ME & THE MOLESTER

He was a long time friend of my mother's family since before I was born. One who came north from Georgia with his wife & daughter during World War II. They were neighbors of my grandmother. Grandma was a fervid Pentecostal and so were they.

I didn't meet him until the late 1950's, then he was a widower and his daughter was grown and far away. His last name when spoken with a Georgia accent sounded exactly like Pharaoh. In fact I thought THAT was his actual name until I was around 10.

I first meet Mr. Pharaoh when I was 8. He was back in his native Georgia. We stopped to visit on our way home from Detroit. Unlike my previous trip to Michigan, this was a long car excursion with the entire family.

I found Georgia beautiful and Mr. Pharaoh pleasant, though our visit was brief.

I didn't see him again until the summer before my 12th Birthday. He came to visit and stayed in our guest house which had been vacant since my grandfather's death. This time, he seemed quite taken with me, downright fascinated you might say. He was just TOO interested! His attention made my flesh crawl.

For his entire visit he kept mentioning what a pretty young thing I was and he couldn't understand why I didn't have a boyfriend. Never mind that boys of that age were more interested in baseball & bug collections than in girls. And I was a child in a training bra! But I got the strong impression HE wanted to be my boyfriend! I found his attention unnatural and creepy.

Fortunately, one of my parents was always around. Thankfully, I was never forced to be alone with him!

When he wasn't talking about how fetching I was, he was quoting scripture verses at me. I've noticed that religion seems to be the perfect cover and disguise for lowlifes. 

 I was relieved when he left!

The next and final time I saw him I was at age 22. He was remarried. He and his new wife dropped by on their way to Miami. She was a woman his age with a nice nest egg. Pharaoh commented how much I resembled my Aunt Kiki, a professional model in the 1950's. He declared he was taking me back to Georgia. 

"No, I think not!" I told him with repulsion.  

On their return trip from Miami, they dropped by the house again. I was at work in West Palm Beach with my father; this enabled me to avoid seeing them. Mr. Pharaoh and his wife were considering taking a Bahamas cruise, later.

My mother mentioned that Dad & I had taken one together a few years earlier.

"Did he sleep with Dianne?" Pharaoh wanted to know.

Horrified by this question, my mother at first gasped, "NO!" she shouted into his face.

Mom told me of this in private, later. My father was nothing like that! It was an insult to the entire family!

"You should have kicked him off the property," I said with disgust, "and forbade him ever to return!"

"He apologized immediately when he saw my reaction," she explained.

"That doesn't matter," I insisted, "just for thinking it, you should have given him the boot!"

"It did jog my memory, Mom confessed."He was accused of molesting his own daughter. It happened long ago in Detroit when his first wife was in the hospital. The girl recanted because everyone told her to stop making up stories, her father would go to prison. And it would be her fault! Now, I believe he actually did it!"

"So do I! It doesn't surprise me a bit!" I exclaimed.

The deepest place in Hell is the most vast of all, reserved for a variety of sins, not just one! Forgiveness should be granted only those who are sincerely sorry. Not those who express regret only when caught.