Chapter 45

“I DON’T WANT TO GO,” Amy said defiantly. It didn’t make a difference. She was in a hospital in Ames and on her way to see her worthless brother.

“Of course you do,” Rita Unger replied. “You know he’s dying to see you.”

“I wish,” Amy said under her breath.

“What was that, young lady?” Greg Unger snapped.

“As you wish,” she said. “I’m coming.”

And so here she was with her parents acting like she was the prisoner instead of her rapist druggie brother. They went into the room and Amy was surprised to find no police officers at his door. Jerry was still in serious but stable condition. The prognosis was that he would be paralyzed from the waist down.

“It won’t be long until we have you home, son. I’m sure your sister will help care for you,” Greg said. “The basketball season is over now, so she has no excuses.”

“Track,” Amy muttered. Her father scowled at her.

“Now, Amy,” Rita said. “Your brother is injured and was arrested as an accessory to kidnapping, drug distribution, and murder. We all know he didn’t do any of those things and the judge granted bail. There’s no reason he shouldn’t come home and you’ll do your part in caring for your big brother.” An evil smile crossed Amy’s face and Jerry squirmed a little.

“I’m going to go get us some coffee,” Gary said.

“I’ll check with the nurses to see when you’ll be released from the hospital, honey. You just talk to your sister for a while.” Both parents left the room and Amy approached the bed.

“Don’t try anything,” Jerry said as he watched her.

“Me? Try something? Whyever for, dear brother? Oh! Do you think I’d drug and rape you and sell you to sex traffickers?”

“I’d never do a thing like that,” Jerry said.

“Save your lies for our stupid parents,” Amy growled. “I heard you and your gang of jerks. I’m the one who took pictures of you making drug buys. And I’m the one who will testify to make sure you go to prison. You’d be better off if you were dead, like your buddies.”

“My buddies aren’t dead. As soon as I get home, they’ll come around and I’ll watch them have fun with you.”

“You poor deluded idiot. Lee and Harry are dead. They’re never going to come around.”

“I have other buddies.”

“You just understand this, asshole. One day Mom and Dad will leave you alone with me. When that happens, I’ll slip into your room and cut off your cock. Don’t worry about bleeding to death. I’ll bring the iron on high heat and make sure it’s cauterized. And you won’t even feel it, since you can’t feel anything down there. The first you’ll even know about it is when I bring you lunch and you bite into your wee little prick in the sandwich. The next time, I’ll take your balls. After that I think I’ll invite my boyfriend Dennis over to fuck your ass with his huge cock. Then you’ll be just like all the girls you had. And no one will believe you because you won’t have the balls to say anything.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” he said, less confidently than he wanted.

“Die. Or make a full confession and go to jail. Otherwise, I’ll write your confession on the walls with your blood.” Amy backed away from the bed sneering at her brother as her mother walked back into the room.

“Well, how are you two doing?” she said brightly.

“I was just telling Jerry what good care I’d take of him if he ever got home,” Amy said lightly.

“I knew you’d come around,” her father said as he brought coffee into the room. He handed cups to Rita and Jerry. Amy backed away into a corner of the room and stared at her brother. He kept trying to break eye-contact but was constantly drawn back to her.

“Well, we have to talk to the doctor tomorrow, but the nurse insists that you are scheduled to be released to some kind of nursing home because of the level of care you will need. We’ll convince them they need to let you go home. That lawyer the sheriff’s son sent will get it done. He’s the one who got you bail.”

Amy’s ears pricked up. The sheriff’s son? Tom Perkins who was still supposedly dating Carol Reston. That had to be the answer. She’d better call Agent Brisco.

“Mom, do you think we’ll be able to bring Dad home soon?” Dennis asked as they drove from Des Moines.

“I don’t know, Dennis. I didn’t want to show you this but I thought maybe seeing you would jog his memory. I don’t know how well he’ll be able to take care of himself if he’s released. I’m so alone right now, I need your support, Dennis.”

“Of course, Mom. Do you know who he thought I was? Someone called Randy?”

“Back when we were in high school, Will’s best friend was Randy Brown. They played basketball together and we often double dated with Randy and Elsa.”

“Wait. Randy as in Randolph Brown? Lana’s father?”

“Yes. I forgot you must have met him. Lana was helping you at the basketball game, wasn’t she?”

“Uh-huh. Do you know her, too?”

“Not really, but it would be hard to miss her platinum blonde hair. She looks just like her mother used to.”

“Why did they never visit us?” Dennis asked.

“Well, when we lost the farm ... That awful summer ... Will took the money he could get from selling what remained and bought this house. It might seem strange to you today, but ten years ago, this house was only worth $60,000. Will spent the entire rest of the year fixing it and making sure it was safe for all of us. Dennis, your father loves you and Peg to the end of the world, but he couldn’t cope with losing his family home. His dad passed away not long after Peg was born and his mother helped me take care of Peg and then you were born. Neither Will nor his mother were really stable after his father died. Will lost himself in taking care of the farm and when his mother died—I think she died of grief—he inherited the farm. I’m rambling.”

“I don’t mind, Mom. I didn’t know any of that. I only sort of remember Grandma Enders. I remember riding on the tractor with Dad, though.”

“He was determined to make that farm successful. But the year that freak hail storm destroyed most of the crops in the county, it was more than we could handle. Farmers often take out loans at the beginning of the season to buy seed and fertilizer. Then they pay off the loans in the fall when they harvest. Your father was farming over a thousand acres by himself, almost two full sections, and the debt from the crop failure combined with the mortgage on the house ... Well, we didn’t have any income to make the payments. Will sold out and bought our house in town. That’s what you asked about, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Why the Browns never visited.”

“They did, a couple of times. I think your dad was so ashamed of having lost the farm that it drove a wedge between him and Randy. Randy’s father was still working the land with him and had insisted on crop insurance. With Will’s dad gone, he had no one to advise him on such things. Randy tried to help with renovating the house, but I think Will drove him away with his anger and shame. That’s when we pretty much stopped going to church, too. It’s a shame, I guess. I really missed Elsa. Her little girl was born about a year after you. Randy had been working with his dad to save up money. It took almost three years before he was able to go to Sweden. He brought Elsa back with him, already pregnant. It was almost like she was never gone. So, I guess that was why they didn’t visit us anymore.”

Dennis pieced the story together. “I feel bad for Dad that he didn’t have any friends. I guess, though, that we had more friends than we thought. Mrs. Brown has sat with Peg sometimes, hasn’t she?”

“Yes. All your girls’ parents except the Ungers and the Grants have pitched in, and a couple of others from the church. We should really start going back to church. There are good people there.”

“Is that—I mean losing the farm—why Dad started drinking?”

“Yes. That first winter, we didn’t have anything but each other. He didn’t have a job and there wasn’t much more he could do on the house until spring. At first it was just a bit of whiskey to take the edge off in the evenings. He felt like a kid out soliciting neighbors to shovel their walks to get a little money. Then in the summer he got a job at the Feed and Seed store where the grain elevator is. But by winter, he was laid off again and didn’t have any prospects. The little nip in the evening became more and more until he often passed out on the weekend. Please understand, Den, your father is a good man. Life was just too much for him to cope with. Maybe losing some of his memory is the best thing that could happen. You know that basketball pad you have out back? He dug the area out and mixed the concrete by hand so you would have a safe place to shoot baskets. He’s never been mean or abusive when he had too much to drink and he’s always been able to put it aside when he had a job prospect or when his kids needed him.”

“Mom, you don’t have to defend Dad to me. I love him. When he—and you—found out what happened to me at school, you both went to bat for me. I’ll never forget that, no matter what.”

“Well, let’s go in and see how your girlfriend and sister are getting along,” Dot said as she pulled into the garage. “I think I smell cookies.”