Words

When I was a little girl, I say about eight years old. My friend Jeanie and I wanted a concession stand. There was a group of men standing outside with nothing to drink. It was summertime. Of course, they had something to drink, and it didn´t look like it to us!

It looked like my dad was watching us. So I asked my dad if he would help us? He said yes. He took the boards we had and some yellow type of paper and made a drinking site. Jeanie looked at him the whole time he was working.

She said, ¨He doesn´t have to work tonight?¨

I said, ¨No, I guess not. It must be his night off.¨

The word already had got out. Even Jeanie had heard. She didn´t know what to make of it. Itś something.

He said ¨It was all done! Don´t work too hard!¨

I said, ¨You either I know it’s your night off!¨

I remember one time I was lying on the sofa watching television. My dad laid down beside me!

He said, ¨I never laid down with you before.¨

I got all flustered with a pit in my stomach. I still didn´t feel anything.

He was an Italian man. His parents were born in Italy. Sicilian, the largest and most populous of the autonomous regions of Italy. He was born in the United States.

The word had gotten to his employee, and he was fired. I and didn´t know that, of course.

The word had gotten around the neighborhood.

The fact was he was a child molester!

I had no idea was a molester was. I know that sounds crazy, but it is true. I heard the description from my mom, and I couldn´t believe it. We were all standing in the kitchen when my mom told us that he was leaving. Also, what a molester is to me. Everybody in the room knew what the molester was except me. I was hurt, and he never touched me.

My mom was seeing a man named Stan. He was checking out this other man named Lorenzo Romano. That was my dad! He found all the stuff about him, including the child molester. He used the neighborhood and the surrounding areas to talk about this child molester. You talk too much! The word got right back to Lorenzo!

One day I was talking to my dad on the back of the stairs. I had to go to the bathroom really bad, so bad. I almost made it up the stairs, and it all went in my pants! I mean, it went tickled all the way. I got cleaned up very fast, and I went to the back of the stairs, he was gone! My mom gave me hell about it.

This was before we all got word that he was a child molester. She said, ¨You are going to a movie Saturday with your dad. Mary is going with you.¨

I said, ¨Yea!¨

The movie we were going to see was The Good, The Bad and The Ugly -Written by Ennio Morricone.

The movie was not that bad. I just enjoyed being with my dad. Mary was a little apprehensive about the whole thing, was glad when we got home.

She finally told my mom. Lorenzo molested and raped her. From the time she was twelve years old. The rape happens about three times. My mom was silent for about five minutes. I came into the room my mom told me to leave. I really didn´t know why I felt hurt all over again.

Mom was wondering, ¨Why didn´t you tell me, Mary!¨

¨I was too scared he threatened to kill me. I went to the movies because I thought the same thing would happen to Mallory. I am too scared to go on with it. He is gone now. I don´t have to go on with this anymore.¨ She cried, and my mom did too.

After that, I was going to have a long ride. All the way down south, it would take me or us. My mom picked us up, and we were gone! We went to see my grandmother and great-grandmother. I was happy to see both of them. They both had wrinkles all over their faces! I watched my great-grandmother, and I snuck and put my two fingers over her face and felt like an old wrinkle-up face. My mom just scolded me!

After about two days, my mom left. She said she was going to pack up the apartment. Then we could come back. To what I don´t know? I went back a little sooner than the rest of them. My mom married Stan! Much to my surprise. I was only nine at the time. We sat having dinner one day. Stan was playing with a book of matches, me counting them every time. My mom said she had something to tell me.

She said ¨Stan was my birth father!¨ She was having an affair when she was still with my dad (Lorzeno), and it happens just like that! I didn´t know much about how I got here, but Stan was my birth father.

I didn´t know I was supposed to take it. I said ¨Ok¨

When the rest of them, Mary, James came back, I could see all were trying to get on so well. Ronnie, my oldest step-brother, wasn´t with us at that particular time.

Mom and my stepfather (dad?) slept in the master bedroom. My step-brother, James, slept in the spare room. My step-sister and I slept in the living room on a sofabed.

We were coming home from a family get-together it was fun! There was a box on the front porch. We looked up and saw Lorenzo driving by!

¨You like it!¨ he said.

That was the first of many visits over the years.

The box was filled with jewelry from Aunt Anna.

I said ¨Can we keep that? I want my bible from my first communion!¨

My mom said, ¨Ok, we will have to look through the rest of it and then throw the rest away.¨

The rest of these were letters left in our mailbox. Some were very threatening. The police said there was nothing they could do. They could not find him. The next thing I remember was my mom and Mary going shopping. Lorenzo's threatening them with a bat beating the windshield out of the car. My mom and Mary ran back into the mall, calling Stan and the police. After a while, the police could not find Lorenzo. Lorenzo did pay off the police. That is my opinion now. I was only ten or twelve at the time.

I remember coming home from a wedding reception. We were just driving away singing along, having fun! A gold mustang pulled up beside us! It was Lorenzo! He was swearing all types of names. We pulled out right in front of him, and Stan got out of the car. Lorenzo is right in front of him. Stan hit him with a cold left, and that brought him down. I had my head outside of the car and was screaming!! Nobody stopped!! Stan was on top of Lorenzo, beating him with both fists. When he was not making any movement, Stan hurried back into the car we were off! I cried not for the man called Stan but for Lorenzo. I don´t know why I never told my mom or anybody else. I didn´t have a reason to cry. I was about thirteen when that happened.

We did not see Lorenzo for quite some time. Ronnie came back in that period. My step-sister picked up the phone one day and who was it? Ronnie!

I walked with my step-sister for seemed like a few miles!

That is an exaggeration. We walked until we got to her grandmother’s (father) house, and there he was! He couldn´t wait to see my mom.

My mom was so excited! She could not believe her eyeś. Ronnie was gone so long she didn´t think she would ever see him again. He told another story that I was not supposed to hear.

Ronnie was on the run, and he picked up his father’s gun and pointed at the police officer. The officer talked him down out of it. He still took him in for holding police at gunpoint. He had a warrant out for theft, so they got him for that too.

Ronnie said, ¨I did my time for that. Now I am here for you, I called Mary, and she came and got me¨

My mom was overjoyed with that news. Some of it is not so bad. All he said was he was home free!

She told him all the news from Stan and herself. He didn´t know that she was married again and I heard her tell him all the news for Lorenzo. When Stan got home, he met Ronnie. They both hit it off fairly well. Ronnie was staying at an apartment he got.

Mom was saying,¨Why don´t you stay here the night and go back tomorrow¨

Ronnie was saying, ¨I have to go home tonight, maybe another night.¨

They both said goodbyes.

Goodbyes for now. Ronnie was staying overnight. My step-sister was staying at a friend’s house. I was alone in the sofabed. I was almost asleep, and my step-brother called me. Mallory, come here for a minute. So I came over to him and sat next to him, and he started to fondle my breast.

He said,¨Don't you like that?

I said, ¨No"

He said ¨Try this.¨

He pulled out his penis, and I was to touch it. I touched it one time! It happens three times!

¨I would tell mom if you don´t stop!¨

He said ¨I will stop now. I won´t ever do it again.¨

I kept it to myself. I did write it in a diary, which no one was supposed to see. I guess he learned something from Lorenzo.

One night I was sitting with a bunch of friends in the kitchen. I kept hearing this noise. Boom Boom Ba-Boom. It happens two or three times. Finally, James came out of his room. It happens again. He went out to see what was going on. He opened the garage door, Stan laying down with a bunch of gas all over him. We call the paramedics to take him to the hospital. All of my friends went home after that. It seems two men were waiting inside the garage. They jumped Stan and poured gasoline all over him! They stopped and ran out the side door when the girls drove up. All he could do was bang on the door. The police said they could not find out who it was in the garage. They had very little evidence. So it was a night filled with anger. Ronnie and James walk out with high tempers.

Suddenly the letters came out and said there was nothing they could do. There was no evidence of where this man lived.

So one day, while I was at school, James came up.

I said, ¨Hi!¨

He said, ¨Don't look so happy. I have some bad news for you.¨

¨What is it¨ I said.

¨Stan is in jail for killing Lorenzo. It happens on 95 St. Mom had called him saying he was driving by calling her names. When he got there, Lorenzo was right in the middle of the street. He stopped and went over to Lorenzos car, and he said something bad about mom. Stan walked up to his own car, opened the glove box, and pulled out a gun. He walked back to Lorenzo’s car and shot him three times. Stan just stood there. When the police came, they took him in handcuffs back to the station.

Trial

I was nineteen when the trial first started. It was for three subjective days, the beginning of the trial. To convict a criminal defendant, the prosecutor must prove the guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Of course, the defendant gets an opportunity to present a defense. There are many defenses, from: I did it, but it was self-defense. That was my step-father’s defense. I did it, but it was self-defense.

What is the Legal Definition of Murder?

Under the common law (law originating from custom and court decisions rather than statutes), murder was an unlawful intentional killing that was unlawful (in other words, not legally justified) and committed with “malice aforethought.”

It can also exist if the killer intentionally inflicts serious bodily harm that causes the victim’s death or behaves in a way that shows extreme, reckless disregard for life and results in the victim’s death.

In today’s society, murder is defined by statute rather than common law.

It started with the policeman being questioned, having their answers brought down with fruitful information. Some are thought of as being contemptuous, seems others were just as honest. Who could say that at the beginning of the trial?

As time went on, the jury believed the policeman brought down a piece of fruitful information. Just as honest.

Only people who were brought in on that particular day are allowed in the courtroom. So I would have to wait until my day to see what is happening. I only heard from my mom or my step-dad after the day had been over.

I heard some funny things they wouldn´t allow my half-sister to tell. Now how she tried to swallow the things that happened beforehand. Just that he had raped her, and he slammed how many times it happened.

It sometimes included things I did not know. When the time came for Ronnie and James to testify. I didn´t know that they both had been raped. James got it one time, and Ronnie got it three times. I couldn´t believe my mom didn´t know!! I was the only one he did not touch. Not in any form or matter. I guess he will believe I was his own.

Photos mean a lot of things to people. I wanted all of my photos after my mom and step-dad died, and they meant a lot to me. Then did, not now.

When the trial went on, and we sat nervously, waited for the jury to come out. They came out one by one. They sat down. The judge asks them for the delivery of the yea or nay. It came out, yea! He was not guilty!!

The whole room sat up and cheered!