Her father called her
Kat, always with tenderness. From the time she was in the cradle, Catherine was her father’s angel. He doted
over her and protected her. When Catherine was three,
he had taken her to the county fair; a good ol’ country girl who loved the
animals and the simplicity of life. She told stories
about how she loved peering into the
animal tents to watch them munching on apples
and corn. But she also remembered seeing other things, secret things the “carnie” teens did exploring
their youth and each other. But she had sent those memories into exile. When her father had died, Catherine’s
mother became unhinged. Her spirits
plummeted and a tension had built between mother and daughter. This angst clawed at Kat’s heart and left her a ravaged heap
of humanity; a pile of confusion – she lost
her father and was losing her mother. When she turned eighteen, the memories of
those young people in the animal tents haunted her. Catherine made the rash decision to find her comfort elsewhere, in
the arms of strangers. She called herself Kit, a bastardization of her father’s
love. That’s all everything had become now!
Her loss brought her
pain.
Nothing could ease
her struggle.
That was her first clue.
© JPW – 2013
