I have this really cute great-niece. I never have quite wrapped my head around it, but somehow I've turned into a great-uncle at the ripe old age of 27. I was 26 when the child was born but that's beside the point.

The interesting part is the fact that she's now a pretty 13 month old baby with pouty lips and eyes that make you melt. Since this is the evil internet, I will not disclose her name. Anyway, interesting thing is, she's 13 months and her mom is...as of October of THIS year, 2005, 15. Fifteen. Can you believe that?

I don't know what's wrong with kids these days. When I saw her 2 years ago, she was a little shorter than me. My niece is a sweet kid, honestly she is. She's been cursed with being built like a grown woman since she was 12. I fussed at her to no end when I saw her 2 years ago, due to her drug addled friendships, her boyfriend and the fact that she was living with her mom at the time. (Her mom is the reason I learned all about Napoleonic Justice back in the day).



I saw her this time around, as a 15 year old. A married fifteen year old. (wtf)
She ran off, and married this real winner. He has gapped front teeth, wears earrings, and is gainfully employeed as a burglar. My bro in law has informed him that if he shows up at their house, he will find out how much Kung-fu my bro in law really learned back in his martial arts days. So when my niece visits her dad (HERE SHE COMES!! HIDE ALL THE FOOD AND THE VALUABLES!), he stands outside by his bike.

He has her living in a dirt-floored house in a bad part of town (IS there a bad part of town? Read my last entries. Where we were was not a bad part of town. You be the judge) The kind of area where mosquitoes thrive, the prostitutes have track marks, and you will almost never leave alive if you enter at night with a fat wallet, a chain, and a decent pair of tennis shoes.

Before I realized what level of squalor/depravity/idiocy my niece has fallen into, she occasionally would be responsible for her sex trophy. (husband isn't dad) She would take her on walks, go out to eat, that sort of thing. Well, this last time, the baby came back with something wrong. It didn't make itself manifest until I was there. She got red. I mean REALLY red. She had a rash from head to toe, and she acted like she was in constant pain. She didn't let ANYONE sleep because she screamed like a posessed banshee all night every night. So we took her to the doctor. They claim it's dengue, but some non-life threatening form. I'm no tropical doctor, but I thought dengue was some serious sh*t. Anyway, she got some doxycycline or something or other. Sounds like it's strong enough to cure an 89 year old case of the clap, but it comes in a yummy bugglegum flavoured suspension.

She was therefore saddled with the nickname (at least in my head), Dengue Baby.

Dengue Baby is being raised by her grandpa (my 35 year old bro in law), and her great grandma in her 50's. It's a weird combination, but it's all she knows. It's sad that she is having to go through life like this, but I'm grateful she has at least TWO loving family members. It's all she knows.

Her mom came twice to see us while we were there. It almost ALWAYS seems to go into how much things cost: "Tio, how much did your cellphone cost?" "How much did that silver chain cost? I bet a lot." And it makes me uncomfortable. Especially since I found out from her dad that she's probably tooting nose powder up her nose now. He suspicioned this shortly before the deciding moment where he kicked her out and kung-fu threatened the street urchin husband, who did NOTHING but eat all day. NO work, NOTHING. And my broinlaw is a waiter and the sole breadwinner in the house.


There came a moment where he thought she was tooting, so he goes and BUYS some and catches her stealing it. He stopped letting her breastfeed the baby after that. Speaking of which, how do you tell a 15 year old to button her damn blouse up because she's got really obvious cleavage? It's uncomfortable, and plus people think you're a mongoloid because you're staring at the floor the entire time someone's talking to you.

I will not relinquish my hopes that somehow, some way, she will straighten up, and the rest of my in-laws will somehow come out of poverty.


Later:

Fun with US Border Patrol guards