She Came In Thru A Bathroom Window

"Marian, I can only reiterate that my behavior with Danni has always been completely appropriate. I will strongly resent any suggestion, by anyone, that it was not. I am sure Danni will collaborate it."

"She already has, Jack. She's been questioned by the police, and social services," revealed Marian. "She has been reluctant to tell them anything, with the lone exception that you have always been wonderful to her, but have never even used profanity within her hearing.

"The psychologist suggested that you be present when he interviews her again tomorrow. He has concluded that Danni trusts you, far more than her father or me. They don't want to release her until they are certain that she won't make another attempt, Jack. Would you mind being in the room with us when she's interviewed tomorrow?"

"Marian, I'm not comfortable with that. I'm not her parent, and under the circumstances, I'm not exactly popular with the rest of your family. How does Dave feel about it?" I questioned.

"He surprised me by objecting, to be honest," answered Marian. "He feels you've decided to bail out of the family and shouldn't be involved with us anymore. I know you two have never been close, but his attitude surprised me. Is there something between you two?"

"That is a question you should ask him, Marian. I don't think I've done anything to cause any animosity, except divorcing Debbie, and I doubt that'll give him any sleepless nights," I joked. "But back to your request about sitting in with Danni's next interview, I think it would be best if I weren't present. She's your daughter and your responsibility. You'll be able to handle this fine."

That evening I was visited by a lady police detective. Her questions suggested that she felt that I might know more about Danni's problems than I had initially admitted in my interview with the cop at the hospital. She implied that my close relationship with my sister's niece was not normal. I had some difficulty maintaining my calm by the time she asked if I had ever masturbated to visions of a naked Danni. Then she wanted to know if the real reason I was seeking a divorce was because I liked young girls and could no longer respond to mature women.

I showed the detective the door after telling her I was done with her sick accusations and assumptions. Maybe the job makes them think the worse, but I couldn't help believe that she was the one in need of therapy. What a twisted bitch!

I heard through the grapevine that Danni did go home the next day, but she never gave a reason for her attempt on her own life. My informant, my younger son, a senior in high school, told me that she was extremely aloof and had been scheduled to attend therapy several times a week.

It was almost two weeks later that everything turned to shit. As had become my custom lately, I had a couple beers more than I needed before I went to bed. I have always been a heavy sleeper and a few beers only magnified that tendency. Something made me rouse from a sound sleep in the small hours of the morning.

Suddenly the light came on and I sat up with a start. After blinking numerous times and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I saw the lady detective standing in my bedroom doorway. Behind her was a uniformed cop, and my landlord, still with keys in his hand.

"What the hell!" I shouted. "Have you lost your minds? You can't break in on a law abiding citizen. I'll have your badges, and sue your asses besides!" I threatened.

"You're under arrest!" declared the detective with ill concealed delight. "This officer will read your rights to you. Then we'll toss your perverted ass in jail!"

That was when I felt arms wrap around my neck from behind me. I almost shit the bed! With a great deal of fear, I turned my head to see to whom the arms belonged.

"Uncle Jack!" sobbed Danni. "I just wanted a place to stay! I'm sorry if I got you in trouble!"

How the hell did Danni wind up in my bed? I tried to focus my mind on the previous evening. I had a couple beers, well maybe a few too many, and had gone to bed. I never even saw Danni until just now. I didn't let her into my apartment and I certainly didn't invite her to join me in bed!

Just when it seemed like things could get no worse, Marian, Dave, Debbie and her parents all marched into what had become an extremely crowded bedroom. Dave was obviously seething.

"You son-of-a-bitch!" he roared as he tried to push past the cop to reach me. "She's just a kid, you bastard!"

Luckily, for either Dave or me, or maybe for both of us, the cop was able to stop Dave's forward progress. He settled down enough to pretend he wanted a piece of me as the officer held him back. His name calling, however, didn't slow down with his momentum.

My confusion was quickly being replaced with anger. How the hell can a guy get into trouble sleeping alone in his own bed? Dave's name calling and insinuations were getting to me as well. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"You cowardly shit!" I snarled back as I stepped out of bed. "You've got lots of balls, coming in my place and calling me names. Let's see who the real prick in the room is, Asshole!"

As I spoke I started for Dave. Since it wasn't a very big room, it only took a couple strides to be in Dave's face. He had stopped yelling when I stood up and by the time I got to him, he was backpedalling. Somehow he managed to maneuver himself so that Marian was standing between us, as well as the cop.

"Danni, are you okay, Baby?" asked Marian. "Why are you here, and why in Uncle Jack's bed? You must understand how this looks. Jack is going to be arrested and probably spend a long time in jail unless you can convince us that he didn't do anything wrong. That task won't be easy, either. What happened, sweetheart?"

"I just couldn't live home any more, Mom!" blurted Danni. "I didn't mean to get Uncle Jack in trouble. He didn't even know I was here. I sneaked in through the window in the bathroom. He was asleep, so I just lay down next to him. I felt safe with Uncle Jack. He never touched me, never. Not tonight or any other night. He isn't like that!"

"I'll do the questioning here," asserted the detective. "You called the police to help find your daughter, so let us do our job. Danni, why do you feel unsafe at home? Has someone mistreated you?"

"Not like what you mean," responded my niece. "It's kind of embarrassing to talk about with everyone here."

"Danni, I called Debbie and your grandparents when I found your bed was empty just after midnight. They've been helping me try to find you," revealed Marian. "It was Mom that thought to look for your bicycle and realized it was gone. It was Debbie's idea to come here to look for you. That's why the police are here now. We called them when we realized you were gone. We were all afraid that you'd do something foolish."

"You mean like swallow a bottle of your pills again, or have sex with Uncle Jack?" responded Danni. "You think there's something wrong with me."

"No, Dear. We're just concerned that you might be confused and do something that you'll regret later. Your family loves you and we're all concerned for your safety and health. You can answer the detective's questions in front of everyone here, Sweetheart. There aren't any dark secrets in our family. Please, just tell the truth and answer her questions," pleaded Marian.

"Marian, it might be better if she just spoke to the detective alone," I suggested as a sudden fear gripped me. "You can't put the Genie back in the bottle once it gets out. It's possible that Danni will say something not everyone should hear."

"Jack, that's exactly why I want everyone to hear Danni answer the questions," responded Marian. "I don't want her turning into another you, with secrets and really strange behavior. The truth is always best!"

"Okay, Mom, if that's what you want. I'll tell the detective what I'm afraid of and why I feel safer with Uncle Jack. I'm afraid of Dad!" admitted Danni.

"Me?" roared Dave. "I've never harmed you! I've never done anything a loving father wouldn't do! Why would you possibly be afraid of me?"

"A few weeks ago, I forgot to take my mitt to school with me. Since we had a game that day, Mrs. Mack let me walk home to get it during a study hall," replied Danni hesitantly. "I always cut across the empty lot behind our house when there is no snow. I saw Uncle Jack leaning over by his car that was parked in the street in front of our house. He was vomiting!

"I started to run to see if he was okay, but he quickly jumped into his car and drove off. Then I went to my room to get my glove and I heard all kinds of bad sounds coming from Mom's room. It sounded like screaming, only a little quieter, so I peeked in to see what was wrong," revealed Danni.

By this time, the room was absolutely silent. I could hear the beat of my heart as it pounded in my head. Everyone was focused on Danni. Dave was beginning to look a little pale.

"Dad was naked and he was calling a woman all kinds of bad names while he was spanking her, hard. She was naked, too. She was screaming for him to not stop and to stick his thing in her butt," recalled a trembling Danni. "Then Dad just got over her and did exactly what she told him, but real hard. She screamed some more while he went up and down on her."

"Oh my God!" blurted a shocked Marian. "Your father did that? Are you sure it was him, Danni? Do you know who the woman was?"

"Of course it was Dad. I saw him clearly and heard his voice. He grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled her head up and I saw her face. It was Aunt Debbie, Mom!" sobbed Danni.

I was too upset to look at anyone, so I studied my feet while a shit storm swirled around me. I had hoped to spare Marian, Chester, and Dottie this bit of reality. Danni had seen pretty much the same stuff I had been so disgusted by only minutes before. I had stopped to drop of some books my son was loaning to Marian's oldest kid that day. I wound up losing my breakfast in the street before driving away. I had no idea that Danni was on her way home and would see many things no kid should ever see.

Eventually, the detective quelled the near riot. Then she urged Danni to finish her story. The cop was now standing in the doorway, so no one could leave. Dave was red-faced and sweating while Debbie had collapsed in a ball on the floor.

"I ran and got my glove and left as fast as I could," continued Danni after the delay. "The day we were sent home because the water line broke, I found Aunt Debbie with Dad again. This time he was sitting on the couch and Aunt Debbie was sitting on the floor between his legs. He was calling her bad names again as he pulled her head down on his penis. I could hear her gagging. I thought he was choking her to death at first. Then Dad would let her up, she'd take a breath, and he'd push her back down again. It was awful!"

"When I turned to leave, I saw Grandma's prescription bottle on the kitchen counter, so I grabbed it and ran to my tree house. I took all the pills and washed them down with a bottle of water. That was when Uncle Jack found me and saved me. I was afraid to tell anybody about Dad and Aunt Debbie. I knew Mom would be mad. Grandma and Grandpa would be mad, too. Dad would be in big trouble and I was afraid he'd hurt me like he did Aunt Debbie for telling on him. That's why I ran away last night and sneaked into Uncle Jack's room. I was scared and I knew Uncle Jack would never let Dad hurt me. Uncle Jack has never so much as touched me in the wrong way. He's not like that!" finished Danni as tears ran down her cheeks.

This time there was total silence, as opposed to the bedlam that had broken out a few minutes earlier. I considered the situation and realized I needed to speak.

"I owe an apology to Marian, Chester, Dottie, and especially Danni," I began. "I discovered Debbie and Dave that day Danni saw me tossing my cookies in the street. I was so upset and angry, I was actually afraid I was going to kill Debbie and Dave. I decided to just get away from them and think it over. Stupidly, I decided to simply divorce Debbie and not say anything about her and Dave to anyone.

"I believed I would be sparing all of you this pain. I thought Debbie and Dave would come to their senses after I announced I was divorcing Debbie. I thought that deep down, she would know that I must have figured out what was going on. That would leave one family intact. What I actually accomplished is this mess," I stated miserably.

"If I had just confronted Debbie and Dave, we would probably be where we are right now, but without Danni being so traumatized. I convinced myself that I was taking the high road, but I wasn't. I was on the wimp expressway. I have all sorts of feelings of inadequacies after watching Dave with Debbie for a couple minutes. He has her mastered. After almost twenty years of fooling myself, I suddenly realized I wasn't even beginning to scratch her itch. I think that's why I decided to ride off into the sunset rather than listen to Debbie explain, in no uncertain terms, what a pathetic excuse for a husband and lover I was. I told myself I was protecting the innocent victims of a couple of demented people. In reality, I was afraid to face the truth from Debbie. Now Danni has paid the price. I am so sorry, Danni."

"Uncle Jack!" exclaimed Danni as she launched herself off the bed and embraced me in a tearful hug.

"I don't think there's anyone to arrest here," admitted the lady detective. "There are a couple people that probably wish I'd simply shoot them, but I won't. I have to go file my report. I suggest that you two leave with me to avoid any further trouble. I don't think it's a good time to try to explain or apologize."

Dave helped Debbie up and led her from the room. Marian wrapped her arms around Danni and me as they both cried their hearts out. Chester and Dottie moved closer and rubbed Marian's back in an attempt to comfort her. No one spoke. No one knew what to say.