On the Run and Underground: When Your Mom’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted List
The article recounts a childhood experience of a young girl whose mother was on the FBI's Most Wanted List. It describes a tense moment when the family had to leave their home in the middle of the night, constantly on the run. The narrative reflects on the complexities of family dynamics and the innocence of childhood amidst danger.
- ▪The family frequently moved to avoid detection, keeping their belongings in plastic crates.
- ▪The young girl recalls a specific night when they left home quickly, with her mother cradling her baby brother.
- ▪During a stop at a rest area, she innocently revealed their destination was Chicago for her mother to turn herself in.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
One cold night in December, when I was not yet four years old, my mother woke me while it was still dark, pressing her face against my cheek and whispering, “We have to leave. Right away.”Article continues after advertisement I rolled off my mattress, stumbled blindly across our tiny apartment to pee, pulled on my jeans and sneakers, and followed her down the five flights of stairs without a word, walking on tiptoes so I didn’t wake the neighbors. We stopped in the foyer. Outside, my father was already working under the streetlights, breath steaming through his beard as he chipped ice off the windshield and loaded our bags and boxes into the hatchback of a rusted blue station wagon. I glanced up at my mom again.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Literary Hub.
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