Package Deal (42 page)

The
nice lady nodded and squeezed her hand.
“And h
e
r mommy told h
e
r to run away
if tha
t
e
v
e
r happ
e
n
e
d
?
”

She nodded.
“Th
e
girl doll didn’t r
e
m
e
mb
e
r that right away, but wh
e
n sh
e
did, sh
e
ran,
and
th
e
n sh
e
got hurt.” T
e
ars w
e
ll
e
d
up in h
e
r
e
y
e
s. “And th
e
n h
e
r mama cri
e
d
and cried
.”

Th
e
lady
put her arms around her
and h
e
ld h
e
r
until she stopped crying
.
It felt so good to get it out
, to tell someone
.
Her heart wasn’t pound
ing so
hard anymore, and her tummy didn’t feel so full.

“Would you lik
e
your mama to com
e
in
here
so you can t
e
ll h
e
r what you told m
e
?”

“
Uh-
uh
.
” She shook her head until her pigtails bounced.
“
Sh
e
g
e
ts sad wh
e
n I cry, and I was bad. I ran into th
e
str
ee
t.
I didn’t s
ee
th
e
ca
r.
I shouldn’t hav
e
run into th
e
str
ee
t. Th
e
car hurt m
e
b
e
caus
e
I didn’t list
e
n
.
”
Before she hadn’t been able to talk about it. Now the
words
kept
tumbling out
, faster and faster
.“
I
told him to let me go and I
scratched him.
He
told m
e
to stop
yelling
, but I didn’t.
I wasn’t s
’
posed to let anybody in except Marcus, but I didn’t know it was him.
I tried to shut the door, but he wouldn’t let me. He was holding my arm so tight
, and
I was so scared when he wouldn’t let me go.
”
She used her right arm to brush
away
her tears
.
She looked at the nice lady. “
I just had to get away from him.
When I finally got loose, I stomped on his foot. I was so mad
when
he
wouldn’t let me go
.” Her breath was coming fast, thinking about it.

The lady nodded. “I’
m glad you got away, Cece
. I know yo
ur
mama would lik
e
you to know that sh
e
und
e
rstands why you ran
away
.
” Th
e
woman
raised her voice
.
“Amanda,
would you come in here, please? D
id you t
e
ll C
e
c
e
lia sh
e
should n
e
v
e
r run into th
e
str
ee
t?”

“Y
e
s, I did,”
her mother
replied, as she walked into
the
room.
“
I didn’t want h
e
r to g
e
t hurt.”

“D
id you also t
e
ll h
e
r that if som
e
on
e
e
v
e
r tri
e
d
to touch h
e
r or hold h
e
r or grab h
e
r in a
bad
way that sh
e
should y
e
ll
and run away
?”

“Y
e
s
.”

“H
ow
do
you f
ee
l
knowing
Cecelia did that
?”

“
I’m
so
glad she did
. S
h
e
did
th
e
right thing.”

The
woman
stroked
Cecelia’s hand.
“But sh
e
got hit by th
e
car.”

“I know, but that was an accid
e
nt. Th
e
man in th
e
car didn’t s
ee
C
e
c
e
lia and sh
e
didn’t s
ee
th
e
car. That had nothing to do with h
e
r
runn
ing away from th
e
bad
man who was touching h
e
r wh
e
n h
e
shouldn’t hav
e
.”

“
Amanda, w
ould
you lik
e
to
tell a story
with th
e
dolls?”

Her mother
nodded and
s
e
l
e
ct
e
d
a mama doll and pick
e
d
up th
e
small girl doll
with the yellow hair
. Sh
e
put th
e
girl doll into th
e
mama doll
’
s arms so that th
e
y w
e
r
e
hugging on
e
anoth
e
r.

“
Here’s my story. The little girl h
as a mama who loves her
so very much
. She is
very proud of her
daughter because
she knows how to get away from danger. She ran away from
a bad man. And, her mama is so
glad she did that.
Now th
e
girl is saf
e
. And
that
bad
man can
’t
scar
e
or hurt
h
e
r
ever again
.”

C
e
c
e
lia smil
e
d
through
her mother
’s story
.
She was glad she told what the bad man had done.
Her mama wasn’t mad at her after all
, even though she had let the man in the house when she shouldn’t have
.
She was right to run away.
Her heart didn’t feel heavy any more.
When her mother
r
e
ach
e
d
for h
e
r,
th
e
y
hugged
for s
e
v
e
ral minut
e
s.Th
e
n the
nice lady
sat with
her
and
Cecelia
told her about all those
times
in her mother’s office
when the man was there
, what
the bad man
had said to her, and tried to do,
and
the day
she
was waiting for Marcus to take her shopping
.

Amanda sat qui
e
tly
as the therapist talked with her daughter
, appall
e
d
at what sh
e
h
e
ard
.
Then s
he
w
e
nt into th
e
bathroom and turn
e
d
on th
e
wat
e
r
to hide the sound of
h
e
r losing h
e
r
lunch
.
She wept quietly into a towel, trying not to think what might have happened had Cecelia not run away from Carlton.

The
th
e
rapist w
e
nt downstairs with h
e
r aft
e
r C
e
c
e
lia
l
ay
down for
h
e
r aft
e
rnoon nap.

“I should have paid mor
e attention to what she told me,
when
she
complained about him
in the office
and said he was icky
. It’s
all
my fault this happened
. If
only I had been more watchful.”

“Amanda, y
ou ar
e
no mor
e
at fault than your daught
e
r. You did not know about
him
.
How could you? It wasn’t something he advertised and you weren’t around when he tried to make friends with Cecelia.
”
The woman
refilled her
cup.
“
That’s how they do it, you
know. First, they make friends while they do little things that don’t seem so bad
—like when he told her he would walk her back to your office after the soccer game. That was very innocent and no one would have noticed. After all, you said Marcus sometimes walked her over to your lecture hall after a game. Only because Cecelia started walking with the other girls, Sam and Gloria, the coach’s daughter, did he go away. He was trying to get her to trust him. Usually after
they establish trus
t,
they assault—and
they
often
tell their victims not to tell.
I don’t
know if he
told her
that
. Maybe he inferred it.
Cecelia never said
,
but
w
hat conc
e
rns m
e
is h
e
probably
is
a pr
e
d
ator and h
e
could
hurt som
e
oth
e
r littl
e
girl.
”