One day when my mom and dad were drinking they were drunk for two days. I was only 12 years old then and the youngest one in the family. I also had an older brother and sister, but they were gone and I was home alone.

While they were drinking my dad started talking about something that made him mad. Then he started to beat my mom. He beat her so hard I could hear it from my room. They were loud and my mom was crying and trying to ask him why he was beating on her. I went out to try and stop him but he wouldn't stop. I wanted to call my older brother but he was out with his girlfriend, and my older sister was on a trip with her classmates. I just was too small to stop him.

He beat my mother for more then ten minutes and when it stopped there was a lot of blood on the floor. My mom had a big cut on her forehead and she had a nose bleed and her face was black and blue. Just then my older brother came in and asked what was going on? I told him that dad beat on mom for nothing. He asked dad why he had done that and dad started crying and told him that he was sorry and he wouldn't do it anymore. My mom was still crying and I went to get a wet cloth from the bathroom and put it on her nose to stop the bleeding.

After things quieted down, my mom said that it was not the first time it had happened, and that before we were born he had beat her twice as bad. She said that he had broken her ribs and her nose. When she got up from the floor and sat down at the table my older brother was still mad and wanted to fight my dad. But then his girlfriend held him back. My brother tried punching him but he missed and tried again. Then he hit him right on the nose and my dad fell down on the floor. He looked at him and asked what he did that for, and he told him it was "for my mother your wife!" My dad got up and said, "Son you're right, thank you for that." And he went into the living room and sat down on the couch.

When my mom and dad were sober again and everything was okay, they said, "No more drinks for us!" And, believe it or not, neither of them ever drank again!

John Tikiun