"A time long ago"

Or once upon a time, when I was young and just leaning to scoot and crawl around, Mother would put me on the floor or in a pen of chicken wire, so I wasn’t under her feet all the time. well that didn’t work very long as I had that thing torn apart and both of us were all tangled up in it,

Next she tried me with a rope, but I would chew that apart. Of course, chains were not being manufactured as yet, Large ones could be found, but no small ones,

One day she saw the wood box empty and thought, Maybe that would work and she tried that, but she had to nail some boards across the top of it. You guessed it right, in no time at all, it was it was broken to pieces. The old tin wash tub was used and wicker basket with heavy things placed on top of it. that didn't work either. She tied me in a chair and hung me on a hook, nothing worked

 Then she decided to put me outside, tied to the dog, but the old dog didn’t like to have me around so, he would go for a walk. The problem was, he drug me along with him and I liked that, I got to see some new places and do things that I couldn’t do in the house. 

We lived in the country, not on a farm, but in an old shack that had been abandoned. Never did know who it belonged too and no one ever said anything about it. There were cracks everywhere and you could see if anyone was coming from all four sides. The roof was good, because it didn’t leak when it rained.

Dad would go to a town to find work or work for other farmers , some where in the area.   He built a table and a cupboard for mom and we had some old wooden boxes to use for chairs. We did have a real chair once, but some one put it over the top of me and said I was in jail. Well I broke out and there was nothing left of the old chair.

It seams that most of my life, I was in or under something, behind or tied to something , and or, behind bars some of the time. I liked that place, because they gave me food to eat and a place to sleep. They said it was a station of some type . Anyway, when I was about ten or eleven, could have even been younger, I was sent to a boys hotel. There were boys there that were older and not many as young as I was.

Then one day a preacher and his wife came by and took me with them. They taught me all about farming and there were classes all day long from sun up to sun down. They taught me everything and they would often find me sleeping and pondering all the things I had learned.  Yes, I could do most anything, but didn’t do many of them, because I already knew how.

I went to school most of the time. as I got to carry a lunch in a tin lunch box. The teacher never taught me as much as the girls my age did. Some how I made it to the fifth grade. And had learned everything that one could learn and that is when my foster father packed my bag and gave me a few dollars and said goodbye. With coins in my pocket, I was rich beyond my wildest dreams.

I came upon some boys, that were drinking beer and they gave me a bottle. It made me feel funny all over and I got sick. That was bad stuff, I told myself, that I would never drink that stuff again.  Well I didn’t because I have never had any money in my pocket to afford it.

I moved around from town to town, doing a little work here and there. I found a big cardboard box in an alley and made it my home, Then one evening I came home and found two young lovers in my bed. I put the run on him and she was just too scared to run. We spent the night together and she went home the following morning. She came back later and told me her father was building a garage, and if I were to ask him for a job, he probably would give me one. I went with her and found him working alone. I ask if he needed help and he said yes, if we could agree on the terms.

He said he would feed me and give me a place to sleep and a few

dollars, if that was agreeable and it was. The week end came and he told me that he and his family were going to visit other family and his daughter was going to spend the week end with a girl friend.  Before they left, she whispered to me, that she would be back, and we could spend the week end together. 

It was a Saturday afternoon, and I decided to find her room and take a long bath and a nap. The room had a thousand stuffed animals on her bed and scattered around the room. I cleared off the bed and there was one really big stuffed bear. 

I was holding it, when I must have turned something on. In locating that part the was vibrating, I was shocked and didn't believe what I was thinking. I figured out what it was and kicked it off the bed and it landed off in a corner behind a little rocking chair. I was shocked and didn’t believe what I thought it was for.

I laid there thinking and fell asleep. When I woke, My hands and feet were each tied to a corner bed post. I tried to free myself, but found it was useless, I hollered for help several times, and the girl opened the door and told me to stop hollering.

It was almost dark, when two girls came into the room, both were dressed in scanty black things and wearing black cat masks. They were purring like mad and one was approaching me on the left and the other was approaching me on the right. It scared the hell out of me and was yelling for help and I must have fainted.

The next thing I heard was someone knocking on the shed door. Saying it was time to get up and we had work to do.  I tried to open the door, but couldn’t. It had a pad-lock on the inside and it was locked. We spent an hour getting the door open and was trying to figure out, why or who could have put the pad-lock there,

I never did like a mystery story, and this one is really bothering me.

By: Ben R. 

July 16, 2013