Our neighborhood had a dirty secret
in the form of a wispy little woman
slim, dark-haired, dark-eyed
mother of two sons.
I was out back raking up the leaves
from our two trees
when I heard a blood-curdling scream
a child
and ran around front
sweating, trembling
who was hurt?
but all the kids were out in the street
riding bikes
playing baseball
and nobody was hurt.
One of Mia's girls said to me
"It's the people in that green house"
pointing
and I ran down to see if I could help.
I knocked
hearing terrible sobbing
somewhere behind the door
and it opened
and the lady said to me
"There's nothing that you can do
we don't need help."
and bang the door was shut.
I stopped at Mia's
and she told me
that Diane
was known to have
banged the window down on one of her son's fingers
breaking it
beat her boys with a broom
a rake
a toilet plunger
and the reason they were never outside
playing
was because she gave them paregoric
to knock them out and make them sleep
most of the day.
The police had been called
and the SPCC
but they didn't want to do anything
because Diane's husband
worked as a repairman for the telephone company
and was in their homes
and was well-liked.
I was shocked.
I went home and prayed about it
wondering if I could help somehow
and the next day I went back to the green house
and knocked
and Diane came to the door
haggard, pale
and this time she let me in
and invited me to sit on her gray couch
and I saw
on the coffee table
upside down
a book by Taylor Caldwell
one of my favorite authors.
She sat down in an easy chair
across from me
and this is what she said:
"There's something wrong with my boys.
They aren't normal.
They pee on the walls
they grunt when they should be talking
they crawl around on the floor like dogs
they mess under the kitchen table
they eat with their hands
they pull my hair
and try to trip me
and spit at me
and run up and punch me in the stomach
for no reason.
I have to hit them
because if I don't
I think they would kill me.
I feel like I'm a prisoner in a war zone."
I shuddered.
This was way above and beyond anything
that I ever heard of
much less that I could understand.
I saw that there were tears
standing in her eyes
and I went to her
and gave her a little hug.
We talked a little bit about Taylor Caldwell
and parted
and I went home with the sad knowledge
that not every problem has a solution.
But I felt at ease.
I felt that God had wanted me to listen to her
show her I cared
and not judge her
and I had done what He asked of me.
At suppertime I looked at my three
Amy who was bossy
Annabelle who was sassy
Adam who was a typical wild and crazy little boy
and I thanked God that that's all I had to put up with.
Years later I saw Diane
at the Mall with her husband
and they were laughing
and she was holding onto his arm
and her little dark face was alive with smiles
and I asked her how the boys were
and she said
waving her little hand in the air
as if to erase them
"Oh, they're both gone.
They joined the Army."