commentary by Patrick H. Moore
If we think back we may recall watching a rather bizarre movie called The World According to Garp in which the main character Garp is a loving but exceedingly nervous father. The film was based on the similarly titled book by best-selling author John Irving.
Garp was very nervous about his children’s welfare and spent much of his time worrying about the various pitfalls they could encounter. All parents, of course, worry about their kids to varying degrees. The world is a dangerous place and we had all best beware.
Stylish, perky 23-year-old Port Charlotte, FLA medical assistant Kayla R. Oxenham (cool two-tone hair) appears to suffer from (among other things) a peculiar variation of “kid worry”. Her fear was that at some point it might prove to be impossible for her to identify her 5 and 7 year old daughters as hers. Now this is undoubtedly odd; one generally knows who their kids are and can identify them by their distinguishing features such as their height, eye and hair color, and so on.
Kayla apparently pondered on how to come up with a foolproof way to identify her little girls, and after meditating on the problem for a while, decided to take a page out of the old West back in the days of ranchers and cattle drives. As we all know, as a general rule, ranchers would signify ownership of their longhorns by branding them with a hot branding iron, burning their ranch insignia (Lazy Q, Spotted Owl, Poisoned Toad) into their hide(s).
Based on her trendy, perky appearance, Kayla doesn’t look like a cowgirl but looks – as well all know – can be misleading.
Kayla, however, apparently didn’t have a branding iron handy so instead she grabbed a stick, heated it up with a lighter, and branded both children on their arms. Ouch!
According to the kids who later spilled the beans to the investigators, while making like Annie Oakley, Kayla told her little girls that she had forgotten “how much she loved fire.”
Kayla also told the girls that she was branding them “so that they could have ice cream.” This obviously makes no sense, but according to the girls, that’s what Mom told them, and we know how much kids love ice cream.
The abuse has apparently been ongoing for some time; David Edwards of Raw Story writes:
The 7-year-old girl recalled to investigators that the incident had started when her mother repeatedly slammed her 5-year-old sister’s head into a wall as punishment for locking a cat in their bathroom.
The Florida Department of Children and Families first received reports about possible abuse after day care workers noticed scabs on the children in late March. Medical examiners determined that at least one of the children had injuries consistent with burns.
In a decision that is undoubtedly going to piss a few people off, Kayla’s bond was set at $7,500 per child and she was released from jail on Wednesday. She reportedly denied beating her children, and refused to talk to police about the burns.
It is unknown whether she currently retains custody of her kids. What is known is that Kayla is no stranger to penal institutions; according to the Charlotte County Jail website, she works there as a medical assistant.
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It should be pointed out that since her older daughter is 7, Kayla had her when she was a mere 16-year-old. Daughter #2 came two years later. It’s just possible that in addition to possibly suffering from some kind of a mental disorder, Kayla may not actually be that keen on motherhood and the joys and perils it brings.