Memory+-+Prison+Pre+K

=Prison Pre-K = = =  It was the moment every child absolutely despises. It was the moment when, as children, they could no longer stay at home and do what they wanted. It was the moment when mothers or fathers had to go to work instead of caring for them. At this point in time every child from about age five, is abandoned every morning at something parents call 'Pre-K,' until their parents have decided that it is time for them to come home.

It was now Jacob's tum to face the dreaded place. His mother said that he would make lots of new friends there. And yet Jacob still didn't know what 'there' was. They had told him so many stories of a place where everything was happy and fun. And now they were finally //there//. His mother, Clarice, walked him down a hallway of silence until they finally reached a door too high up for Jacob to see. He heard the laughter of children from beyond the doorway and was instantly frightened.

His mother opened the door and Jacob saw at least thirty kids his age, running and playing, shouting and laughing. All of the 'Big People' there were playing with these kids with unusually large smiles on their faces, //fake smiles//, Jacob knew. Just then one of the Big People came up towards him and his mother with a smile on her face that would be enough to scare anyone away. //She's one of them//, Jacob thought to himself. //Well she'll never get me in there, no sir//.

He clung to his mothers' leg, begging to her not to leave him there. After a long and grueling begging fit, Jacob could easily see that it wasn't going to work. His mom was going to leave him here just like all the other kids unless he could think of something. He couldn't take it anymore. He broke down in a fit of crying and whining, "MOMMY! NO MOMMY! NO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!" until his mom decided that enough was enough.

When the Big People finally got him detached from his mothers' leg, he began to cry even louder than before. Just then he heard the engine of the car revving up. His mom had abandoned him. A Big Person put him down and instantly Jacob ran off to the nearest and darkest comer, where he was sure no one would bother him, and began to weep. Soon he felt his eyes become very heavy. Jacob tried to fight the oncoming sleep; for he knew once he was asleep the Big People would come and take him elsewhere. It was no use. After about five minutes of a grueling battle against slumber, Jacob drifted off into a deep sleep, his cheeks rosy red with tears streaming down the sides. He had cried himself to sleep.

After what felt like mere seconds, Jacob awoke and asked wearily where he was. Just then he heard a squeal of a small infant. He rose from the couch and saw his baby brother, Jason, in his playpen. Seconds later his mom entered the room. Then his dad, Bill. He was home, and glad to be. He was finally away from what he now called, 'Prison Pre-K' with happy-go-lucky toddlers for inmates, and the fake, smiling, happy Big People for guards. He was safe ... for now.