Encyclopedia Carlson & The Bath School Disaster

The summer I moved to the home of domestic terror

In May of 1984, my parents told me we were moving. I was crushed. They went on to explain that we’d be moving more than two hours to the west of our current home, to the rural farm community of Bath, Michigan.

I’d heard rumblings or something about the possible move, but I was twelve years old and just finishing a very important stretch in sixth grade. This was not a great time for me.

I paid very little attention to the rumors and went about my day to day. When the hard reality began to settle in, and plans became locked into place, I got angry. They had not thought about my life, and what I needed.

I had a budding career as a little league second basemen. The bigger kids in the neighborhood had finally stopped taunting and beating the shit out of me mercilessly. There were a couple of girls that someone close to a source, had heard say that I was “kinda cute”. Kinda cute! I can’t be walking away from opportunities like that.

My Dad tried to win me over by pushing all of the new stuf…