Discover Smith Mountain Lake
WINTER 2016
9
8
By Kate Hofstetter
Based on a true story
Maya Broude thought she knew Chicago like the back of
her hand, until the Lila Jackson case came along.
“The hunger for love is
much more difficult to
remove than the hunger
for bread.”
Mother Teresa
Maya Broude thought she knew Chicago like the back
of her hand, until the Lila Jackson case came along.
“Where the heck is the Fillmore District?” She asked
incredulously to anyone within hearing distance of her
work cubicle. “I thought the Fillmore District was in
Los Angeles. I didn’t know we had one in Chicago.”
“Better get a police escort,” Brian, who worked in an
adjoining space, answered. “You’ll be going into the
City’s armpit and it doesn’t just stink; it’s dangerous,
especially for a white woman.”
Bad things always seemed to happen around the
holidays. A mother of eight had died on Thanksgiving.
There was no father in the picture at all. “Of course
not,” Maya said aloud as she continued to read the
background report. The children had been released
into the custody of an aunt who had six children of her
own and lived in a four bedroom apartment. Most of
her other cases were on the South Side. This would be
her first assignment in the Fillmore District.
“Oh my gosh,” she said, “That’s 14 kids in three
bedrooms. Impossible.”
“Not in the Fillmore District,” Brian quipped.
Maya knew she had only two options: Place the kids
in the district children’s home, or put them into foster
care. She sighed and picked up the phone to start
calling the few available foster parents, to see how
