Child of Rage1992

Doris:
[Doris is describing to Jill and Rob the circumstances under which she found Catherine and Eric] The house was filthy; there was garbage everywhere, the whole place stank of urine. I could hear the screaming all the way outside, it was Catherine at eighteen months old. She'd been tied to a table leg, she was lying in all the filth on the freezing kitchen floor wearing nothing more than a little sunsuit that was all caked with her own... [Doris notices Rob and Jill's distress] Anyway, I picked her up and tried to comfort her, but she went stiff in my arms and she would not stop screaming... I've seen some horrors! I walked through the whole house and [except for Eric] there was nobody else there. It had been the postman who'd called when he heard all the screaming.

Jill Tyler:
And Eric?

Doris:
He was lying in his crib. His diaper hadn't been changed in days, his skin was infected... there was a bottle of milk lying next to him except that the milk was so sour it had curdled. And there was this strange bulge [gestures over her forehead] to his head and I couldn't figure out what it was... until I picked him up and saw that the back of his head was flat. Apparently, he'd been lying like that for weeks.

Rob Tyler:
[Exasperated] Where were the parents?

Doris:
The mother was in the hospital. When I went to see her, she just stared. Never said a word. The nurses told me that she'd been beaten and that she'd refused treatment for pneumonia. They said they thought she wanted to die... and she did.

Rob Tyler:
What about the father?

Doris:
All I can tell you is that he would take off for days on end and leave the two babies with their thirteen-year-old sister.

Jill Tyler:
A sister? Do you think she'd speak to us?

Doris:
[Hesitates] Maybe.