Introduction
Jamie had a lot going for her. She had a great family who was understanding and very supportive. She was a great student who was at the top of her class. She was always class president from the time I could remember. Jamie was always involved in numerous extracurricular activities. Then Ernie Blancher entered into her life and she entered into a world that only nightmares were made of.
Chapter 1
Another School Year Ends
The halls in Ridgefield Jr. High echoed with the sound of the last bell for the year. Doors from various classrooms flung open. Children began to flood the halls like a school of fish. Red and black lockers clattered open at the speed of light, since everyone was in a hurry to leave.
I walked carelessly to locker 121; this was the locker that I have shared with my best friend Jamie Edgewood since the beginning of Junior High. Jamie has been my friend since kindergarten, where we were both in Miss. Zimmerman’s class. We became instant friends when we were introduced to one another by Miss. Zimmerman, after she found both of us in corners crying to go home. We have been inseparable since.
It is funny though because; for the most part we are total opposites. I am your average looking, average student, who just gets by when it comes to school work. I’m not big into extracurricular activities and I do not like to do things that draw attention to me or what I am doing. I’m not even close to being athletic and I; by no means look like I’m entering into high school next year as a freshman. I’m a band geek who is happy sitting in the last seat and not forced to do solos. I do not have a clue what I want to be when I grow up. I’m sure it will be something behind the scenes though. Jamie always gets on me about my motivation, my efforts, and my attitude; she always says, “Now Christine, you need to be more aggressive in the things you do…aim high…it is never too late to shoot for the stars, no matter who you are.”
Now Jamie is a 13 year old that looks like she is 18. She is a beautiful brunette with eyes as green as the sea. She is 13 with the motivation and intelligence of a 35 year old. She is always voted class president, and, of course she is always on the honor-roll. She is a track star, a top rated gymnast, star diver, top in her dance class, and last but not least head cheerleader, and all of this was accomplished in her short 13 years of life. Plus, she does know what she wants to be when she grows up. She still has a two-parent home, dad works and mom stays home. They take a two-week vacation every summer and for the past three years, since I was 11, I have been invited to tag along with the family. Of course my mother always lets me go with no problem or questions asked, it gets me out of her hair for two weeks, and she can entertain her multiple, creepy boyfriends as much as she likes. Remember though, this is about Jamie not me.
I’m standing her cleaning out this locker wondering where Jamie is, we were to meet at our locker at 2:45 pm, to clean it out together, walk home, and get ready for our 8th grade graduation tonight, that starts at 6:00 pm. Jamie of course is to read some speech or poem or something like that at the ceremony tonight. She is very excited about this, if it was me I would be blowing chunks, not be all bubbly about it.
Looking at my watch I noticed it was now 2:55 pm, the halls were now vacant except for a few stray students wondering around the long halls. Where the hell is she, it is out of Jamie’s character to be late, not even ten minutes late.
Then I heard her voice, “Christy, oh my goodness, I am so sorry I am late, I was caught up talking to Mr. Peter about my speech tonight.” I turned around and there stood my good friend looking very sincere, but holding that bright smile of hers. I just smiled and said, “Hell girl is about time, I was about to send out a search party.” The way Jamie looked at me, I thought I was going to bust up laughing, she looked at me crossed eyed and stuck out her tongue. I had already packed up Jamie’s things while I was waiting on her so we could go and get ready for this great, grand, wonderful 8th grade graduation, which I really did not care to attend. The only reason I was going was to support and listen to my friend’s speech. I was so glad that the 7th grade band were the ones playing tonight, because, I so did not want to play.
I looked at Jamie and said, “Well don’t just stand there giving me those pathetic looks get your skinny ass moving, we have to get ready for your big début!” Jamie just laughed and said, “Don’t get so pushy you stork.” She called me that because I haven’t quit grew into my long legs yet. When looking at me, I am no bigger than a sign post I have strawberry blonde hair a lot of freckles no boobs or butt and all legs.
I handed Jamie her full back pack and threw mine over my shoulder and we headed to the exit to go home. We lived in a small town in rural Indiana; everybody knows everybody and everybody’s business. You remember Mayberry? Well that is Ridgefield, minus Barney Five though. We walked down the steep stairs in the rear of Ridgefield Junior High and turned left onto Chestnut Avenue.
Jamie lived five blocks away from the school on Murray. It was a middle class neighborhood with moderate homes. I lived one block behind Murray on Chester Street, which is a lower income section in Ridgefield. Not only are Jamie and I like night and day so are our families and our home life. Jamie’s household has a mother and a father; they are a middle class family that attends church every Sunday. She calls her grandmother at least once a week and they have two family reunions every year. Her parents support Jamie in every aspect of her life. They do not mind putting money into what is best for Jamie, for example being a cheerleader is not free it cost her parents $500.00 dollars every year, this of course includes cheerleading camp. Her parents have been paying for dance class and private gymnastic lessons since Jamie was 3 years old. They love one another and respect one another for who they are. If they do have a disagreement they do not yell at one another they sit down and talk things out and her parents do not act superior over Jamie, they respect her opinion and comments. Jamie is an only child; however; she is not spoiled by no means. My home-life; however; is so different. I live with my mother who is very promiscuous, I’m not real sure who my father is and my mother will not put out any money for me even if we did have it, I was lucky I got a scholarship to be able to play in the band or more than likely I would not be doing that. My mother does work, but depends heavily on her many boyfriends to get her through the month. I am not the only child, I am however, the oldest; I have one little sister, and two younger brothers, so there is four of us, and yep you guessed it we all have different fathers. We do not respect one another, my mother could give two licks where I am at most of the time unless of course she needs someone to watch my siblings, while she goes on the hunt for a new bank roll, which none never last longer than a few months. We do yell and scream and curse at one another, if I had a nickel for every time my own mother called me a whore, and I was trying to steal one of her gross boyfriends, I would be a multi-millionaire. So I spend a lot of my time at the Edgewood home, I feel safe and loved there they treat me like one of their own, and they do not seem to mind me hanging around, so I do, I just hope I do not ever wear out my welcome I love being there.
It only took us about 15 minutes to get to Jamie’s house. Her home sat on top of a small hill with a long row of stairs leading up to her huge rounded front porch. She lived in an old Victorian style home, which has just recently been marked a historical landmark. I guess somebody famous lived there or something like that. She has underground tunnels under her home that leads to the pool house which use to be a guest house or what they called in the older times the servant quarters. It is pretty interesting; you can access the tunnels either from the basement pantry or the downstairs bedroom closet. Jamie and I have been down there several times. It is amazing to me that the tunnels are still accessible and have not collapsed, so I guess whoever built them did not build them half-assed. So Jamie’s father Bill added electric lights down there and they use it when the weather is threatening, in Indiana we get a lot of tornado warnings so that is what they use. They have a generator that operates the light and they have a pantry with canned goods, water, blankets, battery operated radio and anything else that may be needed if a disaster hit.
As soon as we got to the stairs we ran up them taking two at a time. The closer we got to the house the stronger the aroma of chocolate chip cookies baking became prevalent. I looked over at Jamie and yelled, “Race you to the top!” Of course I knew I had no chance of winning but like always, Jamie let me win. When we got to the front door we giggled between breaths. We skipped through the front door and ran into the kitchen, where Becky, Jamie’s mother stood with a huge smile on her face and her arms opened wide. Jamie and I both ran up to her and she gave us both a huge bear hug and a quick peek on top of both our heads. Becky is a wonderful cook, she states her momma taught her how to cook growing up in the everglades of Louisiana, I believe that women could cook just about anything, she always has some sort of fresh snack for Jamie and me when we get back from school, and today was no different than any other day. Becky is a lovely woman, she has dark hair with a little gray here and there, deep dark eyes, and an accent that is so strong sometimes it is hard for me to understand. Her heart is made of gold, and I beat the size of twenty football fields. She treats me like a daughter and I can talk to her for hours she never looks down or tells me what I should do, she does however make suggestions and most of the times I listen and things work out for the better.
After the hug and kiss Becky stated in her heavy southern accent, “Where have you girls been I was starting to get a little worried?” I looked at Becky with a smile and said, “Ask your daughter.” Jamie looked up from the plate of cookies with chocolate all over her lips and with a mouth full of cookies and giggled, “Who me?” We all had a good laugh, ate some cookies and had some milk. Becky cleared her throat with a loud gurgle sound and said, “Well are you girls ready for your big evening?” Jamie smiled and stated, “That is why we were late I was talking to Mr. Peter and going over my speech for tonight, and I think I am all ready to go.” “Christie are you ready for tonight, is your mother going to be able to attend the ceremony?” questioned Becky. I looked over at Becky and shook my head slowly no. “My mother has to work the late shift tonight Becky, so she will not be there,” I almost stated in an ashamed whispered. Becky smiled, and said, “Don’t you fret young lady Bill and I will be there for you.” I looked over at Jamie and she had the largest smile on her face I have everseen. I think I had a tears forming in my eyes, I was so lucky to have such a good friend who’s family accepted me with open arms and provided support for me the best they could, I don’t know what I would do without them.
I looked over at the wall clock in the kitchen; about 45 minutes have already passed. I looked over at Jamie pointed to the clock and motioned to the steps. Jamie got a surprised look on her face ran over to her mother at the sink gave her a big kiss on the check and said, “Well mommy we have to run and go upstairs and get ready for the big evening.” Becky gave Jamie a kiss back and said, “My goodness I did not realize it had gotten so late so I better finish up here and get moving myself, it takes us older folks longer to get beatified.” Jamie and I both giggled and rolled our eyes and almost in chorus both said, “You are not old and you are the most beautiful person we know.” Jamie and I headed up the stairs to her room to get ready for the graduation.
Jamie’s room was a large upstairs bedroom with its own bathroom, her room would be any girls dream room. As you enter the room your attention is drawn to the king size, antique, canapé bed with white and pink lace that made up the beautiful canapé, along the sides were silk pink flowered curtains tied back with white lace, her comforter was a quilt made by her granny, it had pink, white, baby blue and yellow squares and each square included a letter that made up Jamie’s name in lovely pink and white silk material. As you looked to the left there was a huge bay window that included a window seat, and yep you guessed it made up of pink and white silk pillows, that her granny made for her. She had several built in shelves that held her collection of porcelain dolls that family members had bought for her from all around the world. They also held her many trophies she had won for gymnastics, track, dance, academic awards, cheerleading, diving, and who knows what else. Her walls were not covered in your average teenage girl posters, but actual art work that her mother and Jamie had painted, I also have a few of these in my room at my house but they are in my closet so nothing happens to them or my mother tries to sell them. She has her own TV, which she hardly ever watches, a great stereo and a brand new lap-top computer that she won by participating in some poetry contest. In the right hand corner she still has the dollhouse that is an exact replica of her house including the huge wraparound porch; I remember we use to play with that thing for hours when we were younger. Oh yes, don’t forget the huge walk in closet Bill built for her last year it has shelves for shoes, spin around hanger holders so things do not get cramped, drawers for clothes, a special section to hold purses and bags and don’t forget the full length mirror he picked up last year at a garage sell for $25.00. This was a steal Jamie and I looked it up using Google, and that thing is worth $2,000.00 dollars it is some antique a princess owned or some crap like that. But it suites Jamie, she is her dad’s little princess, I feel sorry for any boy if they want to date Jamie I can see Bill sitting at the kitchen table when they get there cleaning one of his many guns while he gives them the 5th degree that will be a sight to see. I let out a loud giggle when this image hit my mind. Jamie turned from her closet and gave me a look that just made me laugh even harder. Jamie said, “Stork are you going to daydream all day or are you going to get in here and pick something out to wear for our ceremony?” After saying this she let out a huge bubbly laugh and made that crazy face of hers again. We both had a good laugh and I finally went into the closet to see what she has already picked out for me. I looked at her suggestions layered out for me across the clothes rack and I busted up laughing. Jamie you are kidding me right.” I questioned laughing. Jamie looked at me with a puzzled look. She had laid out two outfits, both pink for one and they were short skirts that looked fine on her and were the right lengths but I am about a foot and a half taller than Jamie, and pink is defiantly not my color and I prefer longer skirts to cover my chicken legs or pants for that matter. Jamie questioned, “What is wrong with them?” I just looked at her and she started laughing, “Fine get in here and pick something out that suites you,” Jamie scolded. I went into the closet as ordered and started going through Jamie’s clothes. I finally decided on a nice lime-green sundress that would come to at least my knees and cover my ass. Jamie had already gone into the bathroom to get cleaned up, dressed, and her hair done; I went over and knocked on the door. Jamie opened the door and was all ready to go she had chosen the pink twin to my dress. We looked at each other and busted up laughing. “Great minds think alike,” Jamie blurted out in between laughs. I went into the bathroom and started getting ready for the shin-ding at the school. I yelled out to Jamie after I was cleaned and dressed, “What the hell should I do with this mop I call my hair?” Jamie opened the door looked at me through her hands like a movie director and said, “I think a French braid is in order, what do you think madam.” I started laughing again and Jamie chimed in laughing also. I took a breather and said, “Madam approves, now get to work girl.” We both laughed again. Jamie held up her finger motioned one moment, walked away and then I heard our favorite song start echoing through the room she came running back to the bathroom with a brush and some hair ties and bobby-pins, as she was doing my hair we sang along with our song. As soon as the song ended we heard a knock at the door. We looked at each other and we both yelled, “Yes, who is it!” We both ran for the door, and on the other side was Bill. “Daddy,” exclaimed Jamie with excitement, and she ran out to him gave him a big hug and a small peck on the check. Bill looked over at me and smiled and said, “Hello Christie how are you today, I hear we get to be in your corner also tonight, don’t worry we will cheer loud and proud for you also. I smiled a huge smile as I walked up and gave him a hug and said thank you. “Well princess, are you about ready to go it is 5:30, and we should get going,” said Bill. Jamie shook her head yes and said, “We will be down in 5 minutes daddy, ok.” Bill nodded his head and walked out of the room. Jamie and I took one last look at ourselves in the mirror; Jamie checked my hair and nodded with approval and we headed for the door and raced down the steps where both her parents stood waiting for us. As we got to the bottom of the stairs Bill and Becky gave both of us a hug and handed both of us a long stem pink rose. Once again I think I had tears in my eyes. Bill opened the door and we all headed to the car to go to graduation.
Ok so that is the first chapter is it corny, boreing, or do you want to know more? Please leave me a comment on your thoughts.
