A young pre-teen girl writes about herself and her family. She was featured in one of my "Open Your Minds" series about child abuse: her father abused her and her family, and now she and her grandmother, mother, and two younger sisters live somewhere else while the father is in jail. They now live in Nashville, having moved there from Chattanooga a few months ago.
Tamantha Dawn Davis is my name, and I am 11 years old. I live in an apartment with my mom, Peggy, and my two younger sisters, Jordan, who is nine, and six-and-a-half-year-old Trysta. Our NeeNee Grace, who is mom's mom, lives with us too. We used to live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but we now live in Nashville; we moved here a few months back, and I like it a lot better.
My dad, Arthur, is in jail right now; this is why we moved. He is in jail because he abused mom, my sisters, and myself; and once he hit little Trysta so hard he knocked her out and put her into the hospital with a concussion. He also touched us girls in our "secret places", and now we don't trust our dad anymore. He hurt us in a way no father should, and he made us feel dirty and worthless; and now we have bad dreams of his touching us. He was a very mean and bad man, and I find it hard to like him, let alone, love him.
I try not to think about dad, but it is hard NOT to. Every day, I fear he is going to get out of jail and start hitting mom or us girls again, and I am afraid he is going to end up killing one of us when he gets into one of his drunken rages. He drinks, and when he drinks, he is especially nasty. He also stinks, and I don't like it when he drinks. I also fear that dad will do his "touching games" with us, and this is why I don't like to go to bed in just my nightgown anymore. When I go to bed now, I wear the clothes I had on all day, and I lock my bedroom door, for fear dad will come in and hurt me. Or my younger sisters.
Dad is in jail back in Chattanooga, and we moved here to Nashville so we could be as far away from him as possible. I like Nashville: the people are nicer, and I like the kids I have met. My best friend, as a matter of fact, lives in Nashville, and her name is Gemini. I met her at a gymnastics meet in Chattanooga a few years back, and she and I hit it off. (I like to compete in gymnastics, too.) She is really good at what she does, and she has won a few NATIONAL titles, and has even won GOLD medals! She could be in the Olympics, she is that good! She can do all those fancy Olympic gymnastic moves, and it is absolutely AMAZING just to see her in action!
I have met Gemini's family before, and whenever I leave, I always cry because they are so nice to me. They are very nice, the parents, and they always make sure I feel good and am happy. They make cookies when I go over to Gemini's house, and I love meeting all her brothers and sisters. Gemini's mom and dad adopted a whole bunch of kids (Gemini, included) from different parts of the world, and Gemini, herself, came from Japan. Her brothers and sisters are all nice, too, and I love being with them. I wish Gemini could be my sister or her parents be my mom and dad, but right now, all I have is NeeNee Grace (my grandmother) and my mom, as well as my two little sisters, Jordan and Trysta.
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Reviewed by serenety L
9/29/2003
A sad story Karen. Hope the little girl will overcome her fears and will be able to lead a normal life one day.
Excellent write.
Nico
depressing Karen, life isn't fair sometimes and your story expresses one of those times when it's not. I know many case that fit your story. When I worked the streets of Bmore I saw plenty of this. hugs warm hugs caring hugs G
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