Page 42 - REDEMPTION_Flipbook_Final 2025

Geraldine Hughes-

type so fast?" He kept staring at my keyboard with amaze-
ment. Once, while he was near my desk, I asked him how he
was doing. He stated that he was doing fine.
While he was observing me, I too, was observing him. He
was playing with some toys while listening to a Walkman ra-
dio. He seemed to be enjoying himself. I am not sure if he knew
exactly what was going on outside of Mr. Rothman's office,
but at least for the moment he seemed to be having a good
time. From all appearances he seemed like a perfectly normal
child interested in playing and listening to his music and was
curious about everything.
I observed the boy going in and out of the conference room
where his father was nervously going round and round with
Mr. Rothman. The father was far more nervous than his son.
The boy seemed to just stay in his own imaginary world play-
ing, having fun and not seemingly worried about what was
going on with the outside world.
I understood why Michael Jackson was fond of the boy.
He was very fun, loving, warm spirited and cute. I found my-
self drawn to his warm and loving personality. He was not
your normal bratty kid- he was very kind and had a gentle
personality. He did not act or appear as though he had been
harmed in any way. He was acting like any normal, well be-
haved 13-year old child.
Although I do not have enough psychological experience
to know how a child would act who had been sexually abused,
I can say that there was nothing abnormal about his behavior,
personality or attitude. In fact, he was the one who kept calm-
ing and consoling his father, who was a nervous wreck. It ap-
peared as if the boy was protecting his father instead of vice-
versa. He was more concerned about his father's well-being
than his own.
After observing the boy for a number of hours, I could not
help but speculate, in my mind, what would cause a child to falsely
accuse someone of child abuse? Especially someone he loved and
valued as a good friend- especially someone like Michael Jack-
son! Most kids would give their right arm and leg to be close

41