To Murder Maisie Wittam

1/20/06: Remembering Maisie

12:34 PM, January 20th, 2006

An Audiotape Recorded By:

Mrs. Nancy Calder and Hailey Ford

[This tape was recorded for the purpose of being contributed to a podcast (entitled Remembering Maisie) composed by students of Waverly High in memory of Maisie Wittam.]

Calder (School Psychiatrist): Are you ready, Hailey?

Ford (Student): I...Yeah, I'm ready. How does this work?

Calder: I'm recording. This'll be put in a podcast, with a bunch of the other students, to remember Maisie by. They'll play it at her memorial.

Ford: Okay. That's...that's cool. It's cool that we're doing this for her. I think she would've liked this. Would've liked to hear what we all have to say. About her. About how...about her. She would've really liked it.

Calder: What's your fondest memory of Maisie?

Ford: I think...I think it was when we went to Seattle. Her dad and his friend took us to Seattle, for a work trip. He was doing some thing for the Church...but we just stayed at the hotel. It was really nice. It had a huge pool. At like...eleven? Maybe midnight? We still couldn't fall asleep, and her dad and his friend weren't back yet. So we...decided to go to the pool. It was closed. Obviously. But we...

[Student trails off, looking nervous]

Calder: [Chuckles] You aren't going to get in trouble, Hailey. You snuck in?

Ford: Uh, yeah. We did. Maisie picked the lock. It's crazy that she knew how, but that's Maisie. She always picked up these...weird little things, wherever she went. Like collecting bookmarks, always carrying a spoon in her purse...learning how to pick a lock. Weird stuff like that. It was funny.

Calder: Spoon?

Ford: [Laughs] Yeah, that was so weird. On Fourth of July last year, her dad and his friend took us to the fireworks show at his church. The friend, Keith, brought this...huge tub of applesauce. But we didn't have spoons, we only packed plastic forks. So we tried to eat it with forks. It was a mess. After that, Maisie always had this plastic bag in her purse, with a couple of clean spoons inside. She was so weird. I love her.

Calder: It sounds like you have a lot of really great memories with her.

Ford: Yeah, I do. We've been friends since second grade. I gave her half a pad of Hello Kitty stickers, and we just...clicked, I guess. That sounds cheesy.

Calder: It sounds genuine.

Ford: I guess. We just both needed someone, y'know? Neither of us had siblings. Or many friends. Now, when we hit high school...that changed. Obviously, Maisie became...well, Maisie Wittam. The Maisie Wittam. No other way to describe it. She just...grew. Bloomed. Like a flower. It was...she was awesome.

Calder: If you could say anything to Maisie right now, what would you say?

Ford: [Thinks for a moment] I guess...I miss you. I really, really miss you. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm...I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm really, really sorry. I...I'll never be the same. Without you. Nothing will ever be the same. [Student begins to cry, and Calder stops the recording.]