My mom went to a rape crisis fundraiser here and Elizabeth was the keynote speaker. She said it was very interesting and she told me some interesting things about her speech. Elizabeth is even more beautiful in person. (inside & out!) Some things came out that I hadn't read in the books about her.
She said that the first night after she was taken, she wasn't given any food for 3 days. Her kidnapper wouldn't give her any food until she drank wine he had. He told her "First you drink, then you'll eat." So this 14 year old, who had never drank in her life, and who considered it a sin, drank the wine. She immediately threw up and passed out in her own vomit. When she awoke, the vomit had dried on her face. He told her that she was spoiled. Another time he left her for 5 days chained to a tree. He left her with no food or water. It rained, and she collected rain water to drink. After the 5th day, she decided she would probably die. She laid down to die. She said "When I awoke, it wasn't the heavenly singing I was expecting. It was the singing of a drunk." Her captor returned and brought her some KFC that he found in the garbage. She said she had never really liked KFC before, but when he brought her the garbage, it was the most delicious food she had ever eaten. She also said that they had traveled to California and he had talked about taking her to a different state. She told him that she thought God wanted him to take her to Utah once more, and that he should pray about it, that he was such a good preacher (She stroked his ego), etc. The next day he said that God had given him a revelation and that he would indeed take them back to Utah. On their first day upon returning to Utah is when she was found!!! Thank God!!!
She also said (and I find this comforting...especially to victims of crime...) "I think of my life, and I picture it as a white string. I have a white string with a little area on it that is black. I can let that little black area take away my happiness - or I can live my life and become the woman I'm supposed to be." I believe she chose the latter.
She also said it took a week of bathing in her mom's jacuzzi tub to get the 'homeless' smell to go away.