So here we are in the hospital. My mother makes a phone call and I find my grandma on my mom's side and my aunt Barbara. I had met them prior when I was living with my stepdad (Jim) when we made a visit to Clarksville. He loved to come to Kentucky and bye fireworks for 4th of July and man did he get some good fireworks. Don't get me wrong we did have fun times with my stepdad. 4th of July was fun but the real fun was every year we would go to Six Flags Great America with me, my mom, stepdad, and uncle Tom. I loved those times. Been there 3 times in my life. Also been to the Six Flags in Georgia also but again a story for later.... Where was I? Got off track...... Oh yeah... So my Grandma would pick us up to stay with her. My aunt Barbara was staying with her. Out of all the people in my life, my aunt Barbara is one I always seem to tear up about. Let me explain my aunt Barbara. God I love you Barbara. She grew up with a hump and a speech problem. As she grew up my mom would always defend her when kids picked on her. But if you ever met her then you would see why I love her so much. Everything you would want in a person. Funny, caring, happy, sweet, loving, compassionate, I could go on and on about her. She used to love reading Stephen King books and got me addicted to the books. While me and my mom where staying at my Grandmas, we where sleeping in the floor in the living room and my aunt was right there with us. Don't get me wrong, my aunt also loved to tease me but it's only because of how close her and my mom was. But I looked up to her. And I know she loved me. I began to start reading Stephen King books myself and now I'm a huge fan of his books.
OK so lets go down the family tree so I can explain the events about to come. Here's my moms side of the family. There's my Grandma and my aunts as followed: Aunt Barbara, Aunt Diane and Aunt Mary. 4 girls in the family. OK, now where was I? Oh yeah. We where living with my grandma when suddenly here comes my stepfather again. Saying he will change and again we believed it. So we moved back with him. Time passed and while living back with my dad in Indiana, my aunt Barbara got married and was having kids, so we had to make a visit to see the kids. Now, I don't remember what Barbara's husbands name was but what's about to happen will tell you why I decided to forget. After we left from visiting Barbara, we found out later that she was getting a divorce. Now the story is a little sketchy but I'll do the best I can. When Barbara left her husband she already had two little boys. One about 2 or 3 and one still a baby. She moved back in with her mom (my grandma). And things at this point crumble.
Now what I'm about to let the world know is from a police report my mother read and told me about later. It's disturbing and hard to type but I express it because I want everyone to understand how special my aunt is and what leads me to a break down. If you are a little scared to read then progress to the next chapter. OK, at this point my aunt Barbara had custody of the baby and her husband had her other son. He was dating this new woman and she was eager to get married to him. My aunt Barbara was still fighting for her other child so the divorce was not final. But this new girl friend couldn't wait. I don't know the exact date or time and don't care to know but one day my aunt Barbara was home alone with the baby. Her husband pulled up and knocked on the door. Barbara answered and her husband told her she could come down to the car to see her other son. With the baby in the crib, Barbara proceeded to the car. At this point her husband forces in the car and proceeds to take her to a field. He pulls out of the car and kills her. He shot her while her son watched. My grandma came back home to find the baby alone. Me and my mom ended up moving in with my grandma, but said my Grandma broke down and my mom and aunt Diane had to put her in a home. My aunt Diane took over my Grandma's apartment and we stayed with her. I had my own room there. Now at the time of Barbara's funeral, everyone in the family was crying and sobing. I felt like I was the only one not crying. During all this time I had suppressed alot of what had happened. I know my mom and Diane where going through Barbara's stuff. But one night my mom and Diane gave me Barbara's Stephen King books. That night I began to look through all the books. I went out to living room and told my mom how excitied I was about the books and proceed back to my room and shut the door behind me. I stopped. I looked at the books on the bed and fell to the floor sobbing like a baby. In alot of ways I think I didn't want her death to be real but the books made me face the truth. With me pressing my back against the door I began to sob uncontrollably. My mom was not able to open the door behind me and I just sat there and cried. This was my first encounter with death and possibly my choice of faith. But we continued to live on in the apartment with my Aunt Diane. I love and miss you Barbara.
OK now to back track and tell you about my childhood friendships. During the time we where staying with my step father I had 5 friends around my block I hung out with. Here's the 411 on what kinda friends I had in Cedar Lake, IN and Clarksville, TN. Let's start in Cedar Lake. The house we where living in was peach colored and small with a big back and front yard. Down the street about 3 or 4 blocks was Brandon Green, one of my friends. Let's continue down the street and turn on the back dirt road till we get to the road on the next side of what we called the block. Now, we go down half this street and on the right we find the house of Melissa and Jenny and right across was the house I would love for most of my childhood time with Jim. See in this house we find a family I looked up to as perfect. At the time I was using the name Chris Thomen instead of Chris Roberts and that's how my friends new me. Anyway, this family consisted of the parents Liz and Russell Kadisak. Next down the chain where the sisters Chrissy and Angela. Then next and best of all was my bestest friends in the world, Rusty and Jason Kadisak. Rusty is my age and Jason is a year younger then us. You have to understand that outside of my home with Jim I felt like I was on top of the world around Rusty, Jason, Melissa and Jenny. When it was me and Rusty and Jason, we where unstoppable. We always where on our bikes going everywhere. The pool, creek, the fort. But at this time my stepdad would not allow my friends in the house unless he was at work. My mom would love having my friends over. The reason I bring all this up is because of all the bad things going in my life I felt friends where the best thing anyone could have in there life. This opinion changed a little down the road but Rusty and Jason needed to be mentioned. They where big part of making my life something special. I miss them very much.
Anyway back to Clarksville, TN. While I was living there I made plenty of friends there myself. I also discovered "COMIC BOOKS!" I made friends with a kid name Hugo. Now while I was living in Cedar Lake, IN I only had birthday parties with the family and I couldn't have friends at my party so while I lived in Clarksville I got my first weekend stayover party with my friends. We stayed up trading comic books and playing video games. It was awesome! Hugo was the coolest friend I had in Clarksville but the next friend I mad would change my life for a long long time!
Now you have to remember that my aunt Diane was living with us but she also was staying weekends at a ladies house babysitting a teenage girl and little boy. At this point I was 14 years old and just going through this thing called puberty. Now one day my aunt Diane told me that she was gonna bring me along to meet the girl she babysat. Her name was Mandy Louise and in my eyes she was beautiful. When she brought me along, she also brought Hugo with us. Mandy had a boyfriend at the time but she was getting upset with him so she had me and Hugo help her dump him over the phone. Now as story progresses, I began to go to her house without Hugo. Now before I met Mandy, the only music I would listen to was Hip-Hop or Rock. I hated country music because my mom and stepdad loved it and I said I would never become a fan. Mandy changed all that. She loved country music and at the time Shania Twain was making strides as a star. So of course, Puttyman became a country music fan. I was falling for this girl. I wanted to spend all my time with her. She was the outdoors type and I quickly made myself one to. Baseketball, rollerblading (or at least I tried but I kept falling down. But it made Mandy laugh so I liked it just the same!) and so on. I mean I was falling deeply with this girl that I began to write poetry about her. Well, just like my life, it didn't stay so joyful.
One day my aunt Diane comes back saying that she got fired from her job. I kept asking why but she wouldn't say. I kept on calling Mandy but no answer. Finally Mandy answered. She was whispering to me that she couldn't talk to me. After the second call her mom got on the line and told me I couldn't talk to Mandy anymore. And from her mother I found out that my aunt Diane would punish Mandy by sitting on her. What makes this bad is this. My aunt Diane died of a heart attack because she was way over weight. She couldn't wear pants and her stomach hung to her knees. I'm not lying. Now imagine this woman sitting on you as punishment. I wrote Mandy a letter and told her my feelings but it ended there. I'm still a country music fan because of her. So I lived on......
