ABOUT THE BOOK
In the summer of 1977, an insecure girl of barely fifteen years old left the old wooden house for the last time that she, her mom and sister lived in, and ran away with an eighteen year old boy. She naively thought that by leaving everything behind, she would erase the past and become a new person. What she didn't realize was that, as the saying goes, wherever you go, there you are.
This book describes the events that happened just before she left home and the next year and a half that she spent as a runaway, a harrowing experience that was to challenge her in every way, including her will to live.
Deborah Hall and her boyfriend hitchhiked from Florida to his parents' tiny shack in the hills of Tennessee. It was there that she witnessed poverty and abuse as she never knew existed. There were many occasions when she was sure someone would die.
"Tennessee is a beautiful state. The hills are soft and green, gently sloping into each other like an ocean's massive swell. It's full of crops such as soybeans, cotton and the deep green, huge-leaved tobacco plant. It has more species of trees than any other state. I spent some of the worst months of my life there, in a place called Johnson City. It is a city, like many other cities in this country stuffed with privilege and wealth, that has its share of poverty-drenched families living tucked away, seemingly hidden from the view of the rich and the middle class. It's a life that I, in my innocence, ignorance and youth at the time, didn't know existed." Deborah Hall |
The initial charm and sweetness Debbie's boyfriend displayed was like a brittle shell that hid an underlying cruel and abusive nature. In time, his caring and kind ways were a memory, replaced by beatings and threats to her life. She found herself in an alien, dangerous situation, and felt trapped in a prison of fear.
One thing she never had to question before she ran away from home was whether or not there would be enough food to eat. There were many times after she ran away that there wasn't. She went sometimes days without food, not sure from where her next meal would come. It's a hunger in which she lost all pride and in which begging and stealing food became options. Although this time for her was wrought with terror and filled with things that were nearly unbearable, deep within herself she found a well of courage, hope, inspiration and strength.
Thus begins the story of a shard of her life, a story that changed everything for her forever.
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