BITTER MEMORIES: A Memoir of Heartache & Survival by Sue Julsen, Gary McCluskey Page A

arms. Then he’d say it was an accident. He’d say I’d fallen down and broken my arms all by myself.
    “Get over here!” Greg ordered, hoarsely. “It’s my turn.”
    Jean looked so frightened, but she still stood her ground.
    Ron bolted up from the cot, grabbed the back of her neck, roughly positioned her in front of Greg, then whispered something to Mitch.
    “Yeah, man! I’d like to do that!” 
    “Put your rear up in the air, kid. Mitch is gonna give you a little surprise.”
    “What’s he gonna do?” Jean demanded, trying to pull away from Greg and his dirty appendage that dangled in front of her.
    “Don’t worry kiddo, we have Vaseline, and Mitch only has a little one.” Ron laughed, then added, “Don’t fight me, kid, or I’ll have to give you my big one instead! So, what’s it gonna be? Little Mitch, or me?” 
    “Please, Ron, please don’t! Don’t do this! Please let me go!” Jean pleaded, but Ron just laughed and told Mitch to put some Vaseline on himself so it would slide easier.
    “ Scottie, help her! Please!” Polly screamed in terror.
    “Aye, I’m here, Polly. I won’t let them hurt her. I promise.”
    Ron’s sickening laughter rang in Jean’s ears—then silence and that floating feeling took her away to safety. I watched Scottie, a sweet-looking teenage boy with a feminine face who looked a lot like an older me, but with a slightly deeper voice, emerge. 
    Daddy hadn’t shown him what the boys had in mind, and even though Scottie was gay, he didn’t like the sound of what they wanted to do. He tried to pull away, but Ron held him, and Scottie began to float… 
    “ Okay, boys. You asked for it !” Ann stated harshly.
    I’d never heard Ann speak in a voice other than her soft, comforting tone, but I knew she’d taken all the abuse she could bear from the little monsters. Until the other girls and Scottie came along, Ann had always protected me. Now she knew she had to protect the others as well. 
    The next thing Mitch knew, he was tumbling backwards. Ann had spun around so quickly it knocked Mitch on his ass! He started to get up, but her foot connected with the side of his head, knocking him right back down.
    Although Ann didn’t use strong language like Jean, in this case, she felt it was needed, and spoke through clinched teeth. “You fuckin’ little bastards! Don’t even think of doing this, or I’ll kill all three of you fuckers while you sleep. Don’t think I won’t!”
    Her voice sounded as cold as death.
    “Hey, what the fuck’s goin’ on?” Ron jumped back, reflexively.
    Mitch remained where he’d fallen; his face glazed with shock.
    Greg stood as if shot, just waiting to fall on his face.
    Her expression had changed right in front of them to a girl much older; much wiser, and her murderous eyes blazed as she assumed a posture of superiority before speaking again.
    “I’m not gonna tell you fuckers this again. I will kill all of you. I don’t like what’s going on here one little bit! Sucking is one thing, but I will not let you do anything else! Do I make myself clear?” The boys nodded, and Ann collapsed, hitting her stomach on the edge of the cot’s metal frame.
    The boys looked at each other, each with their own expression of shock.
    “Fuck! What just happened?” Mitch asked, finding his voice again.
    “Shit, man! I don’t have a fuckin’ clue!” Ron looked down at the lifeless, crumpled form of their victim lying in the dirt, unconscious, at his feet.
    “Her voice! It didn’t sound like Sarah! Whoever—whatever that was—” Greg couldn’t find the words needed to finish his sentence.
    “Yeah, she sounded—mean! She sounded as old as Mom!” Mitch blurted out. “And her eyes! Did you see the look in her eyes!?”
    “Is…is she…dead?” Greg whispered, looking at his brothers.
    I never knew exactly where I went to watch after I drifted away, but when I returned it sounded like the boys thought I must’ve passed out. All