Deliver Me From Evil by Alloma Gilbert

Author:Alloma Gilbert [Gilbert, Alloma]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, General, Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense
ISBN: 9780330540117
Google: TxgeUl5i0VgC
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Published: 2011-01-14T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14:

I had now started to ‘develop’ into a young woman, but Eunice had not provided me with any sex education whatsoever as part of her so-called ‘home tutoring’ service. As I was never allowed to read novels, magazines, newspapers or watch educational TV, I had no means of finding things out for myself. If anything, we had been given an immense amount of misinformation, and a lot of fear about sex, bodies and relationships.

Although I looked after the chickens and helped to breed them, I still didn’t understand much about reproduction. I remember thinking that the cockerel must mount the hen and somehow squirt juice into her neck I had picked up the term ‘mount’ from Eunice, without understanding the reality of what the chickens got up to in the back of the shed. Even at eleven going on twelve, I was still confused about how the hen’s egg got fertilized, as I knew nothing at all about human reproduction. So kissing, petting, pregnancy – all of those – were completely foreign territory. Even when I came across sex – in all its various forms – as I got older, I still didn’t know what to expect. But while I was very ignorant indeed, I was obviously curious, like any normal, growing child.

Eunice never took us to the doctor or dentist. Even when I got pecked by a chicken and the cut got infected, she didn’t bother taking me to the doctor. If it was a real emergency and she had to take us for treatment, she made sure she did all the talking for us. We were never allowed to offer an opinion and were threatened before we went in. I guess she was scared we’d give the game away. No dentist ever picked up on the fact that Sarah’s bashed-in front teeth were due to Eunice’s maltreatment. She’d had to go to the dentist several times and must have looked shut-down, skinny and strange. But it seemed to me that doctors and dentists always believed the adults rather than the children, or didn’t really use their eyes or intuition in any way.

On one particular occasion we were all at the dentist because Thomas had a toothache. I went to the loo and found blood in my pants. I was terrified. What was going on? What on earth had happened?

Eunice was sitting in the waiting room, flicking through a women’s magazine (I’m not sure this was allowed by the Jehovah’s Witnesses). Robert was sitting next to her, playing with a toy and Charlotte was sitting on her other side. I looked at Eunice, who carried on reading. I stood in front of her and whispered, hoping no one else would hear, ‘I’m dying, I’ve started bleeding – something’s wrong.’

Eunice continued to read for a moment. Then she folded the magazine and looked up at me, expressionless. I was scared, and the other kids were listening, so it was embarrassing, too.

‘You will start bleeding. It’s your age. It’ll happen every month, like clockwork’

Every month from now on? But why? I had no idea.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.