The Black Box

She told the counselor about her dad pulling her hair, about him calling her names, telling her to get out; she showed him the marks that her dad left on her when he would punch her.  I was there when she told the counselor about all of it. She kept a dairy of it all, I told her to give it to the courts.   It was kept with all our court paperwork.  The marriage counselor said the courts ordered her to see her dad. He lied; I have the copies of the paper work. The counselor told her to go live with her dad.  Justice is only for those who buy it.

The Black Box

What happens when your lawyer that you hired to help you starts giving advice to your husband and you complain? Isn’t that a conflict of interest? I was told that she could do it and I couldn’t do anything about it, oh, except to pay for the bill. What happens when your lawyer lies in count to help your husband? Well, mine did and got by with it.

The Black Box

I had gotten her several boxes of jiffy mixes, cakes, icing, muffins, etc. for Christmas to help her learn to cook. The kid was sitting with her back to the chest of drawers when he came into the bedroom screaming at her, he hit her head and caused it to knock up against the chest, he punched her with his middle knuckle again in the knees and  head, over and over.  Screamed at her to get out, she was thirteen and before he started in on her, she was sticking her finger in the box of jiffy mix icing she got for Christmas and eating it. The darn box cost 10 cents. He was always punching her like that leaving bruises and bumps on her. And what really got to me is that the marriage counselor told her to go live with him. SOB.

 

The Black Box

I emptied the garbage and saw him pull the pill out of his pocket, open it and dump it into my coffee. Then he added milk. I had moved back to the sink. He turned and said “here’s your coffee”. I watched him leave the kitchen, I dumped it out and got a fresh cup of coffee, turned and there he was, standing in the doorway. Teeth clinched, fists balled up, I thought he was going to hit me. Such anger on his face.

 

The Black Box

I was sitting on the love seat when he came in. He loaded the big black gun from the bottom, and pulled the top of it back, putting a shell in the chamber, then laid the gun on the trunk. I stood up to leave, he picked it up and pointed at me. I sat down. He laid the gun back down on the trunk. I stood up to leave, he picked it up and pointed at me. I sat down. He laid the gun back down on the trunk. Every time I stood up, he picked that gun up and pointed at me and every time I sat down he put the gun back down on that old trunk. It felt like it when on for hours. Finally I walked off, afraid that he would shoot me in the back and blame one of the kids. I went into the bedroom and cried. I still have that old trunk, him I kicked out not to long after that.

The Black Box

He said “We are going to teach you a lesson. We are going to make you regret the day you were born. We are going to teach you to shut your month. We think it’s time you lost everything. We’ve done it before and your mother will be next.” Now my mom is dead, and I never did figure out who the “we” is.

The Black Box

. He asked me to come with him to his friend’s house. I sit in the dining area across from the kitchen talking to his friends’ wife. My husband and her husband went into the garage again. They came in like the several times before, laying the rifle across my lap telling me “It would tear me up to shoot a dog, but I wouldn’t mind shooting a human at all.” Popping the gold long shells out and putting them in again.

I had stood at the door holding my tummy.

I had stood at the door holding my tummy. “Please get up, I need to fix the bed”. He just said no. I went and sat on the sofa crying, in pain and throwing up when she came in. I said “I can’t get him out of bed”. All she said was I will. My labor pains were 2 minutes apart and my husband was still in bed. What ever she told him, he was up in seconds.

It’s said that the truth

It’s said that the truth will set you free. Not these people, the truth would put them in jail on death row.

He

He rammed that duck bill thing up in me so hard it made me cry. All he did was laugh.

I heard the old man

I heard the old man come in the front door. I took the quarter off the counter my mom left for me, and headed out the back door to the store for a coke and comic book, then to my favorite tree. He can’t find me and can’t hurt me. I sat in that tree for hours waiting until I knew I could go home. Some days I sat there until the library opened.

“Do we?”

) “Do we?” He asked. I looked at him, then the clerk behind the counter. “Do people do that here” I asked him. He said “Yes, for drug money”. I looked at my husband again then the clerk. “No” I told them. We headed for the truck. I moved as close to the door as I could after shutting it. “What’s wrong with you?” He shouted at me. I didn’t say anything, just shook my head. He had asked me for money to kill his first wife.

He came

He came along the walk way smiling at us skipping rope, and jumped in. Who would think that years later, he would betray me, cover up robberies, attempted murder and tell me to shut up.

THE WINDOW

THE WINDOW

Through the window, it comes creeping,
Slowly seeking,
It's own prey.

Across the room, going slowly,
Nothing holy,
Hunting what it may.

Along the hallway, it is stalking,
Through the night, walking,
Never about the day.

Into my room, it comes, seeping,
As I lay, peacefully, sleeping,
Stealing it's way.

It's presents beside me, I feel, waiting,
As I am nearly, waking,
Doing as it may.

In the darkness, my terror rising,
As I lay, silently, crying,
Wishing for the day.

Out the window it goes creeping,
Already seeking,
On it's way.

Into the night, stalking,
Slowly walking,
For another prey.

They broke in my window, front door, garage, back door, and steal my mailbox. Screaming and yelling. Makes you feel raped and violated in the worse way.

Something awful had woke me up.

Something awful had woke me up. Fear! I could feel it in my bones, down to the pit of my stomach. She stood by the bed just looking at me. I was too scared to move, when she left, I pulled the pillow and blanket off the bed and slept under it the rest of the night. I would not go back to spend the night there unless someone was with me.

The Black Box

The Black Box

I heard the old man’s footsteps as he came through the front door into the living room, then the dining room, and kitchen getting closer to where I lay in my bed. I played like I was asleep but he pull up a chair and lifted the covers and so started the black box, a place for all the ugly memories to go. Some place where I could hide them away and forget. For awhile.