B V O V
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He remembered sitting in the
cold courthouse. He'd been called
to testify. At the last moment,
Brandon's father accepted a plea
deal. Fifty years in prison in
return for one thing: Brandon didn't
have to take the witness stand.
Brandon and his three sisters had
been sent to live with a foster family.
Week after week, they attended
church. For almost 10 years, his
foster father had had a lot to say
at home.
"You're stupid and completely
useless," he told Brandon. "You're just
like your daddy. Poor white trash. You'll
never be good enough to be my son."
Adoption
Gift of
Someone motioned for 14-year-old Brandon Sanders
to leave his classroom. Glimpsing the police o cers waiting in the o ce,
he broke into a cold sweat. Brandon fl ashed back to another time he'd been
surrounded by police. He'd been 5 years old; the only witness to the brutal
murder of his mother—at the hands of his father.
During all those years, the man had
sexually molested Brandon's sisters.
Until his oldest sister ran away…to
the police.
Now a police o† cer was saying to
Brandon, "Son, we need you to take
oˆ your shirt."
Brandon didn't have to say a word.
His brutalized body showed a road
map of years of beatings. Their foster
father was sentenced to 20 years in
prison.
Brandon knew a few things with
certainty.
He knew nobody loved him.
He knew nobody wanted him.
He knew God was his enemy.
The
by Melanie Hemry
