OMJ was giving Dessie’s family some advice.
“Jennifer,” he looked at the oldest.
“Yes?” she asked, Alex on her lap.
“Take that boy off your lap,” he said nicely.
Jennifer listened.
“How old is the boy?” OMJ asked her.
“Eight…”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty…”
“How old is the boy?”
“Eight –”
“That won’t do –” Pedro said until Blake interrupted him.
“Please just listen to Old Man Jenkins!” he growled.
Pedro blinked and pouted.
“Eight,” Jennifer repeated.
“Why must you let him touch you?” OMJ asked.
“Huh?” Confusion was written all over her face.
“Nod if you’ve seen Alex touch Jennifer in any way.”
Everyone in the room nodded except Jennifer and her parents.
“Jennifer, don’t let him touch you…it’s not good for his innocence…”
Jennifer nodded.
“Pedro?” OMJ looked at him.
“What?” Pedro crossed his arms.
“Dessie always told me that you would put her down for everything she did. Why must you?”
“She’s not smart; she deserves to be treated like that. I don’t have high standers for a stupid girl like her. She should just stay in the kitchen like all women should; that’s all they’re good at.”
Jennifer gasped, “That’s so sexist! Plus, I don’t even know how to cook…” she pouted.
“That’s why women have another job, having babies,” Pedro smiled at her.
“Dessie’s smarter than you!” Blake growled.
“Prove it!”
“Have you seen her report card?”
“Why would I? All it contains are F1s!”
“She has better grades than you, Mr. C in gym!”
“That was three years ago!”
“Dessie never got anything lower than an A+!”
“She’s still not smart!”
“Why?”
“She left us! That was stupid of her! She ran away!” Pedro jumped off of his chair.
“So you do care about her!”
“Blake, that’s enough,” OMJ said quietly, “Pedro, do really believe woman should only be in the kitchen and make babies?”
“Yeah…” he slowly sank into his chair and stared at the floor.
“Do you really think Dessie’s stupid?”
Pedro stayed quiet. After a couple of seconds he said, “The only reason I hate Dessie is because she’s better than me. She has the same teachers as me and they always talk about her, making me feel anger…”
“It’s called jealousy…” OMJ responded.
Pedro began to cry, “I’m NOT jealous of her!”
YOU ARE READING
Run Away
AdventureDessie was never treated well in the first place. She was called fat, stupid and many other hurtful words. Her friend, Jacob, was abused by his mother so they decided to run away...
