The Phone Call I Dreaded

I finally got the phone call I have dreaded receiving for several years now.  In some ways I knew it was only a matter of time before I received it.  I never knew who it would be about, but I knew it was coming.  It is something inevitable when you work with children in inner city New Orleans.

"Ms. Cyndia, you remember Gee?"

"Gee?"

"Gervais"

"Yeah"

"Well he got killed last night.  Shot during a fight."

Sixteen years old.  Would have turned seventeen today.  He was ten the first time I went to the Center.  I wasn't close to him, but I knew him.  He always gave me hugs.  He wasn't that regular at the Center.  I saw him more as he was walking down the street, usually in his green baseball uniform, always with a smile that made it look like he was up to something.  He wasn't the type of kid that I would expect to hear got shot.  There are some kids that if I had heard their name, I would have thought that it was no surprise.  They were headed down that path.  They were the ones that you would would expect to be dead or in jail by the time they turn twenty.  They were the ones that everyone had given up on except maybe a mother or a sister or a grandmother who was still fighting hard for their life.  Gervais wasn't one of those kids.

  

Here is the New Orleans newspaper article on the murder.  Not much information.  I think I found out more about the shooting from the telephone call than the newspaper found out from investigators.  That is nothing unusual.  Rumors will run rampant in the next few days and weeks, yet no one will want to talk to investigators.  Not that you can really blame them.  Once you snitch, your time is limited.  It is like I wanted the article to say more.  Of course, the person that wrote the article didn't know the kid.  Looking at the article, this will become one of the many unsolved murders in New Orleans.  No one will want to rat out the shooter, although people know who it is.  Even if someone gives a name, it is likely that they will not want to testify and the murderer will be released.  This time last year it was the stepfather of one of the kids that was killed.  Someone ratted his murderer out, but that person's mother would not let her testify so he was released before the end of the year.  It is enough to make anyone in New Orleans cynical.  It is also a reminder that no one is guaranteed another day, no matter where you live.

For now parents will live in fear in the neighborhood.  Gee wasn't killed in the neighborhood, but parents will still keep a closer eye on their kids.  Then time will pass, and more freedom will be given.  Things will move on.