The inevitable reaction from my father was to work more hours. Such was the pressure of this business. The business continued to fail, and my father worked more and more. It got to the point where my father and my mother worked over 18 hours per day. They tried to keep this failing business afloat and some food on our table. I cannot begin to imagine how this must have felt to my parents as the walls slowly began drawing in. Did they feel blind panic, shame, helplessness, and fear? Who knows, but it was not good.
Benjamin, is this your report card?” my mother asked as she picked up the folded white card from the table. “Uh, yeah,” I said, trying to sound casual. Too ashamed to hand it to her, I had dropped it on the table, hoping that she wouldn’t notice until after I went to bed. It was the first report card I had received from Higgins Elementary School since we had moved back from Boston to Detroit, only a few months earlier. I had been in the fifth grade not even two weeks before everyone considered me the dumbest kid in the class and frequently made jokes about me. Before long I too began to feel as though I really was the most stupid kid in fifth grade. Despite Mother’s frequently saying, “You’re smart, Bennie. You can do anything you want to do,” I did not believe her. No one else in school thought I was smart, either. Click Here To Download The Book

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