The Tree Goddess

by Tom Raimbault

  Eileen was livid, “You let her get into a car with some guy?”

  “Well I thought you were aware of this. All the girls in the neighborhood knew. From what I understand, it's the big talk of the town.”

  Eileen could only cover her mouth in shock while shaking her head in denial. “This is the first I've heard of it.” Shock soon turned to controlled anger, “And I'll definitely be talking to her about this. Janet, if you see her or even hear of her getting into this boy's car, I want to know about it. I'll end this relationship when she gets home this afternoon. And tell Angela that her best friend might be grounded for about a week, maybe a long time. I just don't know how I'm going to handle this, yet.”

  * * *

  Alexi entered the house that afternoon. She was at the start of 8th grade and already a young lady. Years ago, Eileen would watch in delight as her excited girl ran home from the bus stop to greet Mommy. If memory went back far enough, Alexi was Eileen's baby who boarded the school bus one sad, sad day. But on this day, as a young lady who believed herself to be old enough to get into cars, Alexi strolled in the house and briefly gazed up at Mother while passing by.

  Her only word of greeting, “Hey…”

  Mother returned the greeting, “Hi, how was school?”

  “Fine…” So non-verbose, Alexi continued walking to her room with Mother trailing behind.

  “Where are you going? Why in such a hurry?”

  Alexi continued walking which left Mother no choice but to call out, “Alexi, stop!”

  Her daughter turned around with a confounded look, “What?”

  “I want to talk to you. Come back in the living room and sit down.”

  She did as Mother asked but was curious, “About what? What do you want to talk about?”

  “Well, I want to talk about boys. I want to talk about getting into some boy's car and driving off on the night of Angela's sleepover party.”

  Alexi looked surprised and forcefully annoyed, “What? What are you talking about?”

  “You can stop pretending with me. I spoke with Angela's mother this morning and she told me about the older boy who came over that night. I hear he drove off with you?”

  “Mom, that's not true!”

  “So is Angela's mother lying? Should we have her come over? And why does everyone else know about this but me?”

  “Mom, Angela's mother must have me mixed up with someone else! I did not get into some guy's car and drive off.”

  Eileen was a child once. That fact along with her motherly instincts gave Eileen the full awareness of her daughter's attempted deception. Alexi's behavior had been somewhat moody in recent weeks. And there was an increase of talking in her sleep, actually shouting as-if fighting. Mothers know all, despite what children may believe. There was a boy in Alexi's life that had a negative effect. And for whatever reason, this boy was being kept a secret from Mother.

  There was only one way for Mother to gain control, “You're grounded!”

  “What? Why? This is not fair!”

  “For one week you are grounded. I want your phone, there is no computer and you will not be going out with your friends, understand?”

  “Mom, this is not fair!”

  “Your phone, give me your phone!”

  Alexi's social world was about to crumble. She voiced her concern, “What about people calling or texting me? How are they going to know I'm grounded?”

  But Mother didn't care. “That's your problem. I already told Angela's mother that you would probably be grounded after what I heard. At least your best friend knows.” Mother held out her hand, “Your phone, please.”

  But Alexi remained rebellious and argumentative. “Oh, so you decided that you were going to ground me before talking to me?”

  Mother's patience was growing thin. “Do you want an additional week tagged on to that?”

  Keep in mind that Alexi's phone contained nearly 3 weeks of text message history with her boy friend, Wayne. Recall that she blocked him on a hot summer day in August. In the frustration, she also deleted all chat sessions with the man who annoyed her. And it wasn't until nearly a week before school resumed that Wayne had cornered the young girl and convinced her to unblock his messages. From that moment on, a history of text messages began with a phrase that said, “I luv u.”

  Alexi could have run past Mother who was still young and perfectly capable of catching her daughter, forcing the phone's release. And even if she escaped Mother for a chance to delete the chat sessions with Wayne, it would admit guilt and lead to greater punishment once returning home. Defeated, the teenage girl grunted in disgust and jammed her hand in her jeans pocket. But she had to be careful. Wayne's ring was in the same pocket and had the possibility of slipping out.

  Now if Eileen were older, such as in her late 50s, she might have been clueless of how to search her daughter's archive of text messages. But Curt and Eileen had Alexi at a young enough age so that their way of life was not much different from hers. Eileen was Generation X and highly experienced with text messaging, social websites and any other technology wonder of the 21st century. She had her IPhone and downloaded Itunes. She had her Kindle reader with a vast collection of modern-day, 21st century literature. Along with heavily used Wi-Fi in the house; the modern-day family possessed 3 notebook computers, one for Father, one for Mother and one for Alexi. The Ipad Touch had yet to be released; but if it was, Mother and Father would surely have one. If you haven't figured it out already, the picture of clueless parents who are lost in a teenager's world of technology is a thing of the past.

  Eileen took hold of her daughter's cell phone and noticed that it was password protected. “Oh, I need a code to get in? Cute!” Eileen simply unsnapped the battery from the phone and reconnected it as a hard reboot which, due to a manufacturer flaw, restored the phone to the homepage—password unnecessary. Such is the reality with inexpensive, poorly, designed phones (made in China) that are given to teens.

  Horrified, Alexi watched Mother now browsing her personal data and history of messages. “You're invading my privacy! That's not fair! You can't do that!”

  Mother looked up at her sadly mistaken daughter. “I'll do whatever I damn-well please. You're my kid, living under my roof; and this is my phone that I let you use. And don't you have homework to do?”

  Alexi stormed out of the room as panic increased. What could she do now? Mother would learn of everything!

  As Eileen discovered, it was a guy named Wayne who began the history of text messages with the phrase of, “I luv u”. This was an indicator of additional history that had somehow been deleted. It would lead any parent to question, “How long was my child seeing this person?”

  But that's not what vexed Eileen. As seen in the archived messages, this Wayne burdened her daughter with guilt while making demands to see her. Mother could see that hours before Angela's sleepover, Alexi cancelled some date with the older guy who felt he had every right to deny her the ability to be with friends. Was every man named Wayne some jealous and possessive monster?

  Apparently, Alexi had sneaked out on the Sunday night before school. Wayne had asked, “Is 2morow ur 1st day of school?”

  Alexi replied, “Ya”

  “Then u can meet me 2nite. Its only a 1/2 day. Don't make me mad like fri-nite.”

  “Ok I'll b there.”

  Then there were the daily messages that were received around the time Alexi came home from school, “U home from school?”

  “Ya”

  “U going out w/ friends?”

  “Maybe.”

  “With who?”

  “Angela and a few others.”

  “Ne guys?”

  “NO!”

  Initially infuriated with the fact that her daughter had sneaked out on a Sunday night, Eileen grew numb with an eerie sensation which brought her back to those days with Wayne. Did her ex-boyfriend have a son who was equally possessive and controlling?"

  And as luck would have it, a live tex
t message came through Alexi's phone from (whom else?) Wayne.

  “U home?”

  Eileen had so much power in that moment. The chat session could lead her to the very monster that controlled Alexi. She typed in the word, “Yes.”

  “How was school?”

  “Good.”

  “U have homework?”

  “Only a little. I think I'll go out today, if that's ok with you.”

  “No guys rite?”

  Eileen imagined the Wayne on the other side of the text messages to be the same controlling Wayne who she dated years ago. In a moment of fantasizing revenge, she texted back, “Yeah, there'll be some guys. Do you have a problem with that?”

  The monster responded back, “DONT GET SMART W/ ME! U know not 2 make me mad!”

  Caught up in the fantasy, Eileen's blood boiled as she was fully prepared to destroy this Wayne. There had to be laws against a high school kid picking up a 13-year-old for unauthorized dates. She spoke out loud, “Oh, really?” Then she texted in reply, “I was just joking. When are we going out next?”

  “Don't joke w/ me. And I'll b checking on u 2day. We can go out whenever u like.”

  The fish was now on the hook and moments from being pulled onto shore. Eileen would set a date with the pedophile and have police show up at the scheduled time. “How about Friday? Pick me up?”

  Wayne texted back, “Sure usual spot.”

  This threw Eileen off guard. Where was this usual spot? Maybe if she asked which one, he would tell her.

  But this didn't work. Wayne only responded, “The usual spot where I pick you up.”

  There was no other choice for Eileen. “Where's that?”

  She waited several minutes and sent a second reply, “Hello, are you there?”

  Several minutes passed before sending a third, “Are you mad at me?”

  Eileen blew it! Whoever this Wayne was, he picked up on the bait and quickly ran. He was aware that Eileen wasn't Alexi.

  * * *

  Coming home from work to his fumed wife, Curt's reaction to the string of text messages was that of comparable anger. Friends and family often joked with the man by swearing that one day he would polish the rifle in the living room while some boy came in for a date with his precious Alexi. He knew the day of boys was coming soon as his daughter's lower torso boasted wide hips with curvy thighs. And then there was her well-budded chest. Alexi was turning into a woman and a spitting image of his beautiful wife, the same girl that Curt recalled back in 7th and 8th grade. Now some mysterious punk was demanding that his precious daughter sneak out past curfew, and past the eyes of Mom and Dad.

  The hunting rifles remained locked in the gun cabinet. And Curt enjoyed his hobby of hunting. That's why he chose to live in the heavily wooded Mapleview area. He was a sensible man who knew that using a scope rifle to take out some punk was most unacceptable. However, Curt remained a very, angry man.

  Demanding answers from the uncooperative, 13-year-old girl proved unsuccessful. Seeing that control had been lost, another week of grounding seemed the only option.

  “Daddy, that's not fair!”

  Her cuteness had no effect on Father. “Alexi, you lied to your mother, as proven by the text messages on your phone. I've got some creep out there, demanding that you sneak out of the house at night. And when I simply ask who he is, you refuse to tell us. This is a little too out of control for the moment. You're grounded for two weeks. I just don't like what I see.”

  The girl stormed off, sobbing in disgust. How she hated her parents and the way they controlled her life. But Mother softly knocked at her door before entering where Alexi lay on the bed, face down.

  Mother sat down beside the child who wanted nothing to do with parents. “Alexi, I know I'm the last person you want to hear from. Your father grounded you to protect you. But I don't think you understand how serious this is. First of all, a boy who drives should be interested in other girls his own age. But there's more. I think you are too young to understand this, but there is a dangerous quality called possessiveness. Before I married your father, I dated a guy for two years who was very possessive of me. He wouldn't let me go out with my friends, and he was always checking up on me. And do you want to know he did to me one night? He brought me to a dark road and beat me with a tire iron. He was so mad, Alexi. And I was so scared that night. It's like he turned into a monster, all because he was jealous and possessive.

  Anyway, the reason I say this is because I read all those text messages on your phone. And those were pretty much the same things he used to tell me. In fact, I thought I was talking to the same guy I dated many years ago. This Wayne is very possessive and controlling of you. You're too young to go through something like that and I think he's taking advantage of the fact that you're so young. I don't think he can get a girl his own age to control. That's why he has you.

  I know you're mad and hate me right now. But I hope you use these two weeks to think things over and come to your senses.

  * * *

  Ask any parent with a teenage daughter, and he or she will say that the best way to keep a girl in love is to prevent her from seeing her boyfriend. Unfortunately for Curt and Eileen, the grounding only fueled Alexi's desire for Wayne. Only weeks ago, she wanted nothing to do with him. Now she would give anything to see him.

  There was a double whammy which intensified this desire. It smacked Alexi in the face on the day she used a payphone at school to call Big Boy's Beef and Ribs. She hadn't spoken to Wayne in 5 days and realized the convenience of phones that required quarters to operate. They just so happened to be mounted in the hallway, just outside the lunchtime cafeteria.

  She placed the quarters in and made the call; it wasn't so hard to figure out. But she once heard that these payphones had limited time. Hopefully it was enough to time to speak what was needed.

  “Big Boys Beef and Ribs!” It was the voice of Wayne.

  “Hi, Wayne? This is Alexi.”

  There was a short pause before Wayne spoke, “Where are you calling from?”

  “A payphone. I'm grounded, Wayne.”

  “I kind of figured. Do your parents have your cell?”

  “Yeah, they took it from me.”

  Wayne sighed, “Okay, we need to cool it for a while. I guess one of your parents was pretending to be you and tried setting a date with me. I could have gone to jail; do you realize that?”

  Alexi apologized, “I'm so sorry. What do you mean by cool it?”

  “It means not see each other for a while, or text, or call—nothing! I'm serious; I could lose everything and go to jail!”

  It was the most disturbing news for Alexi, “But Wayne, I want to see you. I can't be without you.”

  He was so cleaver in keeping the young girl calm. “It's only for a while. Let me ask, are your parents getting in your business?”

  “Yeah!”

  “See, they won't leave you alone, even after you're grounded. So if I vanish for a while, they will back off and things can get back to normal. Can you do that, for us?”

  The young girl sounded so disappointed, “Yeah, I guess.”

  And then Wayne was quick to hang up, “Okay, I've got to go. There's a customer coming! Please, don't call here!” There was a click and the eerie sound of a loud buzz which brought Alexi to a cold reality. She and Wayne were broken up.

  Chapter 43

  Alexi sat at the breakfast table, two weeks from the day that Mother and Father grounded her. Freedom was soon to be had as she ate her microwaved egg and sausage biscuit while longing for the announcement that she was finally ungrounded. Asking for this freedom and reminding Mother that the two weeks had ended might have brought bad news of additional punishment. It was only Wednesday. Perhaps she was to wait until Sunday to fulfill Father's idea of two weeks.

  Mother walked in the kitchen and gently placed Alexi's cell on the table. “I'm giving this back to you. Your two weeks have ended. But your father wants you to understand a few rules.”
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  Alexi remained motionless, listening attentively to mother.

  “You cannot get into any boys' cars, understand? There is to be no sneaking out the windows late at night. And you cannot text, call or email whoever this Wayne character is. Do you understand this?”

  Alexi nodded.

  “We're serious about this, Alexi! If we so much as suspect that you have anything to do with that Wayne, you'll be grounded, maybe longer than two weeks.”

  Alexi reassured her mother, “Don't worry, I won't.”

  But there were two other items that Mother chose not to share with her daughter. As Alexi would find out, upon coming home from school, there would be surprise spot-checks of her cell phone. Mother would examine the archived messages once, twice, even three times each day. And Alexi was unaware that her mother conducted nightly bed-checks to ensure her daughter was in bed, sleeping.

  Alexi's parents had high expectations of their daughter, demanding that she exceed in classes. As was always the understanding, if Alexi wanted keep her cell phone, maintain her social networks and enjoy the computer along with other sources of entertainment, it was necessary to maintain an A average. B's were okay, but frowned upon as Alexi was a bright and gifted child.

  Because of this, weekdays were different from summer vacation. Mother and Father granted her the privilege of hanging out with friends before dinner. But after dinner, school work was to be done in the evening, nothing else. Seated at a desk in her room with an overhead light; don't think, entirely, that she was isolated from the outside world. School in the 21st century depends on the use of computers and sometimes web research. For this matter, the notebook computer was beside her. And Mother and Father were quite aware that Alexi often took breaks by visiting her Facebook page or texting a friend on the cell. She did well in school, so the distractions were fine with Mom and Dad.

  Saturdays were more laidback for Alexi, and they should be that way for children. On a beautiful, October morning, homework completed for the weekend, Alexi woke up around 8:30 and immediately headed for the shower. The early, morning grooming was unusual for Mother to hear as Alexi often strolled into the kitchen for breakfast and then sat on the sofa while watching Sponge Bob Squarepants with the notebook computer on her lap.