My friend Jeremy

A friend of mine, Jeremy, told me the greatest story this week.
I met him for the first time on Tuesday and we connected from the start.
Turns out that he had a very troubled childhood.
For the first 9 and a half years of his life, he never was able to go outside.
His family lived in a small apartment in Chicago on the 15th floor.
This was a time when Chicago was in even worst shape than it is now.
Going outside of the apartment was a risk that could cost your life.

His father who was very controlling and abusive, demanded that Jeremy stay in his room (a former walk in closet)
There were no windows and the only light was from an artificial source, but it was bright enough for his needs.
His dad demanded that Jeremy stay in his room at all times with the door shut.
The only access to the outside was by Jeremy’s dad, who would go to work everyday.
He would explain to Jeremy everything that he needed to know about the outside world in terms that he could understand.
Overall the tone was negative but there were some explanations of the sun or sky, but even those were explained to be harmful in case of too much exposure, so the overall explanation was that the closet was the safest environment.

Jeremy could only be fed at times deemed appropriate by his dad, which were most of the times pretty standard, 7am, 12pm, and 5pm.
But sometimes his dad would give him extra or starve him a little, just to drive the point home, that all food came from him.
He would give him a few broken toy cars to play with and some cassette tapes (that his dad deemed appropriate) to enjoy sometimes, but his dad was always reiterating his authority over Jeremy.
Jeremy was never to question it or it may mean that he has to go outside (and his dad had told him the risk of doing that)
So, easy enough to say, Jeremy never did question it and seemed for the most part satisfied living in an old walk-in closet.

I know this is probably making you sad or angry but you have to understand that this is the only thing that Jeremy’s father ever knew.
It was the same lifestyle that his dad gave to him. It may seem like abuse to you but know that Jeremy doesn’t remember it being abusive, never any sexual abuse or verbal abuse, it was actually a pretty safe environment that his dad set up for him.
It was very consistent and safe. And as long as Jeremy didn’t question it, he was able to enjoy it and get fed.

As I said, this lasted for almost 10 years before something terrible happened.
Jeremy’s father, would leave about 8am everyday to go work at a local garage.
He would come home and feed Jeremy at lunch then head back out.
He would be home by 5pm.
He was very prompt about his times and found much joy in being on time.
But this time he didn’t come home.
Jeremy knew something was wrong, when even 5 minutes had past, and he didn’t see his dad.

Jeremy didn’t know what to do.
He knew that this required him to leave his room and venture outside, but this put him in a very special situation.
He had never been outside and didn’t know how to get there.
And what would happen if he went outside and his dad found him there? This would cost his life!
So Jeremy made the safest choice and stayed in his closet, hoping that his dad was just running late.

So he stayed in the closet for a few hours.
Hours turned into days, and days turned into a week.
A week with no food and just a little kool-aid from a moldy cup.

Jeremy was distraught, realizing that his father would never come home.
He had no choice but to go outside to find food.
His hunger had lead to him breaking all the rules to find food and freedom.
He walked out of the room and made his way to the outside.

Needless to say, Jeremy was overwhelmed with the outside.
His initial journey to find his dad, was sidetracked by his enjoyment in the sun.
Turns out the outside was really not that bad.
Jeremy actually lived across the street from a newly developed park.
He spent the entire day on the slides, and the swings, or just laying in the grass.
The sun felt so good.
He found himself so lost in the enjoyment, that he forgot about his hunger….and his dad.

Well to make a long story short, Jeremy eventually found a foster family that lived in the same apartment building.
They took good care of him and allowed him to play outside anytime he wanted.
Soon after Jeremy made a recovery, he made the decision to find and help others who were living in closets.

But the problem was that they were so hard to find.
You didn’t know who they were unless you broke into homes.
The only way you could access them is to talk to dads.
And of course dads were not going to tell!
He tried to yell in the streets about the freedom of being outside, but people didn’t want to listen.
They threw cans at him and told him to shut up.
They wanted to enjoy their life indoors and be left alone, after all that is where it was secure.

Jeremy decided that all he could do is just continue to enjoy the outside.
So he did, he rolled in the grass and laughed.
Slid down the slides and hung on the monkey bars.
It was fun to see the people that he met on the playground.
They were attracted to his joy and wanted to play with him.
One of his best friends were Cynthia who liked to play in the flowers, she was a real hippie.
He also met a friend Ben, who liked to play with face paint.
Danny, just sat in the grass and stared in the sun.
Cathy drove a VW and would bring everybody bread.
Doris liked to play in the street with balls and roller skate.
Steve was always playing with electronics.
Phillip talked to others and tried to figure them out.
Merry (a foreign exchange student from Africa) spoke afrikans and no one could understand her.
Barbara would bring band aids in case kids fell off the slide.
Janis would just give all the dads a hard time.
Andy was just glad to be outside.
Lauren and Hayley sang.
Wendy and Lisa took everybody’s money and helped people who needed help.
Hannah spoke to all the hispanic kids.
Roxanna started a rock band.
Frank fixed the bicycles.
Pat prayed for all the kids.
Tom told everybody to get back inside.
Kevin ate the bark.

Well that was almost 30 years ago and Jeremy is doing fine now.
He has a wife and 5 kids, all whom enjoy the outside more than Jeremy.

Kevin

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