My family was very poor; we lived in East LA. My father had health issues, so he could only work a part-time job. When he did put in eight-hour days, he might not be able to work for the next two days. The one or two times my father saw a doctor, they would only allude to its being a problem with his respiratory system. My dad, Daniel, didn’t have an insurance plan. Therefore, there wasn’t any treatment that he could receive on a regular basis. Every now and then, he would have to go to White Memorial’s emergency room for an oxygen treatment. The doctor’s suggestions were always the same: take it easy and learn to live with a respiratory disease. My mother, Elizabeth, and her mother, Grace, cleaned houses for a living. I guess it was clear that there wasn’t much money, so we were always five dollars short and fifteen minutes too late for everything. Ma was very beautiful; she had a light in her eyes that brightened up a room like sunshine. She never stopped hoping for a better life for me and a healing for my father. My mother told me that when Dad was younger, he spent a lot of time working in the coal mines of Kentucky with his grandpa. But Dad had problems with the dust and had to give it up. She also said my dad loved playing sports, and in high school, he tried to play everything. But he never had the stamina to compete, and by his late teens, everyday household chores took away all his energy. My grandma, Grace, and my great-grandma, Betty Jo, set the beat and tone for the music that our family would dance to. They used to say, as long as you can hear the music, the dance is not over. In other words, life is going to be hard, but if you keep walking toward your hope in the future, in time you will arrive. Betty Jo was a quiet woman and had a special light in her eyes too. It reflected hope and peace. Betty Jo was one of the housekeepers at Mr. Ross’s plantation, and because they were understaffed, she could pick up extra money by working in the fields after a regular day’s work. One evening, Betty Jo was caught in the fields after the sunset and a couple workers raped her.

Because it was dark and it wasn’t just one man, she couldn’t name her attacker, the father of her child. Nine months later, more attention came her way as everyone—from the town to Mr. Ross—wondered who would the baby look like and how would Betty Jo survive this hardship.
Outside of her own family, there wasn’t much help for a single mother; and while
help was needed, it would come in its own time and way.
Betty Jo would hang as close as she could to the plantation owner, Mr. Ross,
AKA the Boss. Betty Jo liked his speech pattern, and when she was alone in the
field, she practiced the phrases that he’d used that day. Prior to the attack, Betty Jo let it slip out to Mr. Ross that she wanted to move north and go to school and find a respectable job. Mr. Ross looked at her and said, "Good for you. Do you have money saved for your travels and school?" Betty Jo said, "Some, but not enough." Mr. Ross said, "Don’t put the wagon ahead of the horse. Be wise, not foolish. Don’t run off half cocked. Make a plan, follow it, and in time, you’ll be on your way."

Betty Jo wanted to improve her manners and etiquette. She had an appreciation for words and wanted to improve her reading and writing. When she put away the books that were left out, she’d flip through them before returning them to the shelf.  She’d collect and remove the old newspapers lying around the house; she told anyone who asked that she needed it to help start the fire in her fire pit at home. Mr. Ross had a soft spot in his heart for Betty Jo because she appeared to be kind and helpful beyond what was required of her as an employee. It hadn’t gotten past him that she was trying to learn, and he caught her reading his books on a few occasions. Mr. Ross hoped Betty Jo’s secret dream would come true too. Needless to say, when he heard of her attack in the fields, he let it be known that if he ever found out who the attackers were, there would be hell to pay. He stated that Betty Jo was one of his best workers and what happened to her was a major setback in the household. But the truth was, it was an unjust act on a young woman that he quietly respected.