Christy: A Journey Tale by Michael Thomas Cunningham Page B

some pretty high hopes. I had already decided that I would let
Jack take me back home, but exactly what was going to happen from
there was still pretty much up in the air. I didn’t believe that
momma would leave my step dad. I figured I could take care of
myself and if necessary, the man would get a serious dose of his
own medicine. Self-defense has all manner of meanings. It don’t
matter what you do just as long as your life is in danger. Momma
had been playing the victim for so long she didn’t know how to be
anything else. It was about time that changed. Now don’t get me
wrong: I would call the cops and it would get reported, but I was
bound and determined that he wasn’t going to lay a hand on her
again. I had sat back and let it happen for far too long and those
days were done,” Christy said. Jennifer leaned forward listening
with anticipation.
    “Oh my goodness, what happened when you went
back home?”
    “That’s a good question,” Christy said,
sighing a little. She let the excitement deflate from her body. “I
wish something like that had happened, but the real world is hardly
ever how we wish it would be. No, the truth was much stranger, but
don’t let me get ahead of myself. Anyways, Jack was good as his
word. On that second morning he was exactly where he said he would
be, drinking coffee and reading a paper. He told me that day was
all mine, and he would take me wherever I needed to go. I told him
I appreciated it and that I thought I was finally ready to go home.
The only problem was that home wasn’t ready for me.” Christy rubbed
her eyes, doing a pretty good job of holding back the tears. “We
drove back South, talkin’ the whole time as we went. I don’t know
if I was just nervous or what, but I couldn’t shut up. I told him
all about momma and Johnny and what things might be like when I get
home. He told me some things to watch out for and even though I
don’t recall what he said exactly, I do remember it making me feel
a whole lot better.” Christy started to drift off into memory
again, but then reluctantly came back. “Good things never last
forever, and this was no exception. When we pulled up into the
driveway I could tell immediately that something was wrong. It was
early in the afternoon by this time and there weren’t any cars in
the driveway. It was the middle of the day, so his car at least
should have been there. The fact that it wasn’t made me real
nervous. I stayed in the car at first as Jack went to go knock on
the door, but when there wasn’t any answer, he motioned for me to
come on over. I did, and we started peeking through the windows and
walkin’ around the house. There was furniture in there, but not all
of it and most of the other stuff was gone. It didn’t look like
anyone had been around for a good while. In the space of about half
an hour I went from nervous to just plain scared. Something bad had
happened. I knew it just as surely as I’m sitin’ here.”
    “Did you find out what happened?”
    “Yeah, we found out all right. Jack figured
if anybody had news it would be the cops so I gave him directions
to the city jail. When we got there, I’m glad he decided it would
be best if he went in alone to do all the talking because I sure as
heck wasn’t going in there again. He was gone for a long time, and
when he came back he had a police report in his hand,” Christy
said, trying again to keep herself from crying. “He let me read the
pages and then gave me some time afterwards to think about it. I
was too late. The damage had already been done. Apparently, my
leaving was all the excuse momma needed to leave as well. I guess I
was wrong about her. I thought she would never be able to work up
the nerve to leave him, but the truth was that she was never going
to leave me. I know it may sound a little funny, but that’s the
only thing that makes sense to me. She could have taken me with her
at any time, but I don’t think she saw it that way.”