Washington DV Press

Excerpt:

http://www.myspace.com/tragicj

We moved to Klickitat County to raise our family and get over the pain of losing my Wife’s daughter to what she had convinced us was an unjust evaluation in California. My parents allowed us to move onto a small farm they had purchased two miles from where they had decided to retire, in the rolling hills of oak and pine high above the columbia River Gorge. Before we knew it we were expecting another child, a year and a day after Dante was born, I witness the birth of my third boy Aramis, lil Claude named after his GreatGrandFather, Grandfather and his Uncle, my Brother. I found work in the construction field and our little farm of chickens, ducks and pigs prospered. It was not until Shelly, my wife began her at home carreer and our business Fairyworks Web site Design. The business began to be a compulsion,She had became Eve Shelly Dowen Johnson aka Fairyworks, and the home and boys began to be neglected. Her moods swung like Jose Conseco on steriods. She did seek treatment for depression but the Efflexor mixed with whiskey changed the woman I married, and our worlds began to seperate. It was not until late winter of 2006, that I realized something was terribly wrong. A kitten had gotten out of the nest and was mewing for its mom, in the living room. I was exhusted and had been sleeping until Eve had waken me at about 3:am when she finally stopped work at the computer and went to lay down with the boys. I was on the couch cause my snoring had kept her awake the night before, and I often liked to sleep near the fireplace to ensure the saftey of the home. The Mewing Kitten was loud, so I called to my loving wife who had just left minutes earlier if she could “please do something about her Kitten?” She heavily marched into the living room, placed her foot on the kittens head and pulled its hind legs till I heard a loud crack, she then threw the still alive Kitten over my head and out the crack in the window to the frozen snowy driveway.

Turned to me with jet black eyes said “I will deal with the rest Tomorrow”. I left early for work the next morning, placing the frozen kitten in the trash so my boys wouldn’t see it; and felt sick to my stomach all day. Apon returning to home, I was greeted by my boys who always greeted me at the door with smile and hugs. But what Dante then 4 years old, told me mortified my heart, “Daddy, we did just like YOU told us to. we picked out one and put the rest of the kittens in the freezer”. My love for that woman stopped when I heard those boys tell the story. Her plans to alienate me from my parents had aready started, I was living in Denial and should have addressed what I knew was her illness, but I blamed myself and went deep into depression. I should have questioned the energy drinks she constantly poured down me, I had been sober since early that spring.Yet thought I was losing my mind, her reality and mine were totally different.

Read the rest here:

http://www.myspace.com/tragicj