Forgive Me by Kateri Stanley (reading strategies book TXT) 📕

a chord with me personally.” Lorraine smiled warmly, tapping the book on her lap. “I noticed you dedicated your book to your auntie, Tricia Collins. Why not to your parents?”

“Aunt Tricia was a God send when my dad died. She helped my mom and I get our lives back together. Tric drove me to college, she helped mom put her clothes on in the morning when she didn’t want to get out of bed. She even had a couple of run-ins with the media who were camped outside the house.”

“She sounds like an amazing woman.”

“She was. She died six years ago from cancer.”

“I’m sorry to hear it. There’s something interesting about the way you write. It has a seriousness, sometimes I didn't feel I was reading a journalist’s work. To me, it was from behind the eyes of a private investigator.”

“You’re not the first person to mention this. It was investigating, just like a detective as you said. It’s helped me grieve.”

“What's made you go public with your story?”

“I'm not the only person who lost family. My partner lost his parents too.”

“Stripe’s partner is Isaac Payne, a computer engineer and CEO of artistic platform Virtisan. They met when Isaac contacted Stripe after reading one of her articles. Recently, his company went viral after Claudia Crow, a young aspiring actress showcased her talent on the website and from her internet fame, she managed to bag her first acting role. We approached him for comments but he declined. During the filming of this interview, he was standing quietly off camera with their lawyer,” the voice over said.

“We asked Isaac for comments but he said he had nothing to say,” Lorraine responded, then she laughed. “He said you can handle this on your own.”

“He’s right. I was trained for this type of work, Isaac’s not.” Stripe shrugged, smiling again, her eyes flicking to the side of the camera for a moment. “He’s not the type who wants to be in the limelight.”

“As you talked about your first love in the memoir, it wasn’t a man, but a girl,” Lorraine said. “Do you consider yourself to be bisexual?”

Stripe began to laugh, her cheeks throbbing red. She was staring off camera again, probably at her fiancé. “I used to, I tried dating girls when I was in college but it didn’t feel the same when I was with my-then girlfriend.”

Jace glanced at Zippo. “I guess being a lesbian was a phase for her,” she uttered.

“There’s a section in your book which peaked my interest about our love of entertainment in the crime and justice system. Do you think it’s something we’re all guilty of?” Lorraine asked.

Stripe pursed her lips pensively. “I wouldn’t say we’re guilty of it. As a society, we all seem to have a fascination with serial killers because it doesn’t touch our everyday working lives. Okay, think of a famous serial killer...”

“Richard Ramirez,” Lorraine replied. “The Night Stalker.”

“See? Our minds don’t immediately race to the victims he killed, it’s the murderer who has the spotlight. It doesn’t mean we aren’t sympathetic; our fascination is with the serial killer. There were groups of young women who turned up at Ted Bundy’s trials (and Richard’s) because there was something, they found entrancing about him. It was a horror movie playing in their own back yard. It didn’t make sense that this handsome, well-dressed man conducted such awful crimes. Realistically, these groupies would’ve been tools and prey to Ted.”

“I agree. I also noticed that you talked about the internet and it’s tactful relationship with crime, when fights and attacks are uploaded online.” Lorraine peered down, opening up the book and began to read from the page. “You said and I quote: If I was lying in the sidewalk with blood pouring from my head and someone passing by decided to film me, rather than calling an ambulance, that person is culpable. They are just as guilty as the person who shoved me down into the sidewalk in the first place.” Lorraine looked up, leaning forward with intrigue. “What made you write this?”

“It’s related to what I said before about our love of crime,” Stripe replied. “There were three people who were beaten and robbed in Los Angeles a couple of years back. It was filmed live and uploaded to Instagram. One of the victims was on the floor, their head cracked open like an egg and the person filming did nothing to help, they didn’t call the authorities, they just stood there, laughing, mocking the situation. The victim could’ve been dying. And in the end, the person filming didn’t get sent down or even fined. If you were being mugged and I was watching and recording you without calling nine-one-one, are you telling me you wouldn’t be angry?”

“I’d want you to help me.”

“Exactly. What frightens me about our generation now is when a fight breaks out, rather than help, people whip out their phones and publicize, as if the fight is some sort of entertainment. This goes back centuries and centuries when gladiators fought and killed each other to entertain the Roman citizens. It’s the same with those talent shows on the TV, they pick of group of individuals who can’t sing or dance and they broadcast it for our entertainment, to make them look foolish. I’m no angel, I’ve laughed at those individuals too, but it shows that we truly do have a fascination for violence, ridicule and evil. It’s something I want to teach my children to be mindful of.”

“But what if your kids want to audition for those types of shows?”

“If they do,” Stripe started, “there’s nothing I can do to stop them. It’s their choice, but I want them to think carefully, consider the pros and cons before they make a decision.”

“Again, I couldn’t agree more,” Lorraine smiled. “Is there any particular message you want to project to your readers?”

“Yes, I do,” Stripe replied. “You… can come back from anything. I hope my book offers some sort of closure for