I was not a lazy child and I went many directions at one time. I have had an epiphany in my later years and it is that my family has the innate ability to just stop anything that we are doing in an instance. I am not proud and I don’t like to be arrogant but, I mean anything as you will see throughout my story.
I was not only a child hurt by the everyday trials and tribulations that so many of us have had to bear with divorce and extreme poverty but, I was truly a child that well, scares me now. I would put empty bread bags over my hands and catch ground squirrels as they came out of their holes. I started doing this at 5 years old with no direction from anyone. I was inquisitive and needed to know how everything worked and what I could do to manipulate it. As the fire was building in me so was the fire from my finger tips.
I was 4 years old and had developed a love of……..fire…. I would burn paper constantly and watch how the fire moved and changed the paper. In my desire to stay secret I started hiding where and when I burned anything. It was by this alone that I started burning news papers in the backseats of any open cars. I had burned three cars to the ground and blown up two of them. I was a 4 year old going on 5 when I was questioned several times by the local police. I have never told anyone this but my father saved me one time before he was finally gone and told the police I had been there the whole time. When truth be told I just blew up the car a half block away. Sorry dad, the only thing I truly appreciated from him. I know, it’s sad.
I had just turned 6 and I was growing in size, age and vision. I had graduated from fires in cars to fires outdoors. My mother had actually taken me to a psychiatrist who told her to burn my finger tips every time I started a fire. This was a hard time as I refused to stop lighting fires and my mother was forced to have someone hold me and burn the tips of my fingers time and time again. I am not confident that I kept starting fires just out of defiance alone. It was a horrible screaming crying event every time and I can honestly say it had no bearing on me stopping.
I was learning more and was very interested in the way fire works in general and how to contain it. I had learned that two merging fires would actually put themselves out? I decided I had learned enough and I was going to give it a try. I took my Tonka trucks and headed down the hill into open area that went for miles and miles. I found the perfect spot as I dumped the Tonka trucks and proceeded to get the first fire started. I lit a 3 ft. row of fire in the dry grass that abundantly covered the ground as far as you could see. I walked about 6 ft. away and started another 3 ft. row believing in my heart that they were going to come together and put each other out. Have I given it away? Was it in the details? Well needless to say the two rows of fire did not burn towards each other. In fact they never went towards each other at all! With in minutes the fire was so large and severe that I had to run. I had finally lit a fire that scared me to death! It became so large as I ran home, I hoped that no one noticed me running or this immense fire behind me.
I made it home and found my way to the couch as my mother, friends and family were all in the front of the trailer. Oh yeah, I failed to mention that we lived in a trailer but, maybe you already assumed that. It was only a matter of minutes before the police were knocking at our door. I didn’t plan this and still can’t believe it but, hear it goes. My mother came to the door and the police proceeded to question her on my whereabouts. In her ignorance she looked only to find me on the couch as I lay pretending to sleep. She told them that I was sleeping on the couch while the entire incident happened. It made the front page of the morning news and the picture was of 2 fireman who were obviously overwhelmed as they sprayed each other without knowing. The caption read the same and in the story below it was stated that they found Tonka trucks. They knew the trucks were mine as my name was on them but, could not be sure if they were already there? I am not proud of it but, once again I had evaded getting caught for like, the 20th time?
Now you would think that the point of this story was all the destruction and not getting caught, it was not. I am not proud of the fires but it was who I was and part of my story. One day not to long after that big fire I went out early one Saturday morning to light a fire. I looked up and scanned the trailer court, there were at least three people looking directly at me through their windows. I did not light that fire and I am 100% honest when I tell you, to this day I have never lit another fire. I cannot say why or where my convictions came from but, I was done.
*Tune in next as I take you to my private Lake Resort where 6 year old dreams and imagination have nothing on reality. Take a journey on a mini river boat as it sinks in the middle of a lake filled with poisonous water moccasins and huge snapping turtles and that’s not all!
pg. 4
This boys story. 