Today the neighborhood boys attempt to kill Brian & ritually kill two baby goats in front of him, & Ann begins Computer College.
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 26...HELL
Brian was a heavy frustration to me. I felt uncomfortable around him and yet he was a child and I had to mother him and make sure that he got love and his needs met. Two days after I had met Bruce, two friends of his, a husband and a wife, came to tell me that they suspected that another friend of Bruce's, an old Jim, had been molesting Brian since he was two years old. Brian also suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and his intelligence level was just enough for him to go to a special school to have his needs met. Brian was an engaging, funny little boy, but he had poor impulse control.
Our Santee neighborhood was run by a gang of boys who "worshipped Satan." They thought they were real tough and made every single house in the neighborhood afraid of them. One day about nine boys and girls took Brian and had him smoke Marijuana, then when he was good and stoned, they started to pour alcohol down his throat. Brian cooperated because he was the center of attention, and they didn't stop until he got really drunk. That afternoon Brian walked across the kitchen floor and I saw his staggered gait-he was on Mellaril, and alcohol and Mellaril are a deadly combinaton-I asked him what he had been doing and he told me what the boys had done to him. I immediately knew there was a big problem and grabbed him and screamed to his father to get his medical cards and the truck right NOW! We got him to the hospital, but Brian died three times before resuscitation was successful. At first, the police were going to arrest Bruce for attempted homicide, but we told them what had happened, and they went after the neighborhood boys and girls who had participated.
After that, we started a Neighborhood Watch Program in the neighborhood and all of the other neighbors and ourselves vowed that we would stand together and protect each other and all of our properties. In retaliation for this, the neighborhood boys came over our fence one afternoon, when Brian was alone in the yard, and killed our three baby goats in front of him and even drank some of the goat's blood. It was a terrible thing for the little boy and the goats; we pressed charges against the neighborhood boys, and they were found guilty and were put on probation.
The neighborhood boys really got under Bruce's skin, which I could understand, but Bruce began to do stupid little stunts back, just to laugh in their faces. Suffice it to say that the neighborhood was tough and became tougher, and I went out of my mind with the stress of never knowing what I was going to come home to find.
Bruce had been totally disabled on a construction job four years before we met, but he went onto welfare to get help with raising his children instead of trying for disability. In some ways Bruce was a little slow, in other ways, he was very smart, and he was certainly talented; truly a jack of all trades. We began the struggle to get Social Security benefits for him but it took us six years from the time we got together to be successful.
At the same time, I couldn't get computers out of my mind, and I determined to find a way to go to Coleman College, in La Mesa, to study computer programming. The welfare department had given both Bruce and I the same worker, Mrs. Hunten, and she said that I could go to school full time if I only had some little job also. I passed the testing to get into the college and the college admitted me in January 1983. The college also gave me a small job cutting out classified ads for the job scrapbook the school kept. I was so happy at school, it would last nine months, and every day was precious to me. It seemed to me that if I didn't get myself a career in a good field, very soon, that I could never give my now huge family a step up in life. I put blindfolds on and pressed forward. If I did very well, in only nine months I would be able to program in seven languages, and receive a Certificate in Computer Science. If I had had an Associate's Degree previously, I could have graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree, but I didn't have one, so the best I could do was a Certificate. To me that sounded like heaven.
I was happy at Coleman College and did very well. I loved computers as much as I had imagined that I would. I stayed at school to finish getting my programs to run, and then I would rush home to see what had happened on the home front.
Becky was living at home and going to a special school, so there was a total of six children in the home; their resistance to Bruce and I was incredible. They seemed to hate each other, yet put their heads together to try to force our little family to split up. Bruce's children were not used to structure in the home, and my girls didn't want to be told by Bruce what to do.
You know, my friend, I've been trying to tell you my story in some kind of logical manner and order, and I'm losing control of the different parts right here. Maybe that's because life was out of control at that time. I hung onto computers as if they were a lifeline. They were, to my sanity.
Tomorrow, Ann graduates from computer college and then drives to Iowa to get her boys. She gets a job as an engineer and the beginning of our gold mining claims were staked.
THE GOD GAMES: Heaven & Hell...Chapter 26...HELL
Brian was a heavy frustration to me. I felt uncomfortable around him and yet he was a child and I had to mother him and make sure that he got love and his needs met. Two days after I had met Bruce, two friends of his, a husband and a wife, came to tell me that they suspected that another friend of Bruce's, an old Jim, had been molesting Brian since he was two years old. Brian also suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and his intelligence level was just enough for him to go to a special school to have his needs met. Brian was an engaging, funny little boy, but he had poor impulse control.
Our Santee neighborhood was run by a gang of boys who "worshipped Satan." They thought they were real tough and made every single house in the neighborhood afraid of them. One day about nine boys and girls took Brian and had him smoke Marijuana, then when he was good and stoned, they started to pour alcohol down his throat. Brian cooperated because he was the center of attention, and they didn't stop until he got really drunk. That afternoon Brian walked across the kitchen floor and I saw his staggered gait-he was on Mellaril, and alcohol and Mellaril are a deadly combinaton-I asked him what he had been doing and he told me what the boys had done to him. I immediately knew there was a big problem and grabbed him and screamed to his father to get his medical cards and the truck right NOW! We got him to the hospital, but Brian died three times before resuscitation was successful. At first, the police were going to arrest Bruce for attempted homicide, but we told them what had happened, and they went after the neighborhood boys and girls who had participated.
After that, we started a Neighborhood Watch Program in the neighborhood and all of the other neighbors and ourselves vowed that we would stand together and protect each other and all of our properties. In retaliation for this, the neighborhood boys came over our fence one afternoon, when Brian was alone in the yard, and killed our three baby goats in front of him and even drank some of the goat's blood. It was a terrible thing for the little boy and the goats; we pressed charges against the neighborhood boys, and they were found guilty and were put on probation.
The neighborhood boys really got under Bruce's skin, which I could understand, but Bruce began to do stupid little stunts back, just to laugh in their faces. Suffice it to say that the neighborhood was tough and became tougher, and I went out of my mind with the stress of never knowing what I was going to come home to find.
Bruce had been totally disabled on a construction job four years before we met, but he went onto welfare to get help with raising his children instead of trying for disability. In some ways Bruce was a little slow, in other ways, he was very smart, and he was certainly talented; truly a jack of all trades. We began the struggle to get Social Security benefits for him but it took us six years from the time we got together to be successful.
At the same time, I couldn't get computers out of my mind, and I determined to find a way to go to Coleman College, in La Mesa, to study computer programming. The welfare department had given both Bruce and I the same worker, Mrs. Hunten, and she said that I could go to school full time if I only had some little job also. I passed the testing to get into the college and the college admitted me in January 1983. The college also gave me a small job cutting out classified ads for the job scrapbook the school kept. I was so happy at school, it would last nine months, and every day was precious to me. It seemed to me that if I didn't get myself a career in a good field, very soon, that I could never give my now huge family a step up in life. I put blindfolds on and pressed forward. If I did very well, in only nine months I would be able to program in seven languages, and receive a Certificate in Computer Science. If I had had an Associate's Degree previously, I could have graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree, but I didn't have one, so the best I could do was a Certificate. To me that sounded like heaven.
I was happy at Coleman College and did very well. I loved computers as much as I had imagined that I would. I stayed at school to finish getting my programs to run, and then I would rush home to see what had happened on the home front.
Becky was living at home and going to a special school, so there was a total of six children in the home; their resistance to Bruce and I was incredible. They seemed to hate each other, yet put their heads together to try to force our little family to split up. Bruce's children were not used to structure in the home, and my girls didn't want to be told by Bruce what to do.
You know, my friend, I've been trying to tell you my story in some kind of logical manner and order, and I'm losing control of the different parts right here. Maybe that's because life was out of control at that time. I hung onto computers as if they were a lifeline. They were, to my sanity.
Tomorrow, Ann graduates from computer college and then drives to Iowa to get her boys. She gets a job as an engineer and the beginning of our gold mining claims were staked.
No comments:
Post a Comment