Confession (7 page)

Jimmy made it down the end of Bertha’s street when a flashing red light illuminated the street in front of him.  At first he didn’t have a clue what could have caused that flashing red light.  It finally sunk in his head when he heard the squeaking sound of some car brakes. 
Fuck!
  He cursed out in his head while he stopped in the street. 

He turned around and saw Sheriff Damon sitting behind the wheel of his 1953 black and white
Ford
squad car ten feet away.

Jimmy and Sheriff Damon stared at each other for a few seconds.  Sheriff Damon stuck his left hand out his opened car window.  He motioned for Jimmy to come closer to the car. 

Jimmy reluctantly walked over to the squad car holding on to the towel wrapped around his waist.

Sheriff Nate looked at Jimmy.  “What the hell are you doing, boy? Walking down my street half naked,” Sheriff Damon asked then his eyes lit up with surprise when he noticed it was Jimmy Nalla.

“I can explain sir,” he said and looked down at the street ashamed of
himself
.

“Get in the back.”

Jimmy walked over and opened the rear passenger door.  He got in the backseat and closed the door.  For a second he wished Sheriff Damon had shot him first then asked questions.  He didn’t want to go home.

“Okay boy, tell me why you were naked in Bertha Wilson’s backyard and stole one of her towels,” Sheriff Damon asked while he drove the car off down the street.

While Sheriff Damon drove down the street, Jimmy told him how Fran, Ralph, Jake, Charlie, Alice, and Judy tricked him and stole his clothes down at the lake. 

Five minutes later, Sheriff Damon pulled his squad car into the dirt driveway of Jimmy’s home.

He parked his car behind Melvin’s red 1954 Ford Crestline.  “Let’s go,” Sheriff Damon told Jimmy while he turned the engine off.

Sheriff Damon and Jimmy got out of the squad car and walked to the front porch.

Sheriff Damon knocked on the screen door.

Jimmy stared down at the porch in shame while he moved away to his left out of view of the door.

A few seconds later, Melvin appeared at the screen door with a beer can in hand
and a Lucky Strike cigarette that dangled from his lips
.  “Nate, how can I help you?”

Sheriff Damon grabbed Jimmy’s right arm and moved him into view. 

Melvin looked pissed the second he saw his son wearing nothing but a towel and sneakers.  “What the hell is going on?” he barked out.

“Well, it appears Fran Schaefer and some of her friends tricked Jimmy here into thinking they were going to have sex.  Then two other boys and two girls showed up
out of the woods. 
They
snatched
his clothes and left him naked at the lake.  He stole a towel from Bertha Wilson’s clothes line,” Sheriff Damon explained.

Melvin fumed while he stared at Jimmy who stared down at the front porch.  “Get
your ass
inside boy.”

“Thanks Nate.”

Sheriff Damon gave Melvin a little wave while he walked back to his car.  He knew what would happen next as he was all too familiar with Melvin’s temper.

Inside their living room, Melvin glared at Jimmy.  “How the hell can you let a girl get the better of you?” Melvin yelled while his eyes bugged out and the veins in his neck bulged ready to burst.

Ricky crept down the hallway when he heard the yelling.  He peeked around the corner just in time to watch Melvin remove his belt from his pants.

Melvin snatched the towel away from Jimmy’s waist and spun his around.  He raised his hand and whipped the belt hard across Jimmy’s butt cheeks.  “Never let a woman get the best of you!” Melvin yelled out in anger while he repeatedly whipped Jimmy’s butt with his belt.  “Never!  Never!”

Jimmy took his beating like a man because he knew if he cried he would be beaten harder. 

Ricky did not show any emotion with Jimmy getting a beating.  He was accustomed to Melvin beating their mother and him.  The beatings from Melvin were the reason she finally got up the nerve and ran away last year.  She went to live with her cousin in Charlotte, North Carolina to start a new life without the abuse.  Melvin thought his wife was worthless for running like that and gave her a divorce.

“Get you chicken shit ass to bed,” Melvin yelled while he placed his belt back on his pants.

Jimmy ran down the hallway with his butt cheeks red with numerous bloody cuts. 

Jimmy walked inside his bedroom then he went to his dresser and got dressed in a fresh tee shirt and white boxers.   He got in bed and did not say a word to Ricky who lay quiet in his bed.

I’m going to kill that bitch!
  Jimmy said in thoughts about revenge while he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling. 

After an hour of fuming, Jimmy finally fell asleep.

Jimmy spent Saturday at his father’s Ford dealership washing cars with Ricky. 

That night he stayed at home and watched TV.  He was a little nervous about hanging out with the other kids in front of Herman’s Drug Store.  But then again, when he did hang out with them he always felt out of place.

Sunday arrived and Jimmy stayed home all day with Ricky.  His father was out with his KKK buddies drinking Moonshine at one of their hunting spots in the woods north of town.  In the afternoon, Ricky and Jimmy went in the backyard and tossed the baseball around. 

Jimmy had a Lucky Strike cigarette that dangled out of his mouth to look cool while he tossed around the baseball.

“I want to try one,” asked Ricky while he threw the baseball to Jimmy.

Jimmy caught the ball, reached inside his shirt pocket and removed a pack of Lucky Strikes.  He removed a cigarette and walked over to Ricky.  He handed Ricky the cigarette.   Ricky smoked his first cigarette and thought he was so cool. 

Monday morning arrived and Jimmy was off to school.

He did his normal walk and things were quiet so far so he figured what happened on Friday night was forgotten or word about it never spread.

Jimmy walked down the sidewalk to the school where other students were heading in the same direction.  So far nobody said anything.

Jimmy went inside the three-story school building and went down the hallway to his locker.  While he unlocked his locker, he sensed that a bunch of eyes were on him.  He looked to his left and saw Ralph, Fran, Jake, Charlie, Alice and Judy with ten other fellow classmates standing in the hallway with shit eating grins on their faces.

“Hey baby dick,” said Ralph then he placed his right hand over his crotch and stuck out his pinky finger to show it was Jimmy’s dick.

All the kids in the hallway busted out in laughter at Jimmy.

Jimmy’s anger was about to blow and he wanted to lunge after Ralph.  But he knew Ralph and his two goons would beat him to a pulp.  So he fought off the urge, closed and locked his locker.

“Baby dick!  Jimmy has a baby dick!” Ralph called out taunting Jimmy.

“Break this up Ralph Johnston and get to class,” yelled out Principal Jerry Briggs while he walked down the hallway seeing the gathering of student.

“Ah, yes sir, Mister Briggs,” said Ralph and he motioned for his entourage that they better head off to glass.

The crowd walked away and headed to class.

Jimmy stayed by his locker.

“That means you, Mister Nalla,” said Principal Briggs.

“Yes sir,” said Jimmy then he walked off down the hallway.

Principal Briggs turned around and headed down the hallway in the opposite direction to go back to his office.

Jimmy was the last one to arrive in the classroom for the first class of the day.  It was American History and Jimmy sat in the very back by the windows.  He liked that seat because he would often stare out the windows when the teacher lectured.  His stares out the windows came with dreams of a life where he would be somebody.

While the teacher started to discuss the details on their final exam next week, Jimmy stared at Ralph and Fran while they were near the front of the class. 
One day.  Just wait.  One day.
  He thought while he stared at Ralph and Fran and had visions of beating the two to a pulp with a baseball bat.   Those visions made him smile and feel good inside. 

Two weeks had passed and the day that all the seniors of the high school have been waiting for years had finally arrived.  It was graduation day!  And they were free from the bonds of their high school teachers.  The sky was the limit for their future.

After the ceremony was over that Friday night, the vast majority of the kids had plans to have a huge party down at the clearing at the lake.  Jimmy and his buddy Homer were some of the few that were not invited.

So Jimmy had a plan.  It was one where he could get a little revenge with Fran.  So he waited that night until he knew the gang was down at the lake.  When the moment was right, he got on his Schwinn bicycle and rode off down the street.

He headed to the western part of town.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Jimmy raced his Schwinn down Route 123.

A little while later he rode his Schwinn down the dirt road that led to the clearing by the lake.

Jimmy could hear the laughter of everybody down at the clearing.

He stopped his Schwinn and pushed it into the woods.

Jimmy set his bike down in the woods and cautiously moved through the woods and headed to the clearing.

While he got closer and closer to the clearing the laugher of his classmate partying got louder and louder.

He stopped when he had a good view of the clearing and peeked around a pine tree.

He saw that there were six cars in a semi-circle with the front ends pointed at the lake.  The all had their headlights on and Jimmy could see they were drinking bottled beer and obviously had a good buzz going.

Jimmy spotted Fran’s Ford Victoria two cars to his left.  He got a smirk and cautiously moved through the woods over to the rear of her car.

Jimmy got to the rear of Fran’s Ford and saw that nobody had seen him.  He smiled while inched his way to the driver’s side of Fran’s car.

He got to the driver’s door and quietly opened the driver’s door and sat behind the wheel.  He quietly closed the door with a soft click.

He sat behind the wheel and noticed he was still undetected.  He felt it was safe so he unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants and boxers. 

Jimmy lifted his ass off the seat and proceeded to take a dump on the front seat.

After he was done, he ever so carefully opened the driver’s door and ever so carefully got out of the car so he wouldn’t disturb his graduation present.

He quietly closed the door and it closed with a soft click.

Jimmy pulled up his jeans and quietly inched his way back into the woods.

Once behind a pine tree, Jimmy buckled his belt and moved away to a safer location in the woods.

He debated if he should stick around to hear Fran’s screams later that night.  He felt it was too risky so he cautiously moved through the woods and went back to his Schwinn.

After Jimmy moved his Schwinn back through the woods and to the dirt road, he hopped on it and raced back home with a smirk on his face.

For the next few days, Jimmy heard how Fran found that surprise left on the front seat of her daddy’s car.  He wanted so bad to tell her what he did but decided that he didn’t want another beating from his paw.  So he kept his mouth shut until he found the right moment.

It was Tuesday morning and Jimmy went to work at his paw’s Ford dealership to wash cars.  Ricky always tagged along, as he loved hanging down at the dealership seeing all those brand new shiny Fords. 

Working at the dealership was a job doing shit chores he loathed.  But Melvin said that if he didn’t work full-time down at the dealership Jimmy would have to move out of the house.  Jimmy decided that washing cars for sixty-cents and hour wasn’t too bad as compared to living on the streets.  So he figured he would tolerate it until he figured out what he wanted to do with his life.

Friday rolled around and Jimmy just finished washing a white with blue top and blue interior 1954 Crestline Victoria hardtop Ford that was just sold.  It was still wet after the rinse.

“Are you done?” asked Melvin while he walked up to Jimmy with now Major Roscoe Purcell still in the Army Reserves down at Fort Benning.

Jimmy looked and saw Melvin and Roscoe.  “Yes sir.  Mister Purcell’s car is ready.  And hello Mister Purcell,” replied Jimmy.

“Hi Jimmy, listen, have you given it much thought on what you want to do after high school?” asked Roscoe.

“No sir.”

“You might want to consider the Army.  It would be good for you,” said Roscoe.

“Maybe,” said Jimmy and Melvin and Roscoe sensed Jimmy wasn’t interested.  That bugged Melvin.