They say my name is Jimmy.

They say my name is Jimmy. (G)


They tell me that my name is Jimmy. I don’t feel like a Jimmy. For as long as I can remember I have been Juan Rodriguez. They say that I was abducted when I was ten years old. My parents and I were at a carnival waiting to get on the Monkey coaster; my father was paying for tickets at the ticket booth. My younger sister was throwing a fit (At the time she was six.) And my mother was trying to get her under control when my father came back and asked, “where is Jimmy?” The security officer was an off duty policeman. He had closed down the area and called the local police. An investigation of my disappearance was immediately insinuated. That was ten years ago.

My parents Hector and Linda Martinez were at the center of the investigation. Of course the police checked out as many people including the staff at the carnival as they could. The police questioned all the friends, neighbors, relatives, my daycare, and schoolteachers to find out what kind of parents they were. By the time they were through with investigated them three months had gone by. In the end they were exonerated of all suspicion. But by the time they were done with my parents all of the leads were to cold or lost in the shuffle.

Pedro and Guadeloupe Rodriguez I believe are good people. They treated my two sisters Hanna now fifteen and Jeannie now sixteen and I well. Pedro always took the time to take me fishing, hunting and play ball. We worked side by side in the fields of Colorado, Kansas and California or wherever we could find crops to harvest. Guadeloupe taught Hanna and Jeannie to cook, sew and they also worked in the field at harvest time. We had the best birthdays and Christmas parties that a family of illegal immigrants could have. Pedro would work odd jobs working on cars, painting or whatever in order to buy us the shoes and clothing that we needed. Though we were poor, we did not want for anything. At least we did not know any better. Pedro never spanked us, no matter what kind of trouble we got into. They taught us to respect our elders. We were a family. At least we thought.

When I think back, I can never remember Guadeloupe ever being pregnant. All I know is that I have two beautiful sisters. And I love them. After all they are the only family I really feel I have. So when the courts had DNA test done it was no surprise that Hanna and Jeannie were not the daughters of Pedro or Guadeloupe. However they are truly sisters. The authorities have not been able to find who their parents are and I have been awarded custody of them. You might think that a nineteen year old especially in my circumstances is very young to take care of two teenage girls but I speak perfect English and I am a great auto mechanic. I make $60,000 dollars a year. Dr. Smith told the court that I was mature enough to take care of them and it would be less traumatic for us.

It has been traumatic for us. I do not remember a single detail about the abduction or anytime before that. I just remember being with the Rodriguez’s. Although I have very fond memories of those days I am also angry with them. How could they have done this to my sisters and I? They have ripped our hearts in two. Dr. Smith has been wonderful to the three of us. We each see her one-day a weak. She says that in time I will remember and that I will have to forgive the Rodriguez’s. I may forgive the Rodriguez’s but as for remembering I would rather look to the future. The past is the past. What good would it do to remember? In my heart I know she is right but for now I will look to the future. After all I have Hanna and Jeannie to take care of.

As for Hanna, she is day to day. Most nights she comes into my bedroom and we cry ourselves to sleep. I do not cry for myself, I cry for her. I can see and identify with the pain she is in. She is not the vivacious playful girl that I once knew. She is more serious these days. I hope one day I can see the little girl that I used to pin on the ground and tickle or chase around the camper trailer that we lived in. Dr. Smith tells me she is improving and I agree. She smiles more often and once in a while she will laugh.

Dr. Smith and I are a little more concerned with Jeannie. In the most part she has not changed. Where she has changed is she must know where I am at, at all times. If I am late and don’t call home she gets hysterical. After school she will come to the shop where I work and do her homework, help me out with the cars, or just plain hang around. If I go anywhere she insist that she come along. Most times when we are at home if I leave the room she will silently pickup what ever she is doing and follow me. She is not clingy; she is more like a shadow. I got her a cell phone where she can call me anytime she likes. Even during school hours she will call at least once an hour. God forbid if I am out of cell range. Trust me, I am not complaining. Dr. Smith warned me of the potential behavioral problems that the girls and myself may experience like rebellion, promiscuous sex, and isolation. So given the alternatives this is no burden at all.

Both Hanna and Jeannie are in special classes. We did not attend any kind of formal school. At the camps Nuns and or Christian groups would come and teach the kids in kind of a third world classroom setting. To illegal immigrants making a living is the top priority. We had crops to harvest and school was not looked upon as profitable. The girls are doing very well and soon will be integrated into regular classes for their grade levels.

Pedro and Guadeloupe Rodriguez are now serving life sentences for kidnapping. They could only convict them for my abduction because the details of how the girls came into their possession are non-existence. Their lawyer has advised them not to talk about them. You see they will be eligible for parole in twenty years. With two other convictions they would not have a chance. Because Hanna and Jeannie are minors the Rodriguez’s are not allowed to contact them as for me I am a legal adult. I have not heard from Pedro but Guadeloupe had sent me three letters. My first reaction was to send them back unopened but Dr. Smith convinced me to let her read them because she thought that Guadeloupe might have written details of Hanna and Jean’s circumstances. Needless to say there was none. I myself have not read them. They did not abuse us physically or mentally like many in the media have speculated. For this I wish them peace.

Five months after we were discovered my biological parents asked to meet with me. Before I would agree with meeting them I requested a DNA test. Apparently I am who they say I am. Jimmy Martinez. When Jeannie got wind of the meeting she went ballistic. I know that this was very awkward for them. You see in this whole ordeal, the girls have lost a mother and a father. On the other hand I, if I choose have gotten mine back. In order to calm her down I promised that her and Hanna would come with me.

We agreed to meet at the Ramada Inn in Colorado Springs, Co. Dr. Smith had arranged for us to meet in the V.I.P lounge on the first floor. The walls were decorated with redwood paneling with wall-to-wall burgundy carpet. There were several plush burgundy couches and reclining chairs arranged in a large rectangle facing in. Around the edge of the room were smaller chairs and tables so if meeting participants needed to talk one on one, they could. The girls and I arrived first. Jeannie with a death grip on my hand was sitting with me on one of the couches when the Martinez’s came in. The door opened and Dr. Smith said “Are you ready?” I looked at the two girls and they each gave me a nod and I said. “Yes.” Immediately a little girl that looked to be about twelve years old came running hysterically into the room, with tears streaming down her cheeks. She knelt down at my feet and grabbed my hand and cried. “Will you forgive me?” My mind was racing as to what she would need me to forgive her for when it hit me. This is Denise my little sister (Now sixteen) that was throwing the fit that distracted my mother when I was taken. My God, she had been blaming herself for all these years. I pulled her onto my lap, wrapped my arms around her and said“You did nothing wrong. Of course I forgive you.” As you would expect, in this situation something would have to break the ice, and that did it.

The meeting went quite well. My parents, Hector and Linda, and I talked for about two hours mainly about family members and what my life has been like. To my surprise Jeannie let go of my hand and the three girls went off the other side of the room talked and laughed like teenage girls do. Yes, even Hanna laughed. We call each other on a regular basis. The Martinez’s even sent a nice shirt and a pair of pants to Hanna for her birthday.

We have agreed to go to their home in Texas for Christmas. To tell you the truth the girls and I are looking forward to the trip.

I guess you are wondering how this all came about. Well like most young men. I liked to get a little rambunctious. Some friends and I went out drinking and we got into a fight. I got arrested and fingerprinted. The arresting officer was only on the job for a couple of weeks, and wanting to do a thorough job he ran my prints in the FBI database. When I was abducted the police had gotten a thumbprint from one of my toys. I have a birthmark on the small of my back in the shape of a star. After my prints came back the officer asked me about the birthmark and when I said yes that it was there he started asking me about my childhood. When the police talked to the Rodriguez’s they admitted that they had taken me. Evidently they thought that because I was nineteen that there was nothing that the police could to. A couple days later the Rodriguez’s were arrested for kidnapping and the girls were put in Child Services. Dr. Smith was assigned to the girl’s case and thanks to her the girls were only in Child Services for three weeks. It took a couple of months of investigating on my own before I could believe what I was being told.

It has been a year since this has happened and we are doing fine. So don’t feel sorry for us because we have each other. I am beginning to accept what has happened and so are the girls. Plus we also have the Martinez’s. They have been so good to the girls and I and they have not pushed me. Since the girls found out that we are going to their house for Christmas they have not quit talking about it. Apparently Jeannie, Hanna and Denise have made all kinds of plans for when we get there. As for me I have met someone. I met her at Dr. Smith’s office. Dr. Smith was not real thrilled about us dating, after all having the responsibility of the girls I can relate to her concerns. Her name is Patty Smith. Yes you guessed it. She is Dr. Smith’s youngest daughter. I think she is warming up to the idea though. I promised that I would work on my issues.

I have just turned twenty today and I feel good about the future and yes, the girls and I are happy.