She is a missing person

Callie is a missing person
That no-one cares about
Pregnant at fifteen
So her parents threw her out

Too young to get a council house
So she's living on the streets
Sleeping in a doorway
Wrapped in filthy sheets

Everything was going fine
Till her new stepdad moved in
He had her mother at his beck and call
Much to her chagrin

Callie had tried her level best
To get on well with him
James Thomas Harrison
Known to his friends as Jim

In mum’s eyes he could do no wrong
And Callie could do no right
He'd laze about all day
Then come to life at night

Callie had once seen him
Bullying a man who was visibly shaken
She went home and told her mum
Who said she must have been mistaken

Callie had sought comfort
In a boy called Andy Kim
She thought he cared about her
And lost her virginity to him

When she told him she was pregnant
He said “The kid's not mine. No way.
You'll have to get the morning-after pill without delay”

Cassie went to the family doctor
She took her best friend, Paige
He said no pill without her parents consent
Because she was under-age

She went home and told her mum and Jim
And Jim called her a slag
Her mother reluctantly took Jim’s side
And told her to go and pack her bag

So Callie left the family home
Not a single word was spoken
No family support and no money
And a heart that had been broken

She was worried about her future
And worried about her mother
She hoped Jim wouldn't take things out
On her younger sister and brother

She hitched a lift in a lorry
And ended up in Hull
Tried all of the youth hostels
But was informed that they were full

So she camped out in a doorway
And had no choice but to beg
A young man would pass her every day
He said his name was Greg

He told her she should be a model
And invited her up to his flat
She'd seen his type too many times
She had more sense than that

Greg wasn't used to being turned down
She said “Just leave me in peace”
Greg out of revenge
Reported Callie to the police

He told them she was a prostitute
And had solicited him each time he passed
The police believed her story
When she said she'd been harassed

Greg, from that day on,
Gave Callie a wide berth
She was glad he’d got the message
Her mum would have called him ‘the scum of the earth’

After many months of living rough
One day she caught the sight of Jim
She'd always wondered if her mum
Was still cohabiting with him

He glanced across at her
Then did a double-take
Why would Callie be sleeping rough?
There must be some mistake

He approached her and he smiled
But Callie stood her ground
Then eventually she spoke and said
“I didn’t want to be found”

Jim stood, hands in his pockets
And said “Your mum’s not got long to live.
Why don't you just come home with me?
I don’t expect you to forgive”

Callie felt a salty tear
Running down her face
Jim said “Mum thought you didn’t care.
You disappeared without a trace”

Callie gathered her belongings
Though it didn’t amount to much
Then quietly she uttered
“I should have kept in touch”

Jim now had a car
And said he’d take Callie back home
She should be at her mother’s side
And would no longer need to roam

Back in the old familiar house
Callie gently climbed the stairs
She looked in and saw her mother
Neath a quilt of coloured squares

“Hello Mum, How are you?”
Callie softly said
Her mother smiled her sweetest smile
And sat up in the bed

“I know that I was wrong
To take the side of Jim.
He's been a different person
Since I stood up to him”

Callie took her mother’s hand
And very gently smiled
Then said “I need you to get better
To meet your new grandchild”

Jim walked into the bedroom
With a tray of tea and cakes
He said “I hope that you'll forgive me.
We all make mistakes”

Mother closed her eyes and said
“Look after Tim and Fay”
Then she breathed a heavy sigh
And softly passed away

There's a moral to this story
Don't live life in the past
Live each and every day
As if it is your last

Callie, Jim and Tim and Fay
Still live in the same house
Jim is a changed man
No longer an uncaring louse

I forgot to mention new baby Anne
The family’s new addition
Named after Callie's mum
In keeping with tradition

Jim now has a new partner
A young woman named Marie
Callie just wishes her mother were here
To see what a good mum she can be