Baby Doe - Day 488: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: baby
Somebody Knows Something
was the quote everybody gave Junie Unash when she covered a new homicide or an old cold case. "Whoever did it will be unable to live with the guilt and will come forward," or whoever knows who did it will decide to come forward even though being Silenced is always a risk. That, or the witness was high at the time or selling drugs or committing adultery so "No Way" ratting out the killer is a good idea. Still. The stories had to be told, and the loved ones left behind never stopped hoping "Someone" would say "Something" to bring "Closure" to the family.
Baby Doe Found in Dumpster
was a headline everyone hated reading as much as Jooney Unash hated writing it. What kind of woman or girl delivers a baby all by herself, wraps it in a garbage bag and dumps it in the trash?
source: Iowa Cold Cases
Surprisingly, one was a straight-A student in small town Midwest. She gave birth in secret--Junie always wondered how anyone got away with waddling around hiding a basketball-sized belly under a baggy shirt--and had the baby in the school bathroom during Prom. And then she went back to the dance.
You couldn't fabricate a story like that. The truth was too unbelievable.
Junie liked doing the Crime Pages even though the sordid details could get her craving a stiff drink if she tried to picture being the parent or sibling who learned their missing loved one was found dead in a ditch.
Jury Finds Mother of 3 Not Guilty
of infanticide: that one was even harder to fathom than the panicky teenage girl on Prom night. How did Karen Pike react when police found her four-day-old baby boy in a cardboard box dumped in a rural ditch, killed by blows to the head?
She reacted by hiring the best lawyer in the state, Albert Churchill, and despite reams of evidence, he planted a "reasonable doubt" in the minds of Joe Blow Citizens randomly called to jury duty.
"25 Years Ago Today"
the 20-point Times New Roman headline screamed; "Justice for Baby Jason!"the readers wrote in. Some cases were more than 50 years cold. Most were never solved in spite of the Journal's efforts to remind citizens that "A loved one from us has gone; a voice we loved is stilled; a vacant place is in our hearts that never can be filled," and therefore someone should come forward no matter how long it's been. To bring "closure" to those left behind; to get those killers behind bars.
Junie culled details from the court proceedings against Baby Jason's mother. Already, readers were weighing in, all clamoring for Karen Pike's head on a spike. The whole town knew it was her. And it wasn't just Jason. Her firstborn, a girl, had died of "undetermined causes" at three days of age. What coroner thirty years ago just gave up finding the cause of death?
"Would you please take down that story,"
came a message in Junie's inbox. Charles Pike, the only surviving child of the baby-killer mother. Junie blinked in disbelief.
"Why would I do that?" she typed.
"Everyone just talks down and bad about my mother. And that's not gonna help in the way you want these stories to help. It just makes people mad at my mother. Thanks. Chaz."
Well of course they talk bad about her. She killed your little brother. Junie resisted the urge to send that thought.
"Every time this story gets posted everyone starts hating my mother again," Chaz wrote. "If she's so evil how am I the middle child still alive. Every five years you guys repeat the Baby Jason story. And I keep getting Messenger messages from people asking if it's any relation of mine. Pike isn't that common of a name."
So change your name, Junie thought.
The father, the inexplicably loyal husband, was a veteran of the U.S. Marines and had been overseas each time the two babies died. Was he as delusional as his son, incapable of believing a post-partum mother could kill her own baby?
"It takes me back to a dark place in my childhood that does need to be brought up at all," Chaz wrote.
Easy for him to say. Your mother is still above ground, and if these stories torment her, we'll never stop writing them.
"I totally feel for you Chaz and am sorry this news item causes so much pain," she finally typed. "Your mom was tried and acquitted, which means someone else could still be charged if new info surfaces. That's the purpose in keeping these cold cases alive in the minds of the public. Don't you want to find out who killed your baby brother?"
Of course he didn't. He knew. He knew deep down but was in denial. To protect his sanity, maybe. God knows his mother had no sanity or dignity to protect.
"Nothing good comes of your We Remember posts,"
Chaz persisted. "It just reminds me of so much. Like the guy that saw me riding my bike everyday after school and would say 'Heeey, nice to see your still alive, Chaz," and I had no clue what he meant till I was older. Makes me sick."
You're, not your.
Junie sighed. Next, bad guys who got away with murder would be writing in, begging her to stop saying they were Suspect Number One and their reputations were already smeared so let up now, you're embarrassing my grandkids.
Well, poor Chaz was innocent, a kindergartner when his baby brother was clubbed in the head, and she felt sorry for him, but there were people who'd gotten away with murder walking among them. They didn't deserve a free pass to stay out of jail. If the only punishment was a bad reputation and being the subject of gossip, let the gossips have their say.
And if she allowed herself to look at baby pictures and tiny little shoes, complete innocence, cuteness, and dependence on others to survive, she would be sick. How could anyone harm a child or an animal or any human being?
source
"Chaz, I'm sorry," she typed, "but the story is already laid out, people have already commented online, and the paper version is in production. I can't stop the presses. And I can't rewrite history."
"No, but you can reap what you sow," he replied.
To Be Continued
Your creepy and unexpected story is another nail biter, @carolkean. You sure have a way with twists and turns. I vote for the mom not to have done it. I hope you have registered at Amazon. Just try with your real self. The author's place is unlikely to be hooked in with the review place and at least you will know. You can use multiple pen names. I hope you will try, because you will be a hit.
Thank you so much @fitinfun!
I was still thinking of Kobo, but Amazon owns the lion's share of the reading market, and I need to get going. Three novels collecting dust. Short stories. And I hold back. Your support is most appreciated, and your inspiration. Thank you!
Don't worry! I will neg you until you get it going :) I think amazon is your best bet since that's where the crowds are and they have a robust program for shorts on kindle. Once you do the first, go for one a week and you will soon have passive income to retire on!
Sounds fun! Fit in Fun and Time for Writing! Thanks again for your encouragement. I need to go check out these Kindle shorts now. :)
Have you seen this Steemit post?
https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@publica/answering-crypto-investor-questions-what-are-pbl-and-book-tokens
"The US dollar right now is the most reliable and effective currency for global exchange, and cryptocurrency is ultimately out to take its job and do it better."
As prolific as you are, throw something in there and see what happens.
In all cases as you start anywhere:
So - put suspense in one place and romance in another for example. Try to create 6-12 related short that later can be bundled in 3/6/9/12 - for more $$$.
Nice article 👍👏
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Thank you!
Somehow you write a piece that is depressing and illuminating all in one.
"You reap what you sow." love that
Love too the little joke embedded in there: a fraction of a second after I thought "hm, she used the wrong "your"", you made it into a bit of the story.
You are soooo cool.
Aw, I love you @owasco!!!!
Every author needs readers like you!!!
Sadly, this story is taken straight from real life. "Chaz" is real. He asked me to pull down an Anniversary Post on his little brother's murder. And I did. I pulled down the post. (Power!) And continue to wonder if that was the right call. But I'm a cold case family member myself (my sister, 1975), and whenever someone asks me to remove some inflammatory or painful commentary from readers, I do. Because losing someone to murder is tough enough without hearing sh^t from the living especially if the comments will not help solve the case.... ugh. I never wanted to get involved in writing about cold cases or keeping them alive in the public's mind. Just, ugh! Thanks again for reading and commenting!
wow. This is why you are so deep, or maybe your depth has helped you cope. Like the last line of your story. It's-all-one stuff. Like I said, deep.
And interesting that you feel erasing something you did as using power. I guess going back and undoing might be the greatest power of all. Which gets into forgiveness and shit. More depth.
Oh, I didn't really erase much - just one post - but 42 "shares" and a dozen comments got erased too, which is why I reeeally hesitated to push that button. But the guy was right. People were going on about what a horrible piece of sh^t his mother is. And he reeeally didn't need that on the anniversary of his baby brother's murder. So I pulled the plug and drained the dirty bath water, although those comments are still in his mind like those bathtub rings, or ring around the collar.
Nobody will ever go to jail for that baby's murder because under the law, a person cannot be tried a second time for one crime (who made that law?), and nobody else killed that baby, so the mother lives, and the middle child - "the boy who lived" (like in Harry Potter, kinda-sorta) is the one trying to deflect the slings and arrows of character defamation in public forums.
I never wanted that kind of power.
To hurt others by publishing the "cold, hard facts."
Thanks again for reading and commenting @owasco! You always make my day.
Wow, that's a tough read, so sad. Some people are just crazy.
🚨"Do the Hustle" prompt with Uncle Bruni🚨
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-489-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-hustle
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Thanks for reading and commenting and delivering new prompts, @wonderwop, and OMG, how do you create all these gifs and graphics?? You're amazing. (Pole Dancing? LOL!)
It's an app. called MomentCam, it's so fun and you're welcome.
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Hi carolkean,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you!!! @curie you totally rock and make my day!!
I started reading these prompts a few days ago and it really amazes me all the talent steemit has. I'm starting my writing journey and always try to read good content -I'm not a native English speaker- so I can find new words to expand my not so vast wording thus any tips might come in handy. This is a great piece for reading and improvement. Cheers!
Thanks John, and know that you will find help and encouragement, not criticsm, at #freewritehouse. Building vocabulary is tough for native speakers - using words with the right syntax is harder still. I've given up arguing that it's "on purpose, by accident," not "on accident," and don't get me started on idioms - "change tact" is wrong; it's a sailing term, "change tack." This is from native English speakers! Often, non-native speakers are BETTER at correct usage. The list of offenses is so long, we English teachers just have to say "Well, language does evolve," and let it go. We are outnumbered. Write on @jonsnow1983!
When reading this, I just felt anxious and scared of and for Junie this entire time. I don’t think that’s the intended feeling for this but dammit I felt it nonetheless. This narrator: whether (Reflexive) History be judging Junie, a Grade A Stalker and Hacker, the Father in third person, the haunting spirits of the dead children (which wouldn’t make sense since they write the articles as well, supposedely at least) or so on and so on, this all feels freaky on that end. Especially when they (unindexed and unidentified narrator who reacts to the Junie family) go and nitpick grammar and constantly belittle and pin all blame to Junie as being a clear rational agent. Very freaky reflection of modern journalism that’s completely sensational (like Yellow Journalism) and there to spin half-truths or not the whole but big enough of the truth stories.
On the other end of the aisle is the factors that lead up to her birthings and clubbings of the children and the choice she ultimately made. (Now that sounds like a weird compatabilism type of outlook to “Free-Will” and “Determinism,” yet I follow more of the Carnædes philosophical line on fate.) In any a case, society at large hadn’t properly instructed her on committing to safe sex (or made it sound serious enough), had reinforced no communal ties which forced her into desperation, presumably we are dealing with a post-partum mother which already will develop some lines of depression and act more dysfunctional (which is very orderly and done by the mind+body to avoid a greater pain), the means of subsistence where probably piss-poor for her to not support the kids and yet she ultimately had the choice of suffering the great pains of being a mother in her society or, which may seem irrational but is very much rational in an unconscious sense, to keep one alive as to make herself feel a lesser pain of had killing the two others than to suffer the pain of killing all of them as to avoid a Réal pain of caring for all three and them dying one-by-one to her situation.
Which ever makes this feel real and horrific in my eyes: that we got individuals that develop dysfunctions such as that to avoid greater pains, which ultimately is rooted by the economy, culture and ideology of society; equally so that society will not do anything to prevent another Junie but rather find ways to punish “a Junie” harsher after “a Junie” had done the deed, the crime, the sin and the unforgivable acts. In all such cases, it forces those “another Junie” people to do it more quietly or more smartly, or even to just end the life-line there. Too much Horror in such a small post like this; highly reflective of our bland reality and why it is so miserable to stare at...
Thank you for the thoughtful comments, @theironfelix. You nail it here: society will not do anything to prevent another Junie but rather find ways to punish “a Junie” harsher after “a Junie” had done the deed, the crime, the sin and the unforgivable acts. In all such cases, it forces those “another Junie” people to do it more quietly or more smartly...
In real life, I do feel for the adult son who is weary of the news items about his mentally ill mother. I have been in the position of that journalist, but not at a newspaper (just a social media page). So many social issues are at play as we decide "all the news that's fit to print," and who needs to know the sordid details of some event in your small town. Sometimes the line between gossip and "news" is very thin. Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Welcome for the comment!~ ^^
I must equally note that this has been of recent (at the rise of Yellow Journalism) that society has acted this ill and only intensified with NeoLiberalism coming about. Nowadays, the contemporary challenge is to change the material conditions that have propagated such an arrival and to, at the same time, wave the new banner that shall challenge the current notions of society.
In any a case, thanks for displaying yer works~
Immediately I started reading your story, I knew these were true story. It's everywhere. I read on the news about babies found in dumpsite and other despicable places, luckily most times these children are still alive and rushed to the nearest hospital.
Also the first time I read about post partum depression, I was shocked things like that existed. A mother left her newborn at home and ran away. She came back after two years and that was when she narrated are ordeals. She said she hated her baby, she said whenever she cries she had this urge of strangling her. She said she would hit her and gag her.
And at a point, I guess she couldn't go through with killing her baby so instead she ran. I think there should be more platforms to create awareness about this. Even though some might actually be suffering from depression, some are just pure evil.
I really enjoyed the write up. Well, you know how to keep me hooked always😀
Thank you so much for the kind words and thoughtful comments!
Several women have been in the news for driving into a river with children in the car. One jumped out of the car and let her little ones drown. In two other cases, mother and children were rescued. It's horrific. We also had a young man released from a mental health facility but his parents were not notified, and the guy went off his meds and shot a high school coach in front of students. Dead. Why. Why. We have a young man who went off his meds and started using illegal drugs. He stabbed his ex-girlfriend 27 times in a grocery store parking lot as she walked out holding her little boy's hand. The boy ran. His mother of course died. The lawyers plead for "not guilty by reason of insanity," ask for retrials, waste taxpayer dollars. Ok, the guy is crazy. We can see that. Modern medicine failed him. His parents tried, but they couldn't save him. So, we should let him walk free as long as he takes his meds? To what extent is forgiveness possible, second chances, rehabilitation? So many questions, and no clear answers. Thanks again for reading and commenting @wems.
You were really on fire as to how you gave out your article. They were really on point and I enjoyed myself alot. The flow was in order. And lovely pictures too.
Your free writing was worth every second I spent on reading and reading all over again. Great work and keep the writing spirit up always
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Thank you so much!
You are humbly welcome
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Quite intriguing. Cold cases must be a reservoir of stories begging to be told.
In venezuela some conservative estimates put the percentage of unsolved cases around 95%
That's a lot of criminals walking among us.
Baby killers, ironically, tend to be caught "easily". They are usually desperate poor mothers who do not think they can provide for an additional mouth or just girls who do not want to run the best years of their lives.
I agree with you that facts outdo fictions sometimes and we don't need to fabricate anything. I know cases of girls who hid their pregnancies until the very moment they were deliverying their babies.
I can only imagine what a mother would think when she gets to the hospital because her precious child is allegedly having her apendix removed and finds out she is a grandmother.
I even have the most curious case in the family. One aunt-in-law delivered a baby when she was in her 50s. She had had a big belly for ten years then, part obesity, part family genes. She learned she had a baby when they checked her for an alleged stomach ache. She named her Milagros (miracle).
Milagros - healthy, I presume, despite a mother in her 50s who was unaware her "stomach ache" was a baby - what an amazing story! I met a woman who said she was kicked out of basic training for being seven months along and she had NO IDEA she was pregnant - even though she had a son at home and should have known - but this time she'd lost weight, not gained, and didn't have morning sickness or other symptoms that go with the territory. It blew my mind that in this day and age in America, a woman could fail to know she was carrying a baby at seven months along. I met her last year while donating blood. As a mother of three, I cannot even fathom not knowing there's a baby inside... but I also cannot imagine the despair that drives some mothers to kill their babies. Thanks for commenting, @hlezama, and sharing that anecdote!