The Birth of Bane (22 page)

“
But
-.”

“
By then, he was
nothing but a bloody mess, a horrific… indistinguishable mess.” Her
forehead wrinkled. She appeared nauseated. “I couldn’t tell if he
still had a nose… Oh god, Jerry, it was atrocious!” She was in my
arms before her words had sunk in.

Who was she
talking about? Was she talking about me? But, I didn’t remember
turning Lenny into a bloody pulp. And why would he be a ruined mess
in the first place? How could he have lost his nose?

“
I d-don’t
understand, My-My. What happened?”

She stiffened in
my clench, pulling her head back to look me in the eyes. “Are you
fucking with me?”

Once more, I
shook my head, concerned over her choice words.

She grabbed my
head with both of her hands. “You almost killed your father,
Jerry.” I tried to jerk free of her, but she wouldn’t let me go.
“You beat him. You kept hitting him and hitting him and hitting him
- for so long and so hard. I couldn’t pull you free. You were so
strong. I wanted to yell for Valerie, but she was taking care of
your brother.”

ELIJAH!!!
His name sounded in my head like the
tolling of a bell.
Oh my god,
what happened to my baby brother?

Myra must’ve
sensed the intensity of my curiosity, because her face softened
instantaneously. “He’s hurt, Jer, pretty bad,” she said carefully.
“He broke ribs that have punctured a lung and… he ruptured his
spleen. The doctor’s had to remove it. He came out of surgery about
an hour ago.” She gulped down a lump in her throat. “The doctors
are keeping him in an induced coma for the time being, to give his
body time to heal from all the trauma.”

I couldn’t do
anything but cry.

She held me the
entire time. Her small arms felt like the world had come to comfort
me. Though one portion of my heart was being torn asunder, another
was fortified by my love for her. I knew, despite the fact we were
young and had our lives ahead of us, I was going to marry her. She
was the one for me. I felt so blessed to have found her so early in
life.

“
And my mother?”
I inquired after a time.

“
She’s sleeping.
She’s got facial fractures, a broken nose and a
concussion.”

I felt my heart
lurch.

Suddenly, she
was kissing my face, soaking up my tears with her puffy lips.
“She’s stable, my love. She’s resting. The doctors said it could’ve
been a lot worse, especially if you and Eli hadn’t intervened when
you did. One more punch to her face could’ve sent bone fragments
into her brain…” She stopped abruptly, realizing what she’d said.
Her eyes were wide with shock. “I’m sorry, Jerry. I’m
sorry.”

“
Don’t be,” I
whispered, feeling the weight of the entire planet upon my
chest.

She was kissing
me again. Her lovely lips were trailing along my jaw and down the
curve of my neck.

“
Why are my
hands wrapped up in all this crap?” I wondered aloud, enjoying the
feeling of her.

She was licking
my clavicle, then snorted derisively. “You broke your left hand on
your father’s face. Your right is just badly bruised.”

“
Why don’t I
feel anything?”

“
You’re on a
mild morphine drip, you dope,” she said, her eyes twinkling. She
wasn’t afraid of me anymore.

I glanced
through the safety-glass at the middle of the door to my room. “Why
are the cops here?”

Myra turned,
following my gaze. “They need to get a preliminary statement from
somebody. I guess they figured you’d be the first one to
wake-up.”

“
Makes sense.”
Then another thought hit me. “Where’s Lenny?”

“
Who?”

“
My father,
where is he? How is he?” I clarified for her, more curious than
concerned for his well-being.

She traced my
eyebrow with her finger. “He’s not at this hospital anymore. Once
they stabilized him, they took him somewhere else, where they
specialize in reconstructive surgery, I assume.” She shrugged.
“Other than that, I don’t know anything else.”

“
Is the family
here?” I was wondering why Myra and I had been alone for so
long.

She kissed me on
the lips, slow and lingering, just the way I like it. “They’re
here. They’re with Valerie, watching over Eli and your Mom. The
cops shooed them away when it looked like you were going to wake-up
soon.”

I mock frowned
at her reply. “And how is it you’re still here?”

“
You think a
couple of freakin’ cops are going to keep me from you?”

I had to laugh.
It hurt, mostly about my neck, but it was worth it. It was alive,
and so was my family. We might be a little broken right now, but we
were all still alive.

“
Is Valerie
ok?”

“
Just scrapes
and bruises,” she smiled her retort. “Besides, she’s got Jose
keeping her spirits up.” Her eyebrows shot up and down like Groucho
Marks.

I rumbled with
mirth, more careful this time. “Good, good. I like the
guy.”

“
Me too. He
seems nice enough,” she said, but couldn’t say more.

Right then, a
tall man in a wrinkled shirt and tie, and slacks walked in. His
face was square. Its’ skin was weathered, ruddy and pot-marked. His
hair was close cut, combed back, light brown. His eyes were
matching. He had a flip-top notepad and an air of authority about
him. “Well, I see you’re awake now.”

I
nodded.

He came further
into the room. “You feel up to telling me what happened back your
house last night?’

I scowled,
glancing at Myra.

She knew what I
was thinking without me having to tell her. “You’ve been asleep for
a while, babe. It’s already passed eight in the
morning.”

“
Wow,” was all I
could think to say.

“
I’m Sargent
Detective Rollins, Mr. Favor,” said the man, using a more formal
approach. He extended his hand.

I shook it as
best as I could manage, my hands resembling a pair of zucchini than
anything else. “What do you want to know.”

“
Just the truth,
young man, that’s all - nothing more, nothing less.” He smiled, but
it didn’t reach his eyes.

I sighed, helped
Myra take a seat on my bed and proceeded to fill in Sargent
Detective Rollins about the scourge of our family – Leonard G.
Favor.

It was a long
tale
.

~~~~~~~<<<
ᴥ
>>>~~~~~~~

Chapter
Fourteen: Aftermath

Of the three of
us hospitalized patients, I was the first to be released, which
wasn’t too much after my conversation with the LAPD
detective.
That
conversation had gone well enough.
Actually, there hadn’t been much back and forth communication at
all, so it was more like regurgitation on my part. Detective
Rollins mostly listened, intervening on occasion to ask something
specific, but no more. Though the only other people he’d talked to
were my sister and Bruce, our tenant, it seemed to me as though
he’d already formulated a theory as to what had transpired at the
house upon the hill.

The only
question I couldn’t answer was what had started the argument
between my parents in the first place. I told him Roxanna could
probably answer the specifics of his question and he did something
kind of funny. He had tilted his head, squinted out of one eyes and
asked me, “Who’s Roxanna?”

I replied, “Why
she’s my father’s Administrative Assistant.”

Again, I got the
“hinky-policeman’s-eye”.

We sort of
stared back at one another for a time, then he said something
extraordinary.

He said, “Your
father doesn’t have an Administrative Assistant. His position with
the studio doesn’t require he have one.”

I
frowned.

He
frowned.

Silence befell
us.

Abruptly, he
stood, put away his tiny notepad and said he’d look into what I’d
told him. He made for the door, but stopped. He turned back, eyes
very Dirty Harry-ish. “Can you describe the woman,” he
asked.

I said
absolutely, and gave him a detailed description.

He nodded the
entire time, but didn’t write anything down. He merely thanked me
and left.

Myra had leaned
in to kiss me once again. “What was that all about?”

I
shrugged.

Instead
of leaving upon being discharged, I
stuck around. By then, I’d discovered we’d been taken to Glendale
Adventist, which was an extremely well equipped medical facility
less than five miles from where we lived.

Myra and I met
up with Valerie and her boyfriend in my mother’s room. She was
still in a medically induced slumber, though not comatose like
Elijah. She was lying on the bed, propped up by a multitude of
pillows, her face heavily wrapped in gauze and tape. Moreso, than
even my hands were at the time. Because of it, I couldn’t see the
swelling or the bruising I’d been told was underneath. Her head was
already misshapen and ungainly looking. Other than that, she
appeared peaceful enough.

I walked up to
her and took one of her hands within mine, feeling the soft skin on
the back of her palm. “I love you, Mom.” I brought her hand gently
to my lips, bending a bit at the waist. I kissed her, hating the
fact she smelled like anapestic. She shouldn’t be in the hospital.
It wasn’t fair what had happened to her, to Eli or to any of
us.

I hadn’t
realized I was trembling.

My sister came
from Jose’s arms and into mine the moment she realized I wasn’t
quit myself. Her tears felt wet and warm upon my chest. Somehow,
her proximity, the familiarity of her smell calmed me, pushed back
the rage welling within. Though Myra had told me I had literally
beaten the living shit out of Lenny, I hadn’t experienced it
firsthand. I couldn’t remember. I had blacked it out. Some hidden
part of me, some over-arching governing slice of who I was wanted
to keep the rest of me separate from the person I’d been on the
deck. A part of me was grateful, but there was a drawback. There
wasn’t closure. There had been no accounting of the injustice Lenny
had sowed amongst us as far as I was concerned.

Valerie made all
of that disappear. My sister, in my embrace, had made it all
inconsequential.

“
I know I never
tell you enough, Jerry,” she began after a time, “but I love you. I
know I don’t show it and I know you don’t show it much either. But,
from me, I want you to know that I do.”

“
I do too, sis.
I love you with all my heart.” It wasn’t the time for false bravado
or any like mucho bull-crap. My family needed to mend, needed to
bond. We might’ve dodged a few bullets the night of my graduation,
but it didn’t mean we were entirely out of the woods. We still
didn’t know if Elijah would completely recover from his injuries.
The road ahead might be just as tough as the one we’d been
traversing for longer than any of us cared to remember.

She sighed and
came away from me, though only the upper portion of her body. “I
don’t care what anyone else says, I’m glad you did what you did,
Jerry.” There was steel in her eyes. I had never seen her look so
menacing before. “That motherfucker deserved everything he
got.”

I nodded. I was
bone-tired. I needed to sit. “Where’s everyone else?”

“
They’re taking
turns sitting with Eli,” she said at once.

My brow furled.
“How many people are here?”

She chuckled. “I
think just about everyone from your party, except that bitch
Roxanna.” Her eyes were cold again. “She went with… with
him
,
wherever the fuck they took him.”

I shook my head
in disbelief.
That chick had
bigger balls than me and Elijah put together! Who the hell are you,
Roxanna?

“
I told everyone
I needed time alone with Mom,” she said, sitting back down, next to
Jose. Her hand quickly found his.

I nodded at the
dude.

He
reciprocated.

“
So,” I started,
unsure if I really wanted to know the answer to the question I was
about to ask, “What’s the plan?”

She bunched her
shoulders. “I don’t know. I really don’t want to leave Mom or Eli
her in the hospital,” she said after some thought.

I sucked my
lips, thinking as well. “Somebody ought to check on the house, or
at least give Bruce a head’s up as to what’s going on, so he can
hold down the fort if need be.”

She agreed, but
still did not want to leave.

In the end, we
decided Myra and I should see Elijah, then get a ride home from one
of our family members. She didn’t smirk too much when she said I
should get some rest, take a load off, maybe even nap. Her eyes had
been on Myra at the end of the sentence, so I knew why there’d been
a small smile on her lips. With no one home who would interrupt us
if Myra and I decided to get a little “snuggly”.