The Girl Most Likely To ... - Part 32
by Barbara Lynn Terry

Chapter 1 - The girls calm Sharon down.

After Mr. Townsend left, Sharon was still crying because of what she had said out loud. She never wanted any of the girls in the home to know what Dr. Poole had done to her, nor the staff. She had actually been afraid to tell the staff, until Rachel had come to the home. They saw in Rachel a rebel but also a demure young girl that was messed up. They had vowed to help her be the girl she needs to be, while also being her friend and sisters.

Sharon was still upset, and Rachel and Connie sat with her. The other girls sat or stood around the setee where Rachel, Sharon and Connie were seated. The girls had adopted their version of a song they heard in the movie called A League of Their Own. This is the home's version.

Cheer her up! Listen now!
The time has come for one and all
To give her all.

We are the sisters of the Pine Meadows Home for Adolescent Girls.
We come from cities near and far.
We're all for one, we're one for all

Each girl stands, her head so proudly high,
Her motto 'all for one and one for all.'
She's the one each girl looks up to.

Our house parents are not too soft,
They're like real parents,
We've have a super who really loves us,
We're all for one, we're one for all,
We are the sisters of the Pine Meadows Home for Adolescent Girls.

Sharon started singing with the others about midway in to the second verse. By the time they had finished the song, Sharon wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and cheeks. She looked around at her sisters.

"Thank you, sisters, so much. I forgot for a few moments that as a Leo I am the lioness, the hunter. I'm the one that should be strong."

"Sharon Hardesty, I hate to tell you this, but none of us are so strong as not to break down now and then when something makes us sad. You have been through an ordeal no girl or woman should have to be put through. Pervert is going to get what is coming to him. You heard Mr. Townsend, rape of a minor carries the same sentence as if he had done that to a grown woman. You are fourteen years old, he is like at least two and a half times your age, or any of the girls here. He has no right molesting us or forcing us to have sex with him."

"How do you feel, Rach, after he had touched you?"

"I feel like I want to kill him, tar and feather him, neuter him, boil him in oil, stretch him on the rack and not necessarily limited to just that and not necessarily in that order."

"So, see, even you want to make sure he suffers for what he has done. But how do you feel about it inside here," Sharon said, pointing to Rachel's heart.

"I feel used, dirty, like I should have been stronger, like I should have been able to stop him, somehow."

"That is how I feel. It gets to me because I couldn't stop him from..."

"It's all right Sharon, we're here for you. You just take it easy, and we will think of something to take our minds off of you know who."

"Thank you, Rachel. In the seven days you have been here, you have grown so much and have become a sister like you were born a girl."

"But Sharon, I was born a girl; the girl that is inside and has been allowed to come out and be seen. I was born a girl with a birth defect." Sharon giggled.

"I never thought of it like that. But that is exactly how you were born. You took to being a girl like a duck takes to water. Only a girl could know how to do the things you do.

"Like, you instinctively take over and help us through trying times, and we are supposed to the the ones helping you."

"Sharon, there is a lot of help I need. I'm not as strong as I seem to be. But when one of my sisters needs me, I am going to be there for her, regardless of what my problems are. I can set those problems aside and give a helping hand to those that need it."

"OMG Girl! Did you just hear yourself?

"What? All I said was is I will be there to help if I can."

"What did I tell you the first night you got here?"

"You said I could do a lot of growing up ... here. OMG! Do you think I have grown that much in just seven days?"

"No, sister Rachel, I don't think you have grown, I know you have grown. You have grown from the shivering, freezing little girl I first saw in to a young woman. Rachel Eileen Watkins, I am proud to call you my sister."

"Thank you, Sharon. I am proud to call all of you my sisters. we are a family, and families must stick together through he..."

"None of that language, young lady."

"Sorry, Jan."

Whenever it looked like one of the girls was going to say a swear or cuss word, the house parents would stop them from saying it, if they were around. Just then, Jack Olsen came out of the office.

"Girls, I just had a call from Dr. Nita, and she says Janice is doing really good, and should be home tomorrow. When Janice gets here, she will pack some of her things, and go over to Naomi's house for an indefinite home visit. If anybody wants to see her, you know where Naomi lives. Janice will still be going to school on the grounds for the rest of the semester, and then in the fall will be attending Pine Meadows Senior High School."

"So, Janice will be living with her mother, then?"

"Yes, Melanie. Dr. Nita said that Naomi and the others are going to help them find a house."

"There is a house a little ways past Tommy Barker's house that is for sale. I wonder if they could rent to own?"

"It is possible. Jan can you hold the fort for a bit while I go and get the phone number?"

"Yes, Jack. The girls and I will have a good talk while you are gone." Jack left to get the phone number of the house that was for sale.

"Girls, I just want to say this. Whenever you find yourself saying a bad word, try to catch yourself, and instead of saying H E double hockey sticks, try to say heck, instead. If we allow our feelings to say what we feel, then we would be cussing left and right, front and back and up and down. So, remember that we are ladies first, and we must act like ladies all the time."

"Yes, Jan, we're sorry. But that perv just gets under the skin. If I could mete out his punishment, he would be female way before even Renée and Rachel." There were giggles at what Melanie had said.

"See, Mel, you didn't say the bad word you were thinking, and as far as the pervert is concerned, he is very lucky you aren't giving him his punishment. Although, it would serve him right to have to sit to pee." The girls all giggled

"If it wasn't for Rachel telling you what he had done, he would still be here doing his damage."

"Connie, it is all right. I have been informed that his license to practice medicine has been suspended pending the outcome of his trials. Now girls, this may take more than one trial, and may be more than one day. There are twenty one complaints against him, and he is in really serious trouble for what he has done to Sharon and all of you girls. I only wish you had told us about this when it first started."

"I guess I didn't believe hard enough, Jan, that you were here to help and protect us. I should have told you the day it happened, but I was afraid you wouldn't believe me."

"Well, Sharon, now you know. Girls, if anybody, staff or resident does anything to you that you know is wrong, you come to us and tell us. We will look in to it and take the proper measures. We are here for each and every one of you, just like you are there for each other." Just then, Jack came back in the house.

"Well, what did I miss?"

"Nothing, Mr. Olsen, just a lot of girl talk."

"Oh! Uhm, thanks Jan." The girls all giggled softly at poor Jack Olsen's expense.

To say Jack Olsen was sorely outnumbered, is an understatement, because he is the only man in the whole house, surrounded by teenage girls and a house mother. But Jack never let this go to his head. Being the house father of a house full of troubled teenage girls, was a serious thing to John "Jack" Olsen, who has been the house father for twelve years. He and Jan had started working at the home together coming a day apart of each other.

Janice Cummings is thirty four years old, and is a single mother of three teenage girls. When she is at work, her girls are in school. She loves these girls at the home just as much as she loves her birth children. She has lived in small towns all of her life, so when she applied for matron of a residential treatment center, they assigned her to Pine Meadows. She has a degree in psychiatric social work, which comes in handy in her work with the girls. I guess this is why nothing ever phases her about the language she puts a stop to, when she can.

"All right, girls, I guess you can go about whatever it is you go about doing." The girls all giggled. If you have ever heard a group of girls giggle, it sounds much like a lot of birds tweeting.

The lunch bell rang.

"It's lunch already?!? Where did the morning go?"

"Sister Melanie, it flew by so fast, I didn't even see it."

"All right girls, get washed up for lunch."

"Yes, Jan."

Chapter 2 - Naomi, Renée and Shaiya visit the girls.

After a lunch of two different lunch meats and pickles, blacks olives, onions (for those that wanted them, nobody did, of course), and lettuce to make lunch meat sanwich supremes with dijon mustard and catsup, the girls cleaned up the dining room and kitchen together. Melanie and Rachel put away the left overs. These could be used as midnight snacks if the girls were so inclined. With the dining room and kitchen spotless, the girls sat down to watch a Christmas movie. The Bells Of St. Mary's with Bing Crosby. The girls were very quiet during the movie because it was one of their favorites. As the movie ended, Naomi showed up with Renée and Shaiya.

"So, you had a private party and did not invite your sisters? I see how it is."

"Naomi! Renée! How is Janice doing, is she all right?"

"Whoa! Settle done, Sharon. She is doing fine. So far no relapse, but these short comas have been known to go away for a short time then come right back. That is why Dr. Nita wants her to stay an extras few days. Just to make sure she doesn't have a relapse."

"Mrs. Peyton, Janice is really nice, but there are times I have to say 'stifle it, Janice Peyton' whenever she starts to get a little off the cuff. Like when Naomi first came here with our newest sister, I had to tell her that. She was really letting Naomi have it, but Naomi fired right back. The battle of the mental shot guns was a tie."

"Well, Naomi is letting Janice and I stay at here house until we can find one of our own. Janice will still be going to school here, until the end of the semester. Next semester she will at Pine Meadows Senior High School. Anyway, she wants to see you, Melanie, Rachel and Renée."

"Oh! Okay. We will go later. How about we show you where Janice sleeps, and how she has her side of the room arranged."

"Sound like a plan."

Sharon Hardesty led the tour of the upstairs, ending in Janice Peyton's room. Her roomie was Connie Stevenson. Connie's side of the room had teddy bears line up along the wall on her bed, each corner of her dresser, and side of the mirror on her dressing table, and even two lying in front of the pillow. On Janice' side of the room, it was basically empty. There was a dresser, dressing table, bed and a small closet. There were no teddy bears, or bunnies, or cute little Kermits. Janice kept her side clean, but didn't have any 'trinkets'.

"Why doesn't my baby have any teddy's or ... You know what? I am going to make sure she has a decent life from now on. This side of the room looks more like a jail cell than a room in a home."

"Mrs. Peyton, Janice said that if she had any of those things, they would just get taken away like her life had been taken away."

"Oh No! My poor baby was suffering all this time? I am going to make sure she not only has a decent life, but can have as many friends as she wants, and can go on sleep overs with her friends. I had no idea she felt this depressed."

"Mrs. Peyton, Janice and Sharon have always been the leaders here. They were normally the ones who came up with the ideas to do things, whatever those things were. Janice has always been in dark moods. You know, like she was not interested in any thing. It is going to be so good to see her alive, after so long living in the darkness."

"Well, I came to see the house. I have seen the living room, the dining room, the upstairs, Janice' side of her room. Where is the kitchen?"

"This way," Connie said, as they walked out of the living room. As they entered the kitchen, Shaiya was impressed.

"Nice and big. You can do a lot here."

"We're allowed to bake cakes, pies, cookies, uhm jelly filled crullers. Whatever we can think of we can make. When we are done, we clean everything up so that the privilege to use the kitchen isn't taken away."

"That is very interesting. So, basically this is a self sufficient home for girls and run by girls, basically."

"Yes, Mrs. Peyton."

"What is your name, again?"

"Constance 'Connie' Stevenson."

"Well Connie, do you have a basement?"

"Yes, this way, please."

Shaiya followed Connie and the other girls in to the basement. She was shown the laundry room where there were three washing machines and three indiustrial style dryers. There was no common laundry on the grounds. The house for the prepubescent girls had their laundry done by the matrons, and sometimes the bigger girls would come over and do it for them. As they were preparing the clothes to be washed, they told the younger ones what they were doing and why.

Shaiya was impressed by this and the shower/lavatory. Then Connie took Shaiya in to the recreation/exercise room.

"Wow. Who pays for all of this?"

"We did. These exercise machines were bought by the girls, for the girls. Even the house parents can use them, too. The school isn't open, now, or we would take you over and show you the computer lab we have. We can even have our own laptops, if we can afford to buy them, or have our parents buy them for us. Everything we have that is not provided by the state, has been bought by us. We share in the cost, and this way, it belongs to the girls for generations to come."

"This is a very interesting house. I have never seen houses in other institutions, but I am betting this set up is unique among state institutions."

"Mrs. Peyton, we have won awards for our therapy programs, the rate of success of making sure girls are properly raised, and for its uniqueness in setting, privileges and rules."

"Who are you, again?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Peyton, I am Madelline, or Mom as the girls call me. I am the second shift house mother here. I just came on, and was told you were all down here. You can call me Maddy."

"Hi, nice to meet you, Maddy. I'm Shaiya, Janice Peyton's mom."

"It is nice to meet you, too. I hear that Janice will be leaving us. I would like to talk to you, in the office before you leave."

"Yes, of course, Maddy. Thank you, Connie, girls, for a wonderful tour. This is truly a great house."

With that, they all went back upstairs and joined Naomi and Renée who were busy playing twister with a few of the girls.