Sunday 30 January 2011

Am I safe?


Sophie squeezed herself into the storm water drain under the railway track. She remembered being shown how to get in years ago when she used to play with the Harris kids. They always had so much fun with their Dad. He would really play with them, do exciting things like crawl through drains, or sneak into the school grounds and swing on the monkey bars, or go for long walks in the bushland close by, wading through the streams of water and doing things like kids should do. He even showed them little red-rumped parrots that fed on the ground eating grass seeds that gathered in small groups and were such a surprise to see on the school oval.
Her father wasn’t like that. He was sneaky and tried to get her alone, and touched her in-ap-pro-pri-ate-ly. She remembered the woman at school who came to talk about mo-les-ta-tion. She was seven for heavens sake, how did she understand what such words meant? She tried to talk to her Mum about it but “It’s only his way of showing he loves you” was the reply. Didn’t she understand for crying out loud.
It never stopped. She wasn’t a kid anymore. She was frightened he was really going to hurt her. If he was her father why did he touch her that way? She hated him. Everything about him screamed abuse yet no-one else could see it. She hated him more when the other girls at school started to talk about sex and boys and fantasize about romances. I could tell you about sex, she thought. “It is ugly, it hurts, it makes me feel dirty. I just can’t tell anyone about it because Mum will get all upset and deny it even though she knows nothing, and Dad will deny it and just say he perhaps had played a bit rough with me coz he didn’t have a son. Pig’s arse!"
Sophie continued to muse to herself, "Well let’s see if he likes it here down the drain. I was so lucky. He fell for all my talk about the secret place I had found. The fool even wanted to see it for himself. I didn’t think I would be able to hit him with the brick but it was so easy. OK, so I hit him several times. Now all we want is a nice drop of rain to wash him through and bash him up a bit more. Then they will find him down the creek a few weeks from now."
"I just rang Mum at work at work and asked where Dad was as he hadn’t come home. She wasn’t worried. Nor was I as it has just started raining, really hard! For the first time I feel free, better, cleaner, and safe."

16 comments:

  1. Tough subject, WELL DONE!! I'm sure every molested child, (because as we all know it happens to boys too) would love this outcome! I was worried where this was going at first, but your writing is excellent! I love how you get into the head of the child. Reminds me of the book “ She’s come undone.” by Wally Lamb!

    Hugs Giggles

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  2. This is so tragic. I swear I will never understand why some people hurt children. Sadly, despite Sophie's brief respite, I doubt she ever really be free.
    You did a superb job of dealing with a very tough subject.

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  3. old egg, this happens more than I'd like to think. I commend you on the ability to write about this subject.
    Pamela

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  4. That was a serious subject to tackle, my lad! You've done it very well, and I like the girl's 'Jack Reacher' style solution to the problem. More power to more bricks.

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  5. At the stage in my life that I learnt this sort of stuff went on, I also learnt how lucky I was to have you as my Dad.

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  6. A well written tale with a difficult subject matter, well done.

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  7. You wrote this so well ... and Chapter Forty's comment is just lovely, those of us who have had wonderful dads are very lucky indeed.

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  8. Safety from the storm..what a powerful write OldEgg..composed..perfectly chosen words..and feelings..I am glad Sophie found a way to cleanse herself..I hope she finds the safety she deserves..Jae

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  9. You make me feel so fortunate to have lived with the Dad I had and so sorry for all the little girls like this who are twisted for life.

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  10. I always admire the writer who can truly embody character. I cheat in my fiction and write still mainly from my perspective and my bag of personal stories. It is the ultimate success for a man to write from a non-man's perspective, so to hear you embody a child--that is skillful. Thanks.

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  11. This was a little difficult to read. It sends all kinds of emotions to the reader, feelings of sadness and disgust. It must have been equally difficult to write.

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  12. Washing away the dirt/hurt... cleverly metaphoric.

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  13. That was a write-up that was very sensitively handled and coming from a father who loves his children just the way God intended it to be.

    Lovely, left me feeling angry and relieved all at once.

    Wonder what happened to good ol'fathers?!

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  14. Holy Cow! Just when I think I've got your writing pigeonholed, I read this.

    This was terrifying. I was wondering how this child could ever feel safe. Tragic and unfortunately true.

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  15. thank you for giving her a voice. Sadly, most girls in that situation never feel the power this girl has in your story. You did a great job of the dialogue too!

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  16. a daughter looks to her father to protect her, and if that protector turns attacker, such an ending is sad but deserved. a powerful write on a sensitive topic..

    <a href="http://leonnyes.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/little-dreamer/>http://leonnyes.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/little-dreamer/</a>

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