I was fourteen -- just barely

a good student -- painfully shy

/# conscientious -- attended class

got pregnant on my first date

.' (he treated me oh-so-tenderly)

He wasn't one whit tender when

I screamed for endless hours and

/# almost died before giving birth

to our baby -- He slipped out of

town so he wouldn't miss his

.' first exciting week of college

My higher education consisted of

2& sore nipples diaper rash and colic

An elective in bottles and needles

came later -- too late -- they called

told me he's dead at Fourteenth and

;/ K Streets -- my child of fourteen -- my son