Returning Injury by Becky Due Read Free Book Online

angry.Rebecca’s dad had two rules for his girls: graduate from high school and don’t have sex until after you graduate from high school. Rebecca was sure she could follow both rules, but she was never too sure about her older sister Lisa.
    Rebecca’s life revolved around her friends, fun and a little bit of trouble, while Lisa’s life revolved around boys, makeup, bras and panties, high-heeled shoes and designer clothing that they never could afford. Lisa was in love with a new boy, heartbroken and fighting with a friend every other week. Lisa shared her life’s dramas openly with their dad, whereas Rebecca kept everything to herself because she didn’t think she had much worth sharing. Rebecca laughed remembering when she got her period and how all her friends got together to teach her how to use a tampon. She was the late bloomer of the group.

    Rebecca would love to plan another get together with her old friends. Class reunions just never came often enough.
    The phone rang again. It was Jack’s mom calling to tell her that she had seen the same coyote special on TV. She said she believed that both of the attacks in the United States had been on children, and the Canadian woman had also been small.
    Rebecca became even more afraid of the coyotes.
    She thought about when Jack’s parents and Rebecca’s dad had helped them move into their country home. They claimed they came for moral support, but they really came to see the house. Jack’s mom had fun bossing around the movers, which was fine withRebecca. Their dads enjoyed looking over the utility room, hanging pictures and spending time outside in the country.
    When they found what was left of a freshly killed porcupine, they became aware of the coyotes in the area. Then when Lily joined their family, Rebecca’s dad was immediately uneasy. Jack and Rebecca wished that they had paid more attention to his concerns.
    Rebecca leaned over and kissed Lily’s head again, then reached for Angie’s packet to pick up where she had left off. She pulled out a sheet of paper with disturbing photographs of women in pornography. Below the four photos of women in bondage were four photos of the prisoners from the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The photos were the same: a woman being peed on and a prisoner being peed on; a woman lying on the cement floor tied up in bondage and blindfolded and a prisoner tied up and blindfolded in bondage; women naked in a pyramid and prisoners naked in a pyramid. Rebecca was disgusted, “I guess if you’re a woman you are supposed to like this kind of treatment, but not if you are a prisoner of war.”
    Lily sat up quickly startled by the sound of Rebecca’s voice. Rebecca pet Lily. “I’m sorry, honey. Mama’s just talking out loud.”
    At the bottom of the sheet it said, “There was such outrage about the prisoners. Where is the outrage for what is happening to our daughters?”
    “That is so true…” again Rebecca exclaimed, wondering how the women in pornography and prostitution felt after seeing the Iraqi prisoner photos. She wondered if they made the connection. Rebecca thought about the constitution and the first amendment.She was certain that the first amendment was never intended to protect people who wanted to hurt children and young women.
    Next Rebecca read Angie’s article, “Pornographic Material Needs Warning Label.”
    Pornographic material can be as destructive as cigarette smoking. The sale, distribution and use of it put everyone in danger, including men. This destructive pollution relies on men to make their industry billions of dollars. In exchange, the men are losing their families, becoming impotent and losing the sense of reality of women and how they want to be treated.
    The same way cigarette advertisements go after children, pornography goes after men. They start with the bait: Women.
    Some women who are forced and others who have such low self-worth feel their bodies are the only way to survive in this