Mother, why did you abandon me?

David FerkoÚstí nad LabemJune 2000
This is what my father told me one day about himself.
"I will tell you the story of one boy who had it very bad. His parents were poor, and they lived in a hovel in Slovakia. It was cold there, everything was damp, and the beds stank. He was often ill because of this. And one day his father told him that he had to go to a children’s home, because he was nothing but trouble.
His mother had to obey her husband, because she was very afraid of him.
Mother told me that if I went to the children’s home it would be good for me there: I would have something to eat and clothes to wear.
I was very sad, in despair. I cried and cried.
But they sent me to the kid’s home, where they took me in like an animal. First they washed me in cold water, and shaved me because I had lice.
I was constantly ill, and I wet myself the whole time.
The doctors found out there was something with my kidneys. When I was eleven, I lost one of them.
Some time later a family started to take an interest in me. They really liked me. I grew close to all of them and loved them. What I didn’t know was that this was actually my own family; they were relatives of my mother – whom I hated terribly. They took me home with them and I was happy to have a new family that loved me.
One day my real mother showed up at our house. I just stood there. I didn’t know what to say. She was crying. And then the words burst out of my mouth: ‘Mother, why did you abandon me? I loved you so much and you gave me away.’
She answered that she couldn’t help it: her husband beat her and was very bad.
I asked where my father was. Mother said he had drunk himself to death.
I didn’t shed a tear, because I hated my father. Really I liked my mother very much and returned to live with her. My adoptive parents didn’t stop me.”

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