Chapter 13 - "Thank U" - Fergie's Story
April 24th, 2000 - Tulsa, Oklahoma

"Kids! It's dinner time!" I called out, placing the sixth plate on the table. Within seconds MacArthy and Kestrel were at the table, with their hands placed together. Mozzie came running into the room about thirty seconds later.
Skipper walked into the room and kissed me on the cheek. "Oooh, what do you call this honey?" he asked, sitting across from me at the table.
"Steak and veggies darling," I replied, smiling.
"Amazing," he said, shaking his head. "How *do* you manage to come up with these dishes?"
There was a silence, as we all waited for Elizabeth to join us at the table. MacArthy began to pound on the table with his fist. I gave him a look, and he stopped. "Liz, honey?" I called.
"Come down! Your dinner's getting cold!" Skipper yelled.
A couple of seconds later Elizabeth joined us at the table. "Sorry," she said, sliding into her seat. "Aaron was on MTV..."
I raised my eyebrows and Skipper ignored her. "Thank you Lord for the food you've placed on the table for us. Thank you for keeping us all safe and together as a family unit. Amen."
"Amen," we repeated and began to tuck into our food.
"Dad?" MacArthy began. "It's Johnny's birthday party next weekend and he's having it at the water-slides. Can I go?"
"Johnny Aitken from down the street?" Skipper asked. MacArthy nodded. "I suppose so."
"Can I have money for a present?" MacArthy asked.
"Sure Mackie, I'll give you fifteen dollars later," I replied.
There was a silence. "Mommy?" Kestrel asked. "Can I watch Southpark tonight? It's on at 8:00, a special 1 hour special for kids."
I nodded. "Well, if it's a kid's hour, I think that would be fine."
Elizabeth and Kestrel glanced at each other with knowing smiles.

*******************

"So come on down to Southpark and meet some friends of mine...." the TV sang.
I sat down in front of the television with Skipper, Elizabeth and Kestrel. I'd just put MacArthy to bed and I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing in front of the television with a nice cup of coffee. Although Southpark had been on television for two years, I hadn't gotten around to watching it until tonight. I had heard rumours about it's unsavoury material, but surely the Comedy Channel wouldn't put a *cartoon* on so early in the evening, if it weren't suitable for children.
A nice man in a green jumper was holding up a puppet and trying to teach some children. "So children, what did you learn from that episode of The Love Boat?"
And people wondered why we homeschooled our children. The show was really quite delightful. The nice teacher had a puppet called Mr. Twig, who he spoke to a lot and the children were a bit cheeky, but sweet. Everything was going lovely until the fat boy said -
"Give me my fucking cheesy-poofs!"
Skipper and I looked at one another in shock. Skipper recovered first and grabbed the remote control. "What sort of programming is this?" he fumed at the girls, changing the channels. "Why would they show a show with that sort of language so early in the night, if at all? Sometimes I don't know why we even *get* cable?"
Elizabeth looked at us with wide eyes. "I don't know why we even wanted to watch it, Daddy. If we had known it was going to be so rude...." she began sweetly.
Kestrel frowned. "We wouldn't have asked to watch it at all."
Elizabeth and Kestrel glanced at each other and smiled.
"That's okay girls," I said. "I know you'd never choose to watch a show like this."
Skipper was still urgently changing the channel. Finally he got back to free-to-air TV. NBC, CNN, ABC.... That wasn't.....
Skipper stopped changing the channel and stared at ABC. Three of our children (and no prizes for guessing which ones) were on the screen singing some sort of rubbish about a baby girl. "What program is this?" Skipper asked, his voice shaking in rage.
Elizabeth picked up the TV guide and looked through it. "Oprah," she read. "A special on the lost Manson siblings...."
"How lovely," I said slowly. I looked at Skipper. What were our children doing, singing on Oprah? They weren't exactly famous anymore. They weren't telling her about.....? No, they wouldn't do that.
Skipper turned to the girls. "It's getting late. How about you two go up to bed."
Elizabeth looked surprised. "It's five past eight, Daddy," she protested. "My bedtime in 9:00 and Kestrel's is 8:30."
"Then go and do your homework," he said, urgently.
"We don't have any homework. We've done it all," Kestrel explained.
I gave Skipper a look. There was no point in sending them away. I was sure..... The door bell rang. "Elizabeth, would you get that?" I asked nicely.
Elizabeth obliged. After all, the show *was* in an ad-break. I heard a scream. Elizabeth? Skipper and I got up to run to the door. Walking quickly down hallway were two policemen. "Fergie Manson?" one asked, cuffing me. I nodded and looked over at Skipper, who was also being put in handcuffs. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say, can and will be used against in the court of law," the policeman said.
"I think you've made some sort of mistake," Skipper said, looking over at Elizabeth and Kestrel, who were standing in the doorway. "We haven't done anything wrong. We're good Christians and law-abiding citizens." I nodded in agreement.
"Well if the stuff your kids have been saying is true, nothing could be further from the truth," the policeman holding Skipper said, laughing bitterly.
"Please," I begged. "Our children are here and they're too young to look after themselves. They need us...."
"Well, we'll take care of them too, put them in foster homes," the policeman holding me replied.
Foster homes? They couldn't put my babies in foster homes! "Please," I continued. "If you have to take us away, then call our son, Neuton. He'll look after them until we come back."
"*That* we will do..." the policeman replied.
"Good bye sweethearts," Skipper said to Elizabeth and Kestrel, who were looking on in horror.
"Mommy and Daddy will be back in the morning," I called out, making a kissing noise as I was hauled out the door.