I want to tell you a story. A story of a little girl that nobody has seen for many years. I wonder where she is today. She was a very imaginative little girl who was strong-willed and good- natured. She loved to be outdoors and was very friendly; although she was a little shy when first meeting someone. She had long red hair, green eyes and was always wearing a smile. Her parents called her Jodi and her name fit her well. She loved to watch cartoons and always thought she could do the things the cartoon characters did. A very trusting little girl who believed everything she saw; a lot of times what she heard too.
I remember one particular morning when she was watching her cartoons as her mother cleaned up their little trailer. Her father was at work and often came home for lunch; her older brother Andy was at school. Her mother was in the kitchen which was directly next to the living room. Her mother stood at the kitchen sink washing dishes and had a clear view across the room at her daughter on the couch. Her mother smiled, just as she always did when she heard one of her children burst out in laughter. Her mother turned her head as she heard little feet running across the living room into the kitchen. Jodi reached up and grabbed a glass drinking glass from the counter and filled it with water. Her mother was curious as to what her daughter was up too. “What are you doing”, asked her mother. “I am going to dive into this glass like Jerry did on TV”, replied Jodi. Her mother just laughed and shot back with some very disappointing news. “Jodi, what you see in cartoons usually can’t actually happen. If you try to dive into this glass it will break and hurt you”, said her mother. Jodi looked up at her mother and rolled her little green eyes and went back to sit on the couch. Her mother walked out of the kitchen, through the living room and down the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. Jodi got up off the couch and quietly sneaked into the kitchen – she quietly filled the glass with water. She sneaked back into the living room – taking a quick look to make sure her mother wasn’t coming. Once she was convinced the coast was clear she placed the glass of water on the floor in front of the coffee table. She pulled her long red hair out of her face as she quickly climbed on top of the coffee table. Making sure her mother still wasn’t coming she turned around to take one last look at the hallway entrance; she turned and dove headfirst into the glass of water.
The smashing sound of glass rung throughout the trailer and was followed by a loud thump of her head hitting the floor. Her mother ran into the living room and screamed at the sight of her five year old daughter lying on the floor covered in blood. Her mother began to cry and picked her daughter up off the floor. Jodi wasn’t crying but instead she was angry. She looked at her mother and said, “You were right mom, it didn’t work”! Her mother didn’t like the sight of blood – let alone it be covered over her daughter. She started to feel dizzy and nauseated. Just then Jodi’s father came home for his lunch break. That was when Jodi began to cry and ran to her father. She was always a Daddy’s little girl. She was taken to the hospital and received thirteen stitches in the middle of her fore head. She has a scar that proves her adventure.
She used her wound as a way to seem tough to her brother and Uncle Josh. Her brother and Josh were the same age and they were only a couple years older than she was. Jodi tried so hard to play with her brother and uncle, but they always left her behind. She would run and do her best to keep up with them. If she fell as she was running; she got up and wiped the blood away with her dress and took off again. She was the only girl on her father’s side of the family. Jodi didn’t get to spend much time with her mother’s side of the family. This left her surrounded by boys and nobody to play with. If the boys wouldn’t play with her she would end up playing with Josephine. Josephine was her best friend and someone who was always there for her when she needed a friend. She was also the kind of friend that nobody else could see. Andy and Josh really got a kick out of this. They were always up to something and into some kind of mischief. If you saw them running or if you couldn’t find them at all; it usually meant they were doing or did something wrong. Although it didn’t work; there were many times they laughed and blamed what they had done on Josephine. Jodi loved jelly beans and Andy and josh knew she would do anything for a jelly bean. The loving uncle that Josh was; he decided to give her a bag of jelly beans. They were brightly colored and had an odd shape, but she didn’t care – it was a jelly bean. She took one out and bit down; eager to eat as many as she could before her mother took them away. The jelly bean was unusually very hard, but she kept trying to bite through it. Andy and Josh stood peeking around the corner laughing hysterically. The harder she tried to bite through the Jelly Bean was the harder they would laugh. As it turned out the Jelly Beans weren’t actually Jelly beans. Instead they were little rocks that were painted with model car paint. She was an innocent and gullible little girl and they surely took advantage of that. Jodi took the bag of jelly beans to her mother and said, “These are too hard to eat”. Without hesitating her mother yelled, “Andy and Josh, get in here”! The boys came through the door looking all innocent and said, “It was Josephine’s idea”. They loved to pick on Jodi and she was the stooge in all their jokes.
Jodi’s mother always made a big breakfast on Saturday mornings because it was the one day everyone could wake up and be together as a family. Jodi loved pancakes as a child and her brother always requested biscuits and gravy. As Jodi, her uncle and brother waited patiently for the food to be ready they relaxed in the living room watching Saturday morning cartoons. Josh occasionally gave her remarks asking her if she wanted to try and fit in a glass again. He loved to tease Jodi. “Breakfast is ready”, yelled her mother. Everyone piled into the small kitchen to set and eat a wonderful meal. “Did you know that if you’re special Mrs. Butterworth will talk to you?” asked her uncle Josh. “No” replied Jodi. “Well then how do you think they do it on television? It’s because they found the special person. Jodi I think you could get her to talk to you”, said Josh. “Okay Josh that’s enough teasing already today. Eat your breakfast and leave her alone”, said Jodi’s father. When breakfast was over Jodi would sometimes help her mother clean up and the boys would go outside for chores. Once everyone left the kitchen and Jodi was all alone; she sat down at the table staring at the syrup jar. She began talking to Mrs. Butterworth but got no reply. Tears started to stream down her face as she started to walk away from the table. Just then Jodi heard Mrs. Butterworth speak to her. “Don’t cry child, Mrs. Butterworth takes her time, it’s because I’m so thick and rich”. Jodi threw her plate down and ran through the house screaming, “Mom! Mom! Its real mom she talked to me.” Her mother didn’t answer her and she couldn’t find anyone in the house. Jodi ran outside and stopped on the front porch. Her mother, father, brother and Uncle stood there beside the kitchen window laughing hysterically. It was then that Jodi realized she had fallen for another trick. Jodi’s family was a very playful one and everyone loved to tease and play tricks on each other. It was just easier for them to fool Jodi because she had such a vivid imagination. When it came down to it they loved her and when she was afraid they showed her comfort.
On her first day of Kindergarten she was afraid; afraid of her teacher, classmates and most of all afraid of the restroom. The restroom was located in the back of the classroom and when you turned on the light a loud whistling sound came bellowing through the vent. Only the Kindergarten classes had a restroom in their class. Jodi would go to the restroom and talk to Josephine; making sure she talked louder than the vent so she wouldn’t be afraid. Her teacher would let her know that the class could hear her every word. As it turned out her teacher wasn’t that scary and her classmates were alright too. Her teacher had dark brown hair that was cut off at the shoulders. She had an inviting smile that could make anyone feel safe around her. She reminded Jodi of her mother. At recess she played with a set of twins; they had blonde hair and were a little taller than Jodi was. They would all race across the concrete to the basketball goal to see who the fastest runner was. The twins were pretty fast; Jodi always lost. There was a boy in her class who always wore a button fastened to his shirt. At recess he would take the button off and stick the needle part through his skin and fasten it to his hand. It was disturbing and very disgusting; Jodi would scream and run away. If she saw Josh in the hallway at school; he would wave and say, “Hi”. It was her brother that pretended he didn’t see her. She loved everything about Kindergarten and especially when her uncle Larry would drop her off at school. He would stand in the hallway and hold her hand till it was time to enter the classroom. Jodi would tell everyone that her Uncle was in the Army. She thought she had the coolest Uncle. She was sad when Kindergarten ended and she was moving on to the first grade, but all good things must come to an end. It’s a part of life that things change; nothing ever stays the same.
One night Jodi stayed at her grandmother’s house that was around the corner from where she lived. It was a stormy night and Jodi sat up in Josh’s room with him listening to music. He would always play her the song, “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” by Guns and Roses. He knew she loved the song and he would let her listen to it as much as she wanted. The storm began to really hit and the lightning crashed and the thunder roared, but Jodi wasn’t scared. She sat on Josh’s bed and just listened to the music and the sounds of the storm. Just then the electric went out and it was dark and she couldn’t see anything in the room. “Josh, where are you?” she cried. Josh found his way to the bed and took her hand leading her through the house to the stairs. They set on the floor near the stairs where there was also a big window that had a little bit of light shining through. Josh sat there with his niece and played Barbie’s with her. He laughed and said, “If you ever tell anyone I played Barbie’s with you I’ll beat you up.” The lights finally came back on and the two rushed down stairs for the restroom. The restroom door at her grandmother’s house was a tricky one. The door would always just open on its own so my grandmother put a lock on the outside of the door to keep it closed when it wasn’t being used. Jodi made it into the restroom before Josh and he saw the perfect opportunity to tease her. He locked her in the restroom. Jodi banged on the door for what seemed like forever begging for him to unlock the door. Josh finally unlocked the door but only because he had to use the restroom. It was now time for bed and Josh agreed that Jodi could sleep in his room with him. She always loved being around Josh even though he picked on her constantly. She laid at one end of the bed and he laid at the other end. Jodi kept climbing out of bed for little goofy things like to get a drink of water or to use the restroom. Josh was getting annoyed so when Jodi came back to lie down he told her that a clown lived under his bed and if she continued to get out of bed it would come out and eat her because she would be disturbing the clowns rest. Jodi laid silently still the rest of the night.
Over the summer Jodi’s family moved; her mother no longer felt comfortable in the home because of Josephine. Jodi insisted that Josephine was a real person and that she drowned in the river. Tina always shoved it off to her daughter having an over active imagination. Jodi’s father however believed her and insisted that Tina look into old public records. Jodi’s grandmother also insisted the situation be investigated. “Tina, Jodi knew about my sister’s death two hours before I got the call. She talks to people who aren’t there and has given descriptions of my family who has passed and she never met.” Her grandmother Betty told her mother. Jodi’s grandmother always believed that Jodi had a connection with spirits or ghosts. Jodi could tell her grandmother stories about her great grandfather that only her grandmother knew about. This talk always frightened Jodi’s mother and she always told her she shouldn’t talk to herself. Jodi’s father and grandmother were firm believers in children being able to see and hear spirits because they are innocent and don’t know it isn’t normal. That as the child gets older the ability is lost because it’s forced in them to block it out. As it turned out a little girl named Josephine did drown in the area.
