Chapter 5

Time.

When you need it, there's nowhere near enough. When you have to wait it out, it's like it never passes.

Waiting for a reasonable length of time, before sending Colleen and Rebecca my email, was like watching concrete heat up in the hot sun. I was quite sore and beaten up from whatever David's father did when he went nuts. In the shower I discovered new places that hurt. There were a couple of deep cuts the hospital had treated and left open so the air would help dry them, and hurry along scabbing over.

When I mentioned it to Carol, she became the typical mother and embarrassed me by intimately examining every square inch of my body to see for herself that I wasn't dying. Having a beautiful woman see and feel my body should have stirred my libido. Instead I felt nothing but embarrassed and a little annoyed. David and Carol obviously were nothing but mother and son.

That got me thinking about Jill and Joan. Even though it had only been two days, we lived like strangers in the same proximity. It was clear the things that drew Beth Ann and me together were not present in these relationships. As far as I could tell, Carol liked David, but loved her girls.

As Carol ran her fingers over the scabs on my head and back, she seemed surprised to discover that David had grown from a skinny, pale kid into a nearly grown man. There was not much holding them together. I wondered why.

"What kind of son am I?" I asked suddenly. "Am I nice and respectful, loud and abrasive, moody, or happy, dumb or quiet?"

She seemed puzzled for a moment, then said, "It's so weird telling you about you. David, you are like a ghost most of the time. If it were possible for a teenaged boy to go through life being invisible, you would be the one. I can't remember you calling a girl or meeting the guys at the mall. You don't like movies, or playing sports, and hate to go to church.

"I've sort of given up on you as far as being close to your sisters, or me, because you've got a closed personality, and don't spend time with anyone, for any reason. You've lost your memory, but I've suspected for a long time that your father beat you when no one was looking. It would explain so many things. No matter how I tried to pry things out of you, I might as well have been talking to a tree limb." She smiled when she said that. It made me think there was a tree story in David's past that made her laugh.

"As far as I know, you have no friends, no girls that interest you, no hobbies that you can't do alone, no problem with school work, and no interest in extra-curricular activities. We're going to get you your driver's license this week. For the past year you've driven on your learner's license, with me in the car. You've looked forward to getting your sixteen-year-old license privileges, as soon as possible.

"What we've never told you, and has caused your father no end of frustration, is that your grandfather left money in escrow and instructions in his will that you get a car when you turn sixteen. While we're out getting your license upgraded, we have to go see your grandfather's lawyer to take care of it.

"Your father thought what your grandfather did was a slap in the face to him, and would have fought you on this just to get his way. Now that he's in jail, I'm going to enjoy taking you to the car lot and finding a nice, safe car for you to drive." She had a victorious smile when she talked about defying her husband.

"What's our schedule for all this?" I asked.

"We'll clean up a little and go this morning. I called the law office, and the secretary said we could come in about eleven thirty. We have plenty of time to get to the license bureau, and then be at the lawyer on time.