Mostly what she talks about are her kids. "Jamarcus is very smart, but his grades started dropping after the wreck." The doctors want him to focus on school and sports, so he gets Prozac to ease him through the day and Seroquel to help him sleep at night.
The younger Jaylyn has more permanent problems. Diagnosed with autism and IED (Intermittent Explosive Disorder) that makes him very aggressive at times, he has been making strides since getting medication. But he still vomits up his medicine from time to time and urinates on himself if upset.
Troy Fields
Shundrekia Edwards lives with her sons Jaylyn, 4, and Jamarcus, 11, in one room of her parents' house.
Troy Fields
Edwards wanted to keep her daughter with her.
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All three of them talk about Ta'lea, and sometimes in the present tense. Jamarcus wrote a poem to her and carried it around with him until he memorized it. Edwards shows off a scrapbook she made for Ta'lea to introduce her to all their relatives and friends.
Jamarcus says math is his favorite subject. He doesn't know what he wants to be or do ultimately, but short term, his wishes include having his own room and a bike. Jaylyn doesn't talk much at first — he starts crying around a stranger, reverses course to show off his workbook, then alternates between a brief fit of temper and falling asleep in an instant.
Edwards clearly has significant money issues and doesn't seem particularly adept at negotiating bureaucracies. She complained about each of her sons having only one uniform shirt — she couldn't afford any more — but a Press call to the Houston Independent School District press office got a quick response with names and contacts at each of her sons' schools identifying who would help her. Within days, she had more shirts at no cost.
Another day she called to say that her food stamps had been shut off and that when she tried to call the Texas Health and Human Services food stamp office in Houston, no one would answer. The Press experience was exactly the same — no one answers the phone there, and voice mailboxes are already full (except we didn't have to stand in line for almost three hours after being told our benefits were denied before giving up and going home). And yet this situation was resolved in the next few days; the food stamp office did finally call back and tell her she wasn't being denied, her application was still just being processed.
She called one day furious with her attorney, Wilbur. A company had called offering to front her some money, in exchange for which she'd pay fees to them once she got her expected settlement. Over the phone, she talked about them getting 30 percent, and when told this seemed exorbitant, repeated that she needed the money now.
Wilbur says his firm used to work with these so-called funding companies, but no more. "It turned out they were just taking advantage of our clients, and then at the end of the case, all the money would go to them and then the client would lose interest in the case.
"This one in particular is a place called Law Cash. They come in to purchase a piece of your case. They'll loan her a thousand dollars; 'you sign this interest over to us' and they now have an enforceable lien against the settlement. That thousand may turn into $2,000 in six months. There's a high origination fee, and they charge a ridiculous amount of interest."
So Wilbur made Edwards unhappy, but to his way of seeing it, he helped steer her away from a wrong decision. As it is, her case is a strong one; she was a passenger in the car, wearing a seat belt, and it's pretty clear who was at fault, he says.
The only thing he says that might come up for discussion is whether the wreck caused the miscarriage. "We've got a baby that was at 41 weeks and three pounds." But Edwards dismisses that, saying that to begin with she never has big babies — both Jamarcus and Jaylyn were only five or six pounds each — and anyway, the doctors had extended her due date, so she really wasn't quite as far along as first thought.
The number of people with heartbreaking problems and needs in Houston is massive. Shundrekia Edwards and her children may not be the most worthy, but they are not unworthy of our help either. They are the face of all the people stuck in bad places, whose lives play out in desperate and often unnoticed fashion.
Edwards says she's not trying to get a big payoff, just enough money to move out, get basic necessities and transportation and an urn for her daughter's remains.
Oh, and she'd like enough money to get a Christmas tree. They didn't have one last year. And Christmas Day is Jaylyn's birthday.
margaret.downing@houstonpress.com
Shundrekia Edwards has bank account #404904047 at First Convenience Bank, 6322 Telephone Road, Houston, TX 77087.
