SOMETIMES BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE...

I remember one summer day all the mothers were whispering and talking amongst themselves. The air was filled with anger and sadness. Being only 6 or 7 years old, nobody was ready to share what the problem was and why everyone was out and upset. Life was much easier in the 50's as you can imagine. People were generally kind, and did the right things only because that is the way people acted then. A handshake meant as much as a notary seal. Honesty was never challenged and it just was taken for granted. People were basically honest. I never knew anyone that lied, or cheated, or did harm!...You could count on people, you could trust people and you just knew people were helpful. We all treated each one including our neighbor as we would ourselves. We knew our neighbors we took food we cooked over to them when they didn't feel well. It was a totally different world...On this particular day, it seems one of the boys in the trailer park had been missing the entire day...His parents were looking for him everywhere and nobody could find him...He was a young teenager boy. He played release with us every summer night and was just a normal kid. Now he had disappeared...I also remember the fire trucks that had come and parked at the bottom of the parking lot that led into the woods. They were on a search for this boy...the fireman loaded with flashlights disappeared into the woods..The search had begun!..The mothers and fathers waited for word of the boys welfare. The kids continued to play and didn't pay any attention to all the upset of the day...Then I remember one of the mothers began to cry loudly...all the other mothers consoled her with kind words. It seemed someone had tied the boy to a tree deep into the woods..left him there all day. It seemed the older boys took him tied him up and did perverted things to him...tortured him with sticks and did sexual things to hurt him. The fireman found the boy, tied, bleeding and unconscious on the tree....The entire place was in shock, who could have done a thing like this...This kind of thing never happened, never. People wouldn't have thought of being so cruel to another human being!!..This boy was innocent, a person victimized by torture...He was taken to the hospital...All the mothers were appalled that anything like this could happen...Suddenly, everyone was on high alert for safety. The bubble had been broken..Innocence has passed...Now that trust broken. A new word was about to usher in...Now bad things would happen to good people...The seal was broken...Trust no longer ruled and reigned...It had begun!!! Nothing anymore was sacred!!!....Evil sewed its way into our little neighborhood!!!