THE DEHYDRATED BABY (chapter 5)

Unwanted as a child, despised as a little kid
punished day in, day out, for everything I did,
no matter how I tried to do the best I could
even my best behavior seemed misunderstood.

When I was four or maybe even five
a nightmare came upon me I was lucky to survive,
I used to wet the bed, as many children do
but I found out how wrong it was and let me tell it to you.

My father he was mean, as mean as mean can be
and he decided that his job  was to toilet train me,
so he said he had the cure and he’d fix it in a blink
he decided not to feed me nor could I have a drink.

I used to catch some rain at night, while my father slept
in a little tiny tin, that by my bed was kept,
he locked my bedroom door so I could not escape
I’d open up my window and some droplets I would scrape.

I had to be so quiet as this crime I did commit
or my life it may have ended, with one almighty hit,
so I got my drink real quietly, as quiet as a mouse
so neither mum, nor dad, would hear it was silence in the house.

I went to bed quite hungry and thirsty as can be
as this plan he put in place, to toilet train me,
the first night was not so bad, the second went quite fast
but after almost fourteen days I thought I’d breathed my last.

I couldn’t talk or stand or even see a thing
my body shook, my back was sore, a really painful thing,
so my mother took me to the Doc to see what he could do
“it looks like dehydration maam, and perhaps starvation too.”

When questioned at the hospital about how this occurred
the untruth that my father told was really quite absurd,
he said that I refused to eat or drink and he did the best he could
the Doctors there were kind to him and said they understood.

They checked my height and checked my weight
then thanked him for taking me before it was too late,
I had lost a bit, yes I’d lost a bit of weight,
two thirds of my tiny frame, because I never ate.

They said they’d have to keep me there several weeks or more
and after half an hour my parents walked out the door,
I was sad to see them go but I couldn’t see so much
and my entire tiny body was really sore to touch.

So time went by and maybe six months down the track
my mother and siblings came, but dad did not come back,
I had made some real great friends and I even fell in love,
with a pretty nurse named Jasmine, she was my little turtle dove.

She was always very kind to me, smiling when she came
and she’d stay with me for hours and we’d often play a game,
so I started to pull loose teeth out and hide them in my bed
and when the tooth fairy gave me money, I’d save it so we could wed.

but all too soon after seven months of cheer
finally came the words  that I did not want to hear,
“you are all better now, we’ll send you home today”
I will never forget the tears I shed, I really wanted to stay.

This is Chapter 5 of "A Bad Start" the "Childhood Series" of my autobiography.

This happened to me just before my first year of school, I was turning 5yo. I hardly gained any weight for the next 10 years and was always the smallest. I missed six months of school so I failed grade one….A great start to my “education.” Pic is from Google images

Copyright (c)2015 Rick Thwaites