7-17-97, 9:15 AM

I walked to the café.  I wasn’t really hungry, but I decided to eat something anyway because I had exercised and I hadn’t eaten breakfast.  When I walked into the café, there were about ten people there.  There were two people at one of the tables outside.  The man and woman looked like they knew each other very well because they were sitting very close to each.  On the inside of the café, there were two men sitting together looking at some papers and drinking coffee.  There was a lady reading a book at one of the tables.  There were four ladies sitting at another table.  They appeared to be having a discussion.  Veronica was sitting at one of the tables by herself, eating something out of a bowl.  I walked through the serving line.  I got some bacon, some toast, and some orange juice.  Kourtnee had given me ten dollars, so I had plenty of money left over.  When Veronica saw me, she waved me over.  I was glad to go sit with her.

As soon as I sat down, Veronica began talking.  She was a student attending Caffco University.  She was a senior.  She had received a scholarship through the Adams-Shields foundation.  Veronica got to meet Kourtnee at the ceremony where the scholarships were given out.  Last year, Veronica had gotten a job at the fitness center.  Veronica was a very beautiful 22 year-old lady.  She looked so different now that she had cleaned up.  Her braids were hanging down her back instead of in a ponytail.

Leslie had coached Veronica in racquetball a couple of years ago.  Leslie was no longer Veronica’s coach anymore because Leslie said that Veronica did not have the heart to be a champion.  Veronica said that Leslie was very serious about racquetball and did not want to coach anyone who was not serious about being a champion.  Veronica laughed as she talked about Leslie.  Leslie had asked Veronica to be a conditioning coach and trainer for the athletes that Leslie coached.  Veronica had agreed.  Veronica continued talking.

Veronica talked a lot.  She was telling me things that I had not even asked her.  She was very friendly.  I am pretty sure that all of the people she coached enjoyed working with her because she was not callous like Leslie.  Having Veronica and Leslie as my coaches was going to be interesting.  I came in third in a junior racquetball championship in 1995.  It was fun.  I was sure that I could win a championship if I had the right coach.

Veronica asked me was I listening to her.  I asked her what she had just said.  She repeated her question, which was, how I knew Kourtnee.  I told Veronica that Kourtnee was my foster mother.  Veronica nodded her head and began a speech about her parents.  Her mother was an executive assistant at Channel 6, a television station in Hardaway.  Her father was a dentist.  Veronica had two brothers and a sister.  Veronica was the youngest of the four children that her parents had.