.:Chapter Two - When The World Comes Crashing Down:.
.:A year passed when Mother stopped her job at Shirley's Place and decided to go to a strip club instead. I soon found out why she had changed her jobs; it was for the new boyfriend she had who was to live with us:.
.:In reality, my mother and her new boyfriend had been seeing each other on and off for months, but she had been ashamed to bring him home:.
.:I was sitting in the living room, watching the battered, black and white television we had when Mother and her new boyfriend entered the house:.
.:"Colvin.....Hope, git in here and meet ya new Daddy, brother in law!" she cried, and I looked at the huge man beside her. He was tall, almost six foot three, with scraggly dark hair and stone gray eyes. He had a thick stubble of dark hair under his chin and on his cheeks:.
.:"What do you mean...brother in law?" Hope flared, glaring angrily at her sister:.
.:"This here is ma new husband. Jim Lanely. Jim, this is my idiot sister Hope whose doomed to be a spinster...and that little shit over there is my lil bastard child I should have left on the corner of da street," she said. Even though I was only six, I winced at her words:.
.:Jim was to stay with us for good. He resented me, as Mother had, the first day he laid eyes on me. I did not realize that something else had sparkled into his eyes when he saw me and Hope...and I hoped my mother would burn to hell if she knew he would do this!:.
.:I was in my room one evening, if you called it a room. It was as small as a closest about, but I loved to sit on the floor and color with a box of crayons Hope had gotten me for my birthday. The door opened and I looked up to see Jim, who was staggering and smelled deeply of alcohol:.
.:Even that young, I knew what alcohol was, for I smelled it all the time because Mother was a heavy drinker. He leered at me, grinning, showing me his yellow teeth. I was scared to death. So scared I was frozen to my seat on the floor:.
.:"What ya drawing, boy?" he asked, staggering into the small room. I looked down at the picture I had drawn. It was a picture of Hope, with a halo and wings...I had drawn her the best I could. Two small light blue dots for her eyes, and brown hair:.
.:"Hope," I said, and he laughed:.
.:"Hope? Ah hell...I just had my way with Hope," he said. I didn't know what he was talking about, and he knew that:.
.:"Say...stand up there boy...let me look at ya," he said:.
.:I was scared stiff, so I stood, thinking he would get terribly angry if I didn't...His eyes surveyed me for a long moment, then he smiled and pushed me back onto the bed:.
.:"Now boy...this won't hurt a bit," he said, as he began to undo his belt. His belt! Mother beat me with a belt sometimes and my eyes were locked in horror on that belt. He saw how the belt held my attention and smiled cruelly. He undid his pants and kept the belt in his hands, as if any moment he would slap me with it like Mother did so often for no reason:.
.:"Take off yer pants," he said, and I shook my head. I didn't want him to see me naked, even if he was a man! He scowled, brought his hand that held the belt back. I quivered and quickly pulled down my pajama pants and underwear. He smiled and then threw me back against the headboard so it hit my head and made it ache:.
.:Then he was on me, his hands touching my private parts. Hot tears ran down my cheeks when he squeezed and pulled, and then pinched, for his hands were rough and he wasn't being gentle...I didn't know what he was doing, and I didn't want to know. All I knew was I felt pain. He came into my room twice a week to make me take off my pants so he could pinch and squeeze me. Bruises and red blotches were left, but he didn't care:.
.:A year passed when Mother stopped her job at Shirley's Place and decided to go to a strip club instead. I soon found out why she had changed her jobs; it was for the new boyfriend she had who was to live with us:.
.:In reality, my mother and her new boyfriend had been seeing each other on and off for months, but she had been ashamed to bring him home:.
.:I was sitting in the living room, watching the battered, black and white television we had when Mother and her new boyfriend entered the house:.
.:"Colvin.....Hope, git in here and meet ya new Daddy, brother in law!" she cried, and I looked at the huge man beside her. He was tall, almost six foot three, with scraggly dark hair and stone gray eyes. He had a thick stubble of dark hair under his chin and on his cheeks:.
.:"What do you mean...brother in law?" Hope flared, glaring angrily at her sister:.
.:"This here is ma new husband. Jim Lanely. Jim, this is my idiot sister Hope whose doomed to be a spinster...and that little shit over there is my lil bastard child I should have left on the corner of da street," she said. Even though I was only six, I winced at her words:.
.:Jim was to stay with us for good. He resented me, as Mother had, the first day he laid eyes on me. I did not realize that something else had sparkled into his eyes when he saw me and Hope...and I hoped my mother would burn to hell if she knew he would do this!:.
.:I was in my room one evening, if you called it a room. It was as small as a closest about, but I loved to sit on the floor and color with a box of crayons Hope had gotten me for my birthday. The door opened and I looked up to see Jim, who was staggering and smelled deeply of alcohol:.
.:Even that young, I knew what alcohol was, for I smelled it all the time because Mother was a heavy drinker. He leered at me, grinning, showing me his yellow teeth. I was scared to death. So scared I was frozen to my seat on the floor:.
.:"What ya drawing, boy?" he asked, staggering into the small room. I looked down at the picture I had drawn. It was a picture of Hope, with a halo and wings...I had drawn her the best I could. Two small light blue dots for her eyes, and brown hair:.
.:"Hope," I said, and he laughed:.
.:"Hope? Ah hell...I just had my way with Hope," he said. I didn't know what he was talking about, and he knew that:.
.:"Say...stand up there boy...let me look at ya," he said:.
.:I was scared stiff, so I stood, thinking he would get terribly angry if I didn't...His eyes surveyed me for a long moment, then he smiled and pushed me back onto the bed:.
.:"Now boy...this won't hurt a bit," he said, as he began to undo his belt. His belt! Mother beat me with a belt sometimes and my eyes were locked in horror on that belt. He saw how the belt held my attention and smiled cruelly. He undid his pants and kept the belt in his hands, as if any moment he would slap me with it like Mother did so often for no reason:.
.:"Take off yer pants," he said, and I shook my head. I didn't want him to see me naked, even if he was a man! He scowled, brought his hand that held the belt back. I quivered and quickly pulled down my pajama pants and underwear. He smiled and then threw me back against the headboard so it hit my head and made it ache:.
.:Then he was on me, his hands touching my private parts. Hot tears ran down my cheeks when he squeezed and pulled, and then pinched, for his hands were rough and he wasn't being gentle...I didn't know what he was doing, and I didn't want to know. All I knew was I felt pain. He came into my room twice a week to make me take off my pants so he could pinch and squeeze me. Bruises and red blotches were left, but he didn't care:.