Molly bloomed too soon

Everyone in town said there was something about that Molly Shattuck. 

"Aren't I just sinfully fabulous?"

There just seemed to be a little too much of her.  Molly, the trophy wife of the bigshot who was head of Constellation Energy Group, former corporate parent company of public utility Baltimore Gas & Electric, was just everywhere! Molly the cheerleader for the Ravens at age 40! Molly, author of books about being all vibrant! Molly, Committee member for the United Way of Central Maryland and the American Diabetes Association! Molly, one of The Daily Record’s Maryland Top 100 Women award-winners for 2012! Molly, winner of a Girl Scouts Distinguished Women Award last May! Molly on a FOX TV reality show called "Secret Millionaire," showing her going back to the hardscrabble Pennsylvania town she strutted away from many years ago, handing out money to those who didn't have the high heels or lack of moral fiber she possesses! Molly having sex with a 15-year-old boy!

And then the merry-go-round suddenly clanged to an abrupt halt.

We all know the deal.  She started diddling some kid who went to school with one of her kids at her beach place in Rehoboth, and the kid, who after all is underage and therefore illegal to be chosen as a sex partner, went to Baltimore County police, who notified Delaware, and Molly went from flaunting her figure to flouting the law.

It must be remembered that if this case involved a 47-year-old male doing the horizontal bop with a 15-year-old girl, the streets would be filled with people preparing tar and feathers, and rightly so.  People who say, "It's the best thing to happen to this kid!" apparently have no concept of how this will affect his sexuality for a long long time.

Meanwhile, Molly's outfits changed from splashy spandex to buttoned-up-with-a-tiny-cross necklace, and she put on some eyeglasses and a facial expression that merged dourness, penitence and crazed bewilderment.

The other day, she pleaded out, after being indicted on three charges in a Delaware court.  The deal that her attorneys cobbled out had her plead guilty to one count of fourth-degree rape. Charges of providing alcohol to minors were dropped.  Her earlier plans to plead not guilty and show the world how distraught she was were tossed aside like the empties that her staff cleaned up from her beach house after her Labor Day get-it-on party with this child.

Not so vibrant

Everything about Molly always seemed to say, "Pay attention to me!"  Or, "Pay alimony and child support to me!" as her divorce became final just at the same time these charges came out.  Now Molly is the one who is going to pay.  She is not allowed to have contact with any minors except her own embarrassed children, she has to register as a sex offender, and she faces up to 15 years in the calaboose at her sentencing in August.

What a pity, that a woman blessed with everything that some hold dear in life (looks, money, position in society) will be the one to pay in the end, with every last measure of her dignity.