The adventures of daisy

The sitter

                       Age: 7
Before Charles, there's was one other sitter. Mandy. Mandy had black hair, talked fast, watched supernatural in her down time if it came on the tv, and didn't move until the episode finished, but she was always so nice. She called my little brother, Cody , "her little Scarface" because of the scar on his nose. I told you. They always love him. She made snacks and cleaned and put on penguins of Madagascar. I didn't know it then. I just thought she was cool. But she treated us like normal kids. I don't know what happened to her, but she stopped watching us. I wonder sometimes if we were bad kids to watch or if her and my mom fell out.

Then came Charles. Charles was an elder man. Probably in his 30's but whatever drugs he did in his life made him look prominently older. He was scruffy; sometimes almost homeless scruffy. A bush for hair that was grey. And an unkept gray and brown beard. Just overall rough and shaggy. But our first sitter fell through and she had to work. Charles was a friend of hers so she hadn't had a reason not to trust him and Charles needed to make some money. Win win.

Charles makes me take my baths with the bathroom door open. He says it's to make sure I don't drown. I don't like it because the bathroom gets cold fast. He walks by the door a lot to make sure I don't need help.

I got out of the bath and wrapped up in a towel. I went to my room to try and find some pajamas but couldn't find any, so I go to ask Charles for help. I accidentally walk in on him peeing. I swear I didn't see anything. But Charles insists that since I've now seen him naked, it's only fair. He tells me to flash him. So I do it fast. He says it isn't fair. I saw him longer. I swear to him i didn't see anything. But he isn't listening. He refuses to help me find pajamas until I drop my towel. So i drop it. I'm naked. And I'm scared. He grins and says that now we're even and if I ever do it again there will be worst punishments. And says not to tell because I'll get into trouble for looking at his private parts but he's being nice by not telling on me. I not my head and get dressed into the clothes he found for me.

Charles laid in bed eith my brother, Eli, and I. He is laying on his side facing me, waiting for us to fall asleep so he can go do whatever. We watch movies then go to sleep normally but I didn't feel good so I ask him to feel my head.

"Charles I think I have a fever. Can you feel me?"
He glides his hand under the blanket, and into my pajama pants. He begins touching me. Not for long though. He quickly pulls his hand out and says,
"Nope. No fever down there."
And tells me to try to get some sleep. Eli is already asleep so I roll over and try to sleep too. Why did he just do that? No one has ever done that to me or touched me there. I don't know what that means. I'm scared. But I'm afraid if I ask about it he will hurt Eli. Or worst. Tell momma I saw him naked.

A few weeks later my friend and I were sharing secrets and laughing while her parents slept. She tells me she snuck a drag of her moms cigarette one time. We laugh. I tell her Charles put his hands in my pants and I laugh. Her face drops and she pulls me up yelling that I have to tell her parents. I start crying. I don't want to. It's embarrassing and I don't want to get into trouble. She said what he did was bad, but no one has ever told me adults touching you in your pants is bad so I didn't know. She wakes her parents up at 3am and makes me tell them. They tell us to go back to bed and they will handle it come morning. So I calm down a little.

The morning rolls around and nothing is said. It seems everything is normal. But when I get home, my uncle John is there. Momma isn't. He's eating a bowl of cereal and watching tv. He turns to me, smiles, and says
"what's up babysitter lover?"
I was confused. What did he mean? Am I in trouble? I say nothing and go to my room.
Charles no longer watched us. Uncle John watched us after that. But momma went to visit Charles a few times after. We never got out, but I was in the back seat. I was so scared to see him I ducked into the floorboard of the car and asked over and over again to leave. He leaned into my rolled down window and was now starting down at me. He lowered his eyes, grinned and waved. Momma stopped for about 20 minutes to visit him but finally we left. Finally. I don't remember seeing Charles again after that.