One night some of my relatives and a couple of their buddies came into our house talking very loudly. I didn't know why they were there until I saw a bottle of alcohol. They poured it into their cups over and over and a little while later they were acting very weird. I was so frightened I went into my bedroom and hid. I got into bed and tried to fall asleep because I knew something bad was about to happen. I finally fell asleep but every hour I woke up because they were so loud and clumsy. Once I even heard a glass object hit the wall and shatter into pieces. They all laughed when it happened. I went out and asked them to be quiet but they just laughed at me.

An hour later I heard someone knocking on our door. Everyone quieted down and stopped what they were doing. One of them asked who it was. Then a young boy walked in and sat down on the couch near my bedroom door. It was Charlie, one of the drinker's young sons. A little while later he asked his father to go home because his mother wanted him to chop wood. Then I heard him crying because he was scared of their strange behavior. They all kept falling down when they tried to walk. I then heard someone stumbling towards my door. And all of a sudden Charlie started screaming in terror. When I went out to check on what was happening I saw Charlie's father, Quin, beating on him. I ran over to try and stop him but Quin was just too tough for me. He threw me off his shoulders and onto the floor. Then I ran over and tried to calm down Charlie who was in shock from his father's beating.

Right away I took Charlie back to his grandparent's house. They were both really mad at Quin for what he did. Charlie's face was really bruised. He had a big black eye and part of his lip was hanging off. His grandparents told me to call the police and tell them what Quin did to Charlie.

The next day the State Troopers came in from Bethel to investigate. They went to talk to Quin for a couple of hours, then they came over to my house and I told them my side of the story. The next day we all went over to the court building and they sentenced him to 30 years in prison with 5 years suspended.

After Charlie's recovery he felt very sorry for his dad. But he and his mother are now living more happily than ever before because they don't have to deal with his father's drinking and beating anymore.

Jonathan Boots