Sadness Gains Courage

”Did you know?”

“We had no idea, we could have stopped this evilness a long time ago.

A wide smile, golden hair like the colour of the bright sun rising in the morning. Those hazel eyes just melted your soul. The sweetest little girl you ever could have known.

Mary (short form for Marigold) was born and raised near the mountains. A lot of her family lived in the same area. Many farmers, bakers, seamstresses and men that worked on the railway.

Mary was the youngest child of seven. Three girls and four boys. Her parents Carol and Rodger were hoping to have a bigger family but decided they were quite happy after Mary was born.

On one side of their home (a big huge farm), Mary’s grandma and grandfather lived. On the other side were Uncle Gord and Aunt Pauline and in total their fourteen children. (Two sets of twins too)

Mary’s mom always felt at times that their little family didn’t get much time to just be a family. More and more the families were showing up at their homes for get-togethers (like Birthdays, Christmas). It even got to the point that if they drove into town one of the family members had to join them.

Mary’s mom was very close to Aunt Pauline, she was such an amazing Baker. The time together was fun, baking and sharing recipes. They both had a lot in common, most of all how tired they were of the rest of the family.

Inexcusable And Rude

One family member that Mary’s mom and Aunt talked about often was their Uncle Barry. He always smelt like liquor, swore all the time and was nasty to his wife and children. Everyone felt bad for the children but most of all his wife “Rene”. She was so terrified to leave him and go with the kids, for fear he would come after them with his rifles fully loaded.

This was an everyday event for Uncle Barry. He was rude, said things especially to the young ladies that were totally inappropriate.

Mary’s mom and dad did everything to get help for him, he just told them to mind there own business and go away. Carol always worried about his wife and children. The more he drank the more violent he became.

The family with the exception of Rene and Barry had a meeting in the farm. Apparently Barry was getting into all types of trouble and it wasn’t just at home. He owed so many people, he was drinking, gambling and several in the community were fearing Rene was about to loose everything.

Mary, hiding around the corner just started to cry and cry. “ Mama, come Mama,come”.

Carol came around and took one look at Mary. “What happened to you?”

Her blue dress was ripped and her face was punched. Blood was dripping down her little face. Carol started screaming, “Rodger come quick, come quick”

Everyone in the barn came running. Mary (sweet marigold dropped to the ground). The last thing she said was to save Rene.

Carol called the ambulance and they rushed Mary to the hospital. Totally unconscious.

As all the men took shovels, anything they needed and headed to Rene.

When they arrived at the home it was terrible. Rodger called 911 for Rene and three of the children who were injured. The house had been torn apart, the fridge door was wide open with food everywhere.

The police, ambulance all came as fast as they could.

The men went to find Barry, they were able to find his car but no Barry or any of the other children.

The police were in hot pursuit looking for him!

Suddenly a very loud scream and a gunshot went off. Everyone ran, police had their guns drawn.

Barry had lined up the rest of his kids and was ready to shoot. Instead, the oldest two boys took swings at him, knocking him to the ground. The gun went off and no one was shot.

All of the children were rushed to Hospital, Barry was handcuffed and taken away for a very long time.

All Because Of Marigold

The innocence of sweet Mary, her incredible strength to run for help, although she too was injured was impeccable. She feared for her Aunt Rene and her cousins always. No one ever knew how bad it was, living in their home.

No one except “Marigold”, she hid for so long out of fear ,but this time she did her part.

She ran and ran for help. Wrapped with bandages from head to foot. When everyone arrived home from the hospital, this time Carol and Rodger were so excited to have the whole family be together and celebrate.

As Rodger said “from all the sadness Rene, her family and our sweet Marigold have endured we shall be there and find ways of helping you gain courage and have a better life”.

“We are all so proud of you, you are finally safe.”