Written by Dennis Harvell
The Child Who Watched Everything
“…because I was kept inside and denied friends, I became an expert in the atmosphere of those four walls. I learned to read danger the way other children learned to read books. I could sense my stepfather’s mood long before he entered a room. I knew the difference between a step that meant he was just passing through and a step that meant the steel bar was about to hit the floor.”
“…I tried to make myself invisible. I tried to breathe quietly, move quietly, exist quietly — anything to avoid being noticed. But in that apartment, invisibility was impossible. No matter how small I made myself, I was always seen, always blamed, always punished for something.”
“…I wasn’t just surviving him — I was studying him.”
Excerpt from my memoir: The Hand I Refused To Play, Chapter 5 “The Rules of the Cage
