Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

Julia Burney“You call the cops and I’ll beat you too!” herfather would shout.“Julia Mae, do something!” the younger childrenwould shriek.And eight-year-old Julia, the oldest of what wereeventually twelve siblings (two died in infancy),would try to dodge her father’s fist to reach thephone. If she made it, and if the phone hadn’t beendisconnected, she would dial the number of thepolice department.And then, she remembers, it was as if a miraclehappened.“The moment the officers appeared, everythingchanged. My dad would sit up, listen to them, andact right. My home would be peaceful again.“So that became my dream,” Julia says today.“Someday, I would do that for another child.”Julia would achieve her dream. But she had a lotto go through first.Julia lived in Racine, Wisconsin. She had beenborn in Mississippi, but her parents had moved up61