Becoming a Man in the Shadowlands: a Survivor's Story
Copyright© 2019 by Dennis Randall
Chapter 13: The Last Happy Day
It was a beautiful summer day just before school vacation when my world ended.
I remember the last time my mother and father were still married. I didn’t know it at the time but it was the last day I would ever feel safe as a child.
It was the last time my family would still be whole and still be a family...
I’m eleven years old and Sara, my eight-year-old little sister, and I were laughing together while playing house in the backyard. I built a playhouse where pine needles and sticks outlined the walls and rooms, gardens and sheds of our pretend household.
On the lawn of our backyard, I would outline the walls of our playhouse like the house plans I saw pictured in Popular Mechanics. I would add and erase details like closets, windows, and storage spaces. Because everything was one dimensional, all our playhouses were single story structures.
Sister Sara played mom and I played dad. She did mom things, and I did dad stuff - mostly collecting sticks to improve our home. Other times Sara and I went shopping together and gathered weeds and green things to take home so that Sara could cook supper.
We were a happy family. Then we heard our mother calling us into the kitchen. Joyce said it was time for a “talk.” A rush of dread came over me as I did a quick inventory of real and imagined sins and transgressions.
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