100 Word Challenge - Bear

What follows is in response to the 100 Word Challenge, authored by the unfailing Velvet Verbosity, a woman who has borne more than most could bear - and is still kickin' it. The word is "Bear".



She was ten. Her mother, on her hands and knees, scrubbin' white folks' floors.
She thought, "This I cannot bear."
She was sixteen. Her brother strung up in a tree in a Mississippi swamp.
She thought, "This I cannot bear."
She was twenty six. Bus driver said, "Get to the back of the bus."
She thought, "This I cannot bear."
She was fifty. Daughter's son, child of an addict, killed in a drive by.
She thought, "This I cannot bear."
She was one hundred. In a wheelchair, she watched the returns.
She thought, "This, Sweet Jesus, this I can bear."

Ndinombethe.