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By Joseph Jacobs John Dickson Batten
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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Shelley and I were friends almost immediately. However her father did not like me. The only reason I can imagine is that my family was too poor for him and that he did not consider me fit to be around his daughter. Despite how her father felt about me, the moments when he was away at work as a lawyer, and when Shelley and I were together were the thrill of my life. We did everything for fun, it seemed like there was nothing we couldn't do, no fun that we couldn't have.
Her house was an entire wonderland within itself. An enormous granite-walled mansion, there were four floors of enchanting adventure for us. The first floor held a kitchen where we made all kinds of goodies, an adjacent playroom where we played house, Barbie, watched "It's A Living," "Silver Spoons," "Small Wonder," "Dukes of Hazzard," "Laverne & Shirley," two magnificent dining rooms, a foyer, and a cozy den where we would curl up with more goodies and watch movies. Her father did not want me to go upstairs but we got away with it when he was out. Shelley's bedroom was huge - it held all the latest toy sensations like the Barbie dollhouse, a whole Cabbage Patch Kid family, and a herd of My Little Ponies.
In between Shelley's and her parents' bedrooms was another playroom where the computers were set up. The new Atari games were set up there such as Pac-Man, Mrs. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and others. However there was so much else to do we spent relatively little time on the computer. Sometimes Shelley led me through her parents' bedroom, although we did not play there. It was just what you would expect a grandiose master bedroom to be in a house like that, with its own corresponding bathroom.
Sometimes we would venture into the bedroom of Shelley's sister Maggie. There were more toys and amazements there, but the main event of Maggie's bedroom was the balcony which overlooked the driveway down below and the thicket of oak and maple trees which led down a steep embankment to the pool. Shelley and I took a tent out there one night and had a regular campout, complete with our Barbies, My Little Ponies, flashlights and goodies.
More adventure awaited us in the basement and attic. The basement was devoted entirely to a play area; it had an enormous wall-to-wall colored mat with games built into it, such as a hop-scotch chart. There were sunken window wells outside the glass windows filled with leaves and often, garter snakes. I could see them lying on the dried leaves. Shelley would not mind if I wanted to open the windows and get a snake to hold. I loved the feel of their skin.
Somehow Shelley's father never cast a pall over our friendship or discouraged me from wanting to be with her, except when he showed up. His arrival was something I recognized immediately and which filled me with fear...I would hear a car with a strong engine pull up in the driveway, sometimes be able to see it and know it was his Bronco. I never knew what was going to happen next; I knew when he came in the house he would kiss Shelley and Maggie and his reaction to me would range in a number of possibilities.
One time Shelley, Maggie and I were comfortably settled in the den watching "Pete's Dragon." It was a cold winter night outside. All of a sudden their father strode aggressively into the den, arriving home from work. I think it was the first time I ever saw him. All of a sudden he lifted me off the ground and held me under one arm the way one might carry a cat. He carried me through the house; the foyer, dining room and kitchen rushed past me. He deposited me outside the kitchen door out into the dark cold winter night.
My family's small cottage we rented from this man was up the hill from the mansion. My parents were not there, they would not know what this man did, I would never tell them until over twenty-five years later. But ever since that night a fear of my best friend's father gripped my heart. That night I would make my way up the hill and go to bed, simply looking forward to the time when Shelley and I could be together next.
Another time the snow was falling as I made my way down the hill to see if Shelley wanted to come out and play. I knocked on her door. It was her father who answered. I turned and started walking away quickly. He started walking after me. The snow continued falling as I began walking faster and faster up the hill. He kept on after me, like some kind of ogre I had awaked from its sleep. At the bottom of the steep grade leading up to my home he stopped, and walked away back to his house through the winter storm.
This man never warmed or relented toward me, though when my family moved there was six years old and nine years old when we moved away. When I camped out with Maggie and Shelley outside their house one night, their father came out and kissed them goodnight. "Kiss Becky goodnight," they urged him. "No," he said. "I will wave to Becky." He lifted his hand curtly, then retired into his palace.
One day I was looking down at my friend who was in the pool with her father and sister, one hot summer's day. I stood up in the driveway and looked down at them through the forest. "Becky, we do not need an audience," came their father's voice. I turned and walked away.
Another day my brother and I were standing near the jungle gym Shelley and Maggie's father had just built for them on a knoll next to the mansion. His family was in the gravel and construction business so they had poured actual concrete into the ground themselves to secure the jungle gym. None of the children were permitted on the structure for a certain period so that the concrete could dry properly. My brother and I were playing with a cat which apparently did not belong to Shelley. All of a sudden the man appeared on the knoll. As my brother and I watched helplessly, he kicked the cat away. We left in fear and grief. My brother cried to my mother, the only time I can remember my brother doing so, about what this man had done to the cat.
Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was up north and my mom was talking on the phone to him. She was having a friendly conversation with him. After she hung up I called him right back. I told him my name. I started reaming him about the way he had treated me when I was friends with Shelley.
All of a sudden it came back to me in glaring detail. My sister and I had been in his house one day playing with Maggie, when Shelley was not there. But we saw the Bronco pull up outside in the driveway. I told my sister to run for it. I did not think I would be able to get out of the house without this man seeing me. I hid in one of the hall closets on one side of the foyer. I tried to get out of the door next to it when I thought I could escape. The door would not open. So I had to run to another hall closet on the opposite side of the foyer and hope that no one would see me. No one did. I tried to open the door next to that closet. I was starting to get it open. But then I heard him coming. I went back in the closet. Its door was still cracked open. I could then see his face inches away, looking out the door. I was praying he would think I had gone out already. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it was going to burst. I waited for another five minutes at least after he had gone. I think I made myself count to one hundred. Then I ran out that door and ran for dear life.
So in the dream I was confronting him about how he had treated me when I was a six to nine-year-old child and played with Shelley almost every day. In the dream he said, "This is stupid." I told him I was a lawyer now and passed the bar so I wasn't a complete yahoo. I told him I have a son now and if someone treated my son the way this man had treated me, so help me, I would call the police.
Her house was an entire wonderland within itself. An enormous granite-walled mansion, there were four floors of enchanting adventure for us. The first floor held a kitchen where we made all kinds of goodies, an adjacent playroom where we played house, Barbie, watched "It's A Living," "Silver Spoons," "Small Wonder," "Dukes of Hazzard," "Laverne & Shirley," two magnificent dining rooms, a foyer, and a cozy den where we would curl up with more goodies and watch movies. Her father did not want me to go upstairs but we got away with it when he was out. Shelley's bedroom was huge - it held all the latest toy sensations like the Barbie dollhouse, a whole Cabbage Patch Kid family, and a herd of My Little Ponies.
In between Shelley's and her parents' bedrooms was another playroom where the computers were set up. The new Atari games were set up there such as Pac-Man, Mrs. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and others. However there was so much else to do we spent relatively little time on the computer. Sometimes Shelley led me through her parents' bedroom, although we did not play there. It was just what you would expect a grandiose master bedroom to be in a house like that, with its own corresponding bathroom.
Sometimes we would venture into the bedroom of Shelley's sister Maggie. There were more toys and amazements there, but the main event of Maggie's bedroom was the balcony which overlooked the driveway down below and the thicket of oak and maple trees which led down a steep embankment to the pool. Shelley and I took a tent out there one night and had a regular campout, complete with our Barbies, My Little Ponies, flashlights and goodies.
More adventure awaited us in the basement and attic. The basement was devoted entirely to a play area; it had an enormous wall-to-wall colored mat with games built into it, such as a hop-scotch chart. There were sunken window wells outside the glass windows filled with leaves and often, garter snakes. I could see them lying on the dried leaves. Shelley would not mind if I wanted to open the windows and get a snake to hold. I loved the feel of their skin.
Somehow Shelley's father never cast a pall over our friendship or discouraged me from wanting to be with her, except when he showed up. His arrival was something I recognized immediately and which filled me with fear...I would hear a car with a strong engine pull up in the driveway, sometimes be able to see it and know it was his Bronco. I never knew what was going to happen next; I knew when he came in the house he would kiss Shelley and Maggie and his reaction to me would range in a number of possibilities.
One time Shelley, Maggie and I were comfortably settled in the den watching "Pete's Dragon." It was a cold winter night outside. All of a sudden their father strode aggressively into the den, arriving home from work. I think it was the first time I ever saw him. All of a sudden he lifted me off the ground and held me under one arm the way one might carry a cat. He carried me through the house; the foyer, dining room and kitchen rushed past me. He deposited me outside the kitchen door out into the dark cold winter night.
My family's small cottage we rented from this man was up the hill from the mansion. My parents were not there, they would not know what this man did, I would never tell them until over twenty-five years later. But ever since that night a fear of my best friend's father gripped my heart. That night I would make my way up the hill and go to bed, simply looking forward to the time when Shelley and I could be together next.
Another time the snow was falling as I made my way down the hill to see if Shelley wanted to come out and play. I knocked on her door. It was her father who answered. I turned and started walking away quickly. He started walking after me. The snow continued falling as I began walking faster and faster up the hill. He kept on after me, like some kind of ogre I had awaked from its sleep. At the bottom of the steep grade leading up to my home he stopped, and walked away back to his house through the winter storm.
This man never warmed or relented toward me, though when my family moved there was six years old and nine years old when we moved away. When I camped out with Maggie and Shelley outside their house one night, their father came out and kissed them goodnight. "Kiss Becky goodnight," they urged him. "No," he said. "I will wave to Becky." He lifted his hand curtly, then retired into his palace.
One day I was looking down at my friend who was in the pool with her father and sister, one hot summer's day. I stood up in the driveway and looked down at them through the forest. "Becky, we do not need an audience," came their father's voice. I turned and walked away.
Another day my brother and I were standing near the jungle gym Shelley and Maggie's father had just built for them on a knoll next to the mansion. His family was in the gravel and construction business so they had poured actual concrete into the ground themselves to secure the jungle gym. None of the children were permitted on the structure for a certain period so that the concrete could dry properly. My brother and I were playing with a cat which apparently did not belong to Shelley. All of a sudden the man appeared on the knoll. As my brother and I watched helplessly, he kicked the cat away. We left in fear and grief. My brother cried to my mother, the only time I can remember my brother doing so, about what this man had done to the cat.
Last night I had a nightmare. I dreamed that I was up north and my mom was talking on the phone to him. She was having a friendly conversation with him. After she hung up I called him right back. I told him my name. I started reaming him about the way he had treated me when I was friends with Shelley.
All of a sudden it came back to me in glaring detail. My sister and I had been in his house one day playing with Maggie, when Shelley was not there. But we saw the Bronco pull up outside in the driveway. I told my sister to run for it. I did not think I would be able to get out of the house without this man seeing me. I hid in one of the hall closets on one side of the foyer. I tried to get out of the door next to it when I thought I could escape. The door would not open. So I had to run to another hall closet on the opposite side of the foyer and hope that no one would see me. No one did. I tried to open the door next to that closet. I was starting to get it open. But then I heard him coming. I went back in the closet. Its door was still cracked open. I could then see his face inches away, looking out the door. I was praying he would think I had gone out already. My heart was pounding so fast I thought it was going to burst. I waited for another five minutes at least after he had gone. I think I made myself count to one hundred. Then I ran out that door and ran for dear life.
So in the dream I was confronting him about how he had treated me when I was a six to nine-year-old child and played with Shelley almost every day. In the dream he said, "This is stupid." I told him I was a lawyer now and passed the bar so I wasn't a complete yahoo. I told him I have a son now and if someone treated my son the way this man had treated me, so help me, I would call the police.
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