j-
S pilyay T ymoo
I
Mommy, don’t hug me! Part II
JUNE 7, 1985
Page 7
Story of child sexual abuse continued
The follow ing is the second
segme:?i o f Frederick Bobb’s
M om m y, D o n ’t H ug M e !”
Readers learned in the first seg
ment that fatherless Angel had
a youngish friend, Mr. Sand
man, who had taken her in and
treated her like an “a n g el,”
A ngel’s family had no idea o f
what was going through Mr.
Sandm an’s mind or what was to
transpire in the future. First are
the mother’s thoughts.
by Frederick Bobb
The M o th er.. .
They becam e the talk o f the
reservation, A n g el a n d her new
friend. I was p r o u d to k n o w a
m an like the one she was so
close to, y o u d o n ’t f i n d too
m any m en w ho treat alm ost
every girl they see as i f she was
his ow n anym ore. Those d a ys
seem to be gone. S o m e things
ju s t w eren’t m eant to last, I
guess. They ran a round a lot.
H e hugs her a n d kisses her as i f
she were h is ow n fle s h a n d
blood. I f w as hard to b e m a d at
him , b u t I sw ore the day that
m y h u sb a n d d ied th a t m y child
ren w o u ld never have to go
through that m uchsorrow again.
S h e ’d run up to m e every'n o w
a n d then, a n d ask (always with
th a t ’‘Please, M o m m y? ’’fa c e ) i f
I ’d consider m arrying him . I
d id n ’t k n o w the guy, a n d tried
to explain to her that it m ight be
s o m e w h a t r id ic u lo u s f o r a
w om en o f m y age to m arry a
m an o f his age. S h e ’d sm ack her
lips, a n d sit d o w n —p o u tin g —
a n d say “G eez! W ho m ade up
all these stu p id rules?’^ ^ ^
They were so, s o c lo s e .B u t as
I said before, Som e things ju s t
w eren’t m eant to last. . .
“W hy are we stopping here?”
askedA ngel, h erface filled with
concern. The c a t had pulled
into the d irt drivew ay o f t h e
S andm an’s house, and the engine
had been shut off.
“I ju s t fo rg o t to tak e my
vitam jns ag ain ,” S andm an said,
getting o u t of thç car.^Y o u can
Wait here?” he asked.
“ S u re th in g ,” A ngel said ,
bundled up in the seat o f the ‘84
M ercury M onarch. H er im pres
sively insulated jack et giving
h er the “T eddy-bear” look: *
S andm an ran up to the door,
opened it, and entered the house.
It sm elled .o f old shoes,, as it
always had , an d the heat inside
felt trem endous. He knew w hat
he was a b o u t to d.o was w rong,
but he co u ld n ’t help it.
R unn in g into the b ack room ,
he barely m ade it to the sm all
dres&er^which seemed to su p
p o r t his bed. O pening the top
draw er, he w ithdrew a sm all,
c a re m e l-c o lo ré d b o ttle H e
grabbed several sm all pills out
of it, stuffed them into his m outh,
and rah outside to his friend.
Inside the house, the small,
caram el-çolored bottle. It was
cleared m arked : P C P . It was
written in sera wling hand writing.
They went to the K & D
D riv eT n ,an d spent m ost o f the
night scream ing at the beast
who stalked the young teenag
ers w ho were pim ply.out lo o k
ing fo r a “good tim e,” D uring
the m ovie, S andm an fell asle e p ..
N ext Month
Angel h a d n ’t seen Sandm an
aro u n d fo r quite a while now.
W hen she did, it was usually in
M adras in a grocery ito te , a,
place where her m o th er would
n o t allow h e r to leave her side.
But even when she d id set him,
»she was som ew hat relu ctan t to
go w ith him. He d id n ’t seem
norm al anym ore. His eyes were
deeper, n o t in depth,, b u t in
dim ension. He w ouldn’t raise
his head and greet her w ith a
cheery “ H i!” anym ore. In fact,/
he Seemed n o t to notice her at
all:.
j J j e ’s outg ro w n you, A ngel,”
her m other had told her. “Like
all o th e r men his age, h e’s p rq b -
ably found a w om an who may
m ake him feel asham ed to be
around a little girl.”
Angel would only reply “W ho
made up these dum b rules?,”
D ays seemed like weeks, and
weeks like m onths. W ithout her
friend, she’seemed to be a lost
puppy in an e n o rm o u s, city.
D epression overcam e her when
she spotted out a w ell-intoxir
cated m an sitting near a street
curb in M adras. It was Mr.
S andm an, and he w ouldn’t even
raise his head to even lo o k at
her anym ore. .
o ld e r b r o th e r — im ita te d the
sounds o f a ro arin g car as he
pushed the M atchbox vehicles
aro u n d his sm all body on the
fluffly carpeting. Ju d y — A ngel’s
older sister, sat w riting in her
d iary (a h ab it she had picked up
fro m d ear old m other). Jack
T rip p er stum bled over a p lan
ter—p robably one o f Ja n e t’s—
then was banged in the head by
Chrissy’s vast incompetance. The
gran d fath er clock th at rested
neatly in the co rn er o f the room
began to toll.
“Oh my g o d !” yelled Lily.
She stood, and rushed into her room,
th ro w in g clo th in g an d o th er
“ M om m y” delights aro u n d the
room . “I ’d forgotten all about
the sem inar I was supposed to
attend ton ig h t!”
“O h, N o,!” Ju d y called.
“Yeah, honey.”
, “Jack y asked me to spend the
night. I was going to wait until
the last m inute to ask you, cause
you always say yeah th en .”
“I suppose you can, b ut only
if Jack y is Jacky, and no t Ja c k .”
Life: is h ard on those who fail,
Ju d y giggled, and prepared
for her night.
Life grants those who try,
“Bob?” Lily called.
Sadness com es to the m an with
no goals,
“W h at!” yelled an anguished
Happiness io those with dreams. voice from an o th er room .
B ut dream s d o n ’t com e easy,
“I need you to stay home
Especially when yo u ’re the dream tonight and w atch over these
maker,
two. I d o n ’t w ant them hom e all
You ca n ’t dream as others do, night alone, and y o u ’re the only
When your name {¿ Sandman. . one w ho’ll be here.”
“O kay,” said the voice. The
m an of the house m ade his:
RBK
plans.
T here was a knock On the
Sam e old television shows for
the same old people who always door.
The havoc continued, the car,
seem to w atch them , Angel sat
near the foot of the gigantic TV th ro w in g clothes aro u n d the
screen, staring dream ily into the room , scribbling even faster in a
magic box. Supper^was on the dairy, and a seldom seen person
sto v e , fish Iu k a m ean . L ily in the other room . Angel opened
hum m ed quietly, stripping the the door.
“ H i,” said Sandm an.
foots of their outer shells. Angel’s
Computers are here to stay
Angel stood, lookingdttto the
eyes o f her long lost friend. He
looked even worse than he had
before, his hair m atted with oil,
clothes grudged with soil, and
face outlined in red.
“You w anna go o u U jo r a
pizza?” he asked.
“M om m y, m om m y!” Angel
screamed, running into the back
room where her m other con
tinued to throw her w ardrobe
into the air.
“ A ngela, honey. I ’m very
busy.”
“S andm an asked if I could go
out to get a pizza fo r h im ;. .with
him !”
Lily stopped, raised her head,
and thought. “N o .” she whis
pered.
“ M om m y!” Angel screamed-
on the verge of an o th er useless
tantrum , |
Lily grabbed Angel by the
arm , swung her around, and
looked her in the face with a
cold Indian look.
“I ’ve seen th at m an all over
the reservation drunk, on drugs,
and ‘selling o u t’ as your friends
in your age group call it. H e’s
unfit to be taking on the respon
sibility of a young girl, and
shouldn’t he trusted w ith ,h is
own daughter the way he is
now .” ?
Angel stood in her another’s
hands, appalled by the sudden
flow of words. H er m other’s
face co n tin u ed to stare in to
A ngel’s fear-filled eyes.
Lily raised her head, looked
into the doorw ay, and alm ost
fa in te d a t th e sight. T h ere,
Sandm an stood. He had heard
every last w ord ab o u t irrespon
sibility, and probably regreted
th a t he’d even started /drugs.
Lily’s eyes dropped, she loo
sened the grip on Angel.
D um bfound, Angel stood in
her m o th er’s hands not know -
C enturies ago m athm atical
calculations were perform ed on
an instrum ent with rows of beads
for counting called the abacus.
As technology advanced math-
m atical c a lc u latio n s becam e
m ore im portant. In .1642 Blaise
Pascal, a m athm atical prodigy,
made a m ark on history by
inventing a mechanical calcula
to r th a t proved to be am azing
fo r th a t time, having the ability
to add, multiply and even divide.
The enorm ous cost, huge size
and the th reat th a t it m ight take
aw ay jo b s hindered its popula
rity.
Warm Springs Elementary students become familiar with computer keyboard through games.
Spilyay Tymoo photo by Shewczyk
Instructing students at Warm Springs Elementary, Denver Sens!-
baugh explains movements o f the monitor cursor.
TZZuTiTZliZ'e
ing who w ould break the sud- '
den silence first, N o one did,
Sandm an walked out of the
tr a ilo r..
|
“You get tó your room , and$
d o n ’t you come p u t!” yelled i
. Lily, her look even colder now. I
Angel ran to her small, pink •
,decorated room . There, she bu
ried her head in the satin pillow ,
Until her m o th er had left. T hen ■
she began to cry.
Two hours had passed, eight
o ’cloek was on its course. W eb
ster had made Angel forget about
the m iniature conflict, and had
sent her laughing into hysteria ;
every so often.
Bob entered the room , deco- ;
rated w ith chains, a Van H alen
T -shirt, and jogging pants. He :
stood, w atching W ebster dance ;
across thè screen, the replied
“Stupid show, how do you watch
it?” He went for the door, opened *
it, then turned to say *I’m going :
out for a while. You had better .
n ot get into trouble or I ’ll spank •
you like y o u ’ve never been been
spanked before. I’m not getting/-
into trouble just because òf you.”
He stopped to see A ngel’s reac
tion. She d id n ’t give him th e lp
pleasure o f a m ean look, but -
only sat on thè floor, her h ead ?
bent back, w atching the cute i
y o u th m ake jo y for the world.
“H ear m e!” asked Bob.
“M m m -H m m .” Angel replied.
The d o o r slam m ed, the m an
of the house-was gone.
Som e tim e during the next
tw enty piinutes, W illiam had
crept into the bedroom , and '
had fallen asleep. Angel might
a s well have been left a t home
alone. ? ' . , ■
■ c ■
- .
The door opened, not a knock
to be heard. Sandm an slipped 1
into the sm all room,, a glint in ;
his eyes as Angel had never seen ,
before, He was—as Angel could ì
tell—drunk again.
■ ;
W ith the possibilities of such *
a,m achine in mind m any new
ideas were form ulated and it?
eventually becam e essential to !
create a practical machine for i
calculations. T aking a census
would take.ten years to complete.
The 1880 cerisris proved to be 1
a tu rning point. A contest was
held to see who cpuld m ake the f
census count the fastest. One 1
contestant com pleted thè count
in 55 hours, anothéf finished in ’
44 hours: Thè winner was t ì e r - 1
m an H ollerith who com pleted [
the census ih 5*4 hours With a ;
punch card system. H ollerith
later started a tabulating pom- -
pany which was eventually called "Ì
International Business Machines
(IBM ).
The invention of the vacuum
tu b e to e x p e d ite sw itc h in g
allowed the creation o f the first
large scale calculator an d in- ;
form ation processing com puter. 5
E N IA C , E lectro n ic N u m b er !
Integrator and Calculator, o c c u -1
pied a 15 x 30 foot room and
utilized 18,000 tubes, one burn- *i
ing out every two seconds.
Ideas for storage, use of binary
numbers andeventuálly the ti a n - I
sistor revolutionized these cal- Í
culator com puters. R easonable ;
prices, reasonab*ly?sized m a- ’
chines could be developed.
s p u y a y r y m o o p H o to b y S H 'J
Usedfor centuries the abacus is
A lthough transistors made an
the first conwuters
im pact on the com puter indus
try, this invention was oversha- .
do’w ed by the creation of the ;
micro-chip.: The chip is at th e"
heart o f m odern com puters and
allows for storage up to one mil
lion w ords on a single chip and
the existence of pocket size ma
chines,
The chip is found, now ,, in ;
watches, cars, cam eras, locks
and alarm systems as well as in
office and home computers. Tech
nology had advanced a t .light
ning speed with the usé of chips,
some no larger th an a pin head.
The future cannot be planned
w ithout the com puter iri.mind.
It is being used as a teaching
tool, a record keeper, an inter
viewer and ad v iso r It is replac
ing thè simple typew riter and
u n itin g offices., th ro u g h tele
communications across the coun
try, It will eventually be used
extensively in money exchange,
electronic iriail, robots, as per
sonal identifiers.Althoughsom e_
social ram ifications will result,
the com puter in its many forms,
is here to stay.
fcarm
compuier fen;«««« ««* openrtfon.
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