The 6th section of this story tells a story that is close to home to all of us who live in Maplewood and South Orange - the lives of two boys, Keith and Jim, from Newark. The city seems so far away, but is so close to the beautiful suburb of these two towns. Keith and Jim, much like the other characters in "Almost Home," had been born into awful circumstances. In their case, they lived in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment of an alcoholic single mother who was a both a crack seller and addict. The mom became single after she had smashed two bottles against her husband's head in a terrifying fight, killing him instantly. The boys weren't aware that she had killed him because she never went to jail, and eventually Keith became an insomniac due to such an excessive exposure to crack.
One day, since the mom left for days on end and didn't feed them, the boys reached into the cupboard and made some toast. However, they made the toast not by putting it in a toaster, but burning the bread directly over a flame on the stove. Quickly, the bread burned, caught fire, and smoke filler the room, spilling into the hallway.
Minutes later when the firemen arrived, they asked where their parents were. Unsure of where their mom was, the boys explained to them how she had been gone for days at that point. As a result, they took the boys to a foster mother, named Ms. Dawson, and explained that when their mom came to get them they could go back home. However, the mother never showed up, and eventually a few months later Ms. Dawson took them to the Covenant House. Keith and Jim are now continuing school and are planning on attending college, hoping for a much brighter future ahead.
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