(What follows is the text from a children's book I wrote and illustrated after a computer repairman, who had been in my house three days before, was arrested for having molested his own small son and stepson. The man had done it long enough to have 30 gigabytes of video of his crimes which he planned to sell on the Web.
I was raped in prison (a man in Texas pulled a gun on me and I took it away from him and robbed him. I was wrong and paid for my crime.) and I couldn't stand the idea of those little boys having to suffer what still threatens to destroy me. I have nightmares. I still can't look a woman in the eye.
But I put myself in prison. Those little kids did nothing. It took that repairman being in my house to make child abuse real to me.
Before I had more or less ignored it along with everything else on the evening news. After that, I couldn't quit thinking about it, and I had to do something. What follows is my little something.
My name is M. W. Hardgrove. I illustrate children's books for a tiny publishing company. I've done The Ogre and The Angel as a book with color illustrations. I've sold a few and given away twice as many. I came up with a comic book version of the story that only has one color illustration which I'm more able to afford distributing for free. This page is the next step in my crusade to get this story to the children who need to learn the Ogre's lesson. I'm not worried about making money from it. I've seen this little story help children. They love it, and they learn from it. That does more to quieten my nightmares than all the money in the world ever would.
If you've read this far, please keep
reading. I'm sure you know a child who needs to know that he or she can always tell
somebody if they're being hurt. The computer repairman's children didn't know.)
THE OGRE AND THE ANGEL
Once not long ago on a mountain far away, A little angel called a little ogre out to play; The Ogre lived there in a cave, alone and in the dark, And when the Angel came to play, it blessed the Ogre's heart; That's why the Angel was surprised when she heard the Ogre yell, "I don't want to play today! I'm not feelin' very well!" The Angel flew down to the cave and called out once again, "If you won't come outside, is it all right if I come in?" "Oh,no!" the Ogre shouted and stepped back from the light; The Angel knew a thing or two, and she knew this wasn't right; She waved both hands,and, suddenly, the darkness left the cave, Because a special magic happened when the Angel waved; When she peeked inside and saw him, she thought she would cry; Her friend, the little Ogre, had a big, black eye! "I just fell down," the Ogre said. "Now make it dark again!" The Angel said, "You shouldn't tell a fib to your best friend." The Ogre turned away and said, "What makes ya think I'm fibbin'? I don't have wings like you do to keep my feet from trippin'!" "I only asked because I care," she said, "Don't get excited. If you had only fallen down, you wouldn't try to hide it." The Ogre said, "Okay, you win!" and gave his eye a rub; "I went down to Grumbletown, and the grumbles beat me up." The Angel turned and flew outside, and the Ogre came along; The Angel said, "It's just not right! In fact, it's very wrong. I think I'll have a talk with them and ask them to be nice!" The Ogre said, "Oh, no! Not that! You can't talk to these guys! If they find out I told you, they'll beat me twice as bad! Promise me you won't go down and make the grumbles mad!" "I promise," said the Angel as she flew toward Grumbletown; "Hey, wait!" the Ogre hollered as he followed on the ground... The grumbles down in Grumbletown were standing in a group, Outside their holes, around a pot, cooking Junebug soup; They didn't see the Ogre or the Angel coming near, Until the biggest one looked up and said, "Well, lookee here! That little ogre's back again, and he's brought some company! You watch old Wilbur whip him good, and save some soup for me!" Wilbur growled and threw a rock which barely missed the Ogre; "Angel!" cried the Ogre."Please! Let's not go any closer!" All the other grumbles laughed and called out Wilbur's name; The Angel said, "This isn't right, and you should be ashamed!" Wilbur threw a rock at her, and all the grumbles hollered; Then the Angel waved her hands, and Grumbletown got smaller... And smaller and smaller and smaller until, Even mean old Wilbur was no bigger than a pill! The Ogre looked down in surprise and heard the squeaky noises, That the itsy-bitsy grumbles made with all their tiny voices; "You don't have to be afraid," he said," of what I'll do, But remember to be nice to those who're not as big as you." The Ogre turned and walked away back up the mountainside, As what was left of Grumbletown ran away to hide; Back up on the mountaintop in his bright-as-daylight cave, The Ogre and the Angel sat and drank some lemonade; The Ogre asked the Angel, "Will they always be that size?" "Until they learn their lesson,"said the Angel,"and play nice." So the Angel helped the Ogre, and he was glad he let her; They laughed and played again, and pretty soon his eye got better; And the Ogre learned the lesson that it's never ever naughty, When anyone is hurting you, to go and tell somebody.
The End
Used with permission from M.W. Hardgrove in May 1998
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