And then, all of a sudden, I heard that sound – that awful sound – the sound of silence that alerts parents that something is wrong! I knew something was wrong. I just did not know what had happened.
Ordinarily, parents hear a crash before the sounds of silence, but I had heard no loud thumps or any loud sound. I was a couple of rooms away, so I quietly tip-toed to where I could see them, but they could not see me. I could tell that none of them were hurt, and I was thankful for that. Rather, I could tell they were not physically hurt. None of them had seen me, so I continued to observe this strange phenomenon, to try to figure out what was going on.
All these little boys were incredibly sweet and always played so well together. They ALWAYS seemed to be happy. But at that time, they were hurting. All of them. They were trying to choke back sobs, and they all were fighting tears or quickly wiping a tear away that had fallen onto their cheeks. These little boys were feeling emotional pain. I silently crept away instead of asking them what was wrong, but I continued to listen.
I had seen the movie, so I saw that it was on the part where a social worker took Lilo away from her sister. When their mother died, Lilo’s sister had been given custody of Lilo. Lilo had lost her mother, and now she was losing her sister who had just become a young adult. They were losing each other now. It was incredibly sad, and I had cried too when I saw it for the first time a day earlier. I knew now why they had gotten quiet all of a sudden, and I now knew why they were crying. At least, I thought I knew, but I would soon learn that I had no clue as to the deep emotional wounds these kids had endured.
The next thing I heard was one of the little boys saying, “I HATE social workers”! Then the others said angrily “Me too!”. I crept back to my place where I could observe them again. They were totally ignoring the movie and looking intently at whoever was speaking. They all had a story, except my little boy. He apparently hated social workers for taking Lilo away from her sister.
The first little boy to speak told about social workers taking his cousins away, and he had never gotten to see them again. He had no idea where they were taken. Another little boy who was visiting his grandmother next door, told about social workers taking his best friend away, who had lived next door to his home. He said that now he has no one to play with.
I will never forget hearing my little boy say, “I would die if social workers took me away from my mom”. I quietly walked out of the room again. I do not remember all the stories. I only remember how much it broke my heart to witness these children whose hearts had been broken.
Of course, I had no idea then that a puzzle piece had just fallen into my lap. A puzzle that would take years to put the pieces together.
