The Second Rape of Dr. Emily Pershing - C5

Chapter 5

Once we got back into the neighborhood, Kendall took over driving. We pulled a Chinese Fire Drill in the middle of the street and just as we took off, Danni came driving up behind us in the Jetta. We casually drove home, pulled into the driveway, and got out like nothing out-of-the-ordinary had happened at all. Danni was a little taken back when she saw me get out of the passenger side, and gave Kendall a little, “Not bad, Girl,” as she walked up to greet us.

“Where’d you guys go?” Kendall asked.

“I have been sworn to secrecy,” Ashley replied stoically.

Ashley often has little secrets that she reveals in a day or so when properly bribed by Kendall.

“Mom, just tell us. You know I’m going to get it out of her anyway,” Kendall bargained.

“And she’s looking forward to it,” Danni countered along with an about face back toward the garage. “Where did you guys go?”

Kendall and I looked at each other behind her back and smiled.

“We did some driving around the neighborhood, and we went to the park,” I answered.

Danni turned and sternly looked Kendall in the eyes. “You went to the park?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yup,” she said confidently, “we walked around the pond, took some pictures of a kid getting mauled by some ducks—that ended well, then we just walked around the park and talked.”

Danni looked at me this time, searching for a chink in the armor. “Hmph,” she grunted, “that sounds nice.” She found no weakness although she clearly suspected something was amiss. “What did you eat?”

“Uhhh…”

“You didn’t feed your child?” she asked.

Kendall chimed in, “We were gonna wait for you.”

“Oh,” Danni replied sheepishly.

She had saved me—not good. Now I owe her one.

Kendall continued her assault, “So, you already ate without us?”

Danni was stuck. I thought to myself, “This girl is good.”

She went on, “Well, that’s okay; I can make us some sandwiches or something.”

Man, this girl is good! She rescued her new ally, me, trapped her mother, then let her off the hook again, rescuing her, and made herself look like the considerate, generous child I always thought she was—but suddenly my concepts are shaken—I’ve seen the master at work. All of a sudden, I’m starting to pity the poor schlep who asks this girl to marry him. I followed the girls into the house with a far greater (and fearful) understanding of just how tightly wound around my daughter’s little finger I actually am.

Danni disappeared into the bedroom while Kendall and I grabbed our quick lunch in the kitchen. We occasionally stole a glance toward one another in our new pact of conspiracy. We adjourned into the family room, where we would normally sit and watch TV, but neither of us grabbed for the remote—we knew the evening held something extraordinary in store, and those events would soon begin to unfold.

Danni came out of the bedroom just as Kendall was finishing up her lunch. I was in the kitchen, ridding myself of the paper plate that formerly held mine. She motioned for me to join her and Kendall in the family room. I took a seat on the couch next to Kendall and Danni posted herself, with her socked feet folded under her, on the recliner, which swiveled to face us. She took a deep, deep breath and exhaled with a sigh.

“Well,” she began, “there’s no easy way to tell you… to let you know the story… my secret, but I need you guys to know; and, I think the best way for you to find out is to do it the way I found out.”

She was unnerved. If not for the fact that they made perfect sense, her words would have seemed almost… rambling. My curiosity had the best of me. My presumption was not accurate at all—this was no “girl” thing—she didn’t even know she had a secret until she “found out”? I went from stoic to uneasy in one sentence.

She continued, “Kendall, I’m going to show you first—for two reasons: first, it’s more important for you know; and second,” she said with a smile, “your father will do a better job of waiting for you and me, than you would do waiting for us.”

“That’s true,” Kendall agreed.

“So, you and me are gonna go sit with Shaggy and learn some stuff.” Danni stepped out of her chair to take Kendall by the hand. “I want you to know that… if you decide, at any point, that you don’t want to know any more, you can just stop. I’ll understand. Believe me; it took me a few tries to get through it all.”

They started for the bedroom and I stayed put on the couch, mind racing, still taking it all in.

“What’s this all about anyway?” Kendall asked.

Danni paused. “It’s about your grandmother,” she answered solemnly.

At that point, I would have given everything in my wallet, and refrigerator, to have not heard that. See, Danni was adopted. The girls know that, but “grandma” to them has always meant either my mother or Danni’s adoptive mother, Grandma Kelly. Since we all already knew about her adoption, and it couldn’t be something regarding my mother, that meant it was something about her mother—her real mother. Danni was right when she suggested I would do a better job of waiting patiently than Kendall would have, but that little nugget of information would have me reeling until it was finally my turn to “learn some stuff.”

While the girls are in the bedroom, I’ll tell you a little bit about Danni.

I met her, Danielle Kelly, when we were both just out of high school. I had decided to become a railroad engineer and, growing up in Phoenix, I knew I would have a great shot at becoming a big fish if I went to a small pond. My parents weren’t exactly thrilled, but they were supportive nonetheless. I packed up a few bags and took off for “Hub City,” Belen, NM.

I got a job working for the railroad right away—they were always hiring kids who were willing and able to carry heavy stuff. Percy Kelly worked as a switchman and we became friends right away. After a month or so, he told me, with some degree of confidence, that I was officially cool enough to be introduced to his sister. The announcement came from out of the blue—I didn’t even know he had a sister—truth is, I wasn’t terribly thrilled about the implied offer anyway. Percy Kelly was an abnormally large young man. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was Samoan. At the site of this mountainous being, the last thing on the mind of a skinny, broke kid is, “I wonder if he has a sister.”

I didn’t want to insult him, so I casually agreed, “That’s cool, thanks.” To my dismay, he invited me to his parents’ house for dinner that very night. He knew, quite well, that I had nothing better to do, so I hesitantly accepted.

There was a lot to be learned that evening with the Kelly’s. When I knocked on the door, I expected to see a man at least remotely similar to Percy in stature. What I saw was a man not much larger than myself. I told the man that I was looking for the Kelly residence and he said, “You must be Beau! C’mon in!”

It turns out young Percy was adopted. His parents could not conceive children so they adopted instead. Percy was the oldest, Lucas (Luke) was the youngest, and Danielle was the saddest. Her demeanor epitomized “melancholy.” Equaling her sadness was her extraordinary beauty. She was truly radiant. I played it cool—I was Percy’s guest, after all. By evening’s end, I was part of the family. They had a rare appreciation for a young man out on his own, away from his family, and this was certainly a family unafraid to take in rouges.

Mrs. Kelly, after dinner and few rousing games of Canasta, made a point of asking Danni if she would like to take me along to walk Stray, the aptly named family dog. I felt suddenly uncomfortable as this night appeared to have been a set-up all along. My discomfort wasn’t because of any unwillingness to talk with her; it was because she certainly didn’t seem like someone who would require any outside effort to find a friend.

Mr. Kelly created an opportunity to speak with me man-to-man in private. “Son, you ever eat so much your pants don’t fit when you leave the restaurant?”

“I don’t think so…”

“Exactly! It’s because you’re still a young man. You see, later in life, your stomach won’t hold itself in so nice, and you’ll find yourself unbuttoning your pants once you’ve left the restaurant. Then as you get older, you’ll unbutton right there at the table—might even do a pre-emptive unbuttoning before you even go in. Well, then it won’t be long before you’re sitting in the car and realize how much better things would be if you unzipped as well, then you can really let it hang out. Are you following me Son?”

“I guess so…”

“Good. See Son, my father is a man of considerable age, and when you get to be as old as he is, you’ll probably find that you’re sitting at a restaurant table unbuttoned, unzipped, and not giving a squirt who sees it! Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you Son?”

“Yes, Sir,” I said confidently—having no idea what he was talking about.

“Good,” he nodded approvingly, “you go out and have a good walk.”

“Thank you, Sir.” He was absolutely right; and, one of these days I’m going to ask him what all that meant. I think of that conversation almost every time we eat out… and I unbutton myself at the table.

Danni and I walked for hours—but it sure started off slow. It was a good four or five minutes before either of us spoke. It was awkward at first, but then it actually seemed kind of nice. There wasn’t much to see since it was pretty dark, but I still looked around to try to get a handle on the area. I caught her occasionally looking over at me just for a second, as if she wanted to say something, but she never did. Eventually, I was going to have to say something.

“What kind of dog is Stray?” I asked, hoping to break the ice.

“Yellow one,” she said briskly.

Her answer was cause for reflection. I tried a different approach. “I write poetry.”

“Yeah? I like poetry.”

“Hmm, too bad,” I replied.

“Why?”

“Nothing around here rhymes,” I said smoothly.

It was another few minutes before either of us spoke. This time, she broke the silence.

“Can I ask you something,” she asked.

“Anything.”

“Why did you come here?” she asked—and she asked with a look of true sincerity.

“You mean, why did I come to Belen?”

“Uh-uh. Why did you come to my house tonight?” she clarified.

“I don’t know—Percy invited me, so I came,” I said plainly.

“He didn’t tell you nothing ’bout me?” she asked without looking at me. She expected an answer that I wasn’t going to give.

“Nope. We’ve been friends since I started at the railroad, and this morning he just told me I was invited for dinner. He knows I aint got nobody… no friends, I mean… ’round here, so I guess he figured I could use some company, ya know?”

“Yeah, I know. Reason Percy’s so big is cuz most of him’s all heart,” she said, “My mom and him have been trying to find me someone to talk to since all of my friends are either gone or… think I’m gone.”

“They think you’re gone?”

“Not gone, gone, but like… loopy gone,” she explained.

“Hmm. You don’t seem loopy to me,” I assured her.

“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong with me like that, I guess. It’s just that… a couple years ago I kinda freaked out over something personal that happened and I… well I guess I didn’t handle it very well—not that anyone would. But still I treated people pretty bad and I actually ended up leaving school for a while because of it.”

“Wow, what happened?”

“Can’t tell you,” she said sadly, “I don’t like talking about it anyway—don’t even like thinking about it really.”

“Well, if it makes you sad, then I don’t want to talk about it either,” I said.

She stopped and finally looked directly at me, “That’s the right answer, Beau. ’Bout time somebody figured that out.” She smiled. “What kind of a name is Beau?” she asked.

“Beau LeCrae!” I said confidently, “It’s French—probably means something,” I proclaimed, which earned another of her brilliant smiles. “But my grandparents (my father’s parents) came here from Andorra, which is a tiny little country between France and Spain that nobody’s ever heard of.”

“Isn’t that Samantha’s mother on Bewitched?” she asked snidely.

“That’s Endora, this is Andorra.”

“Hmm. I think you’re making this up,” she jested.

“I might be,” I jested in return.

I’ll spare you the boring details of the rest of our walk, but obviously, it went well. We got back to the house about two hours later and found the whole family sitting out on the front porch drinking coffee and cider. Danni walked up ahead of me and Stray led the way, happy to finally be home again. She and Stray jumped up the porch steps and merely said, “We’re back,” before ducking inside the house. Everyone stopped everything. Mrs. Kelly nearly dropped her coffee cup.

“Did you see?” Mrs. Kelly asked of the other three.

“I did!” replied Mr. Kelly as I stopped at the base of the steps.

Everyone seemed to be quite amazed that she and Stray made such an incredible leap up the three stairs. Percy stood up and walked toward me as it was clear I had intended to say my thank you’s and goodbye’s as it had become a bit late. He walked with me back to my truck after everyone had sung out their nice-to-meet-you’s and such.

“Really, I appreciate you having me over,” I said as I shook my large friend’s hand, “It was nice to be around people without carrying brake parts the whole time.”

“You’re welcome,” the big Samoan said proudly with a huge smile, “You gonna call her?”

“Ahh, she didn’t… um…” I was lost for words.

“She likes you,” Percy said with a laugh, “I can tell.”

“What, because she jumped up those steps?”

We heard the screen door close and we both looked back the house to see that Danni had come out. Mrs. Kelly immediately pulled her over and started talking to her—no doubt interrogating her about where we’d been for so long.

“No, dude, she always jumps up the steps. She smiled and said, ‘We’re back’.” he explained.

“Ahhh, that explains it,” I said sarcastically.

“Trust me, dude, I can tell.”

Danni yelled, “Hey Beau!” as she walked out toward us.

“See ya at work, Bro,” Percy said as he headed back to the house.

Danni came up and assumed Percy’s position in leaning up against the truck. She asked, “So, when we were walking, do you remember me smiling?”

“Yeah, many times… you know… not that I was really paying attention or anything,” I answered awkwardly.

She rebutted almost angrily, “Well, you smiled a lot too!”

I wasn’t quite sure why it was important, but I concurred, “Yes, yes I did.”

It was horribly awkward. She was clearly having mixed feelings about something and I didn’t have a clue what to say or do.

I changed the subject—“So, Percy thinks I should call you.” I didn’t realize how stupid that was to say until after I said it.

“He does?” she replied, “but otherwise you wouldn’t?”

I scrambled, “Actually I was just going to come by again, but if you’d rather I just call…”

“No! I mean, sure, you can call… or come by… or call and then come by,” she blushed.

“Okay, so I’ll call you.”

“Okay… oh, do you have a pen?” she asked.

I scrambled in the truck for the pen I saw in there a few days ago.

“Here it is,” I exclaimed triumphantly.

She took the pen, and my hand, and wrote her number on it—it was stupid, but at the time, it was magical. I still remember the feeling of the ball point rolling across my palm. My heart was beating—we were really quite pathetic, and not just because we were being cute. Fact is, I had her number already. She had clearly forgotten that I was already friends with Percy… and honestly, I had forgotten too.

“I’ll call you tomorrow night,” I said as I piled into the truck.

“See ya,” she said quietly.

I started up the old Chevy and began to pull away when she hurried back to the passenger window.

“Hey, Beau,” she said with a stern sobriety.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for walking Stray with me.”

“It was fun, huh?” I replied.

“Yeah… it was fun,” she said—and off I went.

The next day, at work, Percy explained what was happening. He had known she liked me because when she bounded up the steps, she smiled. That was it. He told me she got some news about her real mom a while back and it made her pretty crazy for a while. She really did drive her friends away by acting like a crazy person. She was over it now, but her friends had written her off and Belen being a small town, there weren’t too many options for building new friendships—except for with a newcomer who was also looking for new friends. Percy told me his mom had charged him with finding any new people who came to town. She was especially happy with him for finding a potential suitor as well. He also told me… he told me that nobody in his family had seen her smile for over two years. That’s what her mother had told her when she walked out onto the porch—she had smiled. Suddenly it all made sense.

“My mom blames herself for what happened to Danielle. She thought it was time for her to know what happened with her birth mother, but it definitely wasn’t time yet.”

“So what happened?”

“Don’t know,” he shrugged with his giant shoulders, “Only her and the parents know that.”

“Huh. Well, what made your mom think it was time for her to know?”

“It was her sixteenth Kelly-day” he said.

“Kelly-day.”

“Yeah, we don’t really have birthdays, so we celebrate the day we each became Kellys,” he

explained, “Dad’s adopted too. Mom became a Kelly on their anniversary, and we all joined in along the way at some point. I know my real birthday, but Danni and Luke don’t even know for sure. So… Kelly-day.”

“I get it. So she got some news about her birth mother, tripped out a bit, people steered clear from her and now she’s smiling again.”

“You got it, Bro,” he said, and back to work we went.

She showed me around after work that day and before long, we were nearly inseparable. We got married after about a year. I quit the railroad for a research company and Danni had already decided she was going to become a pharmacist. My company paid for my college while I worked for them full-time. It was a schedule that would challenge most couples starting out in a youthful marriage, but Danni really loved me for some reason, and I didn’t deserve her at all. It didn’t matter what hoops we had to jump through individually, as long as at the end of the day, we were together.

We honeymooned in Hawaii—the Big Island. It was there I learned a piece of advice that I’ve often dug out to help me through difficult times. The advice: Eddie would go. When things seem too dangerous, too impossible, I remember: Eddie would go. I used to think about doing cool stuff. I would daydream for a moment about how neat it would be to just pull over and go climb a hill to see what there might be in a little cave I might see from the road; then I’d dismiss the idea and go on my way. Now, I take the time to actually fulfill the silly notions that occasionally come to me. Danni often finds herself joining me on these little adventures; and now, where most people have only thoughts and daydreams, we have memories and stories to share. Why? Because… Eddie would go. No fear, no excuses, just go.

Now it was my turn to go again. Kendall and Danni came out of the bedroom—Shaggy knew yet another secret. Kendall was visibly shaken. They had been crying. It took about an hour and a half for them to emerge. Perhaps that was all the time needed for the story to be told—or maybe she had taken Danni up on her offer to quit when she didn’t want to know any more. Whatever the case, it was my turn now. My legs were weak but they found their strength as I rose to my feet. I hadn’t felt this nervous about anything since Kendall was born. She looked at me from across the room. Her face was sad, but still comforting. As I walked, I heard Kendall sobbing in her room. I began to dislike Eddie.

“She’s uhh…”

“I know,” Danni said, “I’ll check in on her. You don’t need me for this. It’s all in there.”

“She got through it?” I asked quietly.

“Uh-uh. She’s pretty tough though, she got through a lot.”

“She’s a trooper,” I said, easing my own moral.

“I’m gonna see if she wants to go get some ice cream,” Danni said, “that’s what I did. Good luck, I’ll see you at the end.”

They did go for ice cream—I could hear them leave as I had finished piecing together the unraveled scroll. There were many pages comprising the scroll, which I now have trouble saying because it’s not a scroll at all. I had always imagined it as just a couple of long pieces of paper, but there had to be fifty. There were at least three different types of paper included, and two very different types of handwriting. Once I had it reassembled, I took up a comfortable spot on the bed and began reading.

The following pages are transcribed from the papers which comprise the scroll. Again, they are almost exactly as they were when presented to me. They’re not meant to be entertaining or persuading; merely a compilation of personal notes, reflections, and transcripts. I’ll leave most of the spelling and grammar alone. It’ll be cleaned up bit, punctuated, deciphered from hand-written scribbles into keystrokes on a computer; nothing will be “translated” however, so the original meaning of the authors will remain raw and unchanged. I think of these papers simply as historical documents recounting the events of a few moments in some people’s lives. My job is to present them to you, to tell the story. You are free, of course, to make of it what you will. Having been briefly introduced to my family, I hope you will, at the very least, appreciate what the story means to us. Good luck, as Danni said, I’ll see you at the end.

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