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The Evil in Kansas
Part 3
† Note for the readers...
Part 3 doesn't have any major events happening in it, but it is vital to the story and detrimental to what was coming next.
My control over myself and what was to come would at this point begin to be taken away from me due to the stress caused by what was going on with neighbors, talk behind my back, and what was coming next from the State. Slowly and irrevocably, I began to be broken down, making me weak and allow "things" to start taking control.
If all you want to do is read about the spirits, you can skip part 3. But you might actually want to read it because it will help the story make more sense.
Part 4 , I promise, we'll scare the shit out of you.. It scares the shit out of me, even to this day...†
*****
What the hell is wrong with small town America!? Until I was 10, I grew up in these small, midwest farming towns. Most are big on the "Bible pushing", but it seems 98% of the people living in these towns, can't follow some of The Bible's simplest messages... "Judge not, less ye be judged", "Do unto others, as you would have done into you", etc..
Mostly, it seems people in these towns, have nothing better to do, but cause drama, talk shit, and make others lives a living hell.
What follows is a series of events, that began to break me down mentally and emotionally, and downright destroy Ian in the same.
As if finding out that your house is potentially haunted wasn't enough, the following events would make what was in our home have the ability to really take control and overpower us.
I've suffered from migraines since I was 10, diagnosed with them as well as what's referred to as, "cluster headaches". If you don't know what cluster headaches are, or never experienced one, thank whatever deities you believe in.
Experts refer to them as, "The Suicide Pain". They are so excruciating, some people have killed themselves just to stop the pain from having them. They do not know what causes or how to treat them. Today they experiment with LSD as a form of doing so and that has seemed to help some, though I never liked frying out on acid, and usually only get a cluster headache about once, or twice a year.
Things had been quiet for about maybe a week. Early on a Monday morning around 3:00 a.m. I woke with a slight throbbing at the base of my skull and I knew exactly what was to come. I curled up in the corner of the couch, covered my head with a pillow and waited. Migraine. Somewhere in there I managed to doze off through the pain.
Usually I was able to get Ian up and dressed out the door for school. He would then walk the quarter mile to his elementary school. This particular morning, I was unable to even move from the couch due to my pain.
I was awoken by a pounding on my front door, we all know that sound of knocking when it sounds like the police are about to break in?
BANG! BANG! BANG!
My front door shook, but still it was nothing compared to the pound even my head. I sluggishly tried to get up off the couch, it took me a few minutes and I made my way to the front door. Of course the bright morning sunlight blinded me. Tears stung my eyes. I opened it to find the school's principle, as well as the school counselor, standing there with a big clipboard in her hand, ink pin ready, and glaring at me.
"Yeah?", I stammered.
"Can I help you?" I inquired, trying not to cry.
The looks on their faces told me they assumed I was either on drugs, drunk or both. I looked at them and waited.
The principal, Mr Gower, looked at me, shook his head negatively and barked, "Where's Ian at Miss Purdy?"my head hurt, I was in so much pain! And all could say was, "what time is it?"
Again that look. He acted like he was speaking to someone in a mental ward.
"Do you know what day it is, Miss Purdy?"
"Well yeah, it's Monday!", I said.
" I asked you what time is was".
He said, glaring,"It's after 10:00. Where's your son?"he demanded.
I said, "You'll have to excuse me, I suffer from migraines and I was unable to get him up for school this morning. I didn't realize what time it was", I stated quietly. I felt like a little mouse about to be devoured by two angry felines. Again here were looks of disgust and disbelief, that told me they didn't believe a word I said. I obviously was lying and on some type of drug or under the influence of something. I couldn't even get mad my head hurts so bad.
I said, "Well I'm sorry! I just was unable to get him up!"
He said, "Well if you get him dressed and ready, will take him to school from here".
Why were they making such a big deal about this!? In Phoenix they wouldn't have even bothered to come to the house. I wanted them to just go away so I could go back to sleep.
"I can bring him down to the school when he gets up", I said beginning to shut the door. Again one of those looks.
"No we can take it from here, we'll wait while you get him ready".
"Fine, wait then!" I rose my voice and shut the door in their face.
"Mom can I just stay home with you", I heard Ian from behind. They had woken both kids up.
"I'm sorry kiddo but I think you better go. I'm sorry.. I'd let you stay home you know that." I said.
Ian was pissed. I could tell right away he didn't want to go anywhere with Mr Gower, or the school counselor. He angrily threw on his clothes from the day before and was out the door muttering quietly to himself. He wouldn't even look at or speak to the principal. I didn't think anything other or any more about it and laid down on the couch. Ivy had found some Pop-Tarts and came in sitting next to me, and watch TV while I went back to sleep for awhile.
I was now under the school's radar. At six, Ian had been diagnosed with ADHD and ADD, and when he was put on medication, which he despised taking.
The first one was Ritalin, and it seemed to kind of work, but not really. They tried Stratera, which was a time released medication but left Ian completely exhausted at the end of the day and unable to wake up in the morning. Next, they tried Adderall and he was six and a half when he first started talking about wanting to kill himself! So we went back to the Ritalin, but at a higher dose. It seemed to calm him down a bit, but the side effects were pretty bad for a kid his age and in his grade. He smelled like a teenager going through puberty. His armpits would stink and no matter what we tried washing and deodorant at 6 and 7 years old, he still stunk. I just considered it little boy smell. The school considered it as he wasn't bathing, and dirty.
Another and what I thought and felt was the worst side effect, was Ian was not Ian anymore! A happy little, yes excitable boy, he'd been very open, honest and talkative wanting to share his emotions and feelings with everyone around him. After Ritalin he began to close himself off and not talk about pretty much anything. Nothing about his feelings and what was going on inside. He started internalizing every emotion.
When I enrolled Ian at the only elementary school in town, I'd asked if they had ever worked with children with ADHD. They assured me that they were capable of handling it, but Ian had to take his medication, every morning in front of the principal Mr Gower. I was not aware of this wee fact until later on, and was then told if the school did not see him take it, he would have to go to a school outside of their district, and the nearest town and school for that was 27 miles away. Ian was being forced to take it, and I was feeling backed into a corner but I didn't know what to do. Ian hated every minute of it and left me feeling I had no other choice than to allow the school to administer his medication. Because of his morning visits to the principal's office he of course began to get teased and the faculty did nothing to stop any of this, of course kids are going to be kids. These grown adults, teachers and administration, you put your trust into, to teach your child and other children, not only education but values and discipline and right from wrong!
A community is supposed to nurture their children! It takes a village right? Especially in a town where you're new and it's obvious you're not liked, or who you're related to isn't liked. Ian begin to purposefully dawdle on the way to school and would show up quite late almost every morning again something I was never made aware of until later in the school year.
That's all it took was that one headache and morning of missing school for them to now be on my ass!
A couple nights later, Ian came to me and complaining of a very sore stomach. He said he didn't feel well. Ian rarely, if ever got sick and when he did he really got sick, to the point where it's scared the life out of me. I was concerned for his appendix as it doesn't show up as easily in boys as it does girl. I hadn't had a phone installed in the house yet so I trotted across the street to where I could see a neighbor's light was on. I knocked on the door and a woman about my age came and opened the door.
"Yes, can I help you", she asked.
I explain to her my situation and asked if I could use her landline. "Sure no problem! Come in and call who you need to!", She said politely with a little bit of neighborly concern.
I called my sister who said shed to try and come by later. She was home for a week's vacation and didn't seem too pleased that I bothered her.
I hung up the phone and turned to the woman standing there looking at me expectantly. So I introduced myself.
Her name was Becky, and to my luck she was in school for nursing and offered politely to maybe come over and have a look at my son. We started back over to my house just kind of getting to know each other along the way. Her husband was also a truck driver and off on the road for the time being so she spent a lot of time at home caring for his elderly mother and going to school during the day. Her husband had two children of his own and shared custody with his ex-wife and they saw them on the weekends.
We went in and I introduced her to both Ian and Budda. She told Ian she was at school to be a nurse and she liked to see where his tummy hurt. So she poked and she prodded a little bit, and said she wasn't concerned about any appendicitis. Maybe just a small stomach upset. If it got any worse or his stomach got hard or a fever came about she said she could take us to the emergency room. I was able to then to call my sister back and tell her there was no need for her to come over for which she was extremely glad.
Becky and I chatted for about another hour on the front porch, after I got the kids down in the living room. None of us were sleeping in any of the bedrooms still, just in the living room.
Our conversation ended with her offering to babysit for me, so I didn't have to pay as much as I did for overnight care.
" Before you answer though, I feel I have to inform you of something that you probably won't like. And legally, I don't want you to think I was hiding anything from you, if you heard it from someone in town," she explained, though without hesitation.
Hmmm?
I could feel one eyebrow arch, and knew I had that look on my face my mother used to get, right before she kicked the crap outta me or one of my siblings..
"Explain, then", is all I said, and again, she didn't hesitate.
One awesome thing about being an Empath? It's almost impossible to lie to one, a gift I've been grateful for. I sensed no deception as she told me her and her husband's story.
As with most teenagers, her husband, Guy, ( yes his given name was, Guy.), who at age 17 was dating a girl who was one younger than him. Her parents did not approve and did not like him so they reported the fact that they were having intercourse to the local sheriff. They arrested him, and he was charged with sex with a minor and had to register as a sex offender! That happens to a lot of people unfortunately.
The town's folk pretty much ostracized and spread rumors. They kept at the edge of town, and minded their own business. they didn't like the place and chose to move elsewhere later on. For my part I've seen it happen hundreds of times in the city. I myself at 16, 17 years old, dated guys older than me. I just didn't like guys my age. They were immature. Anyways she added that if I was curious, or wanted to verify all was on the up and up, she could give me the police report and all information containing the case. I did.
They were not ordered to be kept from seeing kids. He was not told he had to stay away from kids, he had two children with the woman in question, and married her a year later! So I didn't have a problem with it. I probably should have thought a little harder about that but I was not aware of how vile this town and the people inside of it we're, and going to become.
Later at work I mentioned in passing I'd found a new sitter that was a neighbor. Right away they brought her and her husband's name up and proceeded to say, you don't know!?!?
Then gave me their gossipy version of the story, which I had in fact lookd up at the local library. The legal records said exactly what Becky had said. I mean if there had been some restriction on him being around children he would not be allowed to have his own kids.
I pretty much shut the employee down, and told her the facts of the case, as to which was public record, and told her that facts were facts. Gossip and assumption from people who were to lazy to actually find out from the source, needed to mind their own business.
Bad Idea.
Phillipsburg at the time had a population of 2200 people, and by the next morning, 2199 of them all seemed to be aware that, "that single mom who works at Loves, and lives in "That House", was allowing a child molester and his trash wife watch her kids!
Now I'm from a huge city, and grew up where if you talked shit, especially about someone's kids be prepared to eat shit! But, I had been left pretty much alone for almost a year and kind of just shook it off.
I didn't know that had gotten that far around town and the whispers that were going on behind my back. Hell, I didn't know as of yet, how bad Becky and her husband had had it. I did however have one strike against me already moving into that town. That was my sister, and her husband, Rex.
Angel or Angelina as she was named, had moved into Phillipsburg as a single parent with two kids and one on the way. She had her daughter at home which was frowned upon, and within 2 weeks of having her, was partying, going to the bar, bringing different men home on the weekends. Her oldest child would go to school and talk about all the guys coming and going, drug abuse the fact that she couldn't pay her utilities, and had no running water. It was bad. She'd had her kids taken away, I believe by choice as she didn't fight to get them back. She wasn't very well looked upon in that town. Her husband Rex and the Brettons were considered the lowest of the low, a dirt family. But even they lookd down their nose at me. Judgmental assholes!
I wasn't even aware after working and being quiet, taking care of my kids for a year, that I was that looked down upon by this town! I was soon about to find out..
So you figure strike one having the same last name as my sister. Strike two, the school principal and counselor and my son's ADHD. Strike three,my new babysitter and telling another employee to shut their damn mouth and stay out of my business, which evidently everyone was already in!
About a week after this my son came home from school. I had just woken up from a nap, sitting with Ivy, g when he came in the door from school with an odd look on his face.
" Mom something strange just happened". Curious I asked,
What's up?"
"He said, "There's some lady down the street who asked me if I was hungry and told me that if I ever needed something to eat I should come by her house any time if I was hungry"..
I was stunned stupid. My kids were fed, they wore clean clothes to school, they were taken care of! I spent time with them when I wasn't working. I could not understand why somebody would say this to my child!
I didn't know anybody down the street, at least not personally, maybe in passing from the store I worked, at but I was not on friendly terms with really anybody in the town except Becky.
I was pissed!
I said, "Show me where!"
We walked just another block down the street to where I knew one of my neighbors Melissa, from the store, who was standing on her front porch talking to this woman in question, another Becky.
I clearly marched right up to her and got about an inch from her face madder than hell ready for a fight. "Who the hell do you think you are!? I don't know you, you don't know me from shit! How dare you approach someone's child and say the things that you said without knowing anything about them!?!" I demanded.
She didn't respond, but Melissa did. "Oh come off of it Mary! We all know about your whoring around, your little cocaine habit, and your alcoholism!" She said shaking her head like I was a twin year old. Again stupefication... what the hell was wrong with these people!? and where the hell were they getting their information from? I've often said assumption should be the 8th deadly sin, this is one reason it proves it to me! I turned and faced Melissa and got right in her face.
I said, "I don't know who you've been talking to because I don't talk to anybody and you sure as hell don't come to my house! Once in awhile I'll have a drink yes, I'm over 21, I haven't done cocaine since I was 20, my kids are fed, they wear clean clothes and they go to school! what more do you need to know? I don't know you or anybody in this town! I am not related to you and I don't speak to you and I don't converse with anybody in this town! Maybe you should take your nose, keep it out of my ass and my business, or be sure I'm going to shove it so far up your ass you can't breathe!"
I grabbed Ian by the arm and we turned around and went back home. I was furious! Upon entering the house my anger only got escalated by tenfold.I was so angry I was shaking and I wanted to hit something, anything! Both Ian and ivy sat quietly on the couch watching me. The look on their faces said plainly they were scared. And scared of me. They'd never looked at me like that before. I took a deep breath shaking and tried to get control of my temper. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of whiskey I kept on the top of the fridge, and downed a shot. I paced back and forth, turn the stereo on loudly, then just sat down at the dining room table to breathe. It took me about 15 minutes to calm down. I looked up and Ian and ivy were both standing in the kitchen doorway watching me and with that beautiful face, Ian asks, "Are you okay Mom",
I said, "Yeah I'll be fine. People in small towns just don't stay out of your business and they can be mean sometimes. He looked at me like I was stupid and rolled his eyes. "I kind of figured that out already mom", he said. He frowned at the whiskey bottle.
Ivy walked over got on my lap and hugged me. She asked, Are you mad at us?"
My heart melted. I could see in both of their eyes, they were a little unsure if I was okay or not, and a little fearful. I gave them both huge hugs and just held them.
"Of course I'm not mad at either one of you guys! You didn't do anything wrong! My temper gets the best of me with stupid people. I'm sorry if I scared you". They hugged back and we all went into the living room and just tried to forget the past incidents, though it kept nagging at me in the back of my head.
About an hour and a half later was time for the kids to go to Becky's and for me to start getting ready for work. I dropped them off, big hugs and kisses told them to be a good little children, which they always were and was getting ready to leave when Becky said,
"Hey I'm going to run into Hayes tomorrow, do you want to come with me, maybe do some grocery shopping or something?"
"YES!" I exclaimed, anything to get out of that town for a little bit. I could pick up some stuff for the kids at Walmart as well.
"Okay, I want to leave about 9:00 cuz I have to stop by the college and pick up an assignment from one of my professors, and then we can go have lunch from there. It sounded like a plan to me, and the kids would have fun I thought.
I told her we'd be there at 9, and the next day we were on our way to Hays..
****
End of Part 3
© M.E.Purdy
† Note for the readers...
Part 3 doesn't have any major events happening in it, but it is vital to the story and detrimental to what was coming next.
My control over myself and what was to come would at this point begin to be taken away from me due to the stress caused by what was going on with neighbors, talk behind my back, and what was coming next from the State. Slowly and irrevocably, I began to be broken down, making me weak and allow "things" to start taking control.
If all you want to do is read about the spirits, you can skip part 3. But you might actually want to read it because it will help the story make more sense.
Part 4 , I promise, we'll scare the shit out of you.. It scares the shit out of me, even to this day...†
*****
What the hell is wrong with small town America!? Until I was 10, I grew up in these small, midwest farming towns. Most are big on the "Bible pushing", but it seems 98% of the people living in these towns, can't follow some of The Bible's simplest messages... "Judge not, less ye be judged", "Do unto others, as you would have done into you", etc..
Mostly, it seems people in these towns, have nothing better to do, but cause drama, talk shit, and make others lives a living hell.
What follows is a series of events, that began to break me down mentally and emotionally, and downright destroy Ian in the same.
As if finding out that your house is potentially haunted wasn't enough, the following events would make what was in our home have the ability to really take control and overpower us.
I've suffered from migraines since I was 10, diagnosed with them as well as what's referred to as, "cluster headaches". If you don't know what cluster headaches are, or never experienced one, thank whatever deities you believe in.
Experts refer to them as, "The Suicide Pain". They are so excruciating, some people have killed themselves just to stop the pain from having them. They do not know what causes or how to treat them. Today they experiment with LSD as a form of doing so and that has seemed to help some, though I never liked frying out on acid, and usually only get a cluster headache about once, or twice a year.
Things had been quiet for about maybe a week. Early on a Monday morning around 3:00 a.m. I woke with a slight throbbing at the base of my skull and I knew exactly what was to come. I curled up in the corner of the couch, covered my head with a pillow and waited. Migraine. Somewhere in there I managed to doze off through the pain.
Usually I was able to get Ian up and dressed out the door for school. He would then walk the quarter mile to his elementary school. This particular morning, I was unable to even move from the couch due to my pain.
I was awoken by a pounding on my front door, we all know that sound of knocking when it sounds like the police are about to break in?
BANG! BANG! BANG!
My front door shook, but still it was nothing compared to the pound even my head. I sluggishly tried to get up off the couch, it took me a few minutes and I made my way to the front door. Of course the bright morning sunlight blinded me. Tears stung my eyes. I opened it to find the school's principle, as well as the school counselor, standing there with a big clipboard in her hand, ink pin ready, and glaring at me.
"Yeah?", I stammered.
"Can I help you?" I inquired, trying not to cry.
The looks on their faces told me they assumed I was either on drugs, drunk or both. I looked at them and waited.
The principal, Mr Gower, looked at me, shook his head negatively and barked, "Where's Ian at Miss Purdy?"my head hurt, I was in so much pain! And all could say was, "what time is it?"
Again that look. He acted like he was speaking to someone in a mental ward.
"Do you know what day it is, Miss Purdy?"
"Well yeah, it's Monday!", I said.
" I asked you what time is was".
He said, glaring,"It's after 10:00. Where's your son?"he demanded.
I said, "You'll have to excuse me, I suffer from migraines and I was unable to get him up for school this morning. I didn't realize what time it was", I stated quietly. I felt like a little mouse about to be devoured by two angry felines. Again here were looks of disgust and disbelief, that told me they didn't believe a word I said. I obviously was lying and on some type of drug or under the influence of something. I couldn't even get mad my head hurts so bad.
I said, "Well I'm sorry! I just was unable to get him up!"
He said, "Well if you get him dressed and ready, will take him to school from here".
Why were they making such a big deal about this!? In Phoenix they wouldn't have even bothered to come to the house. I wanted them to just go away so I could go back to sleep.
"I can bring him down to the school when he gets up", I said beginning to shut the door. Again one of those looks.
"No we can take it from here, we'll wait while you get him ready".
"Fine, wait then!" I rose my voice and shut the door in their face.
"Mom can I just stay home with you", I heard Ian from behind. They had woken both kids up.
"I'm sorry kiddo but I think you better go. I'm sorry.. I'd let you stay home you know that." I said.
Ian was pissed. I could tell right away he didn't want to go anywhere with Mr Gower, or the school counselor. He angrily threw on his clothes from the day before and was out the door muttering quietly to himself. He wouldn't even look at or speak to the principal. I didn't think anything other or any more about it and laid down on the couch. Ivy had found some Pop-Tarts and came in sitting next to me, and watch TV while I went back to sleep for awhile.
I was now under the school's radar. At six, Ian had been diagnosed with ADHD and ADD, and when he was put on medication, which he despised taking.
The first one was Ritalin, and it seemed to kind of work, but not really. They tried Stratera, which was a time released medication but left Ian completely exhausted at the end of the day and unable to wake up in the morning. Next, they tried Adderall and he was six and a half when he first started talking about wanting to kill himself! So we went back to the Ritalin, but at a higher dose. It seemed to calm him down a bit, but the side effects were pretty bad for a kid his age and in his grade. He smelled like a teenager going through puberty. His armpits would stink and no matter what we tried washing and deodorant at 6 and 7 years old, he still stunk. I just considered it little boy smell. The school considered it as he wasn't bathing, and dirty.
Another and what I thought and felt was the worst side effect, was Ian was not Ian anymore! A happy little, yes excitable boy, he'd been very open, honest and talkative wanting to share his emotions and feelings with everyone around him. After Ritalin he began to close himself off and not talk about pretty much anything. Nothing about his feelings and what was going on inside. He started internalizing every emotion.
When I enrolled Ian at the only elementary school in town, I'd asked if they had ever worked with children with ADHD. They assured me that they were capable of handling it, but Ian had to take his medication, every morning in front of the principal Mr Gower. I was not aware of this wee fact until later on, and was then told if the school did not see him take it, he would have to go to a school outside of their district, and the nearest town and school for that was 27 miles away. Ian was being forced to take it, and I was feeling backed into a corner but I didn't know what to do. Ian hated every minute of it and left me feeling I had no other choice than to allow the school to administer his medication. Because of his morning visits to the principal's office he of course began to get teased and the faculty did nothing to stop any of this, of course kids are going to be kids. These grown adults, teachers and administration, you put your trust into, to teach your child and other children, not only education but values and discipline and right from wrong!
A community is supposed to nurture their children! It takes a village right? Especially in a town where you're new and it's obvious you're not liked, or who you're related to isn't liked. Ian begin to purposefully dawdle on the way to school and would show up quite late almost every morning again something I was never made aware of until later in the school year.
That's all it took was that one headache and morning of missing school for them to now be on my ass!
A couple nights later, Ian came to me and complaining of a very sore stomach. He said he didn't feel well. Ian rarely, if ever got sick and when he did he really got sick, to the point where it's scared the life out of me. I was concerned for his appendix as it doesn't show up as easily in boys as it does girl. I hadn't had a phone installed in the house yet so I trotted across the street to where I could see a neighbor's light was on. I knocked on the door and a woman about my age came and opened the door.
"Yes, can I help you", she asked.
I explain to her my situation and asked if I could use her landline. "Sure no problem! Come in and call who you need to!", She said politely with a little bit of neighborly concern.
I called my sister who said shed to try and come by later. She was home for a week's vacation and didn't seem too pleased that I bothered her.
I hung up the phone and turned to the woman standing there looking at me expectantly. So I introduced myself.
Her name was Becky, and to my luck she was in school for nursing and offered politely to maybe come over and have a look at my son. We started back over to my house just kind of getting to know each other along the way. Her husband was also a truck driver and off on the road for the time being so she spent a lot of time at home caring for his elderly mother and going to school during the day. Her husband had two children of his own and shared custody with his ex-wife and they saw them on the weekends.
We went in and I introduced her to both Ian and Budda. She told Ian she was at school to be a nurse and she liked to see where his tummy hurt. So she poked and she prodded a little bit, and said she wasn't concerned about any appendicitis. Maybe just a small stomach upset. If it got any worse or his stomach got hard or a fever came about she said she could take us to the emergency room. I was able to then to call my sister back and tell her there was no need for her to come over for which she was extremely glad.
Becky and I chatted for about another hour on the front porch, after I got the kids down in the living room. None of us were sleeping in any of the bedrooms still, just in the living room.
Our conversation ended with her offering to babysit for me, so I didn't have to pay as much as I did for overnight care.
" Before you answer though, I feel I have to inform you of something that you probably won't like. And legally, I don't want you to think I was hiding anything from you, if you heard it from someone in town," she explained, though without hesitation.
Hmmm?
I could feel one eyebrow arch, and knew I had that look on my face my mother used to get, right before she kicked the crap outta me or one of my siblings..
"Explain, then", is all I said, and again, she didn't hesitate.
One awesome thing about being an Empath? It's almost impossible to lie to one, a gift I've been grateful for. I sensed no deception as she told me her and her husband's story.
As with most teenagers, her husband, Guy, ( yes his given name was, Guy.), who at age 17 was dating a girl who was one younger than him. Her parents did not approve and did not like him so they reported the fact that they were having intercourse to the local sheriff. They arrested him, and he was charged with sex with a minor and had to register as a sex offender! That happens to a lot of people unfortunately.
The town's folk pretty much ostracized and spread rumors. They kept at the edge of town, and minded their own business. they didn't like the place and chose to move elsewhere later on. For my part I've seen it happen hundreds of times in the city. I myself at 16, 17 years old, dated guys older than me. I just didn't like guys my age. They were immature. Anyways she added that if I was curious, or wanted to verify all was on the up and up, she could give me the police report and all information containing the case. I did.
They were not ordered to be kept from seeing kids. He was not told he had to stay away from kids, he had two children with the woman in question, and married her a year later! So I didn't have a problem with it. I probably should have thought a little harder about that but I was not aware of how vile this town and the people inside of it we're, and going to become.
Later at work I mentioned in passing I'd found a new sitter that was a neighbor. Right away they brought her and her husband's name up and proceeded to say, you don't know!?!?
Then gave me their gossipy version of the story, which I had in fact lookd up at the local library. The legal records said exactly what Becky had said. I mean if there had been some restriction on him being around children he would not be allowed to have his own kids.
I pretty much shut the employee down, and told her the facts of the case, as to which was public record, and told her that facts were facts. Gossip and assumption from people who were to lazy to actually find out from the source, needed to mind their own business.
Bad Idea.
Phillipsburg at the time had a population of 2200 people, and by the next morning, 2199 of them all seemed to be aware that, "that single mom who works at Loves, and lives in "That House", was allowing a child molester and his trash wife watch her kids!
Now I'm from a huge city, and grew up where if you talked shit, especially about someone's kids be prepared to eat shit! But, I had been left pretty much alone for almost a year and kind of just shook it off.
I didn't know that had gotten that far around town and the whispers that were going on behind my back. Hell, I didn't know as of yet, how bad Becky and her husband had had it. I did however have one strike against me already moving into that town. That was my sister, and her husband, Rex.
Angel or Angelina as she was named, had moved into Phillipsburg as a single parent with two kids and one on the way. She had her daughter at home which was frowned upon, and within 2 weeks of having her, was partying, going to the bar, bringing different men home on the weekends. Her oldest child would go to school and talk about all the guys coming and going, drug abuse the fact that she couldn't pay her utilities, and had no running water. It was bad. She'd had her kids taken away, I believe by choice as she didn't fight to get them back. She wasn't very well looked upon in that town. Her husband Rex and the Brettons were considered the lowest of the low, a dirt family. But even they lookd down their nose at me. Judgmental assholes!
I wasn't even aware after working and being quiet, taking care of my kids for a year, that I was that looked down upon by this town! I was soon about to find out..
So you figure strike one having the same last name as my sister. Strike two, the school principal and counselor and my son's ADHD. Strike three,my new babysitter and telling another employee to shut their damn mouth and stay out of my business, which evidently everyone was already in!
About a week after this my son came home from school. I had just woken up from a nap, sitting with Ivy, g when he came in the door from school with an odd look on his face.
" Mom something strange just happened". Curious I asked,
What's up?"
"He said, "There's some lady down the street who asked me if I was hungry and told me that if I ever needed something to eat I should come by her house any time if I was hungry"..
I was stunned stupid. My kids were fed, they wore clean clothes to school, they were taken care of! I spent time with them when I wasn't working. I could not understand why somebody would say this to my child!
I didn't know anybody down the street, at least not personally, maybe in passing from the store I worked, at but I was not on friendly terms with really anybody in the town except Becky.
I was pissed!
I said, "Show me where!"
We walked just another block down the street to where I knew one of my neighbors Melissa, from the store, who was standing on her front porch talking to this woman in question, another Becky.
I clearly marched right up to her and got about an inch from her face madder than hell ready for a fight. "Who the hell do you think you are!? I don't know you, you don't know me from shit! How dare you approach someone's child and say the things that you said without knowing anything about them!?!" I demanded.
She didn't respond, but Melissa did. "Oh come off of it Mary! We all know about your whoring around, your little cocaine habit, and your alcoholism!" She said shaking her head like I was a twin year old. Again stupefication... what the hell was wrong with these people!? and where the hell were they getting their information from? I've often said assumption should be the 8th deadly sin, this is one reason it proves it to me! I turned and faced Melissa and got right in her face.
I said, "I don't know who you've been talking to because I don't talk to anybody and you sure as hell don't come to my house! Once in awhile I'll have a drink yes, I'm over 21, I haven't done cocaine since I was 20, my kids are fed, they wear clean clothes and they go to school! what more do you need to know? I don't know you or anybody in this town! I am not related to you and I don't speak to you and I don't converse with anybody in this town! Maybe you should take your nose, keep it out of my ass and my business, or be sure I'm going to shove it so far up your ass you can't breathe!"
I grabbed Ian by the arm and we turned around and went back home. I was furious! Upon entering the house my anger only got escalated by tenfold.I was so angry I was shaking and I wanted to hit something, anything! Both Ian and ivy sat quietly on the couch watching me. The look on their faces said plainly they were scared. And scared of me. They'd never looked at me like that before. I took a deep breath shaking and tried to get control of my temper. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of whiskey I kept on the top of the fridge, and downed a shot. I paced back and forth, turn the stereo on loudly, then just sat down at the dining room table to breathe. It took me about 15 minutes to calm down. I looked up and Ian and ivy were both standing in the kitchen doorway watching me and with that beautiful face, Ian asks, "Are you okay Mom",
I said, "Yeah I'll be fine. People in small towns just don't stay out of your business and they can be mean sometimes. He looked at me like I was stupid and rolled his eyes. "I kind of figured that out already mom", he said. He frowned at the whiskey bottle.
Ivy walked over got on my lap and hugged me. She asked, Are you mad at us?"
My heart melted. I could see in both of their eyes, they were a little unsure if I was okay or not, and a little fearful. I gave them both huge hugs and just held them.
"Of course I'm not mad at either one of you guys! You didn't do anything wrong! My temper gets the best of me with stupid people. I'm sorry if I scared you". They hugged back and we all went into the living room and just tried to forget the past incidents, though it kept nagging at me in the back of my head.
About an hour and a half later was time for the kids to go to Becky's and for me to start getting ready for work. I dropped them off, big hugs and kisses told them to be a good little children, which they always were and was getting ready to leave when Becky said,
"Hey I'm going to run into Hayes tomorrow, do you want to come with me, maybe do some grocery shopping or something?"
"YES!" I exclaimed, anything to get out of that town for a little bit. I could pick up some stuff for the kids at Walmart as well.
"Okay, I want to leave about 9:00 cuz I have to stop by the college and pick up an assignment from one of my professors, and then we can go have lunch from there. It sounded like a plan to me, and the kids would have fun I thought.
I told her we'd be there at 9, and the next day we were on our way to Hays..
****
End of Part 3
© M.E.Purdy
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