Choked Out For No Reason
When I was in the 7th grade I went to a school that was all seventh graders… Oceanway Seventh Grade Center in Jacksonville, Florida. This is the year that my mother was murdered. I remember that I used to pick Honeysuckle flowers during PE and eat the nectar. One day as I was approaching the bus after school, I was randomly grabbed from behind by this boy and place in a chokehold. His forearm was around my neck and he was squeezing me to the point I could feel myself start to panic. I could see some kids on the bus yelling at him to leave me alone and finally he did let me go. I remember getting on the bus crying and the kids were asking me why he did that. I said that I didn’t know and that I didn’t even know him. They encouraged me to report him but I didn’t even know his name but I made sure that I knew what he looked like in case I found out who he was.
Halfway through the school year one class I was taking ended and I had to start another class. The first day of that new class I walked in and saw the boy who tried to choke me a few weeks before. After the roll was called, I wrote down his name then went to the teacher and asked if I could go to the Principal’s office. I reported this boy for choking me out that day. He got suspended for three days. I don’t remember if he even knew it was me that reported him. I don’t remember having any more trouble with him. He was removed from the class and put in a different class after he came back from suspension.
Are You a Model?
When I was 15 years old, my Stepdad managed a Paint & Body Shop that also had a Wrecker Service. Me and my brother and sister would take turns going with my dad to help him on a wrecker call. As a result of this service my dad became friends with the local Sheriff’s department to ensure that we got a good number of the wrecker calls because it did help supplement the business.
One time after a wrecker call that I went on with him, on the way home, he needed to run a few errands. He dropped me off at the grocery store and asked me to go in and pick up some bleach and a gallon of milk. He told me to stand out front and wait for him to run by the post office and he would be back to get me. While I was waiting for him to pick me up, a man approached me and asked me if I was a model. I’m 5 feet tall… period. No one has ever asked me before if I was a model. However, this guy was laying it on pretty thick, telling me how pretty I was and how photogenic I was… He said he was a talent scout for a modeling agency and was in town for a photo shoot and wanted me to stop by. I said that I was only 15 and didn’t think my dad would let me. He gave me his name and number written on a piece of paper and said to call him if I changed my mind.
I remember being flattered by his compliments and very interested in calling him to see if I could actually be a model. I was determined to memorize the number and just as determined not to tell my dad because I knew he would not let me go. He was very strict and would never let us do anything other than work. We had to come straight home from school and clean the house or go to the shop and work there until he got off work.
When I got in the truck, I didn’t say anything at first but before I realized what I was doing, I started telling him about the guy and what he said. When he asked me to let him see the paper with his number, I looked at it again to make sure I had memorized the number and I had. But low and behold, as soon as my fingers let go of the paper, the number vanished from my memory. I could not remember it at all. I was so mad at myself.
A week or so later my dad told me that the Sheriff looked into the guy from the “modeling agency” and turns out that he was out on parole for “Child Molestation“… I don’t know if that was true or just my dad trying to scare me or teach me a lesson but it did gross me out and make me thankful that I didn’t fall into a trap set by a predator.
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