Staying strong: white his mother is in prison, Shaquille Murrell adjusts to a new family.

• Author: Murrell, Shaquille
• Position: VOICES - Essay

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

I will never forget that cold day last December. It was one of the saddest days of my life. I got home from school around the usual time, 3:30, and looked for my mom. She wasn't there, but I figured she had just stepped out to pick up something from the store.

Then the phone rang. It was one of my mother's friends calling to tell us that Mom was in prison. She had been sentenced that morning. My two sisters and I started to cry.

We hadn't even known that our mother was in trouble with the law. She hadn't told us anything; I guess she didn't want us to worry. Her friend wasn't able to tell us much either. We didn't know what our mom had done, when she had been arrested, or when she had first gone to court.

The phone rang again. My older sister answered and started to cry again. It was my mother. They talked for a few minutes, and then I got on the phone.

Mom didn't have much time to talk. She told me she'd been sentenced to a maximum of three years for assault. With the little bit of time she had left for the call, I let her speak to my little sister.

SPLITTING UP

I went to my room to think about the situation. Nothing but bad thoughts filled my mind. What would happen to my sisters and me? Where would we go? How were we going to eat?

But I never imagined that our family would be split up. My little sister, who's 8, went to Live with her father here in Albany. My older sister, who's 16, went to live with our dad in Brooklyn.

I was supposed to go with her, but I didn't want to leave my friends behind. I asked the mother of my closest friend...