June Tabor who,…" />

June Tabor who,…">It is the rare artist who, having attained a level of respect among her peers, begins to collect the rarest of treasures: songs written just for her to sing. So it was with June Tabor who,…

Sunday Covers: June Tabor Covers Elvis Costello

June Tabor has recorded and performed with The Oyster Band for years. One of my favorite songs she does was written by their Ian Telfer. It brings an exile’s lament to our own Chicago shores….

Sunday Covers: June Tabor sings Ian Telfer

On 1994’s Against the Stream, June Tabor covered Pavanne, a song written by Richard Thompson and recorded by Richard and Linda for 1978’s First Light. It is a song that can only be sung by…

Sunday Covers: June Tabor sings Richard Thompson

Earth, Wind & Fire introduced the soul of soul and the funk of funk to a lot of people, including me. Because they were such a huge pop success, they are often overlooked when discussion of…

Welcome Back Funky Friday: Kalimba Story

U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant T-Bo Twiggs was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder related to combat, entered into a treatment of therapy and medications, and was sent back…

This Ain’t Hollywood

N&O reported today that jury selection began this afternoon for the trial of Lynn Paddock, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of her adopted son Sean, 4. The paper had earlier…" />

N&O reported today that jury selection began this afternoon for the trial of Lynn Paddock, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of her adopted son Sean, 4. The paper had earlier…">The N&O reported today that jury selection began this afternoon for the trial of Lynn Paddock, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of her adopted son Sean, 4. The paper had earlier…

“You learn to just stand there and take it.”

“You learn to just stand there and take it.”

The N&O reported today that jury selection began this afternoon for the trial of Lynn Paddock, who is accused of first-degree murder in the death of her adopted son Sean, 4. The paper had earlier reported on the testimony of Paddock’s stepdaughter, Jessy, before a North Carolina Superior Court; testimony that should have chilled me. Should have upset me. Should have made me angry enough to start throwing things. But it didn’t.

"She’d just keep hitting you until you quit crying," Jessy said. "You learned to just stand there and take it.". . . .For more than two hours, Jessy Paddock described an angry mother who grew more and more out of control as her family welcomed more adopted children into its home.

I didn’t get upset. Not even reading about children forced to sit in their own urine for hours. Not even when Jessy got to the forced captivity, which I knew she would. 

To keep Sean and another daughter, Kayla, from wandering at night, Lynn Paddock wrapped them in blankets and cordoned their bound bodies between beds and shelves of books. Sometimes, duct tape would cover their mouths.

I knew Jessy would get there. I didn’t know this in the dread-building-up way of horror movies, when the creepy music builds in crescendos and the blonde puts her trembling hand upon the door she just. shouldn’t. open. Not in the inevitable, end-of-the-road feeling you have when you’re coming home from work and you finally turn off onto your own street.

No, it was just a bone-deep instinct, like knowing how to put one foot in front of the other. Like taking your next breath. This is what happens when children are abused, and I know this because I was too. Nobody starved me for four days. But I was locked in a closet and I was left in my own urine.

Another time. Maybe after the trial. It’s hard to talk, but harder to remain silent. Not if Jessy can speak.

tags: jessy paddock, lynn paddock, sean paddock, raleigh, north carolina, raleigh news and observer, child abuse