Have You Seen These Children?

A Memoir

Veronica Slaugher

• Publisher: She Writes Press
• Year: 2020
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781631527265
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Four young children caught between love and hate—hostages to the cruelty of revenge. A deceitful American father and a naïve decision by a Filipino mother transformed their lives forever. Valorie, Veronica, Vance, and Vincent's perfect world turned into a nightmare one hot afternoon in 1959 in Cebu, Philippines. What was to be a quick lunch with their father turned into a flight to America, where four dreadfully long years of running from state to state, hiding, and vanishing into the night followed. Kidnapped from the only world they knew, confusion quickly set in. At nine, Valorie, the eldest, liked seeing their father after his absence for over a year. Vance, a timid six-year-old, went along with whatever Valorie did. Vincent, the baby at three, cried for his mother while clinging to Veronica for comfort. Veronica, eight, was the only one who was truly panicked by what was happening around them—and she recognized instantly that she and her siblings would have to stick together in order to survive. In that moment, her childhood ended and the warrior within her emerged. Moving from state to state and school to school, avoiding the law, looking over their shoulders at every turn, the four Slaughter children found themselves fighting not only the heartbreak of separation from their loving mother but also poverty, discrimination, and abuse. Their only weapons were their deep love for one another and an unwavering determination to survive the trials they faced—and find their way back to their mother.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Author’s Note
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The American and the Aristocrat
• Chapter 2: Blindsided
• Chapter 3: Shattered
• Chapter 4: Two Worlds
• Chapter 5: Lee’s Coffee Shop
• Chapter 6: The Happiest Place on Earth
• Chapter 7: Up, Up, and Away
• Chapter 8: On the Move
• Chapter 9: My Other Grandma
• Chapter 10: St. Clara’s
• Chapter 11: Where is Mommy?
• Chapter 12: Blondes have More Fun
• Chapter 13: Collateral Damage
• Chapter 14: Fleas
• Chapter 15: Black Patent Leather Shoes
• Chapter 16: Afraid of the Dark
• Chapter 17: The Pink Lunch Card
• Chapter 18: The Pep Rally
• Chapter 19: I Have a Job!
• Chapter 20: Anna May
• Chapter 21: You Don’t Chase Sheep
• Chapter 22: Colored Only
• Chapter 23: Esther
• Chapter 24: Not a Dime to Your name
• Chapter 25: The Fish Camp
• Chapter 26: Hi Ho Inn
• Chapter 27: SOS
• Chapter 28: The Wishing Well
• Chapter 29: Bingo!
• Chapter 30: Gigolo
• Chapter 31: An Angel in the Room
• Chapter 32: Died and Gone to Heaven
• Chapter 33: Out of Sight, Out of Mind
• Chapter 34: Life After Bob
• Chapter 35: Our New Home
• Chapter 36: Overqualified
• Chapter 37: Teenagers
• Chapter 38: Free at Last
• Epilogue
• Post-Script
• About the Author