Yasmine

Home: Survivors: For Teenagers: My body belongs to me

Yasmine was a pretty little thing. A little lady. A doll. That's what Uncle Richard said. He'd always said it and Mum and Dad had beamed. Good old Uncle Richard. He couldn't help spoiling her, he said. He was fond of Terry, of course, but Yasmine was his little princess. When she was small he had always made a fuss of her. He played endless games with her and bought her special presents. Pretty dolls for a pretty doll. That's what he had said. Uncle Richard had known Mum and Dad for years. They had all been at school together. The same school that Yasmine and Terry went to. Terry with his mates hanging around at break time, talking rugby. Terry so tall and strong for his age. Couldn't seem right that he was nearly sixteen. Yasmine watched him gliding around the concrete area with an easiness all the boys seemed to have. He pushed and jumped to get possession of the ball.

Yasmine had never played volley ball. But maybe she would now. She was thirteen and it was high time to grow up. This morning she had come to a very grown up decision. She didn't think of it that way. She was sure she was grown up anyway and had been for a long time. This decision was due to Uncle Richard.

Uncle Richard who had made her feel good when she was a little girl. Uncle Richard who came and looked after them when they were little when Mum and Dad went out. Uncle Richard who, one day, when she was just seven, stroked her leg and chest and told her that only grown up people did this. Uncle Richard who said what they did was special. Uncle Richard who now made her squirm by always saying what a big girl she was in front of people and Uncle Richard who, when they were alone, held her hand on his trousers and told her to rub him. She knew that if she didn't do something soon Uncle Richard was going to ask her to do a lot more. He had tried to get her to take her pants off last week so he could feel what a big girl she was. It was Monday night, when Mum and Dad went to play badminton. Uncle Richard knew that. Terry was at his mate's place. Uncle Richard had come in with a big box of chocolates. A ten dollar box. Yasmine smiled. She knew what she had to do. What Uncle Richard didn't know was that she had attended a special class on Saturday and Sunday. She had been to a Self-defence Course for Women. It wasn't long before Richard started again. Trying to trap her in the kitchen, trying to grab at her. Now she knew, because they had talked about it at the weekend, that it wasn't her fault. That Richard had no right to do these things and that he was using what had been a very special friendship in a way that Yasmine didn't want and had the right to stop. She had told him firmly to get his hands off. She refused the chocolates and told him to give them to his girlfriend, Shirley, whom he had lived with for five years. She asked him if Shirley knew what he felt about Yasmine.

Richard looked really shocked. He tried to say he was only doing these things because he liked her a lot. Yasmine smiled and told him she knew exactly why he was doing it. He left the house quite soon after. He hadn't tried to touch her and she hadn't seen him since. Today she stood in the playground and smiled again. She felt good. The big decision today was to tell her Mum and Dad about it. They had told her on the self-defence course what to say and what her parents might say back. But she was grown up, wasn't she, and she needed to tell them. She needed to tell them because she knew that Richard was friends with other people with young daughters. She needed to tell people because of that. She ran over to the volley ball players. She felt good, even though she knew it wasn't going to be easy.

"Here," she called to the circling boys. "Throw it to me. I want to learn to play." Without questioning, they threw it to her and watched as she joined in.

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Disclaimer Copyright Updated: 11 Jul 2003