Boys With Their Toys

Editing thanks to techsan and jazzygrirlinNC mistakes are my fault

Fourteen years ago.

I am in our family living room. My head hurts from where my mother hit it with a table lamp. My father is lying on the floor, gasping for air. My mother walks over to the fireplace and picks up the poker. Mother says, "You two have held me back long enough. That ends today."

Mother walks over by me toward my father. I am scared but I unfold my pocketknife, and when I have my mother's back I stab her on the inside of her left thigh. She turns and hits me with the poker, knocking me unconscious. According to father, mother keeps on screaming at him until she collapses from blood loss.

The prosecutor tried me as an adult, which was a mistake on his part. The standards of proof are much higher than they would have been in juvenile court.

My father testified my mother was in the act of killing both of us. The prosecutor tried to convince the jury that we two should have subdued my mother without killing her. The prosecutor eliminated all the lesser charges so that only a life sentence or the death penalty was available if I was convicted. He lost.

Today.

I am twenty-five today. I have taken the day off and my father gave me a party at Fridays. I have all these balloons tied to my wrist and one of the waitresses actually kissed me. This happens from time to time from women who don't know my background. I am pretty good looking if I do say so myself. Oh, my name is Gerald Myers. Yes, the Gerald Myers who was tried for murdering his mother when he was eleven years old.

I go home with dad. Dad asks me, "What you going to do with the weekend?"

I told him, "I'm taking my truck and going up and spend Friday and Saturday night on the high ridge road camping."

Pop looked at me sadly and said, "You should start dating, son."

I responded, "Dad, we have been through all this. Women will never forget mom and who killed her. When you retire and we move away from here. That will be the time to date strangers. You know once they get to know us, our history won't be held against us."

He didn't say anything else. I packed the truck with my toys for the weekend. I had a telescope for star watching, and several guns for target shooting. The high ridge area belonged to Amber Timber who dad and I worked for. We had the keys to the padlocks, so it was easy for us to get where other people weren't.

I stopped by the grocery store and bought forty pounds of ice and other essentials for the weekend. I loaded the stuff in the two ice chests, cranked up my diesel Dodge and headed out the highway to the entry on the high ridge logging road. It took forty minutes to get to that point.

Once I locked the gates behind me, I put my truck in low range four wheel drive and headed up. This took two more hours but I got to where I wanted to camp just before dark. I leveled the camper, then raked the area clean of burnables. I looked up but it was a cloudy night, so no star watching.

I was too keyed up to stay still so I found my night gear and headed out on a night hike. I had my twenty-two pistol and a single edge sword for protection. I had my GPS so I could find my way back in the late night fog. I headed out for some excitement.

I had walked downhill toward the state park side of the timber property. I was making good time at night, averaging about two miles an hour for the two hours I had hiked. I was about to turn around and go back to my truck when I heard a cry of pain.

Now some people would go running around in the night to find out what happened, but the woods had been teaching me for the last twelve years. I got low and crawled toward the sound. The woods were about fifty degrees in temperature so no snake problem was likely.

I crawled up to a rise and saw a campfire with about sixteen or seventeen people huddled. Three men were standing around with their pants off, while four men with guns were watching the huddlers. There was a woman lying at the feet of one of the pantless men. I had found a rape session.

This presented me a problem; I couldn't just go off and leave them here while I found the police. That would take a minimum of two hours to get to the CB radio in my truck. On the other hand a gunfight with four armed men and me armed with a twenty-two would be a bad joke on me.

I had an Israeli silencer necklace. Maybe I could assemble it and put the silencer on my twenty-two. I crawled back to a point where nobody would see a light, and assembled the thing. Fortunately all its parts were on the necklace.

I crawled around to their backside. The woman who had been at the guy's feet was being raped. At least she was no longer crying. One of the gunmen said, "I need to take a leak." The others told him not to stink up the fucking place. He turned and walked straight toward my hiding place. When he stopped and undid his zipper he had to holster his gun. I shot him in his mouth. He sputtered but otherwise did not make a sound as he collapsed. He did finish his peeing.

I moved forward carefully and removed his gun from the holster. The holster was one of those police specials that you have to turn the pistol just so to remove it from the holster. I now had a nine-millimeter Glock with an extended magazine. I crawled away to make sure that nobody found me and got back to my high point.

I watched as the one of the gunmen got anxious and went looking. He found his friend all right and proceeded to shoot up the bushes where I had shot his friend. The rapist got up from his victim and the other pantless ones got back to their guns.

I heard their shouted conversation. "What you shooting at, John?"

John said, "Somebody killed Lewis."

"Did you hit him?"

John answered, "Hell, if I know."

"Well, get back here. You don't have enough ammunition to shoot up the whole damn forest."

John said, "But the guy is out here somewhere."

"Yeah, somewhere. Now get back here before you wake the local Mounties."

One of the gunmen walked over to the huddled people and pointed his gun at one of them. I panicked and shot him in the temple in front of his left ear. The shot was only ten yards, even with the silencer it wasn't that far. He fell forward on top of the person that he intended to shoot. The other gunmen ran forward to him to rescue his pistol from the prisoner.

I crawled back from my viewing point. I hoped nothing else would start to happen, but I couldn't risk giving them a clear shot at me. They still had five gunmen to just one of me. I crawled toward the prisoner end of the clearing. I looked over the rise but under a bush. I watched the five gunmen having a confab.

They were showing more intelligence this time. They were whispering with each other. I looked behind me and saw a dry creek bed and a gully that I could get to and hide in quickly. With all of them so close together, I had a fifty-foot shot. I took the Glock and fired off four quick shots. I think I saw the first shot hit one in the small of the back and another hit in the butt. I ran for the gully while the shots paralyzed them. They shot the living hell out of that bush. I got to the gully and stood on the creek bed.

One of them stood up on top of the bush and looked around. This was only eighteen feet so I shot him in the face with the twenty-two. The bullet bounced off his right cheekbone into his right eye. He was hurt and screaming but he wasn't dead. He just stood there for ten seconds so I took a second shot to his neck. I watched the blood spurting out. He might take a minute to die, but I could forget about him.

I ran low down the creek bed until I had lost the cover of the gully. My luck almost ran out but they looked the wrong way and I had time to get in the prone position. There were only three left now, and one of them was walking in pain from the butt wound. They had lost some of their cunning, for they were shouting at each other. They yelled at the one who was reloading, "John, you missed him."

John spoke angrily, "You missed him too. Now quit complaining. Do any of you have some ten millimeter bullets?"

They shook their heads. John started to head over to where the neck shot guy was. When and if he got to him I would have a forty-foot shot. That would be long for my twenty-two but I had no cover here, plus I had no spare ammo for the Glock. I wiggled lower into the old leaf mold and lined up my twenty-two for the shot.

John stooped over the neck shot guy, found a clip and stood up to put the clip in a coat pocket. I took the side of the neck shot, and watched the blood spurt again. He turned around and shot in my general direction twice. Then he fell forward on his face.

Butt shot and his friend said to the forest around them, "Hey, we're leaving now. You can have all of them."

They walked straight toward me. I put the twenty-two in my left hand and the Glock in my right. At ten feet range, I fired off the remainder of shots into their faces. They were now all dead.

I stood up and looked around. Nobody took a shot at me. I put a ski mask over my face, and walked over to the groaning woman. When I stood over her she seemed to be a teenager. She was naked and bleeding from where he had raped her. I asked her, "Where did they put your clothes?" She pointed over at a bush. There was a shirt and pair of pants plus her underwear and her shoes. I went over and got them for her. I brought them back to her.

She asked me, "Please don't look at me. Please."

I turned my head and gave her the clothing. I asked the rest of the people, "Do you need my help freeing yourselves?"

One of the young women - they were all young women - said, "They tied our wrists with duct tape. I don't think we can untie ourselves."

I was tempted to cut them free with my sword but had enough sense to use a box-cutting knife instead. I had them turn over and show me their wrists so I could slit the tape.

I told them, "I'm wiping my prints off this knife. You can use it to cut your feet free. It is in your interest to not tell other people how you were freed. Think that through and you will understand. I'm leaving you in peace."

I stepped back into the shadows. Funny, not one of the women asked my name or said thanks.

I made a wide circle of the rape scene, and watched them get their bonds undone. They finally started talking with each other. Mostly they were expressing relief with confusion. They were lost in the woods, and they knew it. Daylight would give them a chance to find their way out. After all, they had found their way in.

The rape victim was not getting any sympathy from the other women. I guess that she was not part of their regular group. Oh, well, I would bet that the papers would be full of this when I came home Sunday evening. I headed back to my campsite by a different route. I tramped through a running creek for about a mile. I figured that would mess up any bloodhound tracking.

By the time I had returned to my campsite, the sky had cleared. Since I was keyed up anyway, I got my telescope out and proceeded to look at the stars. About four in the morning, I turned in and got about three hours sleep.

Nobody bothered me Saturday. I guessed that either the women had decided not to say anything or were still lost at the rape site. As the site was about a mile from a state park parking lot, they should be able to walk out in the daylight with no problem.

Sunday morning as I was washing my breakfast dishes, the county sheriff came up the logging road to see me. He started his conversation with, "I know you're guilty, but I'm not as dumb as that prosecutor."

I said, "I'm glad to see you too. What am I guilty of this time?"

"Why seven innocent little boys were playing with their girlfriends, when a big bad monster shot them and cut their bodies up with a box knife. The monster castrated all seven of those boys." Sheriff Connor roared with laughter.

I kept my damn mouth shut, waiting for the next shoe to drop.

The Sheriff said, "Gerald, seriously, the dumb fucks that work in the next county and the state investigators couldn't figure the sun was shining if their eyes were open. I know you had something to do with it, but as long as you don't run around bragging, none of them will figure you're responsible."

The Sheriff started to turn away but added, "Those dumb bitches didn't find their way out of the woods until six last evening, or I would have been up here yesterday. None of them seem to know what happened, and they appear to be losing their memory rapidly. The problem for you is one of the young men is the son of State Senator Brown. That idiot is just dumb enough to press for an investigation of what really happened. "

Then Sheriff Connor left. I had never known what he had thought of me before. Well, I needed to pack up and go home before the television helicopter came out here looking for interviews. I followed the sheriff's patrol jeep to the gate.

I was about a quarter mile behind him when I heard his siren go off and he lit out for the northern road. I watched a whole bunch of news people follow him. Damn, they had been waiting to interview whomever was up here. I owed the Sheriff big time.

I locked the gates up and headed home. Pop had attempted to go to church Sunday morning but some of the biddies were still giving him grief over his wife. They had long ago driven me out of any church in town. I wish that they wouldn't take it out on him.

I, as they say, maintained a low profile for the next six weeks. Senator Brown had the stupidity to start accusing those women about doing something cruel to his boy. One of them smarted back that he had raped her and she might be carrying his grandchild. Then the senator lost the primary.

The woman that I saw naked on the ground lived in my town. Since I didn't go out to any of the nightspots, I thought we would never meet, but one Wednesday at the Wal-Mart, I ran into her in the dairy section when she asked me to get her some half and half that was on the high shelf. I was dumb enough to answer her. That caused her to look very intensely at me. I hoped against hope that she did not recognize me. No, my luck had run out.

I drove my truck in a roundabout path trying to shake her if she was tailing me, but when I pulled in my father's driveway, she had parked on the other side of the street and was waiting for me. The woman, Carol Hobson, said, "I just wanted to thank you."

"Thank me for what?" As if I did not already know.

She smiled and said, "I want to shout it to the rooftops."

I hustled her into my father's house before she could say anything else. I said, "Woman, is what I've done so bad that you want me thrown in jail?"

She said, "Do you really believe that? Look, how can I thank you? A date, maybe. A nice dinner. What."

"If you really want to thank me, you will forget you even saw me. This town has wanted me in jail or dead for the last fourteen years. If the jury had been from this town, I would be in prison or executed. No deed I will ever do will be a good deed to them." I had just spoken more words to her than I had spoken to all the women in this town in the last ten years.

She said, "Look, Gerald - yes, I know your name - nobody believes that I didn't deserve what happened to me. None of my old boyfriends wants anything to do with me."

"Shit, you were raped by men with guns. How can you have deserved that?"

"I guess I don't have to tell you people are strange mean. Gerald, I don't have any boyfriends. I need some one male to pay a little attention to me. I'm not looking for a marriage proposal, just a quiet date."

I was shocked so the next words out of my mouth were, "Are you asking me for a date? Nobody from this town has dated me ever. You're even good looking."

She interrupted, "You think I'm good looking?"

"Girl, you're a hottie. Why in the world would you want to be around me?"

"Maybe because nobody else in this town is brave enough to date me."

I hesitated at that. I really did not understand women, but I had a more than fine understanding of courage. I asked myself did I have enough guts. I asked, "Carol would you like to go out with me to a movie over in Springfield."

"Okay, but which movie?"

"If you like comedy, The Forty Year old Virgin."

"I like comedy. When?"

"Is Friday night okay?"

"Okay, pick me up at my parents house at 1447 Woodbine St. Can you find it? My phone number is 387-2901. Ask for Carol. Tell them nothing else. I don't want my parents to block this date."

"What time should I pick you up?"

"If you're off work by five, pick me up at 7:45. You won't have to buy me supper then."

"Hey, if you would like supper, I could pick you up at 5:45 and we could eat at the Frosty Pony in Springfield. They have good steaks."

"Sure. Most guys never want to buy me supper, but I never turn down free food. Five forty-five it is. Call me if you change your mind."

My luck had definitely changed. I did not understand why a good-looking woman would want to date me, but I was grateful for the attention. I won't say the week flew by but nothing else of any importance occurred that week to me.

Friday afternoon after work I got showered, shaved and ready for my date. My father told me to call her and tell her I was coming. I rang her up and said, "Hello, may I speak to Carol?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Carol's date for the evening. May I speak to Carol?"

"No, you may not." The phone went dead.

I got in my truck and drove over there. Carol ran out from across the street and hopped in my truck. She said, "Get the hell out of here. My folks are praying for my soul, that I may repent of my wicked lusts. Drive, I said."

I got our butts out of there. We made Springfield in twenty minutes. There was no wait at the Frosty Pony. I ordered her and I filet mignons medium rare. She had rice and I had a baked potato with triple butter. We ate quickly to make the 7:15 showing.

The movie was humorous and we had a good time laughing at it. I had not enjoyed myself this much in the last two years.

As we left the movie and got in my truck, Carol said, "Gerald, I'm having a good time, but that will end when I get home. Would you take me some where that my parents can't find me for a day or two. I'm not promising you sex, but that might happen if I can get over my fears. I really can't face going home."

There was another timber area about fifty miles from Springfield. That area was not in Sheriff Morris's county. We stopped at the Springfield Wal-Mart Super store and got the food, ice and bug repellent. I had keys to the gate on that logging road too. My fuel tank was three quarters full and my propane tanks were equally full.

We got to the entrance well after dark. It took me another hour in low range four wheel drive to get to a high point to observe the stars.

When we stopped Carol got a little nervous. She asked, "Are you going to fuck me?"

"Maybe some day, but not right now. Would you hand me a cold Coke, please? I'm going to set up my telescope over there." Carol seemed a bit puzzled.

She asked, "What are you going to do?"

"The sky is very clear tonight. I'm going to watch the stars."

The expressions on Carol's face were priceless. First there was the relief that I would not be demanding sex followed by confusion and then embarrassment over my lack of sexual interest.

I told her, "If you will throw out my sleeping bag and ground pad, you can lock yourself in the camper over night."

Her face went through the same range of expressions again. If I were a betting man, I would think that part of her problem with the rape was that she unavoidably had some arousal from it. If so, her conscience was beating her up big time.

Carol said, "I don't see your sleeping bag. You're going to have to come in here and find it."