Chapter Four
"He's coming," I told Mary as soon as the call was over, "why don't you get some rest? Here, lie down on the sofa."
"No." she replied, "I don't feel like sleeping. Hey, is that deer still out there?"
I opened the door to the backyard and saw that he was.
"Yeah. You wanna hang out with it?"
"I would love that."
I arranged a couple chairs outside and led her there. And then she sat there with the deer to keep her company while I waited inside the house for Sal to come.
About ten minutes later there was a knock on the door. I opened it and let Sal in. I then called Mary from the backyard. And the deer trailed along with her, for no apparent reason.
Sal looked at the animal in suspicion as soon as it came in.
"Don't worry," Mary laughed, "it doesn't understand English."
She's been surprisingly cheered up by now. It was as if nothing had happened.
"So what's the emergency?" asked Sal.
She had to explain the matter in short to him over the next five minutes, and by the time she was done both him and I had the exact same question in mind.
"Who's the guy?" I asked.
"I think his name's Martin." she answered, and a chill ran down our spines.
"Martin-" I stuttered, "Martin Giovanni?"
"Yeah. That's the one."
Sal and I exchanged glances.
"Goddamn it Alex," said he, "goddamn it. I ain't getting into this shit now. You can do whatever you want, but man I ain't getting involved."
"Sal, are you f*cking crazy? This guy, this son of a bitch attacked Mary. He tried to put a bloody needle in her arm!"
"I know, but what're we gonna do, huh? F*cking kill him? We can't even go near the guy Alex, hurting him is something beyond our imaginations."
"Listen to me…"
"No you listen to me! You know nothing about the shit that goes on in school man. They do whatever they want to, and I mean no disrespect Mary, but this isn't the first time I've heard of an incident like this."
There was silence.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"What do you think I mean? He gets a new girl every month! Mary, you know what was in those syringes?"
She shook her head.
"It was heroin. You were goddamned right that it was a drug, but what you didn't know was that it was heroin. That's the worst of the lot, man. They've done this before. Three or four other girls I think. That's how they always do it. Approach a girl real quietly when no one's watching and jam the needle in her arm. And by the time they're done with her she's labelled either an addict or a slut. The Misty Crown fiasco? That was him, Alex. That was Martin. He was the one who got her hooked on the drugs."
Misty Crown was a girl who'd been expelled from our school for possession of narcotics, but only a small amount was ever found in her locker. She was expelled nonetheless, and everybody thought that was the end of it. But I guess it wasn't.
"Don't you see man?" he asked me now, "Don't you see what we're thinking of messing with here? Anything wrong happens to Martin, it goes to the High End. And those people ain't gonna think twice before doing away with your life."
I didn't know what to say. It was a very dangerous thing to do for a couple of seventeen year old kids.
"Sal, do me a favor." I finally replied, "Get the names of all the girls who've been victims of this shit."
"I already know most of them. It's not exactly a hidden crime Alex. Everybody from the compounder to the principal knows what's going on. You'd know too if you didn't spend all your time lost in books."
"So you know the names?"
"Yeah."
"These girls have any boyfriends? Brothers? Anything like that?"
"I don't know."
"I need you to find out. I don't care if they're a year or two senior to us or a year or two junior. Find them, call them in the small classroom on the third floor tomorrow after school."
"What're you gonna do?"
"I have no idea. But we're gonna do something. And I know it sounds like I'm giving orders to you right now, but it is because I am. Somebody's hurt this girl here."
The both of us looked at Mary. I turned to Sal again and continued.
"Somebody's hurt this girl and I'm not gonna let the son of a bitch who did this get away with it. And I'm gonna do it with or without anybody's help. The only problem is that it's gonna get a lot more difficult if I wanna do it by myself. And maybe that'll take more time. And maybe by that time, another girl falls prey to these bastards. Do you wanna see that happening, Sal?"
He didn't say anything.
"Then please help me out."
"I'm only doing this for Mary, Alex." he replied, and I heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thanks man. We're gonna get her justice, you know."
"I don't want it." said a voice that had been quiet for some time.
The both of us looked at her again.
"Mary, what do you mean?"
"I don't want justice." said she in a softer voice, "Please. I don't want any fighting because of me. I know whatever Martin did was wrong, but I don't think you should take things that far. I'll be careful from now on, okay? Just don't put your reputations and lives at stake for me. Sal, don't do it please. I don't want you to do something dangerous just because it means something to me. This was my problem anyhow, I shouldn't have bothered the two of you with it."
I know what I said next wasn't right, but I couldn't hold myself back then.
"What the f*ck are you saying?" I asked, looking at her, "What the f*ck are you saying, Mary? That we should let that rapist, drug addict, good-for-nothing low life son of a bitch get away with ruining the lives of four innocent girls? Is that what you're saying, huh? If it was up to me I'd HANG that motherf*cker on the first junction I saw!"
My tone went beyond its usual pitch at that last sentence, and I could tell she was scared of me. And there was nothing I could do about it.
"Mary," said Sal, trying to console her, "we're gonna be fine."
She didn't say anything, and I knew that it was my presence there that was bothering her.
"I'll leave." I said, and left the room to go to the backyard.
I don't know what Sal told her when I was outside, but whatever it was seemed to calm her down. They called me in again after some time, after which we sat down and discussed the matter a little more seriously.
"You okay now?" I asked her, to which she nodded.
"Alright. I'm sorry for overreacting."
"Don't apologize. I understand."
"Sal, what do we got? What're we gonna do, huh?"
"I don't know Alex."
"But we gotta do something. This can't keep happening over and over to other girls."
"Alex I know you're pissed, but you gotta understand that we aren't just picking a fight with a guy from our school here. He has friends from the High End, and God knows what else he's got! We ain't just gonna risk it man."
"Look if what you said is true, if he really does have friends that powerful, nobody in the school's gonna dare to touch him. And what happens then? He doesn't have to answer for any of his crimes? And don't tell me they aren't crimes."
"I know they are crimes. Heinous ones too. And I'll call the meeting tomorrow in the third floor classroom like you told me to, but what then?"
I was quiet for some time.
"Mary, go outside."
She looked at me.
"Why?"
"Just sit in the backyard for some time. Take the deer with you."
"No. I want to hear what you're gonna say."
"Listen to me for once, will ya? Just go outside."
"I don't like this, Alex."
"Oh yeah? Well you can't like everything. I don't want you hearing what I am about to say, is that really that difficult to understand? Please Mary, you're more reasonable than this right?"
She gave me a look before heading outside with the baby deer.
"What was that all about?" asked Sal the moment she left.
"I didn't want her to listen, that's all."
"What did you not want her to listen?"
"Sal, is that really important right now? You asked me what we were gonna do tomorrow, and I'm telling you."
"Okay. Go ahead."
I rubbed my forehead before saying what I said next.
"You know anybody who's got firearms?"
There was silence.
"Firearms-" he began, "what do you mean? Guns and shit like that? What're you thinking, Alex?"
"Don't ask me so many questions Sal. Just give me an answer. Either you know someone or you don't."
He didn't reply for some time.
"I don't know where you're going with this man. But since you want an answer, I'll tell you. I know a couple of people who make their own guns. They���re not from our school. They make and sell those only for self-defence purposes. And only to people who're above eighteen years of age. You don't need to have a license for that, just need to be above eighteen. Once the gun is in your hands and the payment has been made the firearm is your responsibility. And if you get caught using it without a license, then that's on you."
"How do you know this?"
"My brother got a gun three months ago. He was going hunting with his friends so…"
"Alright. You know the place?"
"Yeah I do. But I ain't allowed in there. They don't let kids in."
"Ah, we'll manage."
"Alex, you gonna buy a gun?"
"I'm thinking about it."
"No man. No, that's f*cked up. You ain't doing that."
"You can go to the f*cking cops for all I care, Sal. But I know one thing. We can't take a High Ender down without a gun."
"Why do you wanna take him down?!"
"Because he tried to rape Mary!" I cried, "Goddamn it Sal it may not be personal to you, but it's personal to me! Do you know what the f*ck would've happened to her if she hadn't run out of there? Do you wanna forget what happened to Misty Crown? That's our Mary out there, Sal. I've shared every meal of my life with her. I'm not gonna let some drug-addict bastard touch her without her permission. And if I gotta face you, I gotta face the cops, I gotta face the entire f*cking world to get her justice then you can be goddamn sure that I will do that. Nobody's gonna touch my girl without her asking for it."
This was the first time I'd gotten so possessive about Mary. Hell, I even called her 'my girl'. But that's not what that sounded like. I didn't mean to say she was mine, I just meant that no stranger had a right to touch her without her permission first.
Now I know what you're thinking. I must be putting my arm around her all the time, when the hell did I ever ask for permission? So get this. I've known her for all seventeen years of my life. And so she's comfortable enough around me and doesn't mind these things, and neither do I. You think she ever asked permission to cry on my shoulder? Hell no. But I'm sure of one thing. If I ever did something she wasn't comfortable with, she'd let me know. We respected each other, and that's what made us so inseparable. Anyways, friends playfully touching each other is a different thing, and strangers feeling up your skirt in an isolated library is a different thing. And if you think whatever I said was wrong, then you better stop reading this narrative now. Because you wouldn't be able to handle what happened next.
"You think it ain't personal to me?" asked Sal, looking me in the eye, "You think it ain't personal to me, what happened with her? You think I don't wanna shoot the son of a bitch who tried to touch her when she never asked for it? You think it ain't personal, Alex? I've known the girl for five years, maybe not as long as you have, but that's enough for me to know that something like this happening to someone like her isn't f*cking fair."
I didn't say anything for some time.
"Well then get me a gun for God's sake," I finally replied, "get me a gun and we'll put an end to this together."
He sighed.
"When?" he asked me.
"After the meeting tomorrow. We'll go to the place, you and I. How much do they charge per gun?"
"I think fifty bucks."
"Fifty bucks? That cheap?"
"They are not standard pistols, Alex. They're small sized revolvers with a maximum of four bullets in each round. I did mention that the purpose was self-defence, not gang wars."
"Alright. I think that's enough for today. Call Mary in."
Okay, now let me get one thing clear. This was a long time ago from today's generation. Today if you order someone around they're gonna laugh in your face. Because everyone thinks they have their own 'freedom'. That's the most f*cked up concept of freedom I've ever heard of, I'll tell ya. Not following orders doesn't give you freedom, it gives you a false sense of liberty. But anyways, it wasn't like that back in the time. Sal knew that if justice had to be done, I had to be in charge of it. He had the chance too, but he wasn't as good at planning stuff as I was. So he accepted it. And I respected him largely for that. It was a mutual understanding you see, it was something we called 'trust'. And I'd be goddamned if you've ever heard somebody say that word in today's age and actually mean it.
"Mary, I need you to do something for me alright?" I told her once she was in the room and Sal had gone home.
"What?" she asked.
I walked to my drawer and removed a small pocket knife. It was a gift my father had given me when I was thirteen. Then I walked back to her and placed it in her hands.
"Keep this with you." I said.
"Alex…" she began.
"Listen to me. Anybody touches you in the wrong way without your permission, you jam this in their hands. And you jam it hard. So that every single time they think of touching a girl again, they're reminded of what happened when they did it without asking permission first."
"Why're you doing this? I don't want to hurt anybody!"
"I'm not asking you to hurt anyone. But if you ever needed to defend yourself, you need to have a weapon."
"Even if I wanted to do it Alex, I couldn't just bring myself to stab a stranger!"
"Even if that stranger could bring himself to get his hand up your skirt?"
She didn't answer.
"Mary, look at me."
She did that.
"Please. Don't use it if you don't want to. Just keep it with you. That's the only thing I'm ever gonna ask you to do for me."
She thought for a while before keeping the knife to herself.
And it was because I'd asked her to do it for me. Everybody who knew me also knew that I didn't ask anybody to do shit for me, and so when I did finally ask it meant something. It meant that that was the sole favor I was gonna ask of them. And so people used to listen.
"I- I don't know what to tell you, Alex." she said after she'd taken the knife, "I'm not a violent person. I couldn't just stab someone even if they tried to do something really wrong to me."
"Goddamn it Mary. When did I ever say you were violent? You're the most peace loving person I've ever met. You're a lovely girl, you know. And I know nothing like this is ever gonna happen to you ever again. The knife is just an emergency tool, but nobody's ever gonna think of hurting you again."
Not after what I'm gonna do to Martin, I thought to myself.