Halfway to forever by Karen Kingsbury

enough money to survive: prostitution.
"The trouble was, with every trick she turned, Milly saw another piece of her soul fade away." The
woman crossed her arms. "Finally she could only describe herself as dead. Breathing,
245 moving, existing. . .but dead all the same."
Edna glanced at the notations in the file. "And that's when she
took her first hit of speed."
`Right." Edna shook her head, her heart heavy for the girl whose story was so familiar, so like that of
dozens of girls she'd worked with or taken children from over the years. Drugs were a wicked, evil
prison, and once a person willingly walked through the doors, there was seldom any easy way out. "And
then...?" Edna scanned the file once more.
"She stayed in San Francisco, turning tricks and taking speed
until she got pregnant. The minute she knew for sure, she took a
bus to Los Angeles and came here. Her withdrawals were so bad
we thought she'd lose the baby. But we got her help and she never
took another hit." The woman paused. "Until last night, I guess."
"Yes. She had enough crack in her blood to kill a horse." Edna closed Milly's file. Across from her, the
woman's eyes grew wet again. "She wanted her baby to be a preacher or a writer, someone who would
help people be strong in God." She lifted her hands off the desk and let them fall again. "I don't know what
happened. She didn't come home last night. I guess she went with one of the guys who hang around here.
Even with her faith, Milly was very lonely."
"So you think the baby's clean?"
The woman nodded. "Definitely Milly was clean through her
pregnancy right up until two days ago. Clean and determined to
give her baby a life different from that of hers and her mother's."
Edna made several notations on her clipboard. "What about the father?"
"Milly was a prostitute, Mrs. Parsons. The baby's father lived
in San Francisco and could be any one of a hundred different
men."
242
'What about AIDS?"
"She tested negative for HIV Almost a miracle really, coming
om San Francisco."
Edna had all the information she needed. She'd still run a V name check in the San Francisco but
anyMillYls way -seemed very
she'd told it to the people
plausible. The women stood and shook hands. Before she left, Edna
hesitated. "Is there any way we can prove that her mother's really dead?"
The woman reached for Milly's file once more and thumbed through it. Seconds later she handed Edna a
photograph. "This is pretty good proof if you ask me."
Edna took it. "You're right." It was a picture of a small gravestone carved with the name Henrietta ~ the
right age to dates of Milly's birth and death made the buried
mother.
The photo was worn on the edges and peeling at the comer.
Edna gave it back to the woman, her heart heavy for the tragedy
young Milly had suffered. "Why would she keep a photo like
this?"
"Asa reminder to stay away from drugs." The woman reached for a tissue and held it beneath her right