Chapter 13

The trip into town was uneventful. I explained my three rules of life so far to both my Mom and Rhyll. Mom told me she thought they were a good start on becoming the man I seemed to want to be. I told her it was all part of the changes to myself I was trying to make. I told her a white lie when she asked where all this was coming from.

“I just realized that I was entering high school and, while you may see it differently, my time as a kid is over. Then I remembered one of those Bible verses we had to learn that year in Sunday School. I can’t remember its exact location, but I remember it saying something like... ‘When I was a child, I thought like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things.’”

“Since my time as a child is over, it is time to put away childlike things and figure out what kind of man I want to become. The first thing I thought was, I didn’t want to be the weak little kid anymore. Like I said to you already, I can’t change how tall I am, but I can change how healthy, fit, and strong I am. So I decided to exercise. Which led me to Mr. Snodgrass teaching me martial arts.”

“I also thought that my education should be important. After all, high school is where you get prepared for college. I’ve wasted my potential, according to Mrs. Morris and my teachers, for years. So, I thought I’d see if I could turn that around.”

“Which brings me to my life rules. I thought I should not just have some goals but also some rules that help me achieve them. Rules to help me be the man I want to be. So far, I have three. You know the first one. Do whatever is necessary to protect the people I love, no matter the consequence.”

“Number two is never take the easy choice, it is usually the wrong direction. Nothing that comes easy is worth having. I believe my own life has proven that out. I never tried to do well in gym or school or even at home and look where I was before my birthday. Going nowhere fast. Nothing against it. But what options will I have after high school on that path? Community college, a minimum wage job flipping burgers, and delivering the paper, and again, nothing against it. Or enlist in the military, which I may do, anyway. I don’t know yet, but if I do, it will be after college as an officer, not as an E1.”

“But, if I can get into this program that Amaryllis tested for, the rumor is that it includes college credit courses taken both at the high school and the community college. I heard someone say that there is a possibility of graduating with a college degree.”

Amaryllis nodded. “Mrs. Crookshank told me that yesterday. She said starting in the ninth grade would almost guarantee graduating with a high school and a college degree at the same time.”

I nodded, “Which leads to my third rule. Make a plan and follow the plan. But, plan to be flexible. No plan survives contact with resistance without some change. Become the change you want to see.”

“I just thought up a fourth one Leave things better than how you found them. By that, I mean to be a positive force for positive change. For example, I’m not ashamed of what I did to Kent, Todd, and Aaron. If what I’ve been told since I beat them is even partially true, then they got what they deserved and a world without their offspring in it will be better.”

My mother gasped. “Harrison, what a terrible thing to say or even think.”

“I’m not sorry for thinking it or saying it. May and Mary Jane both told me yesterday that there were rumors of other girls they’d hurt. Then I talked to a man last night who told me that his daughter, who is the twins’ age, was gang raped at a party by Kent, Todd, Aaron, and their two other friends. They stripped her and raped her in front of everyone, Mom. When she filed a report with the police, everyone who saw the rape refused to testify. Five against one. The police ruled she gave herself to them willingly and had ‘buyer’s remorse’ afterward.”

“He even hinted that the Mayor offered to pay the family off to keep quiet. I remember the girl, Mom; she was a friend of Mary Jane’s. Both May and Mary Jane promised me a list of girls they heard had the same things happened to them.”

“The more I hear about what those guys do to girls, the more I’m wishing I’d put them in the ground permanently. I promised them they’d rape no one else and if I have to watch them after they get out of the hospital; If I have to do the same thing to the two who were out of town; I won’t hesitate to act again. The next time, they won’t walk away with just ruptured testicles. Hell, they won’t walk away at all.”

“HARRISON! You can’t say things like that. If anyone heard you, they’d put you away forever.”

I nodded. “You’re right, they would. However, if I find out they’ve hurt May or Mary Jane, or if they try to hurt Amaryllis or anyone else I care about, the next time there won’t be anything to save. They’ll just mysteriously vanish. I’ll make them vanish without a trace, permanently.”

My mother looked at me, her mouth hanging open and one hand on her chest. As tears ran down her face, she stated in a whispery voice. “You have changed. It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“That’s not true Mom. Deep down inside, I’m the same guy. I just know the direction I want my life to go. I plan to make a difference, to leave the world a better place than I found it.”

“By killing three to five guys? You think that will make the world a better place?”

“Yes! If they didn’t learn their lesson, then absolutely the world would be a better place without them.” Mom looked shocked and appalled. I thought about 9/11 and how much better things would have been if someone, anyone, had killed those men before they high-jacked four planes. I thought about Saddam Hussein and the hundreds of thousands he killed and of Osama Ben Laden and Al Qaeda. If I got the opportunity, I would make them all disappear before they put the world into the terrible condition they’d left it in. But I couldn’t say that to my Mom. She wouldn’t understand that world because it hadn’t happened yet. However, I knew an example I could give.

“Answer me this question, Mom. If someone had heard Hitler say he was going to eliminate all the Jews and had killed him before he could, would they have made the world a better place? Millions of people who died in those camps never to have gone through the suffering? Those that survived, not losing loved ones or watching their friends, family, and neighbors die? Would Hitler’s death before he became Da Fuhrer have left the world a better place?”

Mom looked at me with shock registering on her face. “You are seriously comparing Kent Buckley and his friends to Hitler?”

I nodded emphatically. “Yes, Ma’am. If the rumors I’ve been hearing, and that father’s tale last night, is true, then yes I am. There is no reason for me to not think those rumors are true. I know the man I talked with flat-out would agree with me. His daughter won’t set foot in Angel Falls because of those five guys. So yes, in my mind, the pain and suffering they’ve caused other girls and wanted to cause Rhyll is exactly the same as the pain and suffering that Hitler set in motion.”

We pulled into the school parking lot about that time and Mom suggested that we not talk about this topic anymore. I agreed. I’d said more than enough. A fifth rule had to be added to my life rules. Loose lips sink ships. Think twice before speaking. That rule would have saved me a lot of trouble already. Yep, rule number five. I felt like that guy on that TV show NCIS, the one with all those rules he lived by. Instating a new rule whenever it was called for. Oh well, maybe that was an exemplary role model to pattern my life after. Fictional or not.

Amaryllis bounced in her seat and pointed. “Oh look, my Uncle Joseph is here!”

“Good, he made it. He was supposed to meet us here. In case I have any trouble with the principal about what happened yesterday. He’s one of the people who kisses Mayor Glenn’s ass on the regular.”

“Harrison.”

I shrugged at the warning tone in my Mom’s voice. “It’s the truth, Mom. Everyone knows it. That’s why Kent and his gang get by with anything they do here. As long as his dad is mayor, and he keeps winning football games, they all but let him get away with murder and they have let him get away with rape.”

“While that may be true, during your visit today I need you to act like the old you and not this new aggressive version of you. They need to see the meek and weak Harrison. Not the new Harrison you are becoming.”

“Mom, I’m sorry, but I’m not rolling over like a kicked dog for anyone anymore. That falls under rule two. No more opting for the easiest solution. A new rule is also being created, I think. Stand up for myself and the causes I see as right and just. I won’t let tyranny stand in my presence. I heard a saying on tv by one of those TV preachers that I think I’ll adopt. He said, ‘Stand for what’s right even if the stars fall.’ Yep, that’s rule six.”

“And when they kick you out of school?”

“That’s what Joseph is here to prevent. I did nothing that falls under the school’s jurisdiction. Nobody arrested me or charged me with a crime. My altercation wasn’t on school property and school wasn’t in session. Legally they can’t refuse me the opportunity for an education. Especially since the law says that I’m required to attend school for another year. I can’t even voluntarily withdraw until this time next year.”

Mom just shook her head. “This is going to take some getting used to Harrison. You’ve changed overnight. I get that you’ve been thinking about these changes for a while. Your rules alone prove that, but for the rest of us, this is an overnight change and very unexpected.”

“I’m sorry this is so hard on you, Mom. I wish these changes made you proud of me instead of feeling like I’ve become a stranger. That’s all I’m trying to do, to become a man you can be proud of and that I’m proud to be becoming.”

We’d just stepped out of the car as I made that statement. Mom put her arm on my hand to stop me. “Oh Honey, no, you misunderstand me. I am proud of you. I was proud of you before you went and grew up on me. But I’m especially proud of the young man who stood up for the neighbor girl. Who put himself and his safety behind keeping her safe. I’m proud to hear that you’re taking growing up seriously and trying to become the man I always knew you could be. It’s just hard on your old mom, watching you grow up and become that man. Never think I’m not proud of you.”

She pulled me into a hug and while her display of affection embarrassed the fifteen-year-old part of me; it thrilled the adult inside to have my mother’s arms around me again. She’d been gone for a few years and I’d regretted not making things right with her before she passed. I’d just always thought there would be more time to say what needed to be said. Like, “I’m sorry, I love you. You’re important to me,” and finally, “Thank you for raising me the best you knew how.”

Now I had that chance and I’d say them all. Just not at once. I didn’t want to kill her with shock.

Amaryllis had left us during our hug and was giving her uncle a welcoming hug. “Uncle Joseph, are you going to make them leave my boyfriend alone?”

“Amy, honey, I am going to enforce my client’s right to an education, if I need to. But I don’t want to come in heavy-handed if it isn’t necessary. So why are you here?”

She put her hands on her hips. “I’m spending the day with my boyfriend. He’s mine all day as long as I share him with his Mom.”

Joseph shook Mom’s hand and then mine. “I’m here if I’m needed. I hope I’m not needed, but if I am, then I’ll step forward and guarantee that your son gets the opportunities he is entitled to. That includes being tested for this new program and placed in it if he fits the criteria. But more importantly, as he is under sixteen, they must allow him attendance or show cause why he shouldn’t attend. From what I understand, he hasn’t ever been in disciplinary trouble during his school career. I went over to the Junior High this morning and looked at their copy of his disciplinary file. It was non-existent. The only thing I can find is that all his teachers feel he wasn’t performing up to his potential. The fact he now wants to test for this advanced program shows he wants to rise to that potential.

So, I won’t be saying anything unless needed. You can all pretend I’m not even here until I need to step in as Harrison’s lawyer.”

Mom nodded and then asked. “Mr. Snodgrass, I understand you helping Harrison yesterday. Especially since he got in trouble protecting your niece. But I asked last night. You are the best and most expensive lawyer in Angel Falls. How are we supposed to pay you for your services?”

Joseph smiled at her. “Don’t worry about that, Mrs. Parker. Harrison, your father-in-law, and I have an understanding. I owe your son a debt greater than I can ever pay. My whole family does. So don’t you worry about the cost of my services. Without your son, my niece would have been the one in the hospital, if not worse.”

His declaration reminded me that tomorrow was the day in the original timeline that Amaryllis had killed herself. Before she left today, I had to make sure that would not happen. I didn’t think it was, but I’d be damned if I went through all that and dropped the ball at the last second. I would make sure she knew she was loved and important, to not just me, but her whole family, before we parted ways today.