The Kiss :: Personal Narrative Writing

The Kiss Mama hands me my last three dresses, packs my Sunday hat and stockins, and kisses my forehead. "You're a woman now, Elsa, and he'll take good care of you," she says. It's high time you build your own family." Papa kisses my cheek and closes the door of Nick's pick-up as I wave goodbye to my five brothers and sisters. With fifteen years of southern life as my platform, I plunge into the waters of reality by the skin of my teeth. Immediately I am a wife, forced to begin a family of my own†¦just like Mama. Every day Nick comes bouncin' through the front door ready for supper. "Wipe your feet," I always say, "and don't slam my door." With younguns' screamin' and fightin' I always manage to put a hot meal on the table, despite the fact that I'm six months pregnant. You see, Nick owns a seafood house. "Nick's Quality Seafood", that's what he calls it. He leaves at five thirty in the mornin' and comes home every day at six in the evenin'. Oysters are his specialty, and that's what's kept us alive. With him supportin' me and four kids at twenty years old, I figure this is the least I could do. Fried chicken, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and corn bread are his favorites. I'm still workin' on them butter biscuits Mama taught me how to make, but the rest of my cookin' is pretty good. Supper time is the only time we ever really talk, so I look forward to six o'clock. Barbara Jean Carroll is her name. She weighs six pounds eleven ounces with a head full of hair, just like her daddy. We decided six was our lucky number and it was time for our family to stop growin'. Thank heavens! I see the doctor comin' down the hall with a heap of nurses around him. Dr. Johnson comes in with a strange look on his face. "Hello Mr. And Mrs. Carroll. Congratulations once again on your new baby girl", he says. The reason I'm back so soon is I wanted to talk to you about Barbara's illness. "Oh she's fine," Nick says, "and she ain't sick at all. She's perfect." With that, Dr. Johnson exited without another word. Let me explain. They told us just two months after she was born that she has Down syndrome and that many people consider giving there children up for adoption after learning of this disease.