Helen Walsh

(Sister of Kidnap Victim, Jack Daumier’s Girlfriend) - Emily Harrison

Helen Walsh is the only daughter of Horace and Natalie Walsh, and the younger sister -- by two years -- of Blake Walsh, the kidnap victim.

Despite her mother’s unyielding efforts to manage her irrepressive physicality and personality, as a child, Helen moved back and forth unevenly from being mommy’s girl in frilly dresses, to a tree-climbing, rough-housing Tomboy who was nearly the physical equal, and well beyond the emotional level, of most boys her age.

When Helen was nine years old, her mother outfitted her in a yellow dress with matching shoes and hat so she could show her off at her monthly bridge party.  After receiving predictable oohs and ahhs from the women, Helen, upon hearing the sound of heavy equipment working outside the mansion, drifted out to watch a telephone pole digger in action. When the drill was pulled up, a dead, two-foot-long garter snake came with it.

The construction workers found it impossible to talk the pretty little girl out of leaving without the snake.  They roared with laughter as she hanged the snake around her neck, and skipped off happily toward the massive mansion.

Helen and the snake had been in the doorway to the game room for about ten seconds when one of her mother’s bridge partners noticed her, then in horror, the snake.  When the woman nearly fell out of her chair, the other women, including Helen’s mother looked over.  Aghast, they remained frozen as Helen took a step toward them.

“Take that outside, sweetheart; you know it doesn’t belong in the house,” Natalie breathed.  Feigning confusion, Helen took a step closer.

“It’s dead.”

When Helen moved another step closer, the four women bolted from the bridge table and tore past her toward a bathroom.  Curious, Helen followed. They squeezed through the door at the same time, slammed, and locked it.

“Mother?”

“Take that outside this instant.”

“I’ll leave it here so you can see it.”

All four women screamed, “NO!”

“Can I wash my hands first?”

“NO.”

Now giggling unbearably, Helen loped out of the house, stopping once to pick up the snake when it fell off her neck.

During her high school years, Helen spent her free time riding her beloved horse. She loved the feel of expensive, silken, French lingerie under her riding clothes.  She would rather curl up with a good book then attend the many parties to which she is invited.  She lives most of her wildness through her best friend and alter ego, Bunny, who with brio embraces a life as she finds it.

Helen attended a tiny Catholic college on the San Francisco Peninsula.  She thought she was in love once until the young man said he was saving himself for marriage.  She finds college men intensely innocent and lacking passion about all the right things. She couldn’t wait to graduate.

Helen thought about teaching, but was more interested in something which would challenge her need for competition and intellectual stimulation.  She took a trip to Europe prior to making any decision, and had spent the summer learning rudimentary French, Italian, and Spanish, as well as studying the architecture and art of the countries she visited.  She also experimented with the preparation of ethnic foods, but after risking their palates and stomachs a few times, her mother, father, and brother each privately suggested that she concentrate on language and art, and leave the cuisine to the natives.