Chapter 3

“I guess all that blather about ‘I’d do anything to protect my son’ was just what I thought it was; nothing but grandstanding. But that’s o.k. Mrs. A because you know what I think. I think the gun is a too good for your little boy. After all, with the gun it will be over too quickly. No, so since you ain’t nothing but a liar I think maybe we go down and get that saw of yours that I seen in the garage. Then you get to watch your little boy get chopped up; one little half inch hunk at a time. Then you can see that, when it comes down to it, all that hot air about you sacrificing for you little boy was all just so much hot air and that you always only really cared for yourself.”

Chuck now twisted his body around until he was looking at the giant thief and there seemed to be a look of understanding that passed between them for the big man now immediately walked over to where Julie was and grabbed a fistful of her hair right on the back of her scalp.

“Ow! You’re hurting me!” Julie yelled as the big man lifted her up off the bed by her hair. In a panic, Julie pawed at him wildly but, even now, she held back. For he still had the gun in his hand and Julie was never quite sure he wouldn’t use it. Furthermore, Julie found as she walked, that as long as she kept moving and didn’t pull her legs out from under her, he only used her hair to guide her out the door.

“Youse all stay here; moms and I be back in a minute.” Said the thief from his position standing in the doorway.

“Oh, and’s Junior, you even think about running and I’s kill your mom.”

From where Henry stood Julie could see her terrified son give a short little nod. In her heart, Julie hoped he was joking and that he would try to get away. Then she was being moved again and, this time, she was being awkwardly guided down the stairs by the man’s hand in her hair. He was now moving behind her much too quickly and Julie would have fallen only she couldn’t for every time her feet tripped out from under her, she was still held aloft by a tearing pain in her scalp. Yet in the matter of a few seconds, Julie had reached the bottom of the stairs and then she was being guided out the door. Julie would have fallen again as she was pushed down the two steps that led from the doorway to the garage but for that hand in her hair. Instead, as it was, that hand was now causing her scalp to scream and her legs felt like rubber as she was guided across the concrete floor and over to where the saw hung, on a pegboard on the opposite wall.

“Get it” the thief now ordered and, when Julie hesitated, he rotated the hand whose fingers were entwined in her hair. This made the pain in Julie’s scalp double in size and the Jewish mom screamed before grabbing the saw. Once she had it in her hands, Julie was walked in an arc of 180 degrees. She was then crossing the garage only in the opposite direction. The big man was pushing her even faster now as she walked up the stairs, first out of the garage and then up to the bedroom. In a moment, she was back where she started as the brutally strong thief dumped her on the bed. Julie’s gorgeous bottom hit the mattress with some force and she only had a moment to look up at the thief before he was taking the saw and walking over to Henry. Julie was then filled with a sudden urge to leap off the bed and run after the thief. Somehow, she would get the saw away from him but then there still was the gun.

“O.k. man” said Chuck suddenly. His words broke Julie’s concentration and momentarily distracting her from her ever-growing panic.

“I guess we’re at the crucial point of our game. Hot little mommy over here would rather watch her son die than have to kiss some fourteen-year-old black boy, if you can believe that. Sorry Henry, I thought you had a mom that cared about you but I guess she only cares about herself. Well, maybe when she sees that saw bite into the side of your skull, she’ll feel some sympathy for you but I doubt it. Either way, I guess we’re gonna find out.”

Chuck then nodded at the thief who then grinned as he turned on the saw. Immediately a loud high-pitched whining scream filled the room as Henry’s eyes grew much wider and, as the spinning blade of the circular saw moved closer to Henry’s head, Julie tried to leap off the bed only to be tackled by Chuck. He seemed impossibly heavy and unbelievably strong and, as Julie now tried to throw him off her, Chuck made a motion to the robber than he wanted him to shut off the saw.

“You got something you want to say Mrs. A?”

Chuck was on top of her as Julie was lying on the bed. In the few seconds since they had collided, he had managed to straddle her thighs in exactly the same place. For her part, Julie felt as if she had just run a marathon. Her heart hammered in her chest and she seemed to shudder all over. Moreover, she felt incredibly weak as if she just didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.

“I ... yes ... oh- oh- O.K ... Chuck, you win. I ... I’ll ... I’ll make out with you. Just please ... I can’t believe you were going to butcher my son.”

“Like I said before Mrs. A” repeated Chuck, “I ain’t doin’ nothing to your son. Everything that happens to your son is entirely up to you. I just tryin’ to prove that you ain’t all high and mighty like you pretend to be. Actin’ like you willing to do anything to save your son when the reality is you ain’t willin’ to do the first thing I suggest.’

Well, that’s because the first thing you suggest is that I make out with you, you repulsive fourteen-year-old little creep thought Julie. She almost had to bite her tongue to not say it but then Chuck spoke again and it was good that he did for Julie didn’t know how much longer she could hold her feelings back.

“Anyway, just so you know, this is me being merciful. I already told you that if you didn’t show the proper enthusiasm that poor Henry would end up paying the price. Then you made me go back on that but I warn you, don’t think that is going to continue. Now that we got the saw, big man can start with his fingers and we can go one knuckle at a time until you’re ready to get down.”

Now, even with everything that had happened Julie still couldn’t believe her ears.