the dead candy man

 I remember when candy was so cheap.  My daddy would give me a dollar to go and buy candy and I could buy sack loads...today a dollar won't even barely buy one candy bar.  

I remember my mom had a boyfriend, and he gave me and my sister a one dollar bill to go and buy candy with.  So, my sister and I took off to the candy store.  We bought our candy and was walking back home, when I saw a house and the front door was wide open, loud music was coming from inside...me and my sister walked up (my sister staying on the sidewalk) and I peeked inside the door.  Why?  why would two little kids go up to a strangers house and look in their open front door?  I have no ideal.  However, to this day, I love looking in windows and looking into peoples houses to see how they live, to see how they decorate, to see people having a life and seemingly enjoying being with those around them in that house.  

I hated our house, we had nothing, barely any furniture, certainly no nice things. And mom was always yelling or screaming at us or hitting us, or ignoring us...the inside of our house was a fucking nightmare.

Back to the story of the opened door:  She walked up the porch steps, while her sister hung back on the sidewalk.  She looked into the house which opened to a entryway with living room off to the side.  As she was peaking into the house...she noticed a leg sticking out just around the corner on the floor...  Her little kid brain thought they were sleeping on the floor (like she use to see her  "dad" do, only he was passed out drunk)...she yelled out, but the leg did not move.  So she walked into the house, the few short steps to the leg, and she kicked it...the leg did not move, but she noticed a horrible smell, like baby shit and throw up, she immediately covered her nose...she kicked the leg again...no movement and the leg was oddly stiff as a board...

She looked further up the leg and saw a man, twisted in an odd way with his head looking behind him, yet his body was face up...she was looking at a dead man, a man who had been dead for awhile, a man who was murdered (?)..she ran out of the house, leaving her sister behind, and she ran all the way back to the store (where she had bought the candy) and told the checker there was a dead body...The checker did not believe her....told her to go home.  At the house, she told her mom.  Her mom told her to stop lying and trying to get attention and sent her to her room.  Nobody believed her.  The mom asked the sister what she saw, and she said nothing.  So naturally it was the little girl making up tall tales...

So, she was quiet.  Nobody believed her about the plane crash, nobody ever believed her, they all thought she was a liar and evil little girl.  

She was in the 2nd grade.  Her first time to see a dead and stinking corpse....and it wouldn't be her last...

The dead man, was not her "dad"...and that made her sad......

I do not know to this day what happened with that dead man,  but HE WAS REAL AND SHE WAS NOT LYING.  This was in Abilene TX, where we went after she finally left "dad"...

S, Tessa