The Road Not Taken

Chapter 26

June 6, 1974

When Sam arrived home for summer break, he walked into a very chilly scene. His sister had called the day before to request that no one contact her again. She was cutting off all ties to her family.

Thelma and John Beckett had not taken this news well. They'd tried to get Katie to tell them what was wrong, begging her to talk about it first. Katie had been adamant, hanging up on her mother. When they tried to call back, the phone was never picked up.

Now Thelma Beckett looked a wreck and John wasn't doing any better. Sam decided to take matters into his own hands. Finding out where Katie and Chuck lived, he decided to pay them a visit, cut ties or not.

When Sam pulled up to the house, he noticed that everything was exactly perfect on the outside of the home. The grass was neatly cut, the walk swept clean, even the flowers on the porch seemed more picture perfect than a simple burst of color on the stoop. He walked to the door and knocked. No answer. He walked around to the garage and peeked in the window. There was a single car parked there. Going back to the front door, he knocked again, a little louder. Same response. None.

Sam went back to his car. Perhaps they'd gone out with some friends. He started up the car and pulled away. He decided to stop at the hardware store and call his mother to find out who those 'friends' might be.

As he was dialing, he saw out the window the car that had been parked in the garage at his sister's home. Chuck Parnell was at the wheel, but Katie was absent. Sam hung up the receiver. He had a gut feeling that things were not right. Returning to his sister's house, Sam again tried the front door, knocking loudly. When there was no answer, he went over to the window and looked inside. What he saw shocked and sickened him to the core. His sister's lip had been cracked open and she was holding a washcloth to her eye. Sam ran to the door, pounding on it. When his sister didn't answer, he broke it down.

"Not the door!" cried Katie, looking at the door like it was another ball she would have to juggle. "How am I gonna get the door fixed before Chuck gets home?" she murmured to herself.

"Katie! What happened?" Sam was concerned for his sister and was angry that she had obviously been hit by someone. Considering the fact that his brother-in-law had just left, he was certain he knew who that someone was.

The look in Katie's eyes wasn't angry or even sad. It was as if this was an everyday occurrence and had no significant meaning attached to it. "Oh this? It's nothing. I fell down the stairs." The words came out as rote. She saw the look on her brother's face and clarified. "I'm just so clumsy."

Sam licked his lips trying to think how to approach this. His sister wasn't acting at all like he felt she should. He decided to just be direct. "That type of injury doesn't come from falling. Did your husband do this to you? Did Chuck hit you?" As he said the words, anger began to drip from him. He found he couldn't stand still.

Katie wrung her hands, becoming agitated. She kept her eyes down, not willing to bring them up to look into his. Hesitantly, she answered him, "Uh, well…" She swallowed the lump in her throat and too quickly answered. "It was my fault, it really was. Chuck only hit me because I'm not doing things right. He just likes things done a certain way and I'm too stupid to do it right." Katie obviously expected this to calm her brother, as if his anger just wasn't justified.

Sam stopped moving and looked at his sister, not believing it was his little sister that was saying those words. "Katie. You're not stupid."

She nodded her head sadly. "Yes I am, Sam. Chuck says I'm about the stupidest person he's ever met. He says he can't understand why he married me."

Hearing his sister denigrate herself in this way was as painful to Sam as seeing the physical abuse clearly evident on her face. He put both of his hands on her shoulders but when she wouldn't look at him, took one hand and gently positioned her face to look into his. "Katie, Chuck's been feeding you what he wants you to believe. He's brainwashing you to think this is your fault. It isn't. Did you ever see Dad do this to Mom?

Katie shook her head slightly and sadly murmured, "No, but Mom does things right. She does them the way Dad wants them done." She sighed deeply. "I wish I could get it right like she does, but I'm just too stupid."

"Stop saying that, Katie! You're not stupid!" He looked into her eyes, using his gaze to keep her engaged in his voice. "Mom doesn't always do what Dad says. You know that. They've had squabbles before about different things. You've heard them, the same as I have. But they work things out and they never hurt each other. They certainly don't put each other down or use physical violence."

Shaking his hands off of her, his sister walked away, folding her arms over her chest and keeping her back to her brother. "But Chuck loves me, Sam. He just wants me to be the perfect wife."

Sam shook his head adamantly and rawly voiced, "Not like this, Katie. Never like this. You need to leave him. Get an annulment. This isn't right! Get your things and come with me now." The tone in his voice held a promise out to her that by doing so, he'd protect her.

Katie wanted to believe her big brother, believe she wasn't the cause of all the pain she'd experienced over the past four months. Chuck had been more or less gentle to her before they had eloped. Oh, occasionally he lit into her, but nothing physical. More telling her how incapable she was and how he would take care of her if she'd just marry him.

After they were married, things started to change. After the first time Chuck had met her brother, he'd insisted that she never see him again. He said that Sam wasn't a good influence on her, that he'd just try filling her head with stupid ideas like finishing high school. When she argued that Sam was really smart and that none of his ideas were stupid, Chuck had backhanded her, sending her into the wall and cracking the plaster.

"Look what you made me do!" he had bellowed at her, angrily getting into her face, spittle at the edges of his mouth. "Now I'll have to get the wall fixed! That's going to cost money we don't have!"

When she tried to point out that if he hadn't pushed her into the wall to begin with, the plaster wouldn't be cracked, he hit her again and again, telling her to shut up. He'd screamed at her that there was nothing he wanted to hear from her, nothing that would be worth hearing from such a stupid little slut.

Katie had pulled herself to the bedroom after he stopped hitting her and had left the house to go to the bar. He sneered that she'd gotten him upset and now he needed a drink to calm down. She'd rocked herself in the corner of the room, trying to figure out what she'd done to cause this to happen. Maybe if she could figure it out, she could prevent its reoccurrence. She continue to rock herself until he'd come home after the bar closed down. He'd told her to stop being stupid and come to bed. When she'd tried to snuggle up to him, he'd pushed her away saying he was too tired.

Over the next couple of months, she did everything she could to be the perfect wife that Chuck wanted her to be. She even called her parents at his insistence, telling them that she was cutting off all ties to the family. She knew it would hurt her Mother and Father, but as Chuck had said, they just didn't get how stupid she really was. Better to get away from them before they realized that their daughter had nothing but rocks in her head.

Then, today, Chuck had been getting ready for work when he looked out the window and saw her brother walking up the walkway. She'd wanted to open the door and tell Sam that everything was fine but she wouldn't be having anything to do with the Beckett side of the family now that she was a Parnell; that she'd moved on and would be following the Biblical imperative that she should cleave to her husband. She was sure that Sam would understand and leave. Then she could go back to learning how to be perfect for Chuck.

It hadn't worked that way, though. Chuck had pulled her roughly into the bedroom and held his hand over her mouth until her brother left. He'd cursed her brother as a meddling idiot. When Sam had finally driven off, Chuck had hit her across the face cracking her lip and then hit her again, blackening her eye. He'd screamed at her that now he'd be late for work and it was her fault if he got docked since she had such a difficult family.

Now Sam was telling her that Chuck had been wrong. But Chuck couldn't be wrong. He'd explained it all to her so carefully. She was the one causing all the problems. Something in her wanted to believe Sam, wanted to believe that it wasn't her fault. Sam had never led her astray before. She decided to believe him.

She nodded. "Okay, Sam. I'll leave with you. Help me get my things together."

As they pulled her meager belongings together and put them into a suitcase, Sam felt angry and saddened at the same time that his brother-in-law could do this to his sister and that his sister would buy into it. He carried the suitcase out to the car. He told her he would take her to the hospital and call the police. Katie stopped moving towards the car. "Sam, I can't do that. If you do, I'll just turn around and go back in. I don't want to get Chuck in trouble."

"But Katie," he pleaded, "look what he did to you."

"Sam, I'm at least as much to blame here. Those are my terms. Either we drop it or I go back inside the house."

Sam figured that getting Katie to leave was a big first step so he held his tongue. They could go into the other later. Yes, getting her away from the monster she'd married was definitely the only thing to do.

When they arrived home, both his mother and father had been livid, calling Chuck a brute. Katie had jumped to defend him and Sam had to defuse the situation by insisting that everyone just calm down. Decisions could be made later. Katie had gone up to her old room. Sam could hear her crying and he wanted to go comfort her. First, though, he had to help his parents understand that Katie wasn't the little girl they had known just a few short months before; that somehow Chuck had gotten her to believe that she was causing all the problems. They would have to step lightly for awhile.

Sam called the Terre Haute Domestic Violence hotline. They told him that in many cases, the victim would return again and again to the abuser before (if they ever did) leaving them. They agreed that not pushing too hard but calmly and firmly restating the truth would be the best way to help. They also indicated that counseling was available. Finally, they provided their most chilling statement. They said that when a victim left, they were at the greatest risk to their life.

He'd hung up the phone and went to Katie, telling her what he had learned, except for the last. He'd tell her that later. He encouraged her to seek help. She said she'd think about it.