The riddle answered.

Yesterday I mentioned the Diaryland chatroom. This is one of the best-kept secrets of the internet, mostly because it is only available to members of this site. That doesn't mean that someone can't make an account for the sole purpose of using that facility, and I'm sure there are those who do, but it's an inconvenience for just going to a chatroom, so the users are limited in number. That's fine with me. I discovered it when I first made my diary, but I was totally unversed in this form of internet interaction, and it repulsed me. It wasn't until eight months later or so that I started showing up regularly and quickly became a "regular".

The chatroom had a thriving population in those days (but I'm told by some that it was even better before that), and I loved being there late at night when the west coastees would show up and we would have lively discussions about anything under the sun. That was usually when the more "mature" members were there anyway, the "children" having gone to bed. There is no age limit to this place, the users range anywhere from 11 to almost 50 (that's me). I've occasionally met people my own age or older, but they do not come around much. I am the "matriarch" of the chat.

The kids who know me think I'm very cool. Consensus has it that they all wish their mothers were more like me. As a result, I hear a lot of things that their actual parents don't know, and I'm glad if I'm able to help in some small way. Almost two years ago I posted this diary entry. I'm sure some of you will remember it. It was powerful stuff. In the past two years I have often wondered how this poor girl made out, what became of her. I would see her from time to time in the chat, but not often, and we never discussed anything important, and then the chat has been broken more than it has been working in the past year anyway.

Since September 1 the chat has been operational again, and the girl in the entry, now 17, has been coming by pretty regularly. We were alone the other day and I asked her what had happened, if things had gotten better and how. She told me that the situation went from the horrible one that I reported in my entry to a non-issue. Her step-father had been hospitalized for psychotic behaviour. It turned out that one of the medications he was taking, for back pain apparently, was inducing psychosis and once he was prescribed something different, the symptoms stopped. Upon returning home, he barely remembered anything at all about the past year. He didn't even remember that he and the girl's mother had been married, so they had a repeat marriage ceremony for his benefit.

As for his treatment of the girl, he recollected nothing. He had been told that he had been particularly hard on her, not how though, and he apologized. He hasn't touched her since. He still drinks, and about once a month his anger flares up, but he is no longer violent. The mother loves him, so the girl has decided not to "enlighten" anyone as to what really happened during that period. She has made peace with her past, and is forging ahead, trying to finish school, and get on with life. I have to admire that courageousness in the face of what she's been through, especially for one so young.

So, there was a resolution of sorts to that story. I was glad to hear it, and I told her so. She will never forgive her step-father for what he did to her, but then she says that if it hadn't happened, she would not be the person she is today. At 17, I don't think I would have been so mature.

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