A Life Wasted

Emily

This is suppose to be my story, but I simply tell this story about my oldest daughter's bravery and intuitiveness.  This story involves friends, but for reasons that will become obvious I am going to change their names.  Emily is the actual name of my oldest daughter, who was thirteen at the time.  I'll call our friends Joe and Jan, and their ten year old daughter Taylor.

Joe and Jan lived just up the street from us, and Mary and Jan had become good friends.  I liked Joe just fine but we never spent much time together.  Mostly because Joe worked in Prudo Bay, which is many miles inside the Arctic circle, at the point where the land of Alaska ends and the Arctic ice cap begins.  He worked for British Petroleum, and he worked two weeks on and two weeks off.  In the two weeks he worked he had to remain at this remote location.  Between his schedule and mine we were rarely at home the same time.  Mary and Jan, on the other hand, spent most days together.

On one of the rare occasions when Joe and I were both home our wives had scheduled a dinner date for the four of us.  We went to a restaurant in Soldotna, with  Emily watching their two young girls.  I don't recall who watched our children as that chore usually fell to Emily, but I am sure Emily was with Joe and Jan's children.  At some point during the meal Emily called the restaurant and told us all to come home immediately.  Emily has always been calm in all situations (remember the motor home fire in Las Vegas) so we returned without  questioning her.

While we were having dinner the son of a long time friend of Joe's (I'll call him Pete) stopped by the house where Emily was babysitting.  Pete was sixteen, and large for his age.  Emily knew that Pete was good friends with Joe, Jan, and their daughter Taylor, and that he was a regular at their house, so she let him in.  Pete was just hanging out as he always did so nothing was unusual.  However, my very perceptive daughter noticed that young Taylor seemed uncomfortable with Pete's presence.  Emily pulled the little girl aside and asked if she wanted Pete to leave.  Taylor nodded that she did.  So Emily told Pete he'd have to leave without telling him why.  Pete didn't like this, but he left.  Emily noticed that Taylor was noticeably more at ease.

It wasn't long before Pete returned and tried to get in, but Emily had locked the door.  Pete got angry and threatened to kick the door in.  Emily answered by jacking a round into Joe's twelve gauge shotgun.  If you've ever heard that sound you'll understand that the sound of a shotgun's pump action is all the threat needed to run someone off.  This worked for Pete, who left them alone.

After the little girl witnessed another girl stand up to Pete, she was emboldened.  I think she saw Emily as a teenage girl warrior.  Whatever it was, she trusted Emily enough to tell her the horrid tale.  Pete had been molesting her for years and she'd been too terrified to tell anyone.  She told  Emily.  Emily told us to come home immediately.

This story has the predictable outcome of the police being called, Pete being arrested but not held in jail because of his age, then a sentencing and probation.  Pete's family moved away and poor little Taylor had a long healing process.  A very sad story, but one my daughter made better by putting an end to the abuse.  Her perception and courage were amazing, but doubly so because she was only thirteen herself.  I was very proud of Emily.