Audrey Part VI

     If you are new or haven't been here for awhile, start with Audrey Part I.  

    For some reason, I had a really hard time with this because the details were hard to piece together.  I hope it's not too confusing. 

     

     I remember sitting with Audrey while she told me stories about her sister, Virginia.  Oh, how I wish that I would have known then that I was going to love to write.  I would have written everything down.

     Virginia was born about 6 years after Audrey. Audrey was really jealous of her.  Audrey was used to being the center of attention. That all changed when Virginia was born.  Audrey grew up thinking that Virginia was prettier than her and better than her.  I know at some point they grew to be good friends and that Audrey really loved Virginia.  But, I wonder if that jealousy didn't resurface.  There were more reasons to be jealous in their early adulthood. Virginia was able to have a child, Barbara, while Audrey suffered at least 3 miscarriages.

      Since Barbara was the only child in the family,  Audrey doted over her.  She talked about her like she was her own.  Barbara had her own room at Aunt Audrey's complete with books, toys and a little custom made tea table (I have some of  Barbara's books and the tea table.  They were gifts to Shelby.) It was almost as if Barbara was the daughter of Virginia and Audrey.

     Despite the fact that Barbara seem well-loved and cherished, she didn't grow up to be a stable adult.  Maybe that is because all the influences in her life were unstable. I mean, not fixing the plumbing in a beautiful house and choosing instead to pee in bottles and leave them laying around... kinda screams unstable to me.  The thing that Barbara had going for herself ... she thought she was beautiful.  But, even that seemed to be a curse.

      In many of the letters that Barbara had written  to Audrey, she was always talking about how beautiful she was and how men were always in love with her. Maybe that is why Barbara couldn't stay married.  During Barbara's first marriage, she became pregnant.   She had a boy and named him Russell.  And, according to Barbara, the doctor that delivered Russell kept telling Barbara how beautiful she was.  He was so consumed by her beauty that passion took over.   So, he raped her. Barbara's first husband would not claim Russell as his own.  Anyway, by the time he was born, she was already living with what would become husband number 2.

     Virginia, along with her husband John, lived a thousand miles from Audrey.  Barbara lived with them, or near them... who knows.   But, the distance was the reason Barbara was always writing letters to Audrey.  And, in one of those letters, the instability of the other adults in Barbara's life, was further confirmed.  

     Barbara had written to Audrey telling her that her mother, Virginia, was not sleeping in the the same bed with John.  And, since Barbara called him John, I am going to go out on a limb and say John was not Barbara's real dad.  The reason Virginia didn't sleep with John was because she didn't like being looked at when she was naked.  Apparently, she liked to be naked a lot, or often enough that Barbara reported that John was always peeking in through the keyhole trying to catch glimpses of a naked Virginia.  

     And, since Virginia was practically raising Russell, who at this point was 5 or so, she slept in a bed with him, naked.   At some point in time, Children's services got word of this and Russell was taken away.  When Virginia and Barbara appeared before a judge trying to get Russell back, the judge told them it was the worse case of child abuse he had ever heard.  Apparently it wasn't bad enough,  Russell went back to living with his mother and grandmother.  According to John, Virginia fought tooth and nail so the state wouldn't take Russell away again.

     In  the early spring of 1993, Virginia became sick.  She had been sick with something similar prior to this particular episode and the sickness prompted them to call 911.

     However, this time when she became ill, she would not seek medical attention.  Despite John's prompting, Virginia insisted she just had a cold.  As her symptoms grew worse, she refused to call 911 and Barbara would not allow John to call either.

     If 911 had been called, the authorities would have seen the deplorable and unsanitary living conditions of the house and Russell would be taken away again.  The house was full of animals and animal waste.  It smelled to the high heavens.   The kitchen was full of dirty dishes caked with old food and mold.  The refrigerator was full of spoiled meat and soured milk.  There were mice droppings all over the counters.  Trash was everywhere.  It was certainly no place for a child to live.  So, instead of seeking medical attention for her mother outside of calling 911, Barbara let her mom die.

     Virginia died on a Monday in April of 1993.  On Thursday of the same week, Virginia's body was still being held under the order of a medical examiner.  John watched as Russell was hauled off screaming and crying by Children's Services.  And, Barbara was placed under arrest and sent to jail.

     Barbara was sentenced to a trial by jury.  While awaiting trial, she wrote lots of letters to Audrey.  The letters were full of things that made me blush to read.

     I am going to stop here for a couple of days. So sorry!  I am having trouble piecing together some things.  My mom has all the letters so I am going to get them from her on Sunday.  I can't do it before because Paul is marrying some people on Saturday and my mom lives 45 minutes away.  So, I am going to get them on Sunday.  I would love to be able to share some of the letters... they are pretty nasty...I am going to have to see what I can do.  

    Thanks for reading and hanging around here with me!  I may try to right about some lighter things, things that don't take hours to write over the next couple of days.

    And, you lurkers out there... what do you think of this crazy story?  I know it sounds made up, but... I am not that creative.