The Journey

By Lloyd Redding

My whole life I thought I knew what I wanted to be when I got out of high school, but I just ended up following dreams that never fit my personality. At first, I wanted to be a cook, but I didn’t finish. I went to all these places but didn’t have a plan what to do, but this job right here is something. I really want to help the youth get adopted by a loving family too bad. That’s not the only thing I have on my mind.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 30, 2021
• ISBN: 9781636306070

Book preview

Chapter 1

Ring! I awoke from my sleep. I looked at the clock. Man, I’m going to be late for my first day of work. I ran to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and my hair. I ran back to my room, got dressed, put on my shoes, and dashed down the stairs. I grabbed a piece of toast and went straight out the door making sure I didn’t forget to lock it. I got in my car and started the engine. I waited in the car and thought if I forgot anything. I thought carefully. I put my hands on the wheel and put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. I started to drive down the street.

My name is Lloyd Redding, and I’m a social worker—well, a social worker in training. I always wanted to be one, but at the time, I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

When I was eighteen years old, I wanted to be a cook, a person who feeds other people. I loved the look on people’s faces when I cooked something up for them. Anyway, I went to college in Austin, Texas, to get my culinary arts degree. I didn’t know what to do at the time, so I signed up for the Army. The next thing I knew I was going to basic training in South Carolina. But, I started to realize it wasn’t what I wanted to do at all in life. So I left. I learned a couple of things from the Army besides fighting when I left.

Beep! I turned around. The man in the car said, The light is green. Get going! I started to drive down the street.

Anyway, back to my story, I left the Army and went to Job Corps in Shreveport. I met some cool people there. I finished my culinary arts study when I was in Shreveport. Then I went back home. When I first got home, I got a call from somebody who offered me a full-paid scholarship to go for any career I wanted. At first, I thought someone might be playing a trick on me, so I looked it up online if they were real or not. When I saw they were on the website, I decided to go to school for being a social worker. I went to classes for it and everything. After four years of it, I was ready to go to work.

When I finally made to the place, I got out and looked at the building. I walked straight to the entrance. The door slowly slid open. I walked in looking from left to right. I saw a lady at the counter. She was wearing glasses and had her hair in a ponytail. She was typing on the computer at the counter. I walked toward the lady and said, Excuse me, miss. Can you tell me how to get to the office?

The lady looked up from the counter and said in the sweetest voice, I heard about you yesterday. You must be the new guy. She told me about you. Go to the fourth floor, and you’ll find the office. The lady looked back down and went back to typing.

I started walking toward the elevator. I got in the elevator and went up to the fourth floor. I waited for the door to open. When I got out of the elevator door, I bumped into somebody and knocked them down. All the papers they were carrying was on the floor. I knelt down on the floor helping the person pick up their things. When I finished gathering up the papers, I closed my eyes and raised my head and said, I’m so sorry for running into you.

The person said in a soft quiet voice, It’s okay. It was partly my fault. I opened my eyes slowly and saw the most beautiful lady I had ever seen. I gave her papers that she dropped and offered to help her up. No thank you. I can help myself up. she said.

I looked around for a while and noticed something strange—barely anyone was in the office at all. I started walking toward the boss’s office. I walked in. The boss was at the chair that was turned against me. When they finished, they turned the chair slowly. The boss looked at me and said, You must be the new person I hired. You must be Lloyd Redding, right?

I smiled at the person and said, Yes you must be Mia Valentine? It’s nice to meet you. I extended my hand. She reached for my hand and started shaking it. I looked at her in such confusion.

I know about you. I looked at your file I also did some digging on you also.

Chapter 2

I looked at her and said, It’s good you know my situation, Miss Valentine. I don’t have to explain it to you then.

Yes, you’re taking a huge risk going through with this career. It’s a very demanding but rewarding job.

I smiled and said, I would risk anything to help a child in need always.

That’s what I like to hear. You would need to have a person to team up with you who could help you with the kids. She bent under her desk, reached under, and pulled out a box and sat it on her desk. She went in and took out a couple of folders and threw them on her desk in front of me. I gathered all of them and looked through them. She said, Just pick one out of the folders, and we’ll start from there. I examined the folders closely one by one, and I noticed all of them lived at the same place. I kept looking at the folders until I stopped at one folder that caught my attention. I looked at the name on it—Javante Emanuel Wilson. I looked at the picture of the kid. It looked like a mug shot. He had black long dreads, piercings on both sides of his ears, and hazel eyes. He was about ten years old. Ah, it seems this kid has grabbed your attention, Miss Valentine said.

Do you know who this is? Did you meet this kid before? I asked her."

That kid you picked is the infamous Javante, she said.

Infamous. Why is the kid consider infamous? I asked. I kept reading.

He got into a couple of fights and stole many things from stores mostly candy stores. He’s been to the police station more times than I can count on those charges. I have to get him out on many occasions. So yeah, you can say we met. I handed him over to his temp guardian.

Who is it? A close relative, a friend, maybe?

She shook her head. No, the one who is running the orphanage. They located four streets from here in the small building. I looked out the window. There it was, the place she was talking about my first job. It looked like a depressing building; it looks like the building itself was falling apart. So who is going to be your partner for this assignment?

I poked my head out of the office. I saw a few people outside, so my choices were limited. Then I saw the girl I bumped into earlier. I walked out of the boss’s office and straight to the girl. The girl was focused on the computer typing something. When she saw me approaching her, she stopped typing and looked at me. She looked up from her desk and introduced herself. She was nervous when she was trying to say her name while bowing her head to me. She took a deep breath and said, My name is Sharon Price. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself before, but I was a bit embarrassed about what happened earlier.

It was an accident, so you shouldn’t be embarrassed. And I thought it was kind of cute. Just then, her cheeks started to turn pink. I reached toward her face and touched it. You okay? It doesn’t seem like you have a fever.

She slapped my hand and said, I got to go. She started to walk away. I reached for her hand and asked her if she could be my partner. When she heard that, she passed out. She started to fall, but I caught her at the last minute.

I carried her body to the break room. I put her body on the table and walked toward the sink with a glass. I filled it with water and splashed some water on her face. She started to open her eyes slowly. Then she looked at me in such confusion. You want me to be your partner?

Yeah, my co-worker partner on this case. I can’t do this alone.

She cleans the water off of her glasses and put her glasses back on. I would help you under one condition.

Sure, I’ll do anything you want me to do. Just, it can’t be embarrassing.

She smiled. It wasn’t going to be anything like that.

So what we going to do is you look more into this boy’s file and I go see the infamous Javante, I said.

Sounds like a plan. She shook her head.

I told her, Everything about him is in his file.

While she gets down to that, I left out of the building and got back in my car and started to head down the street to the orphanage. When I got out of the car, I realized the place looked worse in person than from afar. It looked like it was abandoned a long time ago. I knocked on the door and waited for a while. When I was getting tired of waiting, I started to head back to my car when I heard the door open. I turned my head around and saw a young lady. She looked like she was around her thirties or something. Hello there, I am here to see Javante. When she heard that name, her eyes opened wide almost like an owl.

I’m sorry for whatever he did. He’s not a bad kid even though he makes bad choices. He’s just misunderstood.

I’m not here to complain about him.

Thank goodness! Why are you here then? Sorry. My name is Allison.

It’s nice to meet you, Allison. My name is Lloyd. I was looking for Javante so I could talk to him for a while about being adopted.

Thank God my prayers have been answered! She came close to me and grabbed my hands and said, Is it true you’re here to help Javante?

I said, Yes, I am here to help him get adopted. Is he in?

The lady shook her head and said sadly, No, he’s gone somewhere, and I don’t know where he went to at all he does this most of the time leaving without letting anybody know.

It’s okay. I will come to see him three times a week. It’s just the first time, so don’t worry.

We shook