WPFAAT, Chapter 22
Okay, this chapter is probably the longest chapter I've ever written, and I'm not going to lie--it doesn't answer all the questions. But that's what we've got an epilogue for, right? ;)
Kurt and Louisa went home and found the house still standing and all the kids still alive. Roy was getting everyone ready for bed. Mary Ellen was nowhere to be found-probably back in bed.
“How’s Bobby?” Roy asked distractedly, trying to convince an unwilling Gretl to put her pajamas on.
“Bobby!” Gretl echoed. Roy used the interruption to stuff her arm into the sleeve of her pink nightgown. “Where’s Bobby?” Gretl asked impatiently.
“Bobby’s…” Kurt trailed off. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to tell her Bobby was in the hospital. Would she even know what that meant?
“Bobby’s in bed.” Louisa broke in. “’Cause it’s time to go to sleep, Gretty.”
After more grumbling and some tears, the younger kids were finally in bed, tucked in, and quiet. Brushing their teeth in the bathroom, Max gave Kurt a serious look-it was out of place for him, since Max was always the happiest, the quickest to laugh.
“Is Bobby hurt really bad?” Max asked.
Kurt wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, stalling for a minute. Max was thirteen. Was that too young to get the full story? But he was mature for his age, and smart.
“Yes.” Kurt finally said, deciding to be as truthful as possible without scaring Max. “But the doctor said he’s going to be okay.”
“Did someone’s dad do it?” Max’s voice was small, but the question echoed in the bathroom. Kurt frowned.
“Yeah…” He said slowly. “Where did you hear that? At school?”
Max shook his head. “When Dad got home me and G went to the arcade for a little while and I heard some of the older kids saying it.”
“Well, it’s true. It was Jimmy Kent’s dad. You know, that kid we got in a fight with on Halloween?”
Max nodded. “Is he in jail?”
“Yep. Hopefully he’ll stay there.”
Max still looked upset about something. Kurt waited a minute to see if he was going to talk. When he didn't, Kurt raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“It’s just…how come bad things keep happening around us? Aren’t we good people?”
Kurt bit his lip hard, trying to keep his voice steady. His siblings were too young for all this. They shouldn’t have to deal with any of it, and it pissed him off.
“We are.” He told Max. “The problem is that not everyone else is.”
---------------------
The flowers, cards, candy, and balloons started pouring in the next day. He got a card from the only bank in town. He got a huge teddy bear (he’d asked, confused, “What the hell?” when he’d woken up and seen it) from one of their neighbors. And as soon as school let out, he had visitors lining up outside to see him. Within an hour, almost all his casts had at least ten signatures. The only off-limits one was the one that spanned his hip and his pelvis-one girl had looked hopefully at it, but Lureen had practically growled at her, so she’d settled for his arm like all her friends.
Lureen and Bobby suddenly found themselves alone around five thirty. Jack and Ennis had gone out scavenging for food and Junior and Kurt had rushed to his house to quickly check on the other kids. Apparently all the kids from school who were going to visit had done so.
“Well!” Lureen broke their semi-awkward silence. “You’re certainly popular.”
“Today, anyway.” Bobby responded with a shrug. Lureen frowned.
“What do you mean? Jack said you’ve always been pretty popular.”
“Well, I used to be, yeah. But then the whole thing with Daddy and Ennis came out in the open and everyone thought I was queer too and no one wanted to hang around me.” He said it all rather nonchalantly, considering how miserable the whole affair had made him.
Lureen’s nostrils flared, a telltale sign of anger or annoyance. That had been one of the first things Bobby had learned about her. “And all it takes is near-death for everyone to love you again.” She said sarcastically. Bobby chuckled a little.
“Apparently almost dying has a few advantages.” He indicated all the phone numbers girls had written on various parts of his body. “Almost feels like I’m a rock star or something.”
“But you just said these kids didn’t want to hang around with you when they found out about your daddy!”
“Yeah, well. It’s just high school. I know who my real friends are.”
Lureen looked at him for a long time, then shook her head. “You sure ain’t a little boy anymore.” She said softly, almost sadly. “I missed all that growing up you did.”
“I still got some to do. You can…you can see that.” Bobby offered. Lureen smiled a real smile that actually touched her eyes-eyes that weren’t rimmed with her usual thick make up.
“I plan to.”
They were quiet for a minute before Bobby burst out, “Can you believe where Janie wanted to sign?!” He laughed wildly. “When I get out of these casts I’m going to have to give that girl a call. Bet she’d be a real fun time.”
Lureen rolled her eyes. “Now don’t you go getting into trouble, Bobby Twist, you hear me?”
“Aw, come on.” Bobby gave his mother a look. “I know you were pretty wild when you were younger.”
Lureen sniffed theatrically. “A lady never tells.”
“Well, Daddy never mentioned no lady.”
Lureen snorted-not helping her argument that she was a lady-and they dissolved into laughter. It wasn’t as completely comfortable as joking around with his dad or Ennis, but it was nice. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come on in,” Bobby called, curious as to who it was. It obviously wasn’t someone he was real close to-no one in his family or his close circle of friends (meaning, really, Kurt’s family) would knock; they’d just barge right in. The door opened and Samantha peeped in.
“Hey, Bobby,” she said quietly, shuffling her feet a little.
“Well, come on in!” Bobby grinned. “Have a seat.”
“Um, hi,” Samantha offered to Lureen. “I’m Samantha.”
“Lureen.”
“Oh, sorry. Sam, this is my…mom, Lureen.” He stumbled only a little over the word. “And this is my friend, Sam.”
Lureen was looking at Samantha with a lot of interest-Bobby hadn’t introduced any of the other giggling girls who’d come to visit as friends. Samantha shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, blushing but not looking away. Lureen made a “hmm” sound and finally looked away.
“So, I, uh, brought your English homework for you.” Samantha reached into her bag and pulled out a few sheets of paper. “Three page paper. There’s a bunch of different topics you can choose from.”
Bobby groaned loudly. “Ugh, why?!”
“You don’t want to fall behind!” Samantha scolded.
“You sound like my daddy.”
“Well, your daddy must be smarter than I thought.” Lureen broke in. Bobby narrowed his eyes warningly. Jabs at his daddy, even joking ones, weren’t quite okay.
“And I brought…um…” Samantha shot a quick look at Lureen before pressing on. “I brought an application. To University of Wyoming.”
Lureen looked happy, but Bobby certainly wasn’t. “I told ya, I’m not cut out for college.”
“Yes, you are.” The door had opened in the middle of his sentence and Jack, without even announcing his arrival, butted in. Bobby’s frown deepened.
“Well, hello there.” Jack said, noticing that he didn’t know Samantha. “I’m Jack, Bobby’s daddy, and this is Ennis.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder and Ennis nodded awkwardly. “Bobby’s other daddy.” Jack added with a cheeky grin, just to get a rise out of Ennis. He didn’t figure this girl could be too dangerous, and it wasn’t like the whole town didn’t already know anyway.
“Shit, Jack.” Ennis muttered as Samantha’s ears went bright red. Jack hadn’t counted on Lureen’s reaction-she didn’t say anything, but her lips went into a tight line. He regretted it instantly.
“Sorry.” He murmured to no one specific, feeling like a jackass and hanging his head. He felt Ennis’s hand brush against his back; he, at least, forgave Jack.
“Anyway.” Samantha, of all people, broke the suddenly tense silence. “If you hurry, you could still make the late application deadline. And if you miss that deadline, you can apply for the winter term or the spring one.”
“I don’t want to go to college.” Bobby said stubbornly.
“Why don’t you just fill out the application and see?” Samantha wheedled. “Applying isn’t really a commitment.” She whipped out a pen. “See, it’s easy. Name-Bobby Twist.”
“Robert Twist.” Lureen corrected. “College applications should be formal, shouldn’t they?”
“Robert Twist.” Samantha conceded. “Birth date?”
“I’m too weak for this right now.” Bobby announced, dramatically throwing his good arm over his eyes. “Oh, the room is so bright. Must…sleep.”
Ennis threw a sandwich he’d been holding onto Bobby’s lap. Gently, though. “I’m sure you’re not too weak to eat.”
“Never am.” Bobby, suddenly revived, struggled with the plastic wrap for a minute before Lureen took pity on him and helped him.
Junior and Kurt came back not too long after, with the whole brood in tow. Kurt had had a very serious talk with them in the parking lot about no screaming and no jumping on Bobby and no fighting.
“Bobby!” Gretl cried as soon as she saw him.
“Gretty, Kurt said no yelling!” Friedrich scolded her, yelling himself.
“You’re yelling!” She squealed back. Kurt rubbed at his temples but Bobby laughed.
“Well, lookee who’s here!” He said with a big grin. He patted the empty space beside him on the bed. “Who’s going to hop up next to me?”
“Me!” Gretl scrambled up beside him with Ennis hovering protectively beside her, ready to pick her up and move her if Bobby so much as winced.
“Me too!” Friedrich called, following right behind her. Rolfe stood at the edge of the bed, feeling too old to get on the bed but not wanting to be left out.
“What happened?” Rolfe asked, gingerly pointing to Bobby’s face.
“I just got hurt.” Bobby said nonchalantly.
“But how?”
“Fighting alligators.” Bobby told him, completely serious. Gretl’s mouth dropped open in awe and Friedrich said, “Wow!”
“He’s just kidding.” G rolled his eyes.
“Sorry guys, but there are waaay too many people in here.” Lisa had poked her head in the door and saw everyone gathered around Bobby. “Some of you are going to have to leave.”
“How many?” Jack asked.
“Uh…’bout four.”
“But we’ll be quiet.” Gretl promised with a sweet smile that always worked on her daddy. Lisa laughed.
“Sure you will.”
“That’s alright.” Samantha stood up. “I gotta head home, anyway.”
“Oh, you don’t have to.” Junior said. “Sorry, we didn’t know there was a limit.”
“No, really, it’s fine.” Samantha smiled. “My mom’s expecting me pretty soon. I’ll see you later, Bobby. Hope you feel better soon.”
“And I’m going to take off,” Lureen said. “I need to call my mama and see how Daddy’s doing. That alright, Bobby?”
“Yeah, ‘course. Um, I hope he’s doing great.” It wasn’t completely a lie. He wanted L.D. to feel better for Lureen’s sake. Lureen chuckled dryly.
“I’ll pass on the message.”
After the door shut behind her, Jack gave Ennis a look. “Why don’t we go for a walk or something, bud? Give the kids some time to talk to Bobby.” All the older kids tried to ignore the wink he slipped in there.
“That, uh…yup.” Ennis stuttered, his lips threatening to curl into a smile.
They walked out, bumping shoulders, shutting the door quietly on the squabbling kids. Jack knew there was a garden or something somewhere-didn’t all hospitals have those? They wandered around the parking lot for a while, not talking, until they finally found it. It wasn’t much of a garden, really-a bench and one measly, bare tree. But it looked out over the creek, and when spring came there would be birds. It was better than being stuck in a hospital bed; that was for sure.
They plopped down on the bench and Ennis felt weariness flow into him as soon as he sat down. A sigh escaped before he could help it.
“Tired?” Jack murmured, exhausted himself.
“Mm.” Ennis rumbled, head nodding a little. Jack reached up to thread his fingers through the curls at the nape of Ennis’s neck, cuddling close into him.
“We could take a nap.” Jack suggested.
Ennis shot a quick look around before licking his lips and kissing Jack slowly. “A nap wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Didn’t think so.” Jack smiled against Ennis’s lips. They kissed languidly for a while, smiling and chuckling for no real reason. Ennis’s eyes darted around every so often to make sure no one was coming, but they were blissfully alone.
“So…” Jack finally decided he had something to say. “We’re good?”
“You’re very good at that.” Ennis laughed at his own joke. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Well, look at you, cracking jokes and being funny. I must be rubbing off on you.”
“Sure wish you would.”
They both laughed, snickering and nudging each other like little middle school boys telling dirty jokes.
“Well, I think we are.” Ennis said quietly, suddenly serious. “It’s not our fault.”
“It’s really not. And I love you. So I think we’re fine.”
Ennis ducked his head and smiled. “’Kay.”
“Now. Where were we?”
------------------------
Jack and Ennis didn’t get back for a while. Bobby didn’t want to think about what they were doing, because-gross. He doubted they had driven all the way home, so were they just out in the car or something? He made a mental note to examine his seat before sitting in it anytime he rode in either of their trucks. Or maybe he didn’t want to.
Lisa came in and did all her nurse stuff, taking his temperature and whatever else she was examining. Bobby knew she’d explained it to him at least twice, but he’d been drugged up and his attention waned even under the best circumstances.
“Bobby? Where did your…parents go? Deputy Taylor’s here; wants to talk to them.”
“Oh. Uh, I don’t know. He can come in here and talk to me, though.”
When he came in, Deputy Taylor looked uneasy about talking to Bobby. “I don’t know, son…” He trailed off, glancing at Gretl, Friedrich, and Rolfe, who had given in and climbed up on the bed, too.
“Why don’t we get everyone home?” Kurt suggested. “It’s about dinner time, anyway.”
“Bobby, are you coming with us?” Gretl asked.
“Nah, I have to stay here.”
“Then I want to stay too!” Friedrich shouted.
“No yelling.” Gretl reminded him.
“Guys, we can…we can get ice cream after dinner if you come now.” Kurt wasn’t above bribery-never had been. They went pretty willingly after that. Junior looked from Kurt to Bobby.
“I’m going to stay…” She said quietly.
“Yeah, of course you are.” Kurt answered, giving her a half-smile that told her she was worrying over nothing. He gave her a squeeze and a kiss, prompting G and Max to make gagging noises. Friedrich and Rolfe joined in because their older brothers were doing it. Gretl screamed with laughter.
“You kissed her!” She giggled. Kurt, who normally didn’t get flustered, was red at all the attention his siblings were giving a harmless little old kiss.
“Yeah, gross.” Louisa teased, laughing. Junior, ears red, laughed too. It was nice to have something to laugh at.
“Alright, alright, let’s go.” Kurt muttered. Very suddenly, all the noise and laughter and chatter died away, and it was just Bobby, Junior, and Deputy Taylor.
“So, uh, what’s going on?” Bobby asked, trying not to sound nervous when really his insides were jumping all around.
“Well…” Taylor frowned and glanced out the door, as if hoping Jack and Ennis would show up. No luck. “We found Jimmy Kent.”
Junior and Bobby looked at each other. His voice didn’t make it sound like this was a good thing.
“Okay.” Bobby said slowly. “And?”
“He was in pretty bad shape. He, uh…” Taylor bit his lip. “He’d had a run-in with some guys.”
“They hurt him?” Bobby asked, concerned.
“In a lot of ways.” He didn’t elaborate, but he looked sick, and Junior felt her legs go weak. Bobby took some deep breaths.
“But is he alright?”
“He hasn’t said much. He does what the guards tell him to, but-”
“Whoa, the guards?” Bobby interrupted. “What guards?”
“The prison-”
“No!” Bobby broke in again. “No, he shouldn’t be in prison. Why the hell is he in jail?”
“He was an accomplice.” Deputy Taylor sounded confused.
“Like hell he was!” Bobby was losing it. “He was a victim as much as I was! He tried to get his daddy to stop and his daddy just hit him, too! Shit! Get him outta there!”
“What’s going on?” Jack and Ennis burst through the door, agitated. “What’s wrong, Bobby?”
“Daddy, they stuck Jimmy Kent in jail!”
“What the hell didja do that for?” Ennis growled. “Kid ain’t hardly eighteen and didn’t do nothing wrong.”
“But in your statement-”
“I didn’t say shit about Jimmy!” Bobby hollered.
“I did.” Junior said suddenly. “But that’s not what I meant. I said he was there and he drove off with his daddy, but I didn’t say anything about him helping.”
“But by driving off with his father-”
“He didn’t have a choice! James Kent shoved him in the car and knocked him around. Goddamn!”
“Bobby, calm down, son.” Jack said, though his own voice was shaking and he couldn’t stop pacing. “Is there something we gotta do to get him out of jail? We gotta pay bail or something?”
Deputy Taylor stared at Jack for a long moment. “His bail’s set at three thousand dollars.”
“Shit.” Ennis muttered. “Well…I mean, we’ll pay it. But don’t we get any say in who goes to jail over all this?”
“You can drop the charges…”
“We drop ‘em.” Bobby said immediately. “Well, off Jimmy. Not for his daddy.”
Deputy Taylor ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. We need to head down to the station and get all this figured out.” He bit his lip and motioned for Jack and Ennis to follow him. In the hall, he told them what he hadn’t told Junior and Bobby.
“He ran into some guys at that truck stop his daddy dumped him at. They didn’t just knock him around. They did a lot of other stuff to him, too.” He gave them a meaningful look.
“Oh, shit.” All the blood drained from Jack’s face and Ennis covered his face with a hand.
“Are you saying…I mean, what’d they do to him, exactly?” Ennis asked around his hand.
“We think…he won’t tell us, and he won’t let the doctors near him, but we’re pretty sure they raped him.”
“Goddamn fucking shit!” Several nurses paused and looked up, scandalized.
“We have him in solitary right now, for his own protection. But I’d say the sooner we get him out of there, the better.”
“You stuck the kid in a cell after that?” Jack demanded. “What the hell? Why couldn’t you send him to a juvenile place or something?”
“We don’t have a juvenile facility for almost sixty miles. We’re hoping the trial date’ll get pushed up in a hurry, and sending him so far away-I mean, it’s three counties over-involves a lot of paperwork and takes longer.”
“So you took the easy way out?” Ennis’s voice was burning. “You didn’t care about what happened to the kid, so long as you didn’t have to do your paperwork?”
Deputy Taylor held out his hands, palm out. “Look, this wasn’t me, okay? I hurried on over as soon as I found out we had him. But arguing ain’t helping him. We need to get to the station.”
-------------------
Jack had never been in the police station before. Ennis had, once, when he found somebody’s wallet outside and took it in to them. It was a dreary place. There weren’t a lot of inmates-most got shipped out to the state prison-but they had a fair number of drunks and guys whose wives got sick of getting knocked around and called them in.
Deputy Taylor led them down the line-Missy Jameson, the town prostitute, let out a wolf whistle when they passed and Jack felt his lip curl at the way she was eyeing Ennis’s ass-to a dimly lit cell in the bank. Jimmy Kent was lying on the filthy cot. His face was almost as bruised as Bobby’s and he was staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Jimmy?” Deputy Taylor called softly. Jimmy jumped about a foot in the air and stood up quickly.
“What?” He growled defensively. As tough as he was trying to be, it didn’t banish the dirty streaks on his face where tears had fallen or the way he looked all of twelve years old in the over-sized jumpsuit he had to wear.
“You’re going to get out of here, okay? I’m going to let you out right now.”
“Where am I going to go?” He dropped the tough guy act, sounding like a little boy on the verge of tears. Jack wanted to hunt down James Kent and every single one of those men who’d hurt him and strangle them with his bare hands. Ennis’s hands were balled so tightly into fists that he could feel his fingernails digging holes into his palms. The kid was like a dog Ennis’s neighbor had had when he was a kid-he’d been beaten as a puppy and he’d grown up mean, but when it came down to it, he just wanted someone to cuddle him and give him some food.
“You can come with us.” Jack said quietly. Jimmy jumped; he hadn’t really noticed Jack and Ennis before. His eyes widened when he realized who they were.
“No.” He shook his head. “I swear I didn’t hurt Bobby, okay? Don’t do anything to me.” He retreated to the furthest corner of the cell, his wide eyes standing out in the gloom. They could hear his ragged breaths.
“We know you didn’t.” Jack said gently. “Bobby told us. You tried to help him, so now we want to help you.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Ennis added. Jimmy curled further into the corner, trying to disappear.
“I didn’t do anything.” He repeated, voice shaking.
“Do you want us to take you to your house? You can stay there, but you’d be alone.”
“No! Not by myself.” He started to cry, and he turned his face to the wall so they wouldn’t see. Ennis ran a hand through his hair, and Jack had tears shining in his eyes. His jaw was clenched so tight he thought his teeth might break.
“You want the police to drive you over to our house?” Ennis suggested. “We can get Junior to be there.”
“Junior was nice to me.” Jimmy whispered. “Is Bobby going to be there?”
“No. Bobby’s still in the hospital.”
“I tried to stop him, but nothing stops him!” Jimmy was pleading with them now. “I swear, I tried. I’m really sorry.”
“We know, Jimmy. It’s okay. No one blames you.”
He took a step away from the corner cautiously. His eyes darted between the three men in front of him. He was bare foot and his feet were filthy. Deputy Taylor explained every move he was going to make before he did it-it seemed to help. They walked back down the line, Jimmy between Jack and Ennis and mostly shielded from the other inmates. Ennis was glowering at anyone who looked like they might say anything and Jack was fighting the impulse to put his arm around Jimmy’s shoulder. That probably wouldn’t go over well.
“We have to go to the hospital first, okay, Jimmy?” Ennis was using the same voice he used on his horses. It was working a little; or at least, they couldn’t hear every breath Jimmy took anymore. “Just to get Junior. Deputy Taylor here’s going to drive us, and then we’ll go home and you can get some dinner and a shower. You want that?”
He shrunk away at the mention of a shower. “Shower?”
“If you want. You don’t have to.” Jack reassured him.
Jimmy waited in the car with Deputy Taylor while Jack and Ennis went in to get Junior. They needed to explain things to her first.
“Did you get Jimmy out?” Bobby demanded as soon as they walked in. Neither of them spoke-they needed a minute. “Daddy? Ennis?” Bobby sounded scared now. “What’s wrong?”
“Jimmy’s going to come home with us.” Jack said quietly. “He…well, he’s not doing good. The guys who beat him up-well.” Jack took a deep breath, and Ennis left to the bathroom that was attached to Bobby’s room. They could hear him retching.
“God.” From the look on Junior’s face, Jack could tell she understood. “Oh, no.”
“What?” Bobby asked.
“Bobby…” Junior trailed off. Before they could figure out what to say, the light clicked on in Bobby’s head, and he let out a stream of curses, fast and loud.
“He’s real scared. He seemed to want you there, Junior, ‘cause he said you were nice to him. So we need you to come right now.”
Ennis came back, wiping his hand across his mouth. “Do you think it’s safe?” He asked Jack quietly. He wanted to help Jimmy, he did, but he wasn’t going to put his daughter in danger to do it.
“It’ll be fine, Daddy.” Junior said, distracted. The word popped out of her mouth on its own accord; she didn’t even give it a second thought.
“God, can’t I come home too?” Bobby was near tears now. He didn’t want to stay here. Jack went over to the bed and sat on the edge. He pulled Bobby into as tight a hug as he dared. He couldn’t imagine the kind of man who would drop his own son at a truck stop in the middle of the night, not caring what happened to him. Bobby gave Jack a tight squeeze back.
“We’ll come back right away.” Jack promised. “Soon as we get up in the morning.”
“Okay.” Bobby’s voice was muffled by Jack’s shoulder.
Jack stood up, swiping at his eyes a little, and Ennis went over and hugged Bobby too. Bobby couldn’t think of many times that Ennis had hugged him, not that he could remember, anyway. He did so gingerly, afraid of hurting Bobby but for once not embarrassed about his feelings. Even Junior hurried forward and gave Bobby a quick hug.
Jack and Ennis walked with Junior in between them, both with an arm around her shoulders so that the three of them were connected. They walked out of the hospital together, wishing Bobby were with them and ready for their nightmare to be over.
Kurt and Louisa went home and found the house still standing and all the kids still alive. Roy was getting everyone ready for bed. Mary Ellen was nowhere to be found-probably back in bed.
“How’s Bobby?” Roy asked distractedly, trying to convince an unwilling Gretl to put her pajamas on.
“Bobby!” Gretl echoed. Roy used the interruption to stuff her arm into the sleeve of her pink nightgown. “Where’s Bobby?” Gretl asked impatiently.
“Bobby’s…” Kurt trailed off. He didn’t want to lie, but he didn’t want to tell her Bobby was in the hospital. Would she even know what that meant?
“Bobby’s in bed.” Louisa broke in. “’Cause it’s time to go to sleep, Gretty.”
After more grumbling and some tears, the younger kids were finally in bed, tucked in, and quiet. Brushing their teeth in the bathroom, Max gave Kurt a serious look-it was out of place for him, since Max was always the happiest, the quickest to laugh.
“Is Bobby hurt really bad?” Max asked.
Kurt wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, stalling for a minute. Max was thirteen. Was that too young to get the full story? But he was mature for his age, and smart.
“Yes.” Kurt finally said, deciding to be as truthful as possible without scaring Max. “But the doctor said he’s going to be okay.”
“Did someone’s dad do it?” Max’s voice was small, but the question echoed in the bathroom. Kurt frowned.
“Yeah…” He said slowly. “Where did you hear that? At school?”
Max shook his head. “When Dad got home me and G went to the arcade for a little while and I heard some of the older kids saying it.”
“Well, it’s true. It was Jimmy Kent’s dad. You know, that kid we got in a fight with on Halloween?”
Max nodded. “Is he in jail?”
“Yep. Hopefully he’ll stay there.”
Max still looked upset about something. Kurt waited a minute to see if he was going to talk. When he didn't, Kurt raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“It’s just…how come bad things keep happening around us? Aren’t we good people?”
Kurt bit his lip hard, trying to keep his voice steady. His siblings were too young for all this. They shouldn’t have to deal with any of it, and it pissed him off.
“We are.” He told Max. “The problem is that not everyone else is.”
---------------------
The flowers, cards, candy, and balloons started pouring in the next day. He got a card from the only bank in town. He got a huge teddy bear (he’d asked, confused, “What the hell?” when he’d woken up and seen it) from one of their neighbors. And as soon as school let out, he had visitors lining up outside to see him. Within an hour, almost all his casts had at least ten signatures. The only off-limits one was the one that spanned his hip and his pelvis-one girl had looked hopefully at it, but Lureen had practically growled at her, so she’d settled for his arm like all her friends.
Lureen and Bobby suddenly found themselves alone around five thirty. Jack and Ennis had gone out scavenging for food and Junior and Kurt had rushed to his house to quickly check on the other kids. Apparently all the kids from school who were going to visit had done so.
“Well!” Lureen broke their semi-awkward silence. “You’re certainly popular.”
“Today, anyway.” Bobby responded with a shrug. Lureen frowned.
“What do you mean? Jack said you’ve always been pretty popular.”
“Well, I used to be, yeah. But then the whole thing with Daddy and Ennis came out in the open and everyone thought I was queer too and no one wanted to hang around me.” He said it all rather nonchalantly, considering how miserable the whole affair had made him.
Lureen’s nostrils flared, a telltale sign of anger or annoyance. That had been one of the first things Bobby had learned about her. “And all it takes is near-death for everyone to love you again.” She said sarcastically. Bobby chuckled a little.
“Apparently almost dying has a few advantages.” He indicated all the phone numbers girls had written on various parts of his body. “Almost feels like I’m a rock star or something.”
“But you just said these kids didn’t want to hang around with you when they found out about your daddy!”
“Yeah, well. It’s just high school. I know who my real friends are.”
Lureen looked at him for a long time, then shook her head. “You sure ain’t a little boy anymore.” She said softly, almost sadly. “I missed all that growing up you did.”
“I still got some to do. You can…you can see that.” Bobby offered. Lureen smiled a real smile that actually touched her eyes-eyes that weren’t rimmed with her usual thick make up.
“I plan to.”
They were quiet for a minute before Bobby burst out, “Can you believe where Janie wanted to sign?!” He laughed wildly. “When I get out of these casts I’m going to have to give that girl a call. Bet she’d be a real fun time.”
Lureen rolled her eyes. “Now don’t you go getting into trouble, Bobby Twist, you hear me?”
“Aw, come on.” Bobby gave his mother a look. “I know you were pretty wild when you were younger.”
Lureen sniffed theatrically. “A lady never tells.”
“Well, Daddy never mentioned no lady.”
Lureen snorted-not helping her argument that she was a lady-and they dissolved into laughter. It wasn’t as completely comfortable as joking around with his dad or Ennis, but it was nice. They were interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Come on in,” Bobby called, curious as to who it was. It obviously wasn’t someone he was real close to-no one in his family or his close circle of friends (meaning, really, Kurt’s family) would knock; they’d just barge right in. The door opened and Samantha peeped in.
“Hey, Bobby,” she said quietly, shuffling her feet a little.
“Well, come on in!” Bobby grinned. “Have a seat.”
“Um, hi,” Samantha offered to Lureen. “I’m Samantha.”
“Lureen.”
“Oh, sorry. Sam, this is my…mom, Lureen.” He stumbled only a little over the word. “And this is my friend, Sam.”
Lureen was looking at Samantha with a lot of interest-Bobby hadn’t introduced any of the other giggling girls who’d come to visit as friends. Samantha shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, blushing but not looking away. Lureen made a “hmm” sound and finally looked away.
“So, I, uh, brought your English homework for you.” Samantha reached into her bag and pulled out a few sheets of paper. “Three page paper. There’s a bunch of different topics you can choose from.”
Bobby groaned loudly. “Ugh, why?!”
“You don’t want to fall behind!” Samantha scolded.
“You sound like my daddy.”
“Well, your daddy must be smarter than I thought.” Lureen broke in. Bobby narrowed his eyes warningly. Jabs at his daddy, even joking ones, weren’t quite okay.
“And I brought…um…” Samantha shot a quick look at Lureen before pressing on. “I brought an application. To University of Wyoming.”
Lureen looked happy, but Bobby certainly wasn’t. “I told ya, I’m not cut out for college.”
“Yes, you are.” The door had opened in the middle of his sentence and Jack, without even announcing his arrival, butted in. Bobby’s frown deepened.
“Well, hello there.” Jack said, noticing that he didn’t know Samantha. “I’m Jack, Bobby’s daddy, and this is Ennis.” He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder and Ennis nodded awkwardly. “Bobby’s other daddy.” Jack added with a cheeky grin, just to get a rise out of Ennis. He didn’t figure this girl could be too dangerous, and it wasn’t like the whole town didn’t already know anyway.
“Shit, Jack.” Ennis muttered as Samantha’s ears went bright red. Jack hadn’t counted on Lureen’s reaction-she didn’t say anything, but her lips went into a tight line. He regretted it instantly.
“Sorry.” He murmured to no one specific, feeling like a jackass and hanging his head. He felt Ennis’s hand brush against his back; he, at least, forgave Jack.
“Anyway.” Samantha, of all people, broke the suddenly tense silence. “If you hurry, you could still make the late application deadline. And if you miss that deadline, you can apply for the winter term or the spring one.”
“I don’t want to go to college.” Bobby said stubbornly.
“Why don’t you just fill out the application and see?” Samantha wheedled. “Applying isn’t really a commitment.” She whipped out a pen. “See, it’s easy. Name-Bobby Twist.”
“Robert Twist.” Lureen corrected. “College applications should be formal, shouldn’t they?”
“Robert Twist.” Samantha conceded. “Birth date?”
“I’m too weak for this right now.” Bobby announced, dramatically throwing his good arm over his eyes. “Oh, the room is so bright. Must…sleep.”
Ennis threw a sandwich he’d been holding onto Bobby’s lap. Gently, though. “I’m sure you’re not too weak to eat.”
“Never am.” Bobby, suddenly revived, struggled with the plastic wrap for a minute before Lureen took pity on him and helped him.
Junior and Kurt came back not too long after, with the whole brood in tow. Kurt had had a very serious talk with them in the parking lot about no screaming and no jumping on Bobby and no fighting.
“Bobby!” Gretl cried as soon as she saw him.
“Gretty, Kurt said no yelling!” Friedrich scolded her, yelling himself.
“You’re yelling!” She squealed back. Kurt rubbed at his temples but Bobby laughed.
“Well, lookee who’s here!” He said with a big grin. He patted the empty space beside him on the bed. “Who’s going to hop up next to me?”
“Me!” Gretl scrambled up beside him with Ennis hovering protectively beside her, ready to pick her up and move her if Bobby so much as winced.
“Me too!” Friedrich called, following right behind her. Rolfe stood at the edge of the bed, feeling too old to get on the bed but not wanting to be left out.
“What happened?” Rolfe asked, gingerly pointing to Bobby’s face.
“I just got hurt.” Bobby said nonchalantly.
“But how?”
“Fighting alligators.” Bobby told him, completely serious. Gretl’s mouth dropped open in awe and Friedrich said, “Wow!”
“He’s just kidding.” G rolled his eyes.
“Sorry guys, but there are waaay too many people in here.” Lisa had poked her head in the door and saw everyone gathered around Bobby. “Some of you are going to have to leave.”
“How many?” Jack asked.
“Uh…’bout four.”
“But we’ll be quiet.” Gretl promised with a sweet smile that always worked on her daddy. Lisa laughed.
“Sure you will.”
“That’s alright.” Samantha stood up. “I gotta head home, anyway.”
“Oh, you don’t have to.” Junior said. “Sorry, we didn’t know there was a limit.”
“No, really, it’s fine.” Samantha smiled. “My mom’s expecting me pretty soon. I’ll see you later, Bobby. Hope you feel better soon.”
“And I’m going to take off,” Lureen said. “I need to call my mama and see how Daddy’s doing. That alright, Bobby?”
“Yeah, ‘course. Um, I hope he’s doing great.” It wasn’t completely a lie. He wanted L.D. to feel better for Lureen’s sake. Lureen chuckled dryly.
“I’ll pass on the message.”
After the door shut behind her, Jack gave Ennis a look. “Why don’t we go for a walk or something, bud? Give the kids some time to talk to Bobby.” All the older kids tried to ignore the wink he slipped in there.
“That, uh…yup.” Ennis stuttered, his lips threatening to curl into a smile.
They walked out, bumping shoulders, shutting the door quietly on the squabbling kids. Jack knew there was a garden or something somewhere-didn’t all hospitals have those? They wandered around the parking lot for a while, not talking, until they finally found it. It wasn’t much of a garden, really-a bench and one measly, bare tree. But it looked out over the creek, and when spring came there would be birds. It was better than being stuck in a hospital bed; that was for sure.
They plopped down on the bench and Ennis felt weariness flow into him as soon as he sat down. A sigh escaped before he could help it.
“Tired?” Jack murmured, exhausted himself.
“Mm.” Ennis rumbled, head nodding a little. Jack reached up to thread his fingers through the curls at the nape of Ennis’s neck, cuddling close into him.
“We could take a nap.” Jack suggested.
Ennis shot a quick look around before licking his lips and kissing Jack slowly. “A nap wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
“Didn’t think so.” Jack smiled against Ennis’s lips. They kissed languidly for a while, smiling and chuckling for no real reason. Ennis’s eyes darted around every so often to make sure no one was coming, but they were blissfully alone.
“So…” Jack finally decided he had something to say. “We’re good?”
“You’re very good at that.” Ennis laughed at his own joke. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Well, look at you, cracking jokes and being funny. I must be rubbing off on you.”
“Sure wish you would.”
They both laughed, snickering and nudging each other like little middle school boys telling dirty jokes.
“Well, I think we are.” Ennis said quietly, suddenly serious. “It’s not our fault.”
“It’s really not. And I love you. So I think we’re fine.”
Ennis ducked his head and smiled. “’Kay.”
“Now. Where were we?”
------------------------
Jack and Ennis didn’t get back for a while. Bobby didn’t want to think about what they were doing, because-gross. He doubted they had driven all the way home, so were they just out in the car or something? He made a mental note to examine his seat before sitting in it anytime he rode in either of their trucks. Or maybe he didn’t want to.
Lisa came in and did all her nurse stuff, taking his temperature and whatever else she was examining. Bobby knew she’d explained it to him at least twice, but he’d been drugged up and his attention waned even under the best circumstances.
“Bobby? Where did your…parents go? Deputy Taylor’s here; wants to talk to them.”
“Oh. Uh, I don’t know. He can come in here and talk to me, though.”
When he came in, Deputy Taylor looked uneasy about talking to Bobby. “I don’t know, son…” He trailed off, glancing at Gretl, Friedrich, and Rolfe, who had given in and climbed up on the bed, too.
“Why don’t we get everyone home?” Kurt suggested. “It’s about dinner time, anyway.”
“Bobby, are you coming with us?” Gretl asked.
“Nah, I have to stay here.”
“Then I want to stay too!” Friedrich shouted.
“No yelling.” Gretl reminded him.
“Guys, we can…we can get ice cream after dinner if you come now.” Kurt wasn’t above bribery-never had been. They went pretty willingly after that. Junior looked from Kurt to Bobby.
“I’m going to stay…” She said quietly.
“Yeah, of course you are.” Kurt answered, giving her a half-smile that told her she was worrying over nothing. He gave her a squeeze and a kiss, prompting G and Max to make gagging noises. Friedrich and Rolfe joined in because their older brothers were doing it. Gretl screamed with laughter.
“You kissed her!” She giggled. Kurt, who normally didn’t get flustered, was red at all the attention his siblings were giving a harmless little old kiss.
“Yeah, gross.” Louisa teased, laughing. Junior, ears red, laughed too. It was nice to have something to laugh at.
“Alright, alright, let’s go.” Kurt muttered. Very suddenly, all the noise and laughter and chatter died away, and it was just Bobby, Junior, and Deputy Taylor.
“So, uh, what’s going on?” Bobby asked, trying not to sound nervous when really his insides were jumping all around.
“Well…” Taylor frowned and glanced out the door, as if hoping Jack and Ennis would show up. No luck. “We found Jimmy Kent.”
Junior and Bobby looked at each other. His voice didn’t make it sound like this was a good thing.
“Okay.” Bobby said slowly. “And?”
“He was in pretty bad shape. He, uh…” Taylor bit his lip. “He’d had a run-in with some guys.”
“They hurt him?” Bobby asked, concerned.
“In a lot of ways.” He didn’t elaborate, but he looked sick, and Junior felt her legs go weak. Bobby took some deep breaths.
“But is he alright?”
“He hasn’t said much. He does what the guards tell him to, but-”
“Whoa, the guards?” Bobby interrupted. “What guards?”
“The prison-”
“No!” Bobby broke in again. “No, he shouldn’t be in prison. Why the hell is he in jail?”
“He was an accomplice.” Deputy Taylor sounded confused.
“Like hell he was!” Bobby was losing it. “He was a victim as much as I was! He tried to get his daddy to stop and his daddy just hit him, too! Shit! Get him outta there!”
“What’s going on?” Jack and Ennis burst through the door, agitated. “What’s wrong, Bobby?”
“Daddy, they stuck Jimmy Kent in jail!”
“What the hell didja do that for?” Ennis growled. “Kid ain’t hardly eighteen and didn’t do nothing wrong.”
“But in your statement-”
“I didn’t say shit about Jimmy!” Bobby hollered.
“I did.” Junior said suddenly. “But that’s not what I meant. I said he was there and he drove off with his daddy, but I didn’t say anything about him helping.”
“But by driving off with his father-”
“He didn’t have a choice! James Kent shoved him in the car and knocked him around. Goddamn!”
“Bobby, calm down, son.” Jack said, though his own voice was shaking and he couldn’t stop pacing. “Is there something we gotta do to get him out of jail? We gotta pay bail or something?”
Deputy Taylor stared at Jack for a long moment. “His bail’s set at three thousand dollars.”
“Shit.” Ennis muttered. “Well…I mean, we’ll pay it. But don’t we get any say in who goes to jail over all this?”
“You can drop the charges…”
“We drop ‘em.” Bobby said immediately. “Well, off Jimmy. Not for his daddy.”
Deputy Taylor ran a hand through his hair. “Okay. We need to head down to the station and get all this figured out.” He bit his lip and motioned for Jack and Ennis to follow him. In the hall, he told them what he hadn’t told Junior and Bobby.
“He ran into some guys at that truck stop his daddy dumped him at. They didn’t just knock him around. They did a lot of other stuff to him, too.” He gave them a meaningful look.
“Oh, shit.” All the blood drained from Jack’s face and Ennis covered his face with a hand.
“Are you saying…I mean, what’d they do to him, exactly?” Ennis asked around his hand.
“We think…he won’t tell us, and he won’t let the doctors near him, but we’re pretty sure they raped him.”
“Goddamn fucking shit!” Several nurses paused and looked up, scandalized.
“We have him in solitary right now, for his own protection. But I’d say the sooner we get him out of there, the better.”
“You stuck the kid in a cell after that?” Jack demanded. “What the hell? Why couldn’t you send him to a juvenile place or something?”
“We don’t have a juvenile facility for almost sixty miles. We’re hoping the trial date’ll get pushed up in a hurry, and sending him so far away-I mean, it’s three counties over-involves a lot of paperwork and takes longer.”
“So you took the easy way out?” Ennis’s voice was burning. “You didn’t care about what happened to the kid, so long as you didn’t have to do your paperwork?”
Deputy Taylor held out his hands, palm out. “Look, this wasn’t me, okay? I hurried on over as soon as I found out we had him. But arguing ain’t helping him. We need to get to the station.”
-------------------
Jack had never been in the police station before. Ennis had, once, when he found somebody’s wallet outside and took it in to them. It was a dreary place. There weren’t a lot of inmates-most got shipped out to the state prison-but they had a fair number of drunks and guys whose wives got sick of getting knocked around and called them in.
Deputy Taylor led them down the line-Missy Jameson, the town prostitute, let out a wolf whistle when they passed and Jack felt his lip curl at the way she was eyeing Ennis’s ass-to a dimly lit cell in the bank. Jimmy Kent was lying on the filthy cot. His face was almost as bruised as Bobby’s and he was staring blankly at the ceiling.
“Jimmy?” Deputy Taylor called softly. Jimmy jumped about a foot in the air and stood up quickly.
“What?” He growled defensively. As tough as he was trying to be, it didn’t banish the dirty streaks on his face where tears had fallen or the way he looked all of twelve years old in the over-sized jumpsuit he had to wear.
“You’re going to get out of here, okay? I’m going to let you out right now.”
“Where am I going to go?” He dropped the tough guy act, sounding like a little boy on the verge of tears. Jack wanted to hunt down James Kent and every single one of those men who’d hurt him and strangle them with his bare hands. Ennis’s hands were balled so tightly into fists that he could feel his fingernails digging holes into his palms. The kid was like a dog Ennis’s neighbor had had when he was a kid-he’d been beaten as a puppy and he’d grown up mean, but when it came down to it, he just wanted someone to cuddle him and give him some food.
“You can come with us.” Jack said quietly. Jimmy jumped; he hadn’t really noticed Jack and Ennis before. His eyes widened when he realized who they were.
“No.” He shook his head. “I swear I didn’t hurt Bobby, okay? Don’t do anything to me.” He retreated to the furthest corner of the cell, his wide eyes standing out in the gloom. They could hear his ragged breaths.
“We know you didn’t.” Jack said gently. “Bobby told us. You tried to help him, so now we want to help you.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.” Ennis added. Jimmy curled further into the corner, trying to disappear.
“I didn’t do anything.” He repeated, voice shaking.
“Do you want us to take you to your house? You can stay there, but you’d be alone.”
“No! Not by myself.” He started to cry, and he turned his face to the wall so they wouldn’t see. Ennis ran a hand through his hair, and Jack had tears shining in his eyes. His jaw was clenched so tight he thought his teeth might break.
“You want the police to drive you over to our house?” Ennis suggested. “We can get Junior to be there.”
“Junior was nice to me.” Jimmy whispered. “Is Bobby going to be there?”
“No. Bobby’s still in the hospital.”
“I tried to stop him, but nothing stops him!” Jimmy was pleading with them now. “I swear, I tried. I’m really sorry.”
“We know, Jimmy. It’s okay. No one blames you.”
He took a step away from the corner cautiously. His eyes darted between the three men in front of him. He was bare foot and his feet were filthy. Deputy Taylor explained every move he was going to make before he did it-it seemed to help. They walked back down the line, Jimmy between Jack and Ennis and mostly shielded from the other inmates. Ennis was glowering at anyone who looked like they might say anything and Jack was fighting the impulse to put his arm around Jimmy’s shoulder. That probably wouldn’t go over well.
“We have to go to the hospital first, okay, Jimmy?” Ennis was using the same voice he used on his horses. It was working a little; or at least, they couldn’t hear every breath Jimmy took anymore. “Just to get Junior. Deputy Taylor here’s going to drive us, and then we’ll go home and you can get some dinner and a shower. You want that?”
He shrunk away at the mention of a shower. “Shower?”
“If you want. You don’t have to.” Jack reassured him.
Jimmy waited in the car with Deputy Taylor while Jack and Ennis went in to get Junior. They needed to explain things to her first.
“Did you get Jimmy out?” Bobby demanded as soon as they walked in. Neither of them spoke-they needed a minute. “Daddy? Ennis?” Bobby sounded scared now. “What’s wrong?”
“Jimmy’s going to come home with us.” Jack said quietly. “He…well, he’s not doing good. The guys who beat him up-well.” Jack took a deep breath, and Ennis left to the bathroom that was attached to Bobby’s room. They could hear him retching.
“God.” From the look on Junior’s face, Jack could tell she understood. “Oh, no.”
“What?” Bobby asked.
“Bobby…” Junior trailed off. Before they could figure out what to say, the light clicked on in Bobby’s head, and he let out a stream of curses, fast and loud.
“He’s real scared. He seemed to want you there, Junior, ‘cause he said you were nice to him. So we need you to come right now.”
Ennis came back, wiping his hand across his mouth. “Do you think it’s safe?” He asked Jack quietly. He wanted to help Jimmy, he did, but he wasn’t going to put his daughter in danger to do it.
“It’ll be fine, Daddy.” Junior said, distracted. The word popped out of her mouth on its own accord; she didn’t even give it a second thought.
“God, can’t I come home too?” Bobby was near tears now. He didn’t want to stay here. Jack went over to the bed and sat on the edge. He pulled Bobby into as tight a hug as he dared. He couldn’t imagine the kind of man who would drop his own son at a truck stop in the middle of the night, not caring what happened to him. Bobby gave Jack a tight squeeze back.
“We’ll come back right away.” Jack promised. “Soon as we get up in the morning.”
“Okay.” Bobby’s voice was muffled by Jack’s shoulder.
Jack stood up, swiping at his eyes a little, and Ennis went over and hugged Bobby too. Bobby couldn’t think of many times that Ennis had hugged him, not that he could remember, anyway. He did so gingerly, afraid of hurting Bobby but for once not embarrassed about his feelings. Even Junior hurried forward and gave Bobby a quick hug.
Jack and Ennis walked with Junior in between them, both with an arm around her shoulders so that the three of them were connected. They walked out of the hospital together, wishing Bobby were with them and ready for their nightmare to be over.