Suzie’s House 124 : Unpunished

Suzie's House

Gene refused to look up. Instead, he crumbled the cookie on the plate Mrs. Hammacker had put in front of him. He didn’t dare look at Ben, because then Ben would expect him to back him up. He didn’t dare look at Mrs. Hammacker, because she might ask questions. For sure Kathy the Social Worker would ask questions. Probably ask even if he didn’t look. And Lisa. Gene had no idea what to make of Lisa.

He hunched over the kitchen table and tried to pretend this wasn’t all happening to him.

“It’s a very good story,” Kathy said. She was talking about the one Ben wrote days ago; the one about how bad things were for Gene. “Is it true?”

The cookie under Gene’s exploded, sending cookie dust in a splatter pattern like a cherry bomb. Mrs. Hammacker got up and went to the sink for a wash cloth. Gene tried not to watch her too closely.

“Yes. It’s all true,” Ben said kind of belligerent. If Gene sounded like that around his father, he’d get smacked.

But that wasn’t going to happen ever again. Not because Helpful Kathy got him in to live in Mrs. Hammacker’s house permanently. Because if it didn’t work out here, Gene would find somewhere else. No matter what, he wasn’t ever going back. Not that he intended to tell that to anyone here.

“Right, Gene?” Ben said.

Even without looking, Gene knew Ben was waiting for him to jump in, back him up. The thing was, Gene never asked for any of this. Not for Ben to write that stupid story, not for Kathy to scrape him off the parking lot in front of her car to take him to the hospital, not to live here. OK, maybe the part about living here was his idea. But that didn’t mean he had to go through this, did it?

Gene mumbled something that wasn’t even real words, hoping no one would notice. Mrs. Hammacker came over with the wash cloth and wiped down the table in front of him.

“There are some serious allegations here,” Kathy said. She tapped the pile of paper in front of her, some of which were the papers Mrs. Hammacker was supposed to fill out as part of agreeing to let him stay and part were the story. “Would you be willing to stand by these charges in a court of law?”

“Yes,” Ben said. He tried to sound sure, and stuck his chin out, but Gene saw the hesitation.

“No. Don’t,” Gene said. He said it real quiet, but everybody turned toward him. Mrs. Hammacker stopped messing with the table, then picked up his plate and took it away like it was no big deal.

He finally had to look at everyone. They were all waiting. He couldn’t hide. Slowly, he turned his head, checking them each out one by one. Ben and Lisa had come in from the back door as far as that end of the table, but never sat down. Now Lisa flopped into the chair there like her legs weren’t working right anymore. Ben looked like he’d been clobbered with a tire iron. Mrs. Hammacker moved kind of stiff, but Gene didn’t think she’d say or do anything. Kathy was something else all together.

He’d seen it off and on all day, ever since this morning when she found him between her car and the wall of the car port. It was like he held the key to something important. He’d overheard her talking in the hall of the hospital while he was getting his ribs taped, saying something about going to quit doing social work that day, but changed her mind. Maybe it was because of him, and maybe not.

Now she looked at him, almost angry.

“I know what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to get my dad locked up same as Ben’s dad was. Right? You’re going to use me to do it, too.”

“Don’t you think he deserves it?” Kathy asked.

“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know.” Mrs. Hammacker slipped a fresh plate of cookie onto the table in front of him. He thanked her with a nod before turning back to Katy. “I know I don’t want anything to do with him anymore and I’m not going back there. But that’s between me and my father.”

“But…” Kathy started, looking all determined and narrow the way do gooders sometimes got.

“I won’t help you lock him up,” Gene said real firm. “I won’t do it. He might not be much, but he’s my father. He’s the only family I got. I don’t want anything to do with him any more, but I don’t want to mess with him like that either. It’s just not right.”

“And you think the way he treated you was right? You can’t tell me the cracked ribs he gave you and the bruises I saw on your arms and back are the first injuries he’s ever given you.”

“It don’t matter.” Gene cut her off with a hand gesture. “I won’t stand by him, but I won’t stand up to him either. I don’t know how to make you understand.” He toyed with the cookies on his plate. He’d already eaten more than enough of them. “It’s just, yeah he thumped me around a bit, but he also took care of me for a long time. Far back as I can remember it was just me and Dad. I think he might love me in his way. It’s not like things were always bad all the time. Just lately, it’s been more bad than good. Leaving. That’s enough for me.”

“But he should be allowed to get away with it!”

“It isn’t for him, ma’am. It’s for me.”

“Phuuuuu.” Kathy crossed her arms in front of her and sat back. She didn’t look happy, but she’d let him off the hook now. That was enough.

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