Chapter Sixteen — EDDIE
It was years after the fact that I found out about Eddie. An investigator looking into Marvin’s past interviewed me, and in the process of that interview, told me about the 8 year old boy. The story nearly mirrored Ben’s, but had a different ending. Once again, Marvin tried the adoption process. He used his computer to view photos and profiles of many candidates. He cruised electronically, searching posted information and imagining possibilities. He looked for what he had with Ben: a boy with emotional disabilities that would make a prospective couple look elsewhere, and that made adoption by a single male more feasible.
His brazen schemes were more refined, more cunning. Marvin found a way to make himself sound reasonable, at least in a computer print-out. He developed patterns of behavior from sifting through his past. He found what hadn’t worked, and threw those ideas out. He looked at the things that had worked, and honed his skills using those techniques.
He developed plans for his future entertainment, for a future filled with Bens and Pennys and multiple seductions and molestations. The hunt was more protected when done with a computer, but the thrill of the chase wasn’t satisfied electronically. The computer was fine for a search, but he needed live people for his active seduction. He needed a child from another state so it would be highly unlikely that his past would come to bear. Ben had to remain undiscovered if Marvin was to adopt again.
He hoped all information regarding his documented past would slip through the cracks in the system. There were no trials, no time in prison, no court decisions that went against him. All that showed in written record was the “bit of bother with that bitch Penny and her two brats.” The charges had been dropped in that case, but Marvin did not want anyone to connect events in his past with his plans for here and now. So when his computer search found Eddie, Marvin set his evil sights on him. He would replace Ben with Eddie.
Eddie was an 8 year old boy with documented behavior problems. He lived in a foster home in another state. Eight years old was good for Marvin. A little boy that age was easier to convince and to control; easier to manipulate and bend to his private pleasure. Marvin was certain he could handle an 8 year old. He was more confident now of manipulating both the adoptive system and the courts. It had worked before, he thought, and he had learned a lot since then.
The adoption agency did not learn of Ben. They told Marvin they would give him Eddie for a trial period, but first wanted them to spend just one night together as a test of compatibility, and of Marvin’s ability to handle a hyperactive child. Eddie’s hyperactivity was equally as bad as Ben’s had been, but the child was well controlled on medication. Marvin saw no problem there. Eddie was beside himself with excitement. The thought of someone wanting to adopt him filled his heart with hope. As they drove away, he waved goodbye to the other children, aware that he was one of the lucky ones. Then he turned his attention to Marvin, who told him of the fun they would have at an amusement park, and at supper, and getting to know each other when they spent the night together. Marvin said they could eat anywhere that Eddie wanted. The little boy’s mind was filled with dreams, and he grinned from ear to ear.
When they reached the theme park, Eddie leapt out and raced to the entrance. It was a paradise, something he had imagined but never thought he would see. He spent the day taking it all in; the rides, the games, the food. Finally his senses were on overload, and he was exhausted. Marvin insisted on one more indulgence. They stopped on the way to the hotel for ice cream. It was another first in a day of firsts. Eddie had his fill of ice cream. That day was a dream come true. His fill of ice cream! Imagine!
With a belly full of ice cream and a mind filled with wonder, Eddie arrived at the hotel. Marvin showered while Eddie watched television, then told Eddie to shower as well. Marvin, covered with just a towel, watched Eddie closely as the boy disrobed. He watched just as closely as Eddie dried himself and started to put on pajamas. Marvin took off his towel, climbed into the bed naked, and told Eddie that it was so much more comfortable to sleep “in the raw.” Marvin patted the place beside him and smiled. “Come on, Eddie. We’ll need a good night’s sleep before tomorrow’s fun.”
The hours that followed were worse than any nightmare Eddie had known or imagined. He found the Boogey Man really did exist. Each time in the past he had dreamt of him, the Boogey Man was gone when he woke up in the morning. This time he was here to stay, and he wanted to keep Eddie forever.
Eddie went berserk. He flew out from under the covers, shaking and crying. He tried to cover his nakedness with one hand, pointed the other at Marvin and cried, “Take me back. Take me back right now.” This 8 year old turned his back on a dream he had held since he could remember. He rejected the dream of a place of his own, and demanded that Marvin take him back to the foster home. His screaming was so loud that Marvin had no choice.
On the trip back, Marvin had to figure out an excuse for bringing the boy back in the early morning. He decided on the story that Eddie’s hyperactivity had gone out of control and he was unable to control the child. Then Marvin turned his full attention on the little boy crying in the back seat of the car. He couldn’t kill him, although that was within his limitations. People knew where the boy was and who he was with. He’d never get away with that. Marvin decided that he had to frighten Eddie so badly that the child would be afraid to tell.
During the entire length of the ride back to the foster home, he spat hurtful and scarring things to Eddie. He was relentless and cruel wanting to inflict these images onto Eddie’s psyche and his heart. This monster was far more frightening and cruel than any of the monsters that resided in Eddies worst nightmares, as Marvin unleashed all his verbal ammunition in his arsenal on this 8 year old little boy. He told Eddie that no one would believe him. He said he would tell the people at the foster home that Eddie was a liar, and that no one would like him anymore. Marvin told this little boy that once the word got out about his lying, no one would want him. “You’ll never be adopted,” he said. “You will live, unwanted, in a foster home forever.”
When Marvin dropped Eddie off at the foster home he gave his explanation of being unable to control the boy’s hyperactivity, and drove away. And Eddie told. This little 8 year old depicting a mountain of courage, described Marvin’s attempt at molestation, and the staff believed him. As protocol required, they reported the incident to Child Protective Services. They in turn reported it to the police. After interviewing Eddie and investigating the circumstances, the police filed child molestation charges against Marvin. Somehow, Marvin got away unscathed.
Chapter Seventeen — JOSEPH
Sometime after Marvin and I were divorced, I married again, this time to a man with three young sons, ages 8, 10, and 12. The boys lived with their biological mother, but spent weekends, some holidays, and summer vacations with their father and with me. Motherhood is always hard. Instant step-mothering must be one of the most difficult jobs there is. Three months after my marriage, I received a call from Marvin telling me he had adopted a child, a 10 year old boy named Joseph. I hadn’t heard of this before, and was shocked. I knew of the charges in Penny’s case, but also knew the charges had been dropped. The authorities had approved Ben’s adoption, and nothing unusual had surfaced yet. There was nothing yet that a rational mind could capture, no concrete evidence of Marvin’s pedophilia. But my emotional self was beginning to over-ride my rational being. It wanted me to look beneath the surface and find what might be there.