Chapter 27-1
False Statements
Part 2
By the time we all went back to bed, we would no sooner have to get up, man I was getting tired of getting very little sleep. Greg too was showing signs of fatigue. When we basically just laid there wanting to hit that alarm clock with a sledgehammer. The only ones sleeping in were my brother Aaron and my mother once she made sure we had a basic breakfast and sent us on our way. I noticed two new cards by the kitchen phone: Kyle's and Officer Kane's. To no one else including my father, they would look like ordinary phone numbers. Too. the rest of us it was a booty call.
Kyle dropped Greg and me off at Stringham's around eight and my two new best friends Zane and Kenny. Even though they could have stayed with my mother, it was that one percent chance she would harm them. Or the ninety-nine percent that my father would come home, and he would kill them. Knowing perfectly well that Greg and I would most likely be at work. It was the only thing he approved of me doing was working. The fact I did make more hourly than him was the thing he hated most. Yet what he did not know was the side benefits when I went on deliveries on my own or with Dave. Not only did I get paid, but The sex was also great too.
I tell you there are lots of horny women in Santaquin, and Payson, more than I ever realized. I am so going to hell, but I won't be alone. You would think their husbands would mind, but the ones that had them just joined in, and not all of them were members of the Garden Club.
Mom came by to pick Greg and me up at one p.m. Only to find that Dave had taken us with him on a big delivery, Zane and Kenny had gone with us as well. It was a big delivery of lumber, brick, and cement for the city of Santaquin. We got paid twice our normal wages because it was the city that was paying a premium price to have us load it and unload it at the extensive park where they were building an overhead picnic area.
It was almost 3 pm when we finished. By that time Greg and I were dragging, could have easily fallen asleep standing up. Not even two pretty women like Kenny's and Zane's mothers could get a raise out of us as we fell on my bed with our clothes on. By the time they stripped us down to our boxers we were out like a light. All my mother could do was close the curtains and my bedroom door, giving us both a kiss goodnight.
Grandma showed up, dropping my sisters off and woke us both up so she could visit with us. While my father spent time with his daughters and had dinner with all of us. He was about to go into a fit of angry rage when he saw both Greg and me in our boxers until he noticed Grandma sitting on the edge of my bed. He politely said he would appreciate it if we boys would dress for dinner. Grandma closed the door and said. "And they would appreciate it if you weren't here."
Even though it was just Grandma and Greg, we politely granted his request except for our shoes and socks. My father did his best to stay in control of his behavior. Until he got the wrong answer he was looking for, he said. "Now that school starting tomorrow you boys will go back to where you belong, and things can return back to normal. I am sure your parents are worried about you boys." My father never calls me by my birth name. It's always been a boy or some derogatory name or comment. It was amazing he has cut down on his language. Almost watching him grind his teeth as he looked over at his calm and collected mother.
Greg said. "No, my parents know where I am and told me not to leave his side when he was here. Eric is either here with me or at my house with me." He said, glaring at him and taking several bites and chewing with his mouth open only to annoy my father further.
My father was about to reach for his belt as he growled then realized my grandmother was here, not that it had stopped him in the past, but by the time he took his belt off and started beating both of us, two things could easily happen. One, I could push the button on my watch. Second, my mother could have been dialing the number for the cops, and they would be crushing through that door in one point two seconds because they were sitting outside.
It was like watching the air being let out of a balloon. I watched his hands tighten into a fist and his knuckles turn white. Grandma asked the one question that would drive my father to the point of a total nuclear meltdown, she said. "Linda, did not you tell me that you are driving Eric to and from school tomorrow and Friday and you wouldn't return him until Sunday night?"
The first words out of my father's mouth were. "God damn it! Linda! You are driving me into the poorhouse. Gas is at its highest, eighty cents a gallon, and they are predicting eighty-five to ninety by next year. Here you are spending more money on groceries, more money on clothing for that fag it and his brother then we used to when you had a God damn fucking brain and now you are using gas that we could use here at home! You fucking cow, you are draining our bank account faster than I can earn it!" I wonder what he would say if he knew the gas prices are now up to three dollars and fifty cents to four dollars a gallon, and still predicting to be five soon.
Grandma was about to slap his face until I stopped her, knowing it would just anger him more and solve nothing. So instead, I said. "For your information, Jim, I paid for the groceries for the last two weeks while I was here. I paid for my own school clothes and Aaron's. I'll even pay for the damn gas. She is not a cow, she is my mother and should be treated with respect and if you so much raise your voice to me, Aaron, or her or my friends I will call the cops and have them haul your gay ass out the door."
I pulled out my wallet and placed two twenties on the table and said. "Here is the money for gas." Greg opened his wallet and added two more twenty's and said. "Here is my share of the grocery money," and add another twenty, "and for the utilities that I have used."
I added two more twenty's, and I said. "And here is my share of the utilities for me and my friends." It was nearly all the money I had earned today working for Mr. Stringham and it equaled one hundred and twenty dollars and it was more money than my father earned in the entire day, now sitting at the table in front of him.
My father growled and tried to reach over the table for the money. Grandma picked it up, counted it and opened her purse, added two more twenties and said. "To make sure my grandsons and their friends are well fed while they are here and money for a movie, popcorn, and drinks and gas," adding another twenty. "That leaves you Jim dear the expense to pay me for my gas, and the school clothes I bought for your daughters and the food and the expense they used during their stay with me."
Grandma counted out eighty dollars and said. "Which is around eighty dollars." and placed it inside her purse only to see the money curl into her fist as she closed the purse and slipped the purse under her chair and the money under the table to my mother and said. "It seems to me Jim darling you now owe Eric and Greg the eighty dollars.
"Considering I had taken it out of the money they were planning to give his mother. To pay for things that you never paid for with your own hard-working money. So, if that is the case you have no reason to complain about how or what your wife Linda does. So shut up and never speak to me or them in such a manner. If only your father was alive, he would tan that hide of yours for the how you treat your wife and kids and your very bad language."
My father gasped and then slammed his fist hard on the table and said. "God damn it mother! I never asked you to take my daughters this week. I never asked you to buy them school clothes! God damn it! I did not ask you for one God damn thing except to stay out of my fucking life! And if my father was here! He would tell you to mind your own God damn business instead of always butting into mine!"
Mom got up to answer the door as my father kept ranting until he saw it was two officers. I did not know them, they simply asked if everything was ok. Only to hear my father pick up a glass and toss it across the room as it shattered against the wall near the kitchen sink screaming. "You can all go straight to hell before I will pay one God damn cent of my hard-earned money to either of them!" My father paled when they entered the kitchen.
They leaned against the wall, and one of them said. "Jim, Jim, Jim did we not have this talk about how you were going to be playing nice and speak calmly? Instead of acting like a wild beast that belongs in a cage. First, you tried to rape a young boy last night, lucky for you he dropped the charges. Now here you are yelling and screaming about ready to rip someone's head off. For what now? I see everyone is dressed quite decent. In fact, the ladies look absolutely charming. So, I know that's not the problem this time."
Grandma blushed and said, "Why thank you, officer, you're the only ones that seemed to notice besides my grandsons and his best friend Greg," earning my father another tisk, and a shake of the head.
The officer in charge said. "We only came in to see if you needed our help Mrs. Shepherd, after hearing Jim yelling through the window. We are only going to give you a warning. The next time Jim you start screaming or think about harming anyone here we will haul your ass away and you can spend that time in jail. We know how much you like staying at our hotel where you have to check in after work each day because you cannot be trusted. Now we have your house on surveillance twenty-four seven. Hoping you would have learned a lesson. I will give you three minutes to say your goodbye's and collect whatever clothing you're going to need before we haul you away for disturbing the peace."
My father grumbled that he has much right to be here in his own house than we did. We were the ones that needed to leave. The officer pointed to his watch. Jim said. "Girls, when you get out of school just come to the church house, considering that…fu―" Catching himself from swearing or growling or yelling. "Your mother most likely won't be home when you do."
Mom interrupted him, telling him that officer Kenly and his wife will be here waiting for them in case she's not back before 7 p.m. My father growled. "Seven! What and the fucking hell are going to be doing from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.?"
Mom waved off his anger and said. "Eric won't be home from school until five or five-thirty. The Rothwells eat at five or 6 p.m. Then I have to drive back, which would take another forty minutes depending on the traffic. I am only taking one trip up and one trip back each day."
My father said. "School gets out at two thirty."
Mom said. "He has swim practices Thursday and Friday, and he won't be done until then. If you must ask about his other sports, don't start until next week." My father slumped in his chair, his face and fist telling us he wanted to beat the living hell out of me, Aaron, Greg, and my mother.
He growled. "You could just leave him there and come right back to where you belong! He's their problem, not ours any longer! You said it yourself. God damn it! He was adopted by them, so let them have the fucking bastard and all his fucking problems! God damn it! Linda, I give them his worthless brother if it meant never seeing either of them ever again! We don't or ever need that kind of God damn trash in our home! I should have God damned killed them both the day they were fucking born!"
Officer in charge said. "It looks like Jim. It's time for you to leave now. So, gather your things, or I will have my partner here handcuff you and throw your sorry ass in the back of the car and haul your ass to jail."
I should have corrected my mother when she said I had swim practice both days when I only really had it on Thursday, yet at the same time, I could have said he was right. It would have been better if my mother left me there than waited around both days to bring me home just for those extra few hours. What neither of us said was what my mother really had in mind, and that was one of the things I wasn't looking forward to either.
Why it bothered me, I had no idea. Instead, I watched as my father picked up his garbage bag full of clothes and walked out the back door to ride off into the sunset. Grandma gave me a big kiss and Greg and my brother Aaron having me promise her to call her. She too left as Jody pulled up into the driveway with Cindy.
Mom simply let them in as the police car made its rounds and waved to my mother. With my father gone all that was necessary was for them to drive the circuit. Jody handed me my brand-new backpack with my schedule for my classes and books and all my supplies, and my gym bag with my swimsuit and gym shorts. She frowned, seeing Greg and I as well as everyone else dressed.
Cindy said. "My mother wanted to know if it was ok if Aaron spent the night at my house for the next two days and come home with Greg's brother Tim that way you wouldn't have to worry about him being home alone or worry about him not getting fed."
Mom was about to decline the offer considering she had already decided with Officer Kenly's family, but Aaron begged her to let him. Saying he wouldn't have to get up at the crack of dawn and wait around for the school bus forever. Instead, he simply went to school with Greg's brother Tim, and he could have supper with them both nights. It also opened up to having Susan and Becky not home, either. I wanted to groan inside because my safety nets were leaving. Knowing no Aaron, no father and no sisters meant my mother was now free to have sex with me again. Why do I have such a problem with this? I know my friends don't have a problem, it's just me. Maybe I was still punishing her.
My mother put the brakes on hold for Susan and Becky, saying the answer was a flat no because they had only just been home for two hours and with their father on the loose, he can't be trusted. Cindy gave me and them a silly grin and said. "Jody and I were planning on spending the night, and Jody was going to drop me off at school in the morning. So, it would be no problem if that Susan and Becky came along for the ride, instead of riding an already full school bus, considering this is the last stop they make before going to the schools." Mom liked that idea more than having my sisters spend the night at their friend's house or with their untrustworthy father. Susan and Becky groaned, which made the final decision.
The first thing Becky noticed was a lock on her door on the outside and a keyed door. Mom and Aaron told me that all the doors had locks on them. That Aaron now had a better door than he had before, but not like mine. He would no longer need to push his bed against the door at night.
All he would have to do was turn the deadbolt and he would be locked safely inside his room. His window was like mine where all he would have to do was open and run to safety to prevent my father from harming him. My bedroom door, my mother's bedroom door, and Aaron's door were the only ones that did not have locks on the outside to keep them in our rooms.
Becky screamed. "Mom, what's the meaning of this?"
Mom said. "Oh that, I needed a place to put naughty girls at night when they think it's ok to spy on their brothers and friends. So don't test my limits girls, and we won't need them. Now I am trying to decide to go to a movie or rent one."
Greg and I quickly opened the paper and found one we wanted to see at a local drive-in, but the problem with drive-ins is the movie had already started because it was already past dusk. Jody whispered in my ear that it did not matter what we watched or went to. Greg and I wouldn't be watching it. I was all in for saving money and said. "Perhaps Friday night might be better after all. It has been a long day and Greg and I, really need at least one good night's sleep despite our three-hour nap."
Not that Greg and I would get our wish by any means. Mom did not care if Susan or Becky saw her or heard her have sex. She would simply deny it and we would back her up. I was more concerned about Aaron, but he was spending his nights with Bishop Earl's family. I remembered a time when he wouldn't waste a single minute being with me. Now he was willing to give that up, as if he had more than enough of me and wanted to be with his friends.
True, I had my friends as much as he had his friends and true my playing field was broader than his. I was also not worried about my mother having sex with him. I make sure to only give him oral stimulation when he asks for it, and she does the same, always giving him the opportunity to request it instead of assuming that he wants both me and Mom to provide it. I wasn't about to force him to do it. If he wanted it fine, I would do it. If not, then I didn't.
It was too late to go to the movie; we did not have a lot of theaters near us, in fact, if we went to the drive-in. We would have to drive clear to Provo to the Pioneer Drive-In. Sad to say that one no longer exists and had been torn down and in its place are more houses. There is another in Orem, known as the Art City Drive-in, but that one too is gone to houses around the same time. As far as inside movie houses, there is one in Payson, Spanish Fork, and at the University Mall in Orem. All gone now, but several new big ones have taken their place over the last ten years or so. I needed to organize my school backpack anyway and Greg needed to go home and grab some clothes and as well as his backpack for school.
Greg was cool about being dropped off at the high school at 7 a.m. because he had band practice. I did not even know he played an instrument, which was a trumpet. Like me, this would have been his senior year, but he was held back because of medical reasons, with his lungs and heart spending nearly half a year in the hospital. He did what he could to make up the credits, but it just wasn't enough.
Whereas I was held back because of some stupid foster kid rule the Rothwells had, yet I really can't say it hurt me any other than the humiliation. Unlike me, he would be taking driver's Ed now where I would have to wait until January. I understand even here it's a long waiting list. He missed the last deadline because he got into trouble in school with bad grades and was grounded. Everything has a price. Mine was buying my silence. Aaron quickly grabbed the clothes he wanted to wear and his backpack, giving me and Mom a hug and a kiss goodbye and that was that.
Coming Soon
Book 5