by S E Brower
Faith’s IQ came back a whopping 168! She wasn’t just intelligent, she was gifted. Although Faith never knew the results of her older brother’s test, from that day forward, there was a palpable resentment that emanated not only from her brother, but from her mother as well. It was obvious to Faith, she had outscored him, and she didn’t need a 168 to figure it out.
A few months passed, and the military uprooted them as promised, whisking them away to Germany for two whole years, without incident. Faith loved Europe and had the good fortune to go on a few excursions. She was fond of France and would have stayed forever, if she could. But the military was fickle, and back they went once more to Ellsworth and the sparsely populated mid-west.
It was her senior year of high school, when the relocation orders came again. This time, they moved into a tiny house, not on the base, made even tinier by her maternal Grandmother, now living with them. Faith didn’t mind though, she loved her grandmother dearly, and they were very close.
However, this relocation found Faith an outsider in a cliquish suburban high school just outside Philadelphia. The other students didn’t like Faith’s peculiar mid-west slang, or her clothes. It didn’t bother her, though. She was smarter than they were and often used her cunning to gain the upper hand.
But even with her superior intellect, somehow to her utter amazement, Faith always found herself in detention. “Miss Archer,” was how it always began, “So glad you could join us. You are two minutes late, for the third time this week. You can continue straight to the Principal’s office. Thank you.” The urgency with which they tended everything here on the east coast would always confuse Faith. Everyone was in a hurry and well, she wasn’t, and she didn’t like being told what to do.
She was not the day’s only convict. Every time she was outside the Principal’s office waiting to serve her detention, she sat across from Harrison Barrett. Handsome and charming, he had a not so nice reputation, and his smart mouth and wild imagination often helped him into trouble.
Harrison got her laughing, an honest to goodness big belly laugh. No one had ever done that. She liked him, but that’s as far as it went. Harrison tried to persuade her to say yes to a date. Faith never did. She wasn’t interested because her life had too much to offer to waste it on handsome boys with funny pickup lines.
Her options were as many as the stars, and she intended to make use of them. Sometimes ignorance absolves you from the pressure to succeed. It is bliss they say. Faith however, liked knowing how smart she was, it wasn’t arrogance, it was confidence. She believed in herself. She believed she could conquer anything if she put it in her mind. You might even say, she had ‘Faith’.
Even before she had entered high school one of those options became available. At a young age, she learned to play piano, practicing many hours every day. Music was her passion. Her instructor raved about her talent, saying she would grow to be a concert pianist, if not a virtuoso, much to the delight of her mother. Which was precisely the reason she chose a different path.
Becoming a physicist, or any other manner of things would have proved not challenging enough. Going to med school and becoming a doctor was her dream. She loved music, and could have had a lucrative career, but it was her choice to use her mind to help others.
Faith’s life went according to plan. She attended medical school, graduating with highest honors. She had just received her doctorate, when she met and married a minister, and they had one child together, a son. At a young age, she enjoyed a thriving practice. But it was not too many years later when misfortune suddenly ended her life.
At least… that was her destiny. That was the life written, and pre-ordained for her. It didn’t happen that way. Not by a long shot.
The course of Faith’s destiny changed forever in the summer of 1961, the year she turned seven. On that summer day long ago, Faith’s mother and brothers were busy elsewhere when her father bounded into the living room. “How would you like to go swimming today?” he asked, his eyes sparkling. Faith clapped her hands squealing with delight. She didn’t know how to swim, but she was excited, and eager to learn.
“Where are we going, Daddy?”
“It’s a surprise, now go get your swimsuit on, time’s a wasting!” he called after her, “Faith, sweetheart, don’t forget to bring a towel.” While in the car, her father told her she had nothing to fear, and he would help her learn how to swim.
A public pool near the base granted access to them through the military, and when they arrived only two other people were there. A young man in his late twenties, average height, balding and overweight, sat in the shade near the fence. Another young girl around Faith’s age floated at the far side of the pool.
Faith and her father strolled towards them talking and laughing together. “You can swim for a little while, and when you’ve had enough, we will go get ice cream. Don’t tell your mother or brothers,” he winked at her.
“I won’t Daddy, I promise.”
The sun high in the big blue sky of South Dakota blazed away with not a cloud in sight. Faith, timid at first, found courage with her father beside her giving instructions, as she gained confidence. While the sun baked them from above, below the water made her shiver, cool and invigorating.
Faith’s father looked up noticing his superior officer outside the community center building looking his way, motioning to come join him. Placing Faith’s hands on the pool's edge, her father raised her little body out across the surface of the water.
He told her to hang on tight and kick. “Daddy must speak with someone,” he pointed straight ahead to the Chief Master Sergeant, near the brick building fifty yards away. “The water isn’t over your head, Faith. If you get tired, stand up. Okay?” She nodded that she understood. “I’ll just be a minute, you keep practicing your kicks. You are doing great!”
“I will, Daddy. You’ll be so proud of me.”
“I already am, Sweetheart,” and with that he disappeared around the side of the building.
Faith held on and kicked and kicked. Her beautiful golden curls pulled back into a ponytail, glistened in the sunlight from the splashing water. She giggled and kicked even harder, oblivious to the danger lurking close by. Unnoticed, the man by the fence observed Faith and her father in the pool. When Faith’s father stepped away, the man seized the opportunity to indulge in his own sick urges.
Shark like and silent, he advanced towards his prey. His intensions audacious in such a public place and in broad daylight, made him that much more aroused. Unaware of the predator behind her, Faith held onto the side of the pool, laughing, splashing and practicing her kicks. The man behind her stole one quick glance to be certain her father was not on his way back when he slithered in for the attack.
Reaching out, he grabbed on and yanked her hard by the ponytail, jerking her head backwards. She lost her grip on the pool’s edge, scraping her fingers on the rough surface. He slid his hand around covering her mouth, so she couldn’t scream.
Faith, panic-stricken, tried to get away but she couldn’t. He was too strong, and she couldn’t catch her breath. He slid his other hand up between her legs, pulling at her swimsuit. Faith didn’t understand what was happening. She only knew she was in pain, he was hurting her, and that she wanted her Daddy, she wanted to go home.
After the man raped her, he was the one to panic, realizing Faith’s father would return, and that she would tell him what happened. If his actions weren’t despicable enough, he then did the unthinkable. He tried to drown her. He grabbed her by the ponytail, once again forcing her head under the water. In wide eyed panic, Faith thrashed and turned trying to escape, but to no avail. After what seemed to Faith an eternity, he suddenly let go, and she came to the surface, choking, coughing and spewing water. Her father ran towards them shouting, “What is going on here?” he demanded.
The young girl from the other end of the pool, offered with as much indignation as a six-year-old could have, “That man was bothering her.” She pointe
d at the balding, twenty something. Interjecting, proclaiming his innocence, Faith’s attacker raised his hands backing away, “Hey man, I was only trying to help. She looked like she was drowning.”
Faith’s father reached into the pool. In one motion, he gathered Faith up into his arms, wrapping her in a towel. She was still coughing and crying. He held her, rocking her in his arms, “I’m so sorry, Sweetheart,” he whispered, “you will be okay. Daddy is here now.” His face turned ashen, his jaw set like a stone, as he looked up scanning the perimeter for the man in the pool, but he was nowhere in the vicinity.
When they returned home, Faith was in shock and still coughing up water. Her mother, being a nurse, insisted they took her to the infirmary. Her father did as she asked. Faith endured full triage and was later released. No one bothered to ask Faith what had happened, not that she understood it, anyway. Everyone assumed it was just a misfortunate accident.
But this was no accident. This man who had violated her, also attempted her murder. Those were the days before DNA and rape kits. Things like that were a part of life and swept under the carpet, or stashed away in a dark closet, never to be thought of again.
Faith buried the incident in the dark recesses of her mind, locked it in a closet, and threw away the key. It would be many years later when she would understand the magnitude of what happened to her that summer day. But even without understanding, or recalling the trauma, it colored her life with a dark veil just the same.
In the quiet of the night, after that terrible summer day, in a place beside Faith, yet just outside the reach of mere mortals, a pair of steely blue eyes wept.
Chapter 4
Harrison
After that wicked, hateful day, she was still Faith. The IQ test results remained the same for her, and her brother, along with the animosity, but her confidence plummeted. She became self-conscious, and shy around men. She kept memories of her time abroad in Germany and France, yet certain changes came for Faith, not all of them for the better.
Still passionate about music, she played piano, practicing long hours daily. One day while at a lesson, Faith pulled her music out of her folder, placing it on the piano. She sat down on the bench to practice her scales, while she waited for her instructor to come into the piano room.
Faith looked up at him when he walked towards her with a solemn face. “Faith, my dear,” he began, “I am sorry, but you will not be a concert pianist. While you play well, and practice, your hands are just too small.” Faith stared at him in shocked silence. “You could never reach the required keys necessary to play at that level.” The comment was flat and unfeeling.
Faith was crushed. Hot tears welled up in her eyes, as she gathered her music, throwing it back into the folder. Without saying goodbye, she hurried out the door to her mother, waiting for her parked outside. She cried the whole drive home, and through the night. Her mother said nothing. Someone had taken her possible career in music, just as someone had taken her innocence, with no choice.
Faith still landed at the close minded little high school in Pennsylvania, and she still found herself in detention, sitting opposite Harrison Barrett, whom she still refused to date. As she had grown into a teenager, she found herself increasingly afraid of men, bald men, but she didn’t quite know why.
It also terrified her to be near water, and try as she might, she could never get passed her fear. It was an endless source of ridicule for her. Adding to it, ponytails were all the rage, and she refused to wear her hair in the popular style. It made her nauseous.
While negative, nagging things dogged her, still she graduated high school. Ever since then, when something small amused her, she wistfully thought of one certain someone sitting across from her, with an uncanny ability to make her laugh.
Faith had the intellect but lacked the confidence for physics. The field was predominately male, as was that of a medical doctor and wasn’t an option. She did, however, end up following in her mother’s footsteps and enrolled in nursing school. That it was an all-female university swayed her decision. She did well. Faith was the youngest person to have ever received a nursing degree with honors, in the school’s history.
It wasn’t long after receiving her degree, she became engaged to James Smith, a minister. James Smith, how perfectly innocuous! While she wasn’t exactly in love with him, he made her feel safe. Safe was adequate, and in those days if you wanted children, you got married. Faith wanted children more than anything.
They planned their nuptials for the following spring. Faith was at an age when it appeared everyone was getting married. There seemed to be another wedding every other week.
The sky was overcast and bleak when the betrothed couple attended yet another wedding of a friend Faith met during nursing school. The ceremony concluded, the guests proceeded to the reception hall, adorned with all the usual wedding traditions of the time.
There were introductions and toasts, first dance as husband and wife, the father and daughter dance, the dollar dance, and even the chicken dance. It was a decorated hall, complete with a DJ, fancy fountain cake, and an open bar.
Being a minister, James did not approve of alcohol and went to get punch for the two of them, leaving Faith standing alone on the edge of the dance floor. She always felt nervous at these social events, made worse by the fact, she knew no one else there, besides her fiancé James and the bride. For Faith, it was hopelessly awkward.
She looked around the room, watching everyone laughing and enjoying themselves, as they moved around the dance floor to ‘Magic Carpet Ride’, by Steppenwolf. “Why can’t I have fun like that?” and then, “what is taking him so long?” she thought. Scanning the room for James, she felt ever more out of place.
The dancing couples parted long enough for her to glimpse the bar. Standing there, with his back to her, was none other than Harrison Barrett! Faith couldn’t believe her eyes. She would have recognized him anywhere. In all this time, she had never really stopped thinking about him.
Harrison had just gotten a drink, and turned around spotting her across the room, flashing a smile. Faith blushing crimson, with nowhere to hide, stood there frozen. Her mind was a mix of anxiety and exhilaration. She watched, as he wasted no time navigating the crowded dance floor towards her, and her pulse quickened.
With a 7&7 in his hand and a wicked grin on his face, twisting and turning to avoid bumping into the dancing couples, he arrived at her side without losing a drop of his drink.
By the time James returned with the punch, Faith and Harrison were deep in conversation, unaware of his presence. He arrived in time to hear Faith erupt into a deep belly laugh, at something Harrison had said. She felt alive for the first time in ages and loved the feeling.
When finally, she realized her fiancé was standing there, James was puzzled, and she did not understand why her face felt so hot when she introduced them. “This is my fiancé, James Smith. This is Harrison Barrett… we went to high school together,” she added hastily.
“I think she means, we did time together,” Harrison said, his eyes twinkling at Faith, mocking the shared secret of their shame. That twinkle reminded her so much of her dad, the only man she trusted. Until now, the only man she had ever loved.
She always thought about Harrison, even though their paths never crossed since high school, often regretting not giving him a chance. Now, here he was, and from that moment on, although he didn’t know it, Harrison had won her over.
Poor James asked what ‘did time together’ meant, when Harrison grabbed Faith by the hand dragging her out onto the dance floor, calling over his shoulder, “You don’t mind, right?” Not so much as giving James a second glance, or a chance to protest. Faith didn’t resist, she didn’t even complain. She danced and laughed with Harrison, almost forgetting about no fun, ‘safe’ James, sitting at their empty table, watching them.
Faith and Harrison were having a wonderful time, when the DJ put on a slow song. She hesitated, feeling a sudden rush of guilt, decide
d to head back to her seat. As she turned to leave, he took her hand. “Don’t go.” Faith stopped in her tracks, causing a collision with the couple behind her. Harrison laughed at the surprised look on her face. “Everything’s okay,” he said, pulling her close, “can I see you again? Say yes,” his eyes laughing. Faith stared at him in disbelief, extracting herself from his arms, yet not really wanting to.
“I’m engaged to James!” she protested, as she turned to make her way through the dance floor, back to where her fiancé was sitting.
“Well, un-engage him,” Harrison called behind her. He followed her to the table. Both flush from dancing or perhaps it was each other’s company. James informed her it was time to go. From his tone, she was sure he was angry, but she didn’t care.
The wedding was winding down, anyway and it was getting late. They hadn’t yet said their goodbyes when Faith went to get her coat, never having given Harrison an answer. But she had one. A resounding yes, was pounding in her heart. Only to be disappointed and saddened to learn when she returned, Harrison had left, without so much as a good-bye.
She looked around the room. Most everyone had gone, with only a handful of guests lingering. Harrison wasn't one. Faith was devastated. After all this time when he’d stolen her heart, to disappear just like that, left her heartbroken and numb. It was over, time to leave. James, ever the gentleman, opened the door for her, and the two stepped out into a full-on downpour of rain.
Even in his annoyance with her behavior, he was chivalrous, taking off his coat to shield her against the torrential onslaught. They parked the car they arrived in on the other side of the meadow, now full of mud and running water. James and Faith huddled under his coat, trying to decide if they should wait it out, or make a run for it when a small sports car pulled up in front.