Dave
Out of all the people who I grew up with, Dave saw through the mask. In return I saw through his. He didn't always like it and neither did I but we had no choice; it was like a weird unspoken connectionā¦ I didnāt come from his dna. He didnāt even meet me until I was 10, but once he showed up he tried the hardest for me and my family, even while losing himselfā¦ He didnāt start out as my dad but he earned his place there while my biological father was losing his.
All my life people always tried telling me who I WAS. Now that Dave is missing, people try telling me who HE was. Itās exhausting, but the exhaustion I'm feeling is probably double or even triple in my mother right now. I lost count how many interviews she has done. I know it's over 6 now. I was there for the first 3 sitting in my living room watching her cry repetitively answering questions about her missing husband in front of their twin children, my brothers, Joseph and Isaac.
The twins were still okay at that pointā¦ Iām not sure if they still are. I think they were imagining Dave being caught, taken and, like in those action movies and westerns they watch, heās using his cowboy dad powers to escapeā¦ Dave was like a manās man to his boys. He was the blueprint. They begged him to go to the gas station every time he went, they wore cowboy boots ālike dadā growing up, they even started going to work with him in the summers hauling hogs on the road, probably cussing like the truckers they were and i'm sure Dave even said ādonāt tell mom!ā while laughing at the high pitched, incorrect cursing.
When I was still in Iowa I noticed the twins were sick of the constant company and attention. So many people in the family and county just kept showing up bringing food, clothes, toys, blankets, and other gifts, trying to help any way they can. When they spend their first day back in school since their dad went missing, they came home early, since mom told them one call and they can leave, and since all the kids kept waving and saying hi and trying to be super nice. The teachers made a rule where the kids can't talk about it with the twins but the rule wasn't not to talk to the twins period. All that attention, especially in the hallways, was too much for them. āI just wanna be treated NORMAL.ā is what Joseph said.Ā
With all the posts and interviews floating around the internet comes picky commentsā¦ My mom has gotten a few comments about her, she has seen some talking about Dave himself not kissing the other twin goodbyeā¦ sickening that oneā¦ the most recent one is about me actually. Someone commented saying I sounded suspicious because I threw up from guilt when my mom and I were at the crime scene and his coat was found. I was guilty actually. I was very guilty for all the conversations we were supposed to have. I was supposed to say sorry and thank him and ask him to walk me down the aisle at my wedding.
Ā No matter what the topic is no matter who it's about or the condition they are in, the internet is going to do its thing and people will use the shield that is their screen and spew their messy ignorance. just gotta learn how to ignore it and focus on the truth... I don't know what happened to Dave but SOMETHING HAPEND TO HIM. I need to know where he is, dead or alive, and I need to know who did this.
