Kathy Chooses

by Joy Carlson

  KATHY CHOOSES

  KATHY CHOOSES

  Joy Carlson

  © 2018 Joy Carlson

  Kathy Chooses

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Elm Hill, an imprint of Thomas Nelson. Elm Hill and Thomas Nelson are registered trademarks of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

  Elm Hill titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail SpecialMarkets@ThomasNelson.com.

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018950365

  ISBN 978-1-595558701 (Paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-595558862 (Hardbound)

  ISBN 978-1-595558787 (eBook)

  Information about External Hyperlinks in this ebook

  Please note that footnotes in this ebook may contain hyperlinks to external websites as part of bibliographic citations. These hyperlinks have not been activated by the publisher, who cannot verify the accuracy of these links beyond the date of publication.

  CONTENTS

  The Jury’s Verdict

  Assignment

  The Law

  Family

  Men Are in Control

  The Next Level

  Teachings

  In a Haze

  Boys’ Toys

  High School: The First Two Years

  White Lies

  High School: The Last Two Years

  Bringing to Light to Make a Change

  College

  Who’s Choice Really?

  Starting Out

  Impact of Abortions on Individuals

  After

  A Strong Partner

  Doug

  Each Person Has Value

  The Decision

  Jesus Follower

  Who Would Help?

  The Farmer

  Until the Trial

  The Trial

  Calm before the Storm?

  Closing Arguments

  The Judgment

  Kathy’s Dad

  Kathy’s Mom

  Roe versus Wade Applied Anew: Where Will It End?

  Continuing with Life

  Addendum

  THE JURY’S VERDICT

  “Chair of the jury, do you have a verdict?’

  “Yes, we do, Your Honor.”

  “What is the verdict of the jury?”

  “Not guilty, Your Honor.”

  There were cries, sighs of relief, and gasps of astonishment heard throughout the courtroom. Reporters got up to hurry to turn in their story or report to their network.

  It had been a long trial. Many witnesses had come forward. Many people who had testified from different organizations, and agencies who wanted their message to be heard also had taken the stand.

  How would this one woman’s choice affect the world now? How would the decision reached by this jury change future decisions? Would there be an appeal? It seemed like a higher court, like the Supreme Court, should decide this issue. A decision of this magnitude should not just be decided by twelve people chosen at random, twelve people who were from ordinary walks of life and not schooled in the laws of the land.

  Yet, it is ordinary people who will be affected by this decision. It is ordinary people who need to make choices like this, especially women, and others who are seen as less than.

  She had taken a law giving her a choice and had taken it back, closer to the starting point. It was there she had applied her right to choose. It is a woman’s right to choose.

  Having seen that the choice could be made earlier and that it would not hurt the innocent, she chose to end a life. Not the life of the unborn. The life of the one who did not want the unborn but wanted to perform the act which would bring the unborn into existence. He wanted pleasure. He wanted satisfaction. She wanted to be valued as a person. He really did not value her as a person, just as a body to be used. If she refused he would pressure her, shame her, and deceive her with lies that he loved her. Later he would reveal the truth that he just wanted one more fix. Sex, a cheap drug that some men use to satisfy the longings in their souls.

  That is the way she felt. And since he was more powerful than she was, she chose a source of power to overcome his power. It was a source used down through the centuries by many when they wanted to overpower another. This source of power was chosen at times even when the person or group was already more powerful. This source of power was chosen at other times, as in her case, when the person or group felt less powerful, and wanted to rise above the one or ones seen as more powerful.

  She chose a weapon. In this case, a gun, to carry out what she saw as her right, the right given to women to choose to end a life.

  ASSIGNMENT

  Bob had always wanted to know. He was always asking, “Why? How?” Why did that person say that? Why did that person do that? Why did this event turn out this way? Why? Why? Why?

  In grade school he found that if he was on the school newspaper, he was allowed to ask his questions. It was a position where people would accept his questioning and if someone got mad, he could blame it on his position. He discovered he liked investigative reporting (although finding out the reason they were not serving pizza for a while was because the dough maker was broken turned out not to be so exciting.) He continued in middle school where he delved into relationships and courses offered. Why were some classes offered for boys only and others, which tended to be mainly girls, open to both boys and girls? He was told that it was for the safety of the girls as they would not be able to handle the rigors of such classes and the school did not want to embarrass them. In high school there were times when he covered protests that were affecting the extracurricular activities or the elective courses. It ended up there was not enough funding. Decisions being made at the state level were affecting the local level. He became the go-to person whenever the editor knew a story could make a difference. Bob was there when the school board was deciding which schools would need to be closed. His questions caused them to rethink their proposal. They called another meeting to discuss the issue. College had proven to be bigger territory—politics, racism, and having coed dorms, to name a few.

  Bob landed a job at a prestigious magazine that was known for reporting the news. He loved his job. People would write into the magazine about his articles. He kept working at improving his investigative and his reporting skills.

  Thus when the shooting had taken place and the reason for the shooting was announced, Bob was summoned to cover the story.

  The owners of the magazine wanted this story covered from the beginning. They knew it would make news. A woman had made a choice, an actual choice. Not a choice forced upon her after the fact. A woman made a choice before the situation reached a point of forced choice. Was she stable? Did someone else force her into this choice? Was it premeditated, thought out? How many people knew about this choice before it was made and carried out? It seemed like there might be a chance that the outcome of this trial would have great impact on society. Society had decided that a woman had a choice to carry a pregnancy to full term or not. Some people argued about whether the embryo was alive or not. Some argued that a woman needed to consider whether or not
it would be fair to the baby if the woman would not be able to care for the baby properly. Some people argued whether it would be fair to the baby if there were a chance of some form of abnormality. It opened the door for the woman to decide to end the pregnancy because it was not a convenient time in her life or her family’s life. The outcome of this trial might determine whether society would be upheld as it had been in the past, or would society be changed again. Would society have to make adjustments to the new norm?

  These were questions that people would want to know. These were questions that Bob was assigned to answer.

  Bob started his investigation. He attended all the meetings where police reported on the shooting. He found that Kathy had admitted shooting the victim. It was reported that there was no forced entry. There had been no evidence of any struggle. The police were looking for a motive.

  Bob contacted a number of Kathy’s coworkers and friends. They said Kathy was a fun, caring woman interested in photography, hiking, and space. She was seen as intelligent, not given to fits of anger or other emotional outbreaks. Many were surprised she would kill someone. Some reported that of late Kathy seemed to be struggling with a woman’s right to choose. Since Kathy had talked about a woman’s right to choose, Bob asked if Kathy was pregnant. Some of them did not know. Others were pretty sure she was not pregnant yet, but was anticipating what she would do if she became pregnant. Some commented that they could see Kathy having a hard time deciding to have an abortion. She might go ahead with it, as she was not in a place to have a child. It would be hard on her at this time in her life. Many of these saw that Kathy would be capable of doing it, though, as they saw her as a capable woman.

  Bob decided he would have to wait for the trial to get the whole story. Then, once the trial took place and the verdict was announced, Bob realized that to get the full story it would be best to talk to the jurors as to why they came to the conclusion they did.

  THE LAW

  JUROR 4

  It’s the law. We needed to decide according to the law. The law states that a life can be terminated during the first trimester. Doug was in his first trimester of life. He was in his twenties.

  The next question was what quality of life did it seem he was going to have and what quality of life was he going to bring to the ones who would care for him? Up until that time, he had not shown much promise. Although he had not necessarily been a troublemaker or anything like that, growing up he still had not really learned to take care of himself. He had become a burden to Kathy, a leech who would not let go. He really could not function without the care of someone in his life.

  So how does one stop giving life to one who sucks it from one? Kathy decided to make her choice: the choice women are given by law to end a life in its first trimester. It was not an easy decision for her, as it should not be. She did not just wake up one morning and decided to do it. She agonized over it. She wanted out in some other way. This was the only option that seemed to be there. If she had allowed it to continue, it would have continued to affect her life in a negative way.

  Doug wanted the relationship without the commitment or the responsibility. He was there to be cared for without really giving anything in return. He could show up or call up at anytime, needing care. It may be in the middle of the night. If he was there for the night, he may need care in the morning before going to work. Kathy never knew when Doug would need care. He was not getting on a regular schedule.

  Sounds like having a baby. So why not terminate it before it became too much and made the rest of her life harder? Isn’t that the reason for the law, the reason women have been given such a choice?

  The way their relationship was going, it resulted in a baby. Doug said he would remain in the relationship but did not want to take on the responsibility of a baby. He said she would need to have an abortion. So she did. She aborted Doug.

  It is the law—a woman has the choice to end a life in the first trimester.

  Now some would argue it should not be this way. Maybe so. Yet it is the law. We need to abide by the law. We abide laws and rules in all aspects of life. If there is some action that is shown to be dangerous to the lives of the people, or even if there is some activity that makes for too much unpleasantness, the law needs to be changed.

  I voted not guilty according to the law.

  FAMILY

  What is a typical family? Each family has their strengths, their weaknesses. Each family has what they excel at as a family. Each family has its dysfunctions. Each family has their story, each person has their own story which differs from anyone else’s story, even within the same family. Yet each person’s story, each family’s story has elements that are shared or similar to a number of other people’s story, other families’ story.

  Kathy was born in March into a family that already had two boys. They were happy to get a little girl to spoil. Dylan loved his little girl. He was more than willing to help his wife, Susan, to take care of Kathy as he had helped her take care of Dick and Robby. He wanted to raise his children right and to show them how to live life. Dylan wanted to prepare his children for their future. Is that not what many dads want for their children?

  So Dylan was happy to change Kathy’s diapers, bathe her, help feed her, be there when she was hurt. He kissed her all over, would do raspberries on her tummy and back. He liked making her laugh.

  When she became a toddler he would help bathe her, dry her off, and then chase her down the hall to get her pajamas on and finish getting ready for bed. He would lie down beside her once she got into her double-sized bed. He said he wanted a big one so that she would not fall off. He would rub her as he told her a bedtime story. Oftentimes Dick and Robby would come and join them as well.

  When Kathy was two, Kevin joined the family. Susan was glad that Dylan, Dick, and Robby were so willing to help take care of Kathy so she could spend the time she needed with Kevin. When they could, Susan and Kevin would join the family in Kathy’s room at bedtime.

  As first Dick then Robby started school, Susan became active as a school mom and on the PTO and other activities to help the school and activities in which the boys, and eventually Kathy, got involved. Dylan was happy to stay home to take care of the children when Susan was away in the evening.

  It was on one of these evenings shortly after Kathy turned three when Susan took Dick and Robby to a school event. Kevin had been put to bed before Dylan gave Kathy her bath. When Dylan had dried Kathy off and then chased her down to her room to get dressed, he started out by taking his clothes off. He told her it was about time that she learned to do to him as he and the other boys had done to her. It was time for her to kiss him, rub him, give him raspberries on his bare skin. He explained there were some activities that mommies did with their children that daddies did not know about, or care to know about. He knew that Mommy would take them shopping at times. Even though he enjoyed seeing the clothes they might buy, he did not need to know about what took place at the store. There were times when he would be away because of business and did not know what all took place when he was gone. There were also activities that mommies did not need to know that daddies did with their children. The activities that Kathy and Daddy did in Kathy’s room were such activities. Mommy did not need to know. What took place in Kathy’s room would stay in Kathy’s room. Eventually, Dick and Robby would join them. When Kevin got old enough, he would join them for these times as well.

  There would still be times when they would gather in Kathy’s room as a family for bedtime stories when the whole family was home. Yet when Mommy was not there, these times were Daddy times that Mommy did not need to know about.

  So that evening after she kissed him, rubbed him, and gave him raspberries, he gave them back to her. Kathy laid on her daddy’s chest for a while before he got up and dressed her and then dressed himself. These times continued between Kathy and her daddy whenever Mommy and the older boys were away and Kevin was in bed. Daddy helped her get to know how boys and girls bodies
were different. He explained that she needed to know these things for when she would become somebody’s wife and then become a mommy.

  Eventually, Dick was introduced to what they were doing so Kathy could kiss his bare skin, rub him, and give him raspberries as well. Daddy had started giving kisses and raspberries to more areas than just her tummy and back. He expected the same in return. There was not any part of her or his body that was off limits. He would remind her that this was his time with his children, just like Mommy had times with them. After Dick knew what they were doing, Robby was introduced and taught what to do as well. When Kevin turned two, he joined them. They had a special ceremony where Kathy was privileged to kiss Kevin all over and then Kevin kissed Kathy.

  As she and her brothers continued to grow, her dad showed them new ways to treat each other’s bodies, explaining that they needed to know this for when they got married. As Kathy got older she would give herself a bath, although anyone of her brothers or her daddy could come in while she was in the tub. They may help her dry off at times and even chase her down the hall to tackle her on her bed.

  MEN ARE IN CONTROL

  JUROR 6

  This was such a great case. Do you realize what it will do to the man’s position?

  See, women think they have a choice. We give them that choice, we fight for that choice for them. It means we as men can use women all we want. We have sex with them; if they become pregnant they abort the baby, and we just have sex again.

  Men do not need to be responsible. Men can play the field. If the woman decides to have the baby, the man just moves on. The woman is left on her own to raise the child. Sure we are supposed to pay child support, but the government needs to track us down, the government needs to make sure we are making our payments. If we work for a place where it comes directly out of our pay, we change jobs. Then the woman, with the help of the government, needs to track us down again.