“Why, Daniel Connelly, what a fib. I hate to be the one to tell you, but your memory is slipping. You will get your cake though,” she promised.
Caitlyn was looking forward to her time with her family without a schedule to follow.
The Alaskan vacation had been fabulous but getting back to the Safe House and her ladies was her passion. The love of her life was Daniel and heir children. The nightmare of her life with Jessie was like a bad dream. The children had not mentioned him since he had kidnapped Sarah. They adored Daniel they shared activities any day he was home, it was difficult to tell who had the most fun.
They sailed and fished at least twice a month. Their life was so full of happiness, Caitlyn often felt guilty and a little afraid.
Then one day, a friend, who had moved to Charlotte, N.C. sent her a copy of the Charlotte Observer, a new fear went through her. She had thought she had seen a new low in humanity with the coming of ‘Granny Dumping .When Caitlyn read of the abuse of pregnant women in the United Sates. 320,000 pregnant women are assaulted each year. Some of these are killed! The saddest part of this is that over half of the abuses go unreported. The abuser has slowly chipped away at his victims self worth until she begins to believe everything is her fault. She has actually been brainwashed by her husband. The observer stated that sixty seven women died last year in North Carolina. There are many others missing. The abuser are such convincing liars, the families of the victims are often deceived into complacency.
The Observer had a full page devoted to one woman’s story. Mary, the victim, was speaking out against abuse. She is involved in the walk against domestic abuse, she speaks often at different abuse organizations. She bravely declared she will not let her ex-husband make her leave her home in Charlotte, NC.
Caitlyn shuddered and thought, ‘How I wish I could convince this girl to move to another state. Her ex-husband will be looking for her when he comes back to Charlotte. All the restraining orders in the book will not stop him from finding her and he gets out of prison in May!’
She felt so sorry for Aunt Millie, she now understood the frustration she had gone through with her own daughter before her death and with the short sentence her husband received.
Aunt Millie had accomplished so much and helped so many in the time she had spent with abused women.
When Caitlyn arrived at her own home, she had forced other people’s problems into the back of her mind. As she opened the front door, she heard shrieks of laughter coming from their pool then quickly changing into a swimsuit, she hurried to join her family.
Climbing to the upper diving board, she proceeded to execute a perfect swan dive.
Everyone cheered as she swam to Daniel. Getting a kiss and a hug, she then watched Isabella swimming the length of the pool. Sarah was swimming beside her giving her encouragement.
Caitlyn caught Isabella up into her arms congratulated her for being such a good swimmer. Then winking at Sarah and thanking her for taking such good care of her little sister.
After a few more laps and Caitlyn relaxed in a lounge chair with a Tom Collins Daniel had provided.
After the swimming and the Tom Collins, she felt so relaxed, warm and safe. Her life was so wonderfully right.
The following day she received a long news letter from her friend in North Carolina. It seemed a woman’s coalition has a ten year plan to educate the public in domestic abuse prevention. Her friend, a former battered woman herself, also had other news. The police department in the city of Salisbury, NC, a smaller town north of Charlotte, had discovered two decomposing bodies recently. It had been established that they were both female. Forensic was working to get an identity, they had already uncovered the cause of death. Another department was searching the missing person files for the last five years. More than one woman had gone missing from Rowan County. The disappearances under suspicious circumstances.
Sometimes the wife had left of her own accord quietly, in order to save her life, or at least another beating. In other cases the investigators knew the husband was lying, but could find no proof.
The department was trying to keep their investigation quiet, so the men involved did not run.
When Caitlyn thought of the happiness in her own home, she wondered how she could get a message to the abusers. If they stopped to think, they would realize that what you do to others will sooner or later come right back to you.
A wife is so much more than someone to be beaten until you feel better. She is a companion, your lover, your cook, laundress, nurse, confidant, chauffer, gardener, counselor sometimes even your substitute parent and mother of your children. Quite an asset to the man who cares for her.
That is one of the reasons the abuser falls apart when the wife leaves him. His anger is part frustration, because on his pathetic own, he is inept. Subconsciously or not, it seems he must bring her down either to gain control to prove himself a man.
At her next meeting, Caitlyn read her letters to the group at the safe house. “Ladies, I hope you have gained something of value, I have never tried to give the impression that I know all the answers to your dilemma, I just know what worked for me, I also know the abuse continues. We all know abuse is illegal, but that does not stop the abuser. Basically your life is in your own hands, it is up to you. Run if you have to, hide if you have a place you can get away. For now, we will protect you as long as possible, we will help you get relocated or find work in another town. We have the staff and the connections. Lets all work together to stop this insanity of women getting beaten, crippled and killed. I will not see you again until after July and I must admit, I will miss you each and every one,” Caitlyn said finishing her lecture, the applause followed her down the hall as she joined Daniel.
Toward the middle of June, Logan asked Daniel about their next vacation.
Stopping his polishing the wood on the sailboat, Daniel stood up with his brows raised, a puzzled look on his face, answered, “You know Logan, we have been busy this summer. I had not given a vacation a thought. Where do you think you would like to go?”
“Dad you said we would go West when we were returning from Alaska. I have been reading a lot about the different Indian tribes from the book Aunt Millie gave me. It must be awesome to visit a real tribe in their village,” Logan answered wistfully.
“I am glad you said that. I have always felt like I should know more about them. My great grandfather was of the Hopi Tribe. The name Hopi means peaceful ones. We used to spend hours while we reminisced about his life and growing up there,” Daniel answered.
“Dad! How cool, why have you never told me about him before now?” Logan asked excitedly.
“I have not thought about it in years. I had no idea anyone else would be interested in the stories an old man told,” Daniel explained.
Logan asked, “Will you tell me some of the stories you remember?”
“Well, I remember some of the dances he showed me. One ritual was believed to bring a big harvest.
To get ready for the ceremony, the men who do the snake dance must pray every morning for four days. Only then may they go into the desert and collect snakes. They got the poisonous ones as well as non-poisonous. The snake is used to symbolize lightning and rain because of the snakes zigzag movements.
They live with those snakes in their kivi, or room. After the ceremony they are taken back to the desert where the Hopi believe they spread the word of the Hopi prayers and intercede with the spirits to bring rain.
I believe Grandpa said the ceremony lasted for nine days and all that time the snakes live with them. Each day has some ceremony but on the ninth day is when the dancing is done. As they danced they did a lot of stomping. This was to get the attention of their gods. You would think they would be afraid of getting bitten but the men would stroke the snake with an eagle feather when they got restless. It seems the snakes were terrified of eagles and they would calm righ
t down.
The snakes were carried during they ceremony and the dancing went on for hours. This was also part of their religion.
He told me many more things but I have long since forgotten them. He often acted out the stories he told or I would not have remembered this much.
When we get out West we will find the Hopi tribe. I grew up planning to do this but, in time, the wish faded.
We are going to visit several tribes while we are there. It will mean so much more having you there with me.
Their home was called a pueblo, which is in a high mountain of rocks where the rooms are dug out of the side of the rock face about 30 feet up. They must use long ladders to get to them. It sounds a little scary , but that was their custom. When the ladders were pulled up, they were safe from invaders!
I have always promised myself I would go see them one day. What do you think son? Shall we start planning,” Dan asked.
“Could we please? I would like to see everything you have told me about. Of course I would like to see the cowboys and the towns of the old West too. What will we do with the girls in the family,” he inquired.
“They will go along with us. There are things out West they will like. Grandpa used to tell me about the beautiful pottery his mother made. She was famous for it. Let us see what your mother thinks of the idea, then we will get more information.”
True to his word, Daniel e-mailed a dozen towns on their route. He wrote their Chamber of Commerce for points of interest recreational areas, and state parks or historical places.
Within a week he had his requested information. The family sat around the kitchen table excitedly looked them over, package by package.
“Dad, this is so cool. Here’s informati on a Dude Ranch. Could we spend a week here? Maybe you I could get two good horses to ride over the prairie,” Logan said.
“What about my girls? What do you see that you would like?” Daniel asked
“Do you think it will be too hot in July to go out West? Caitlyn inquired.
“Other people live there year round. We will cope with the weather as they do. If it is too hot we can go to the movies or go swimming or stay in the air conditioned motor home.
Here’s another suggestion. Let us not take too many clothes then we can buy some real western wear while we’re there,” Daniel suggested.
“I have always admired the beautiful silver and turquoise jewelry. I would love to spend some time in a shop that sells it,” Caitlyn said hopefully.
“I promise each of my girls some gorgeous pieces of turquoise jewelry.”
The Connelly family was going alone on this vacation since Aunt Millie’s family had gone to Disneyland and Aunt Betty’s husband had suffered a back injury from a fall.
Caitlyn and Daniel spent time stocking the motor home and renewing the first aid kit. Daniel was taking two movie cameras so both he and Caitlyn could record a documentary of their trip. Reviewing them later is almost as much fun as the trip itself.
The excitement grew as the family finished their packing and last minute details of leaving home.
Logan asked his Dad if he might do one last thing before they left.
“Of course son, what is it?” Daniel asked.
At that, they all went outside where Logan took a deep breath and shouted “Wagon’s Hoooh!!”. The Connelly Family had a hearty laugh, loaded into the van and off they went for another new adventure.
Blond, Black, and Blue Page 17
