Confession (8 page)

“Finish his car and bring it around front,” said Melvin.

“Yes sir.”

“Then come into my office, I want a chat with you,” said Melvin then he and Roscoe walked away.

Jimmy started drying the Ford with a towel.

Ten minutes had passed and Jimmy brought the Ford to the front of the dealership. 

Roscoe drove away happy with his new Ford.

Jimmy went inside the dealership and went straight into Melvin’s office.

“Sit down,” said Melvin from behind his desk the second Jimmy stepped into his office.  He walked over and sat down in one of the two chairs in front of Melvin’s wooden desk.

“I’m not going to live forever and want this dealership to stay in the family,” said Melvin then he paused and looked at Jimmy.  “But I’m having my doubts that you could keep this dealership afloat if you’re in charge, so I think it’s best you find some other career.  You didn’t sound like you wanted the Army.”

“No sir.”

“Okay, maybe I could get you a job down at the sawmill.  Some hard labor might do you some good,” he said then he paused while he took a sip of coffee.  “How does that sound?”

Jimmy looked at Melvin and didn’t like the idea of sweating like a pig in sawdust.  He was clueless on how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.

“Excuse Mister Nalla, I hate to interrupt,” said Melvin’s thirty-year-old secretary standing in the doorway.

“What Wilma?”

“I wanted to remind you that you have the retirement luncheon for Deputy Ernie Hughes in thirty minutes,” she said.

“Thanks Wilma.”

Wilma left the doorway.

Jimmy looked back at the doorway then at Melvin.  An idea popped in his head and it was a grand of an idea.  He finally knew how he wanted to spend the rest of his life.  “Paw, I know what I want to do.”

“What’s that?”

“I want to become a police officer,” he said then paused on what he said.  “Yeah, that’s what I want to do.  I want to become a police officer,” he added and the mover he thought about it the more he liked that idea.

Melvin thought about Jimmy’s idea for a few seconds.  “Okay, I’ll have a talk with Nate later today,” he said then motioned for Jimmy to leave his office.

Jimmy got out of the chair and headed out of Melvin’s office.

The next day arrived and Jimmy was sitting in the Boldger Police Station filling out his job application.  This was a mere formality, as he had the job based on a phone call from Melvin.

Two days had passed and Jimmy had his khaki police uniform without a badge.  He wasn’t issued a revolver yet but had a nightstick, as his only protection.

That afternoon, Sheriff Damon took Jimmy out to a grassy field north of the town where they had a gun range.  The range just consisted of a ten-foot high dirt berm where the town folk would fire off rounds of bullets.

After twenty minutes of firing at a target placed in the berm, Sheriff Damon was satisfied that Jimmy could
safely
handle a gun. 

They left the gun range and headed back to the office.

Jimmy was given Ernie’s gun belt and a 38 Special revolver.  He was also given Ernie’s old desk and had a book on Boldger Police Procedures to read and learn.

For the next two weeks, Jimmy shadowed Sheriff Damon around town as part of his On-The-Job training.

Jimmy was finally awarded a badge and that made Jimmy proud.  Even Melvin was proud that Jimmy started to show some potential, as he had his doubts with his mediocre grades.  So Melvin did something nice for Jimmy for once, he sold him a 1950 white Ford couple for half price.  Since Jimmy was now earning his own money, he also was able to afford to rent an efficiency apartment at the south side of town.  Jimmy started to love the way his life was turning out and loved being out from under the abusive control of his daddy.

Since Jimmy was new with the department, Sheriff Damon had him work the night shift.  He figured that would be a good start as the town was quiet in the evenings.
  Jimmy loved driving the squad car around town with a Lucky Strike dangling from his lips.  He thought he was so cool.

So it was a Tuesday night and Jimmy sat behind his desk reading his current issue of his
True Detective
magazine.   His stomach growled and he glanced at his watch.  He set the magazine down and decided to head out and get some dinner at his favorite place.

He left the department and decided to drive around town to see if there was anybody he could arrest.

Jimmy sat behind the wheel of the squad car and he felt like he was on top of the world and power.

He drove down Main Street and spotted Fran while parked her daddy’s Ford Victoria by the fire hydrant near the front of Woolworths.

He drove down the street and glanced out his car door window and saw Fran get out of her car and rush into Woolworth’s.

He made a U-turn in the street and headed back to Woolworth.  He parked his car behind Fran’s car.

Once Jimmy entered Woolworth’s he spotted Fran walking through the aisles heading to the food counter.

He walked through the aisles after Fran and stopped a safe distance when he spotted in her waitress uniform Judy standing behind the food counter giving an old man his Salisbury steak dinner. 

He saw Fran walk over with her left hand behind her back and sat at one of the stools at the counter.

He hid behind an aisle of feminine products so he could eavesdrop on the girls.

Judy looked to her right and saw Fran.  She motioned that she would down be there in a second.

Fran sat on the stool with her left hand behind her back and looked anxious.

After Judy was done with that old man, she walked over to Fran.

“Want a milkshake?” asked Judy.

“No, I’m here to share some exciting news.”

“What exciting news?” Judy asked not having a clue and wondered why Fran sat at the counter with her left hand behind her back.

Jimmy craned his neck over some boxes of Tampons to see what Fran wanted to show them. 

Fran whipped her left hand out from behind her back.  She flashed her hand at Judy to show off her diamond engagement ring.

“Ahhhh!” yelled out Judy at the sight of Fran’s diamond ring.

The old man down at the other end of the counter glanced over to his left at the girls wondering why Judy yelled.  He shrugged it off and continued eating his Salisbury steak dinner.

“When’s the wedding?”

“Ralph wants to get married next week.  He went to Tuscaloosa and enlisted in the Navy.  He leaves in two weeks for basic training at the Great Lakes north of Chicago.”

“Ah, are you going to move?” asked Judy and she looked worried with the answer.

“Yes.  My Aunt Sue lives in Chicago and I’m going to live with her until Ralph gets out of basic.  I have to get out of this town.”

“I know.  I can’t believe Sheriff Damon made Jimmy Nalla a deputy.  He’s such a loser,” said Judy.

“Another reason I want to leave.  That creep has been wanting me for years and the thought of that makes my skin crawl,” said Fran and her body shivered at the thought of Jimmy.

Jimmy looked pissed and walked away from that aisle.

Jimmy walked out of Woolworth’s and that memory of that mean trick down at the lake started to make his blood boil.

He looked at Fran’s Victoria for a few seconds.  He thought about giving her a ticket for parking by the fire hydrant for a few seconds.   “Naw.  She would know that I was here,” he quietly muttered to himself.  Then he got an idea.  He looked up and down the street.  Nobody was in sight.  He looked across the street.  He looked back at Woolworth’s and nobody was in the store that could see him outside.  He felt it was safe so he walked

He got a smirk while he walked to the rear of the Ford Victoria.  He looked around the area again and felt safe that nobody would see him.  He removed his nightclub and smacked the right rear taillight of the Victoria shattering it.  He looked around and felt safe nobody saw him so he walked over to the left side of the Victoria.  He smacked the left rear taillight of the Victoria shattering it.

He walked over to his squad car, got behind the wheel, started it up, and pulled out into the street.

Jimmy drove away down the street and was a little satisfied with his piece of revenge, but he still had thoughts of killing her.

Ten minutes had passed and Fran left Woolworth’s.  She got in her Victoria and started up the engine.

She pulled the car out onto the street and was heading over to Alice’s house to break the news to her.

Alice drove down Main Street with a huge smile.  She couldn’t wait to become Ralph’s wife.

She drove past Maple Avenue and didn’t notice the squad car parked along that street.

Fran drove a little farther down the street when all of a sudden she saw a flashing red light reflecting off her front windshield and in her rear view mirror.  “Fuck!” she said then pulled over to the curb and placed the car in park.

She sat with her arms crossed and looked pissed.

She heard footsteps of someone approaching her door from the opened window.  She looked and saw Jimmy standing by the door with a ticket pad in hand. 

“Ma-am,” said Jimmy playing the police cop role.  “The reason I pulled you over is that both of your rear taillights are busted out.”

“What?” said Fran disbelieving Jimmy’s story.   “No way deputy.”

“You’re welcome to get out and look for yourself.”

Fran opened up her car door, got out and rushed over to the rear of her car.

She saw that both taillights were busted out.  “How the fuck did that happen?” she asked.

“Well, maybe you backed into something and didn’t realize it.”

“No way.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to write you a ticket,” said Jimmy then he removed his pen from his shirt pocket and started to write out a ticket.

Fran walked back over and got back inside her car.  She closed her door and was fuming mad.  But she knew she would have to accept the ticket and had her suspicions with how those taillights got busted.

After a few seconds of waiting, Jimmy walked back over to her door.  He handed her the ticket then walked away with a smirk and got back inside his car.

Fran started up her engine and pulled out onto the street.

Jimmy sat in his squad car for a few seconds and felt like he had some power being a police officer.  He loved that feeling.

He started up his engine and made a U-turn in the street.

He drove off to eat dinner.

Two days had passed and Jimmy just finished his night shift.  He knew that Fran would be married in a few days and he still had some deep-seated hatred for her.  After all, she spurned his love and made him look like a fool down at the lake.

Jimmy drove away from the station in his Ford Coupe.

The town was quiet and void of anybody on the streets.  The folk of Boldger were great for staying home at night and not wonder around the streets causing problems.

But instead of heading home he decided to make a pit stop.

Jimmy parked down on Watson Avenue where Fran lived.  He parked two houses down the street from her house.

He got out of his car and rushed down the street and headed over to Fran’s house.

He stopped by her house, looked the area over and sensed nobody was watching him.

He rushed through her front yard, down the left side of her house and to the backyard.

After he felt he was safe from observing eyes so he walked over to Fran’s bedroom window.

He saw that her window was opened to allow the cool night air to keep her cool while she slept.

Jimmy peeked in the window and saw Fran asleep on the top of her covers in her white nightgown.  He wanted her in the worst way and hated the fact that she wouldn’t return his love.  For a split second, he felt like climbing through her window and strangling her in her sleep.

He shrugged off that thought and walked away from her window.

Jimmy rushed back over to his car and got behind the wheel.

He drove off and headed home. 

A month had passed and Fran and Ralph were married and no longer residents of Boldger.  Jimmy placed Fran out of him memory figuring getting stressed over her was not worth the effort.

His buddy Homer Maris left Boldger to attend the University of Alabama.  He had poor grades in school but his daddy used his KKK connections to get Homer into college.  Homer studied Criminal Justice and wanted to become a FBI Agent.

It finally happened.  In September of 1954, Jimmy finally lost his virginity.  He didn’t have to resort to jerking off in his apartment for sex this time.  It was a Saturday night and Jimmy had to arrest one of the town drunks.  She was Nancy Brown a fifty-seven year old short woman that loved spending her free time down at The Thirsty Tavern located on the south end of town.