Continuing with my YA coming-of-age mystery, Shades of Blue. (You can catch up on the earlier excerpts here.) Last week we found out just how much of a scumbag Sam's step-father is. As promised, here's more about why Sam doesn't want JoJo to tell anybody what happened to her and get him involved with the police. This part is right after JoJo sees the bruises on Sam's back and asks him if his mother knows about the beatings.
His head fell lower and he said, “She’s been drinking pretty heavy for a long time and... now she takes sleeping pills too. Some days she doesn’t even know who I am. She keeps calling me Keith—my real dad’s name. I guess I’m starting to look like him.”
Sam’s mom had never been a candidate for Mother of the Year, but I didn't know it had gotten so bad. “What does she say about Russ hitting you?”
“She’s the one who made me promise I wouldn’t tell anybody. She said if he goes to jail, he’ll tell them about her problems and say she’s not fit to take care of me, and I’ll get sent to live with my grandmother in Tennessee.” He looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, “I don't want to have to move away, JoJo. That’s why the police can’t know about any of this.”
His mom is actually hiding more than just her drinking and pill problems, but that comes later. Can't wait? You could always go buy your own copy of Shades of Blue here. ;-) Please also check out the other Snippet Sunday folks and the Weekend Writing Warriors. Something for everyone among these talented writers!
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