Stolen Innocence

Chapter One

It was a beautiful day in Jacksonville, Florida.  Everyone was there for my birthday party-aunts, uncles, cousins, Grandmother, Granddaddy, some friends, my brother Russell (he is sixteen months older than I am), my sister Bridgette (she is nineteen months younger than I am), Mama, and even Daddy was home for the first time in a long time, but he had to leave the next day. You see, Daddy was in the Navy, so he was gone a lot from home. And last, but not least, was Bunji. Bunji was our little dog. She looked like a small Jack Russell, white with black spots and a ittle bit of brown. Mama use to tell her to grin like Burt Lancaster, that dog would pull her lips back and show every tooth in her head. I didn’t know who Burt Lancaster was, but I thought that if he looked anything like Bunji showing her teeth when she grinned then he sure was a funny sight.

We were having my birthday party a day early because Daddy was leaving on the fourteenth to go to San Diego, California.  I didn’t know the difference, all I knew was that there was a party and it was for my birthday.  I was turning two and didn’t even know what day I was born, so it didn’t matter what day we celebrated my birthday. Mama was tall and thin with blonde hair and blue eyes. I thought that she was the most beautiful lady in the world. Daddy was a little taller than Mama and also thin, he had light brown hair and was very handsome. Russell was a quiet kind of guy. He never seemed to get upset about anything. He had dark brown almost black hair and beautiful blue eyes that looked as if he had eyeliner around them.  Bridgette was a lot different from Russell. She had quite a temper, blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was really a doll baby and could really pitch a fit when she wanted to. She waddled when she walked. One of Mama’s friends called her waddle butt. She was really a cutie. Mama said that I looked just like “Little Miss Sunbeam,” the little girl on the Sunbeam bread package. I had blonde curly hair, big blue eyes and fair complexion. Mama was going to enter me in a “Little Miss Sunbeam” look-a-like contest when I was five, but I had missed the cut off date by a few months because of my age. I was a happy child. Who wouldn’t be with a great family like this; I loved my big brother, my baby sister and my parents’ a lot.

I don’t remember a lot about the birthday, so I am going on what I have been told. Mama says that everyone had fun, and looking at the pictures I think that she was probably right. I received a lot of presents, but the one that stands out the most was a baby doll. There is a picture of me holding her just like she was a real baby.  That is pretty funny since I was just a baby myself.  From looking at the picture I know just what I must have been thinking as I held that doll. I knew right then and there that all I ever wanted to be was a mommy.  I have loved babies all my life. When I was a little girl one of Mama’s friends (Dot) told me that I loved babies so much that I would probably be someone that grew up and couldn’t have children. She said that if that happened then she would have a baby for me. I think that she was very relieved when I got pregnant with my first child.

The day after my party Mama and Daddy took the three of us kids to Grandmother’s house so that we could stay there while Mama took Daddy to the train station.  We loved going to Grandmother’s house.  She was very nice. I remember Grandmother being a short little round lady, very soft-spoken and very, very nice.  I suppose, because I was the first girl born in our family, of the grandchildren, Grandmother sort of spoiled me a little bit.  Not that she didn’t spoil and love all of us, but I guess I knew that I could get away with a lot of things with Grandmother that I would never even try with Mama or Daddy. We kids didn’t understand that Daddy was leaving again; we just knew that we were going to get to stay with Grandmother, and we were happy about that. When Mama came to pick us up I could tell that she had been crying, but as soon as she saw the three of us she smiled and gave us all a big hug. We had dinner with Grandmother, Granddaddy and Uncle Hank that night.