On one of their many road trips, realizing that they were near her home town — well why not? In a diner she remembered from childhood— now hipsterized for the tourist trade — Alexa leafed idly through a copy of the local paper. The usual local stories, classifieds…what? Among the classifieds, a notice caught her eye.
Attention: persons who, as children, were molested or touched inappropriately by Rev. Evan Walsh…she froze, then breathed, audibly, “Oh, you old bastard,” then between clenched teeth, “I’m coming to get you.” Carl looked at her quizzically. She slid the paper over, stabbed at the ad with her index finger. Her nail made an aggressive clicking sound.
I was studying the chi-chi menu, trying to find some food. When I heard the clicking, looked up, and saw what she was indicating, I startled. She hadn’t told me much about that, but it’s not like I had to ask. She already had her phone out.
“Yes…That’s right…Well, my husband and I were just passing through town and I happened to see…tomorrow at 2:00? Sure.”
“Carl, we’re staying in Oxford. It’s not too far. We can do this. It’s important to me.”
Of course we would do it.
“Ms. Prescott, (she’d retained her née) your case is mild compared to some of the stories I have been told — of course I don’t want to make light of your experience, but you can just imagine — at any rate, especially as you have indicated your willingness to take the stand, it is important. Taking down one of these bastards requires a lot of narrative testimony.” Standing, Marie Sherman extended her hand, “Thank you again for your willingness to testify in person. We will certainly be in touch. It may be months, perhaps longer — these things move slowly — but I will be contacting you.”
I was prowling a nearby bookstore. She caught up with me.
“How’d it go?” I inquired.
“We’ll be back. That is assuming you can make it and you want to make it. If not then I’ll be back.”
“When?”
“Sherman will get back to us. Wants me to take the stand. Months, maybe more.”
I paid for my selections — I always found something — and we walked out into brilliant New England fall sunshine, which I barely noticed. My brain was spinning. If she was taking the stand with this, I wouldn’t miss it for all the world. At last I’d find out more about this than her vague hints. Her nail banging on that ad brought it back to me. She’d recounted few details, and I didn’t want to pry. I always said to myself let her tell me about it when she feels like it. She wasn’t saying stay out of the courtroom, so I guessed that in time I would know — what exactly? When I knew, would I wish I did not?
Setting up for circle. Little Carl picked up a stick and started walking along with it pointed toward the ground. “Ah-ma, Ah-ma.” Cute. Ray was there. They’d started bringing Ray to circle. With little Carl around, no fucking in circle, so why not include Ray? Still, whose idea was it, Alexa’s or mine? Not clear. Were they looking at each other more — and differently — than a wife and a best friend of husband should? I looked away. That was and is my problem. Looking away. If I would just look at shit and face up to it I’m sure I’d be better off. Better off than what? It’s not like I’m not well off, what with my fluid mechanical superpower. But relationships? If I looked and observed honestly I might not keep stumbling and falling on my ass.
So. I should have seen it then. Should have, could have, would have. It blew up in my face not long after that, when they started being really obvious about it. At least it seems like it was not long after that. Of course the whole world knew except me.
There must be a thousand C&W songs about saps like me.
I took them to the airport, for Christ’s sake, and saw them onto the plane for Spokane. Why Spokane? He was supposed to have land there or something like that. My head was in such a state that I couldn’t keep anything straight. What was I supposed to do anyway, fight the guy? He was my best friend — my brother even, but more on that later — besides I’m sure he could kick my ass. I’m not very masculine anyway, at least not in the social sense.
“Oh shit of course I knew.” Kelly looked at me askance, smiled and shook her head. Kelly was the only other Wiccan in the area. That we knew, anyway. We joined up for circles, especially after little Carl was born, because, like I said, not much fucking in circle any more. But it’d been a while since she last joined us. Alexa had been talking shit about her for some time, which seemed odd. They were friends. Were friends.
“Oh Agni, Adittia (she always used our circle names) and Ray’d been going at it for weeks — get over here.”
“Kelly…”
But then again why not fuck her? She’d promised she was the best fuck on the face of the earth — a gross exaggeration. Compared to Alexa I might as well jerk off. But take comfort where comfort is available, I say. Hell, I’d even hit the bars again and sucked a dick or two.
“Ya’kno-ow,” Kelly drawled, “we should’ve done circle with me, and Adittia, and Ray, and you-ou (touching the tip of my nose) then we could’ve fucked while they went at it. Think of the energy we could’ve raised!”
Kelly and her energy.
“Oh right. Alexa hates you. She’s been talking shit about you for…”
“Oh Agni, for as long as she’s been fucking Ray! She didn’t want me around because, silly, not only did I know about her and Ray, but she thought you were boning me! Like you should have been, you-naughty-boy!
Whatever. I had to assume this was her idea of pillow talk. But at least things were starting to make sense.
Ray. He’d come to live with us for about a year or so when we were kids — the hush-hush, the whispers of the grown ups. But oh man — best year ever! We’d hung out a lot before, being friends and all, but now it seemed like every day we were off tearing around on our bikes, crapping around at any of our numerous “forts” in the local scrubby woods, daring each other to jump from “the rock” into “the gorge.” After he moved in, he wouldn’t do it. Why I didn’t know, he’d always done it before. His reticence was a bit of a relief because that made two of us — I never had the “guts”. But before long he got over whatever it was, pulled off his shirt and made the jump. When I think of it now, it seems that he was trying to remain facing me as, following his jump, he climbed the bank toward me. Even so, as he climbed I glimpsed the scars.
“What happened, man?”
“Oh, s’nothin.”
He shot me that look that even kids can manage — don’t go there. So I didn’t. Kids know. He was hiding something. Was this why he avoided “the jump” until now? For whatever reason, in that moment I felt energized, fearless — I tore off my shirt, ran up and over I went. He had told me the rapids pulled you under and you just had to swim back up, so you had to get a good breath just before you hit. Damn it was cold! My lungs were about to burst when I broke the surface and saw his thumbs-up sign.
If some of this seems confusing, like it came from nowhere, catch up by reading Part 1 and Part 2. They aren’t very long.
Before things got weird
Part 4
This trailer approved (with trigger warning — child abuse) for Medium audiences.
“Damn kids! Where’s my strap!” he bellowed. The children hid behind the house now, frozen with fear. What if he found it!?
“Where’s my… Oh, so you kids think you’re smart, eh?” They heard heavy, ripping sounds punctuated by grunts. They looked at each other, eyes wide with terror. Their father appeared at the corner of the house. Suzy bolted. Ray began to run, but his father was too close. He crouched into fetal position, managed to peak out. His father’s jeans bulged oddly in front. A few crooked nails remained protruding menacingly from the strap. The first blow struck him, then a second, so painful his head spun. Some survival instinct grabbed him, tugged him. He broke and ran, faster than he would have thought possible, glancing back to see that the distance between him and the lumbering giant, with its terrible, flailing weapon, was increasing. Run! But where? Carl’s house! Maybe his friend would be home, maybe Carl’s mother. It was a long way to run, but though the giant soon gave up the chase, fear drove him on. Soon he burst through Carl’s mercifully unlocked back door, tripped on the door jam, and fell headlong to the floor, panting and sobbing.
