I watched
Dr. Phil yesterday. I’m not recommending it. My
mind rebels when I see how some people treat each other. Yesterday
he talked to people who say Bill Cosby drugged and raped them. I don't want to believe it, but I think it's
true. The man who made me laugh as a
child is a sociopath. He got away with
criminal behavior for decades.
Tom went
out with my friend in college. He asked
me out after they quit dating. I asked
if she minded. She said, "Uh,
well..." "I don't need to go
out with him. I'll just say
'no'." "It's okay." "No, really..." "It's fine. Go out with him."
So I went
out, but I told him I had a lot of homework and needed to be home by
10:00. He was handsome and
charming. He had lots of money and
spent close to $300 on dinner.
Considering this was back in the 80s, that really was a lot of money.
I enjoyed
the evening. Let's do it again -- but
he pulled up to his house instead of mine.
Touch, grab, slap, "Take me home!" "Do you realize how much I spent on you tonight?!" "I'm not a prostitute!" Wrestling match, aided on my side by his
seat belt. I escaped and slammed the
car door -- as luck would have it, on his hand. The door mechanism went around the bone in the back of his hand
and effectively immobilized him.
Through
his open sunroof I could hear him yelling, screaming, and threatening for a few
blocks as I raged through the worst section of town in 4" heels and my
best dress. A group of very rough men
stood outside a bar and watched me storm past.
An older man stifled a smirk and I almost smiled in return. Ah, sometimes I miss my younger self.
I told my
friend about my misadventure and she said, "Yeah, he did that to me
too." What??!!! "How could you let me go out with
him?" "We--elll, I didn't think
he'd do it to you too." Thanks one
hell of a lot.
Tom was
at a party a couple months later with an industrial-looking sling. Mutual friends told me he'd had to have
surgery on his hand. No regrets on my
end. He confronted me and I said if he
didn't vamoose I'd tell everyone exactly how his hand got damaged. Maybe someone would like to damage your left
hand too? I spoke loudly enough to kill
his social life. I'm not absolutely
sure, but I heard he got beat up that night.
Tom was
handsome, smart, charming, and wealthy.
Why did he think he could buy me, and failing that, rape me? I'm thankful I got away. I wish Bill Cosby's victims had gotten away
too. Sadly, I believe them. There are villains in the world. Sometimes the villains are handsome,
charming, wealthy, and famous. I wish
the victims had felt safe enough to speak up sooner so there would be fewer
women hurt.
