Kites.

“You can’t fly tied down to the ground. When the last time you see a kid fly a kite in the projects? I don’t think they want us out, so they tie us down to the ground. Thinking, breathing, existence here is difficult. But why do we make it so hard for each other to fly way? Why are they holding on so tight?” Seshat lived with her on again off again junkie of a mother and her always a drunk and perverted excuse of a father. Every night it was something different any moment an episode of Martin could be easily canceled with domestic violence, gun violence or the occasional police brutality. Otis also found it difficult to grow being the foster child of a verbally, mentally and emotional abusive caretaker. In a two bedroom apartment, he slept on the floor in what used to be the laundry room. Many nights Otis went to bed hungry while his foster mother ordered food for her and her “real” child. Constant negligence kept Otis and Seshat away from the apartment as much as possible. The problem is – problems are everywhere. The Kite Housing Projects only has one designated area for the children. No grass or trees just dirt and concrete. Three swings, one broken, an aluminum slide that melts souls during the summer and one bent basketball rim. It’s not much but where else is there to go? Many nights from project windows children watch aspirations dancing in the distance. Light to dark, clouded to clear thinking deep about the past, longing for the best future, but how does one get there from here?

“Will you come back for me…?”

“Of Course, you gotta fly.”

Kites.