Chapter 45: A New Day

That next morning came far too early.

There is never enough sleep after stress and adrenaline shocks like the day before. We had done what needed to be done but frankly everyone, Holder included, were walking zombies. Sonya was the only one who seemed to be full of fire and brimstone and to tell you the truth she was starting to like the biblical fire a bit to much for my taste.

It was truly strange to lead a man around on a leash and then sit and have a morning coffee with him. But that’s what I did, I had to make sure he was fully out of his previous world and stuck deep into ours. I decided that Shock and Awe was the way to go; overwhelming exposure to technical and engineering might. I’d show him everything and if he did eventually run to tell stories they’d all call him delusional.

I started with throwing him on the shitter in the camper. I pulled him through the camper so fast he didn’t get a chance to get a good look at it, then I put him in the small toilet room and told him to shit there. He manage to shit on command which very much impressed me, there must have been quite a load built up inside of that poor guy. Pushing the button that flushed the toilet actually made him take a stumbling step backwards, his shit disappeared and the room was clean again.

The shower was even more fun, I made the water decently hot and told him to strip and get in; you woulda thought the Easter Bunny had just given him a blow job when you saw the look of delight on his face. I let him enjoy his first shower in peace and smoked a cigarette while I reflected on how I had zero understanding of his or Amos’s views on reality, I was the outsider here and I needed their help.

So we ended up sitting in chairs at the camp fire having a coffee while we watched Matilda make us breakfast and Michelle and Amos took care of the morning chores.

We drank that coffee together while I tried to organize my thoughts. I needed to break this young man down and pull him away from his old world and then build him up again in ours. It was either that or put a bullet in his head while he slept. Frankly, the bullet option didn’t really appeal to me but it would have been a hell of a lot easier.

Shock and Awe combined with plenty of hard work seemed to be my only option; we had to push him until everything from before seemed like a distant memory to him and then bring him into his new manhood. This was really not something I had asked for or was looking forward to. Truth be told it was just supposed to be me with a few dogs and horses breaking in our new Wyoming home on this day of my life.

Breakfast came and it was a feast, still no eggs but we had everything else Matilda could think of, truly a delight. I made Holder sit on the ground with the dogs while he ate, the rest of us luxuriated at the table or in chairs listening to Amos tell his story as the recital of the day. Amos as speaker had THE egg with his breakfast and he made sure we all got to watch him eat every yolky bite. Fucking teenagers.