This is my post for #freewriters 2317 prompt don’t protect him hosted by @mariannewest
I see all these young people on the streets, sleeping under bridges, along the shoreline, and even in the woods. The police chase them from, their homes, yes these places are their homes. I see them as someone's child, somewhere there is a mother who is having sleepless nights because she does not know how or where her child is. She does not know if they have had anything to eat or if they are being abused.
When one does come home, everyone in the family tells the mother, don't protect him, he is a no good druggie, but the mother still sees her child, and her heart will not let her put them back on the street.
People will call the mother an enabler but slowly she is seeing a change in her child, she sees the way they once were peeking through and sees weight being put back on him, and she knows her child is still there, the drugs have not won, love will win, only God and the mother know this.
One day my husband was on the preserve that runs behind our home and he saw a trail that looked well used, he followed it and came to a homeless camp. He was upset at the mess they had lying around. He says if they would not leave messes like this, maybe they would not get thrown out of everywhere they set up camp. I could not argue with his way of thinking, it is a mess but no one else can see it. We decided to leave it alone and not report them being there because it is well off the beaten path and they have not bothered us.
photo is mine