TO RETURN TO CHOSE ANOTHER STORY

"FREEDOM" CAN SOMETIMES BE A PRIVATE THING.

"Where is Kiser?" Yelled the matron to one of the boys who lived in the
orphanage with me.

"I don't know Ma'am. He was just here a minute ago." He told her.

"KISER." Screamed the matron at the top of her voice.

I felt a little sick that day after we kids had eaten our breakfast. I
was sitting on the toilet because my stomach was not right, and it was
hurting me, real bad like.

"KISER" Yelled the matron again.

"I'M RIGHT HERE, MRS. MA'AM, IN THE BATHROOM." I hollered out to her.

Within several seconds the matron entered the bathroom and stood
directly in front of me.

I looked down at the floor because I was embarrassed that someone was
seeing me sit on the toilet. I never did like to have anyone see me
sitting on the toilet. To me there was always something real personal
about having to use the bathroom.

The matron just stood there, her arms up on her hips, towering above me,
like a large city skyscraper.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am that I didn't ask to use the bathroom this time. But I
was hurting real bad in my stomach and I didn't know if I could really
use it for sure or not".

I placed my hand in front of me so that nothing private would show,
'cause she was a lady.

"Get up. Right now," She demanded, gritting her teeth at me.

"I'm really sorry that I didn't ask permission. I really am." I told
her.

She reached out and grabbed me by the arm and jerked me off the toilet.
I tried, as best I could, to cover myself. My little short pants fell
all the way down to the floor. About that time the worst thing that
could happen did. I had a little accident on myself.

"DON'T YOU MOVE YOUNG MAN." She yelled out in a slow drawn out manner,
as she headed out the door.

I will never forget how embarrassed I was that day. I just stood there
afraid to move a muscle. Very slowly I reached over and I pulled off a
line of toilet paper and I covered myself in the front. I did not try
and clean myself for I was afraid to move.
I looked up and I saw my naked self in the large bathroom mirror and I
started to cry. When she returned she beat the holly heck out of me, for
more than fifteen minutes, with a polo paddle. I spent the entire day
cleaning up the terrible mess that was made in the bathroom because of
that beating.

Fifty years later, I have never forgotten what I saw that day in the
mirror. A little seven year old boy, almost totally naked, his pants
down around his ankles, afraid to move a muscle.

I will never forget what it felt like for an innocent little child to
have to ask permission to use the bathroom, or get a drink of water.

Many people associate freedom with different types of things. But there
are those of us, many are orphans and abused children, who appreciate
"freedom" because they have been given something that most people take
for granted, every single day. Something as simple as having the right
to get a drink of water, or to use the bathroom in private without
having to ask permission.

Stories from The Life and Times of Roger Dean Kiser:

Click on Roger's name to visit his Website. Roger Dean Kiser

To write to Roger please click on his name. Roger Dean Kiser

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