Stolen Innocence (30 page)

Warren often went on school excursions with us. He was our principal and was highly respected, so posing with him for a photo was considered special.

Here my brother is walking toward the highway on the day that Dad ordered him out of the house. In his hand is his sign that read
DENVER
. My mom later told me that leaving him on the highway that day was one of the hardest things she ever had to do.

I was staying with my sisters at the prophet’s home in Hildale when I was invited to take a picture with the prophet Uncle Rulon. It was an incredible honor to have your picture taken with the prophet, and for years I cherished this photo.

When we were taken down to the Steed ranch, we were surrounded by our extended family and there were so many of us that we had to eat in shifts. Here my siblings and I stand with many of our cousins.

While we were at the Steed ranch, Dad and Mom were remarried. Here Dad and Mom are with Warren and Rulon in Rulon’s living room, where the ceremony was performed.

Even today, Alta Academy still looks like an ordinary house, but it’s a massive structure that stretches far away from the road. Abandoned and slated for demolition, it holds many memories from my younger years in Salt Lake.

One of Alta’s secret cubby holes where women and children could hide if there was an unexpected raid by authorities.

Cryptic writing scrawled inside a secret hiding spot in Alta. Though they were never substantiated, rumors often circulated that the crawl spaces, which had locks on the outside, were used to correct disobedient children and wives.

Though our lives in Salt Lake were never perfect, it was the only home I knew, and the only place I wanted to be.

When we arrived down in Short Creek, the landscape was quite different from what I was used to. At first I found the inescapable red rocks overpowering, but in time I grew to appreciate its beauty.

From the start, life at Uncle Fred’s was difficult with so many kids from different families thrown together. Suddenly I was surrounded by a large group of girls aged twelve to eighteen, and at times the cliques that formed could be vicious. Here is a large group of my stepsisters outside of Uncle Fred’s house. It was common for girls of the same family to make matching dresses, as seen here.

The move down to Uncle Fred’s was hard on all of us and it grew even more difficult after Fred married Mom. As a result, we all grew incredibly close, relying on each other to get us through the tough time.