(no subject)
Apr. 10th, 2008 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rimturseCut for length.
And the
"The girl from the farm outside the village."
She comes up to me one day after school and asks if I'll play with her. I don't remember seing her before, but she must be in one of the classes above me. She seems nice, tall, blonde, with a soft voice and a sweet smile. I say, yes.
She say we can go to her place. I'm not really sure where she lives and how long it'll take to get there, so when I see my friends playing on a field next to my house, I suggest we join them. She doesn't say anything, just nods.
We head toward the field, it's cold and the water that had gathered in one corner during the thaw a few days ago is frozen, making a perfect ice-skating ring. Everyone is having a good time. That is, until we come. Laura races towards us on her old tattered skates, coming to a perfect arched halt right infront of us, spraying ice on our boots. She stares hard at the girl, "You know I could chop off your toes just like that with my skates."
"Laura!" I'm utterly shocked and completely mystified. I look at the girl, but she just stands there, not saying a word.
"Why don't you just go away?", Laura asks.
I get angry. "We're staying!"
The other kids are suddenly busy looking everywhere but at us and have retreated to the opposite edge of the ice.
Laura snorts. "Suit yourself, but do you know who that is?"
I don't and at that moment I'm wondering if I know who Laura is. I'm also young and naive enough to discreetly look at the girl to see if she's maybe carrying some kind of fatal, contagious and ugly disease that'll lead us all to a slow painful death, which is the only reason I think of for Laura's behaviour. The girl looks quite normal.
The girl tugs my sleeve, "Let's just go."
I look at her. "No, they can't tell us what to do."
"Really, I just want to go. We can go to my place."
We bike to her place. It's far away. I ask why she doesn't take the schoolbus, but she just shakes her head. Her home is nice. We sit in the kitchen, she serves milk in mugs. The mugs are placed on a shelf above the kitchen counter. Everyone in the family has his or her own mug with their name on it. That's how I find out she had a brother. There is also a mug for guests. I think it's terribly cool. We're silent for a while before my curiosity gets the better of me.
"Are you sick?"
"Sick?" She gives me a surprised look.
"Yeah, because you know, back there. Maybe Laura was scared of catching something from you?"
The girl stares out the window. "I'm not sick."
"But why -"
"People don't like me."
"But your family -"
She shakes her head.
I'm not sure what to say, "I think you're nice."
She's twisting her mug round and round in her hands. We talk, I forget the exact conversation, but she says that her mother and brother don't like her and her father hates her and "sort of like beats her, but it doesn't hurt that much", but she's very vague about it.
I remember the end of the afternoon, though.
"Oh no! My mom will be here any minute!"
"Do we need to wash the mugs before she comes?"
"No! I'll do the mugs. You have to leave!"
She almost pushes me out the door, I just have time to put on my boots and then I'm biking down the road at full speed, half scared of the girl getting caught having visitors, half scared what the mom might do to me if she sees me. At the same time I'm trying to get my head around the fact that a family with cosy kitchens and mugs with names on them could be so mean to each other.
The next day in school, I invite the girl to my place, just the two of us, but she declines. She also doesn't want to go to her place, even when I promise I'll be out way before her mom comes home. In fact she avoids me like the plague. Once I see her coming down the hallway, meeting my eyes and then abruptly turning around to walk in the other direction. I stop seeking her out and after a while her presence fades away. I don't know if they moved or if I simply stopped noticing her, just as I had never noticed her before she asked me to play with her. My friends never mentioned her, even Laura was acting as if the whole incident never happened. I've later asked my parents about her and her family, but they don't know who I'm talking about. The only thing my mom remembers is that one day she came home and didn't find me at home or with my friends. I've even forgotten the girl's name. It's as if she never exsisted...and yet she was there, for a moment in time. Blonde, tall and with a sweet smile.
--------------------
Looking back at this through the eyes of an adult, it's a difficult memory. I must have told my parents about the girl's family not being nice to her, but since I didn't really understand what was going on, I'm also sure that the way I told it, didn't give my parents cause for alarm.
There are many uncertainties. I cannot say for sure that the girl was abused - or that if she was that the authorities and the school were not already involved, but I would like to know what happened to her.
And the
"The girl from the farm outside the village."
She comes up to me one day after school and asks if I'll play with her. I don't remember seing her before, but she must be in one of the classes above me. She seems nice, tall, blonde, with a soft voice and a sweet smile. I say, yes.
She say we can go to her place. I'm not really sure where she lives and how long it'll take to get there, so when I see my friends playing on a field next to my house, I suggest we join them. She doesn't say anything, just nods.
We head toward the field, it's cold and the water that had gathered in one corner during the thaw a few days ago is frozen, making a perfect ice-skating ring. Everyone is having a good time. That is, until we come. Laura races towards us on her old tattered skates, coming to a perfect arched halt right infront of us, spraying ice on our boots. She stares hard at the girl, "You know I could chop off your toes just like that with my skates."
"Laura!" I'm utterly shocked and completely mystified. I look at the girl, but she just stands there, not saying a word.
"Why don't you just go away?", Laura asks.
I get angry. "We're staying!"
The other kids are suddenly busy looking everywhere but at us and have retreated to the opposite edge of the ice.
Laura snorts. "Suit yourself, but do you know who that is?"
I don't and at that moment I'm wondering if I know who Laura is. I'm also young and naive enough to discreetly look at the girl to see if she's maybe carrying some kind of fatal, contagious and ugly disease that'll lead us all to a slow painful death, which is the only reason I think of for Laura's behaviour. The girl looks quite normal.
The girl tugs my sleeve, "Let's just go."
I look at her. "No, they can't tell us what to do."
"Really, I just want to go. We can go to my place."
We bike to her place. It's far away. I ask why she doesn't take the schoolbus, but she just shakes her head. Her home is nice. We sit in the kitchen, she serves milk in mugs. The mugs are placed on a shelf above the kitchen counter. Everyone in the family has his or her own mug with their name on it. That's how I find out she had a brother. There is also a mug for guests. I think it's terribly cool. We're silent for a while before my curiosity gets the better of me.
"Are you sick?"
"Sick?" She gives me a surprised look.
"Yeah, because you know, back there. Maybe Laura was scared of catching something from you?"
The girl stares out the window. "I'm not sick."
"But why -"
"People don't like me."
"But your family -"
She shakes her head.
I'm not sure what to say, "I think you're nice."
She's twisting her mug round and round in her hands. We talk, I forget the exact conversation, but she says that her mother and brother don't like her and her father hates her and "sort of like beats her, but it doesn't hurt that much", but she's very vague about it.
I remember the end of the afternoon, though.
"Oh no! My mom will be here any minute!"
"Do we need to wash the mugs before she comes?"
"No! I'll do the mugs. You have to leave!"
She almost pushes me out the door, I just have time to put on my boots and then I'm biking down the road at full speed, half scared of the girl getting caught having visitors, half scared what the mom might do to me if she sees me. At the same time I'm trying to get my head around the fact that a family with cosy kitchens and mugs with names on them could be so mean to each other.
The next day in school, I invite the girl to my place, just the two of us, but she declines. She also doesn't want to go to her place, even when I promise I'll be out way before her mom comes home. In fact she avoids me like the plague. Once I see her coming down the hallway, meeting my eyes and then abruptly turning around to walk in the other direction. I stop seeking her out and after a while her presence fades away. I don't know if they moved or if I simply stopped noticing her, just as I had never noticed her before she asked me to play with her. My friends never mentioned her, even Laura was acting as if the whole incident never happened. I've later asked my parents about her and her family, but they don't know who I'm talking about. The only thing my mom remembers is that one day she came home and didn't find me at home or with my friends. I've even forgotten the girl's name. It's as if she never exsisted...and yet she was there, for a moment in time. Blonde, tall and with a sweet smile.
--------------------
Looking back at this through the eyes of an adult, it's a difficult memory. I must have told my parents about the girl's family not being nice to her, but since I didn't really understand what was going on, I'm also sure that the way I told it, didn't give my parents cause for alarm.
There are many uncertainties. I cannot say for sure that the girl was abused - or that if she was that the authorities and the school were not already involved, but I would like to know what happened to her.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-04-10 02:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-10 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-10 04:41 pm (UTC)Sorry!
no subject
Date: 2008-04-11 08:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-04-10 05:00 pm (UTC)We became friends and I was invited to spend the night at her house one weekend. At the time I didn't understand some odd things and behaviors on her part but it turned out that what my friends said was correct (no, nothing happened to me) and I was a little weirded out. I don't remember seeing her again after that.
Looking back now I'm almost positive the girl was being molested by her father. I wish I could go back in time and save her and get her some help.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-11 08:21 am (UTC)