Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: single mother was abandoned by unemployed husband, Fact2: Theresa and daughter live in apartment complex, Fact3: outreach worker Calvin Reed finds place for Theresa to stay, Fact4: family goes hungry during fourth week or end of month, Fact5: son hopes to break cycle of poverty by being first person in family to graduate from high school
Output (English): Theresa Johnson is a single mother, who was abandoned by her unemployed husband some time after her daughter, Hillary, was born. The two live in a cramped apartment in the innercity, within walking distance to Hillarys school and Theresas workplace. The occupants of the apartment complex Theresa and her daughter live in are all notified of their eviction due to the city tearing down the apartments. Theresa has nowhere to go. Theresa clocks out of work early to look for a place for her and her daughter to live, but is fired the next day for leaving early. The two go from homeless shelter to homeless shelter, trying to find a place to stay. Often they sleep on the streets. At one shelter Theresa meets outreach worker Calvin Reed, who finds another place for Theresa to stay, while she receives welfare aid. The house is filthy and infested with rats. Theresa and Hillary settle into their new home, and the life of their neighboring family, the Watkins, is explored. The Watkins are a poor AfricanAmerican family who live in a house not much different from Theresa and Hillary. The father of the family, Raymond Watkins, abandoned the house long ago because I am worth more to them gone than there and doesnt pay childsupport. He is deeply hurt by this failure. The family receives welfare but cant afford anything other than necessities, and goes hungry during the fourth week, or the end of the month when most families have run out of food stamps. The son, Richard Watkins, hopes to break the cycle of poverty that has plagued their family, by being the first person in their family to graduate from high school. Theresa has just been evicted from her house by her confrontational landlord, after reporting the state of her house and the rat infestation to the Department of Health. Theresa and Hillary stay in the shelters once again, then Hillary contracts leadpoisoning from the poor state of the shelters and lack of sanitation. At the local hospital, Theresa is told by Hillarys doctor that if she contracts leadpoisoning again, it can cause severe health and development problems. Since Theresa and Hillary have been forced to travel between shelters the cause of Hillarys leadpoisoning cant be traced. Because of a lack of a steady home, Theresa cannot guarantee Hillarys safety. Theresa consults Mr. Reed and concludes that the only way Hillary can live a healthy, normal life, free from poverty, is by giving her up. The only way this can happen immediately is if Hillary is abandoned. Theresa makes the decision to take Hillary to the park and leaves her for Mr. Reed to pick up. Before leaving her, she gives her a heart necklace and tells her that every time she looks at it she should remember that she loves her. When she leaves, Mr. Reed and another social worker take Hillary away, and the story ends with Theresa alone in the park, crying, as Hillary can still be heard crying for her mother. Before the credits start, the statement 32 million people live in poverty in the United States, today. 13 million of them are children. is shown.