About Me!

My friends call me Lori. My real name, Larine, isn't easy to pronounce. It means seagull.

I was born December 23rd in north Alabama... baby girl number three. There was a light blanket of snow on the ground. Childhood was no playground for me. One day dad decided to leave. I was sitting on the arm of his chair as they argued over tires. As he got up in a rage, I fell to the floor. He went into the bedroom, got his shotgun, went outside, and started walking down the road. As my mother screamed at him from the porch, he turned and shot the tires. He walked away and I saw him twice during the next 23 years.

 Two years later, our mother's boyfriend changed our lives dramatically. As I watched for the school bus that would bring my sisters home, I listened to my baby brothers laughing. Anticipating a new letter to draw, I traced ABCs in the dust.  He (ya know who I mean) replaced a fan belt on his piece of junk car. Obviously frustrated with the noise being made by 3 & 4 year old boys playing, he reached under the car and picked up the discarded belt. As I watched motionless, he proceeded to beat my baby brothers with it. He left bruises from their neck to below their knees.

Soon after, our beloved came for a visit. As she was about to leave... one of her grandsons climbed into her lap. He wanted to go home with her for obvious reasons. She noticed the bruises and alerted the proper officials.

Soon, police arrived, questioned my mother, and took my baby brothers for a short trip. After the officers left, my mother went to her boyfriend's jobsite. At that time, he worked at an old fashioned southern cotton gin. They stood face to face talking in the gravel driveway. As the patrol car pulled up behind them, he grabbed her arm. In a deep whisper, he said to her, "Say you did it, or I'll kill you." As he was being arrested, he stared at her as if to say "I mean it". She was shaking and tears rolled from her eyes as she watched them drive away with him.

Afraid for her life, she took the blame for this terrible deed. They released the quilty one and placed her into custody. The child she was carrying was adopted out as soon as she was born. Often, I wondered about her, how she was doing and if I would ever meet her.

I have found it difficult to continue this.

Here I am (7) with my sister Lynn (8) overlayed with a touching pose of our grandmother.

Favorites...

 music, smiles, honesty, courtesy, sunsets, the color fuchsia,  laughter, children

Unfavorites...

prejudice, violence, gossip, abuse, presumptions, hatred, grudges, neglect, envy, hospitalization, stereotyping, closed minds

This page Copyright 1999, Larine Clark