Summer Reading Essay by Leona N

- A Child Called “It”
-Briar Rose

Rebecca sighed as she looked at the clock in the room. She didn’t get out of work until 12:00 and it was still 10:00. She would start her night shift at 8 pm, and go until midnight. It got hot in California, especially in midsummer. She checked her clipboard. Her next patient, Dave Pelzer, was a new one. She recognized the last name from somewhere. When he came in, his mother dropped him off and then went back to the waiting room to her two other sons. That’s when she realized where she knew the name from- they were neighbors.

“What’s your name?” she asked, even though she knew it.

“Dave,” he replied.

“Where do you live?”

“76 Kendall Boulevard,”

“Huh…so we’re next door neighbors,” Becca thought. But she had never seen this boy playing outside before, only his two brothers. But, Becca was new to the neighborhood, so she shrugged it off.

“You can call me Nurse Becca,” she said, “I’m going to check you over to make sure you’re healthy.”

“OK.”
The young woman noticed that the boy seemed too skinny. She had him step on to the scale. He was underweight. As she examined his arms and legs, she noticed fading and new bruises.

“Where are those bruises from?” Becca asked.

“I fell down the stairs,” he quickly said.

Rebecca finished the examination, and other than the bruises and low weight, he was healthy.

“Okay Dave, we’re all done, but just remember, you need to eat more, or you’ll get sick,” Becca told him.

“I’ll try,” he said grimly.

Dave and his family left the office. When she got home, Becca decided to keep an eye out for Dave, to see if he came outside. For the next few weeks, Becca never saw him outside, except for occasionally when he would mow the neighbor’s lawns, and every time she saw him, he was wearing the same clothes. What really alarmed her though, was when he came in with a dislocated arm. His mother had said he had fallen off the top bunk in his sleep. But when Rebecca asked him if he usually fell off the bed, he told her that this was the only time he had ever slept on the top bunk, and it was only because his mom told him to. Also the boy had many fresh and semi-recent bruise, which his mother said he got from falling off the bed, even though Becca could easily tell that some of the bruises were days, even weeks old. that’s when Becca figured it out. He was being abused.

Becca knew she couldn’t leave the boy like this. She contacted the school, who sent a social service worker over to his house, but their report came back okay. Weeks later, Becca realized she couldn’t accept no for an answer. She called up he school, and told them she was coming over. She had to talk to Dave. When she arrived, Dave was already in the office, fidgeting nervously in his seat.

“Dave, does your mommy hurt you?”

“Only when I’m a bad boy.”

“Are you bad a lot?”

“Well… Mommy says I am.”

“Do you think you are bad?”

“No…”

“Does your mom get angry a lot?”

“Yeah…”

After talking with him for a while him, she realized her prediction was correct; Dave was being abused by his mother. She talked with the school and they called social services to have him taken away.
Still, Rebecca didn’t feel right. Then she realized what she had to do. She got in her car and drove off. When she returned she had Dave. She had adopted him. ON the drive home, she said, “hey Dave, do you want to hear a story?”

“Sure.”

“This story is called Briar Rose. My grandma used to tell me this story. Once upon a time, in a far away land…”