A Legacy of Abuse
Reporting my brother to Child Protective Services was the first step in ending a decades-long cycle
Content Warning: Graphic depictions of sexual and physical abuse.
1. A Deathbed Confession, 1997
Mom unburdens herself only weeks before she dies. She tells me about Mike’s* abuse against his children. Her revelations confirm what I’ve known since childhood: My brother Mike is dangerous. Mom tells me about the inexplicable holes in walls throughout Mike’s house, how he and his wife ignore the cries of their baby, and how roughly they handle their toddler. What frightens her the most, she confesses, is that when she dies there will be no one left to look after her grandbabies. She doesn’t ask me to replace her, but I can take a hint.
2. Home for the Holidays, 1999
“You fat pig!” Mike yells as he tries to lift his sweaty, four-year-old son from the shopping-cart-like metal basket at the front of the pedicab.
My nephew cries and grabs hold of the sides of the basket, refusing to budge. Mike yanks him once more, only this time a spoke catches my nephew’s bare thigh and punctures it.
Blood bubbles to the surface of my nephew’s stocky leg, then runs down it before…
