100 Pounds Pt. ii

Julia Manchester was born on May 8^th, 1957. She was the daughter of John and Susy Manchester. I’ve heard many stories where parents of the fifties were extraordinary. They worked hard and took care of their children. This was not the case for my mother Julia. In earlier times, the word “strict” had a different meaning. By today’s standards, their definition of “strict” would be considered excessive.

John was a fairly successful man in his time. He did a lot of important work for a telephone company and even did some work for NASA’s space program. He could definitely be considered financially successful and had a wife, three sons, and a beautiful little girl. I envy the life that he had. Sometimes the things that we dream about belong to those that don’t want it. I think that he hated his children. I don’t know exactly why, but his actions lead me to believe just that. He provided all the physical abuse needed to damage the children. In some cases where there was an abusive father, the mother is also abused. This also was not the case. Suzy stood by not showing a bit of pain while her children were beaten for absolutely no reason. She provided all the emotional abuse needed to tear down the children.

Julia lived the most precious years of her life in fear. She was never allowed to walk directly on the carpet down the hallways of her house. She would have to walk along the sides of the walls or she would be beaten. The day that she first had her menstruation period is one that she will never forget. A day that I, as a man, have come to understand is an important milestone in the life of a woman. I learned about periods when I was young, but Julia was never told about it. When she bled on her clothes she thought something was wrong with her. She didn’t handle it well, she was very scared. Her mother Suzy didn’t comfort her. She told her she was stupid. While she lay crying in her room on her bed, John entered with a hanger and beat her legs leaving more blood that was far from natural. John would use hangars to beat Julia, but preferred to use his golf clubs on his sons. You see, John loved to play golf.

Julia never had good experiences with the men in her life (Maybe I changed that). She had her first real relationship when she was eighteen. His name was Tony and she loved him more than anything. With this relationship Tony took the last of her innocence along with the life of her child.

Tony was her high school sweetheart. Like most of the town, Julia saw Tony as the perfect young man. He was the only son in a wealthy, well respected family. He was sort of a mamma's boy, but still man enough to make the women drool. He was very sweet to Julia. He treated her like the princess that she was. It was easy for her to fall in love with him, and just as easy for him to fall in love with her. Their relationship seemed perfect, but ended voilently soon after Julia discovered she was pregnant with Tony's child. You see, Tony's mom wasn't ready to be a grandma. Instead she decided to make tea with ground up leaves from a Tephrosia plant. I know that you probably don't know about Tephrosia plants, so I'll tell you. Tephrosia plants can be used to cause abortions. She gave the tea to Julia, probably telling her that it was a special family recipe that would be good for both the pretty young pregnant girl and her unborn baby.

Of course, Julia left her first boyfriend after such a traumatizing experience. It was a couple years later that she met Lucian Duarte. She told me about how they met once.