Chapter 1
The Lamp
Once there were three children whose names were William, Susan and James. This story is about a part of their life that was very difficult for them, and well, to say the least, unusual.
Susan and James were downstairs in the living room of an old house playing cards on a coffee table where their mother’s favorite lamp sat.
“My turn,” James said looking smug. “Do you have any 2’s?”
“Yes, here take them,” Susan said rolling her eyes.
“Thank you,” he said, as he reached over the table to take the cards with a grin slapped over his face. He quickly snatched the cards out of her hand and jerked his arm back not realizing the lamp sat right next to him. His elbow smashed into the lamp and it fell to the floor with a loud crash. He wasn’t grinning now.
“Uh oh, Mom isn’t going to be very happy when she sees this,” thirteen year old Susan said, as the color drained from her face. Eight year old James just stared at the broken lamp, not able to say anything. “Maybe by the time Dad and Mom get back we could have it cleaned up, and they might not notice,” Susan said, as she walked out of the room to get the trashcan.
“It’s Moms favorite lamp; she’ll notice I’m sure,” James said, finally able to speak again. Susan stopped and turned around.
“It’s always your fault whenever we get in trouble!” Susan shouted. “So why don’t you help me clean it up before they get back. Unless you want to get beat up again, I would suggest helping me!” Then she stomped out. Tears filled James eyes, he tried to hold them back, but it was too hard. He burst into tears and ran upstairs, flung himself onto his bed and cried.
Meanwhile, Susan was downstairs working as hard and fast as she possibly could. As you can imagine, it is very difficult to pick up little shards of broken glass that are stuck in the thick of your carpet. Susan tried putting on gloves, but then she couldn’t get a hold on the little pieces, so she had to pick them up with her bare hands. Suddenly she felt a stabbing pain. She looked down and saw that she was bleeding all over the carpet. She turned her palm over and saw that she had a long shard of glass stuck deeply into the middle of it. She quickly jerked it out and put a band aid on. She almost had the rest of the glass cleaned up when James came running down the stairs.
“Susan! Susan, Dad and Mom are here. I saw them drive up just a second ago,” James said looking a little pale in the face.
“Well then, hurry up and help me,” Susan said. Right then their parents opened the door and walked in, carrying groceries in both hands.
“Come on, Children, help us carry the groceries in,” Mrs. Amber said.
“Yes Mom,” Susan said. “Help me move this table over the stain on the floor,” she whispered to James.
“Come on, Children, hurry up, you don’t want your dad and I to have to do all the work do you?” Mrs. Amber asked as she walked into the room. “What are you two do….what on earth is that red stuff on the floor? It ruined my beautiful carpet!” she wailed, as she walked over to examine it. “This is blood, what happened? Are you hurt?”
Susan was silent not knowing if she should tell her what had happened. “Tell me, what happened here?”
“Well, you see…” Susan stopped. “I was picking something sharp up and a… it cut me and started bleeding before I could get away from the carpet.”
“I see, and you said you were picking something sharp up. What was it?”
“It was a…well, you see we were playing a card game and well…”
“Come on, what is it?”
“James knocked your lamp over and it broke,” Susan said quickly. Mrs. Amber stared at the floor with wide unblinking eyes.
“He what?!”
“He broke your lamp.”
“We leave for less then an hour and what do you kids do? You break my lamp, ruin my carpet and try to cover it up,” Mrs. Amber said starting to sob.
“What’s going on in here?” Mr. Amber asked as he walked into the room. “What’s wrong, Honey?”
“These, these children broke my lamp, ruined my new carpet and tried to cover it up,” Mrs. Amber replied.
“Is this true, Children?”
“Yes, sir, it is. But we’re terribly sorry, and we’ll never do it again,” both children replied holding back the tears that were coming to their eyes. Mr. Amber grabbed James, pulled his belt off, threw him over his knee and began spanking him. After a while of James screaming and squirming, Mr. Amber let up. But then he grabbed Susan and did the same to her.
“I hope that taught you both a lesson. Now get outside and help me carry in the groceries.”
“Yes, Dad,” both children said as they scampered out to help.
Throughout the rest of the day Susan and James did whatever their parents wanted, and if they did something wrong, they would get a fist in whatever part of their body was unfortunate enough to be the closest.
By the end of the day both Susan and James had swollen bruises on their face and arms. Susan had spilled a whole glass of wine, getting part of it on herself and part of it on the floor. Mr. and Mrs. Amber were outraged about that. Mr. Amber picked up a beer bottle and smashed her over the head, knocking her out. When James came into the room, he screamed with horror and ran over to where Susan lay on the floor.
“Dad, how could you?!” James shrieked. Mr. Amber got up and started walking towards him, almost falling over. He walked over to the bookshelves and shoved them over with a loud crash.
“I don’t have to answer all your stupid questions!” Mr. Amber yelled, as he threw the only other lamp in the house at James, smashing it into his head. James let out a piercing cry of anguish as it hit him. He fell to his knees in great pain. When he tried to get up, his dad walked over and punched him in the head. The impact was so great that it knocked him out. When his head hit the floor, it landed on the glass from the broken lamp, receiving a gash. Mr. Amber tore the house apart. He emptied the cupboards of all the dishes, pots and pans, and threw them around the house.
Margaret Weaver looked out her window at the Amber's house. She could see through their window that the house was a wreck, and she had heard the screams. She could also see Mr. Amber throwing things around. She ran to her phone and called CPS – she didn’t have to look the number up, because she had called them many times before concerning the Amber family.
“Hello, my name is Margaret Weaver, and I’m calling about a family across the street from me. Their last name is Amber; I can see into their house and can see Mr. Amber tearing the place apart. About ten minutes ago I heard a scream like I have never heard before in my life, and before that there were other screams. I have called before concerning this family.”
“Just a minute, let me look it up… yes, we have the Amber's name on here. We’ll call the police, and they’ll be right over,” the voice on the other end said. A few minutes later two police cars drove up and parked in front of the house. Several policemen got out and went to the door of the Ambers' house and knocked.
“Open up, it's the Police.” There was some noise from inside the house, and Mr. Amber opened the door, holding a bottle of beer in one of his hands.
"Sir, where are your children?" one of the policemen asked.
"Children? What are you talking about? I don't have any children," Mr. Amber said as his face turned a little red.
"Yes you do, sir; we have witnesses that you do. Now where are they?"
"I really don't know what you’re talking about. I don't have any children, and I never have."
"Sir, I'm afraid we're going to have to search your house. If you would please move aside so we can come in," one of the policemen said, stepping up to the door. Mr. Amber refused to move out of the way.
"Where's your search warrant?" he slurred. The policeman stepped even closer to Mr. Amber.
"We have very good reason to believe that there are children in this home and that they are in danger. You can either cooperate or we can arrest you, the choic
e is up to you. But we are going in." Mr. Amber raised his bottle above his head spilling what remained in it down the back of his shirt.
"You can not come in my house!" He said, as he brought the bottle down in attempt to hit the policeman, but he was too slow. The policeman quickly and smoothly grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back and cuffed both hands together causing him to drop his beer bottle.
"Sorry you made it so hard for yourself," the policeman said as he handed him over to one of the other officers. “Take him down to the station for questioning.” Then he went into the house with the others following. When they went into the living room, Mrs. Amber was sitting on the couch crying, and Susan and James were lying on the floor unconscious, Susan with a nasty gash in her head, and James with a less severe cut. The lead policeman took one look at Mrs. Amber and said, "Take her in, Cole."
"Yes, sir," he said as he walked over, cuffed her and took her out the door.
"Joseph, call 911 for an ambulance and back up," the policeman said, as he walked over to Susan and James to take a look at them to see if they were still alive.
Minutes later the emergency and back up vehicles arrived. The paramedics immediately took the two children away. “Alright, boys, let’s search the house,” the policeman told the backup men. They searched the house and found illegal drugs, unregistered guns and piles of hundred dollar bills.
Kahveh’s Story
Kahveh Robinett