DISCLAIMER: The characters are the property of Spelling/Goldberg Productions and Columbia/Tri-Star Entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended. The author retains the rights to the story.
TITLE: Real Monsters-Chapter One
AUTHOR: Cindy PG for this chapter
SETTING: Summer and Fall of 1981, a year after the story Sometimes Things Don't Always Go As You Plan.'
SUMMARY: Jill and Mike get news regarding the possible parole of someone from their past.
AUTHORS' NOTES: This story is going to start in October of 1981, working back and forth between the present and the past. My original title was going to be Monsters' until I remembered that there was an episode of Third Watch' by the same name, so I changed it to Real Monsters' after a comment Jill makes to the parole board regarding real and make-believe monsters. CTL and I are going to alternate chapters with him writing about the past and myself writing about the present. I hope everybody enjoys it.
And, also, what would an angst ridden Jill and Mike Danko story be without the in-laws?
PROLOGUE: OCTOBER 1981-CALIFORNIA STATE PRISON, VACAVILLE
Jill sat at a long table across the room from six people that she'd never seen before and after today, hoped to never see again. Members of the California State Prison Board of Pardons and Parole. The seven of them stared at each other for what seemed an eternity before Jill reached into the canvas bag she'd brought with her and removed a framed eight by ten picture of Mary Kathryn and set it beside her on the long table. The picture showed a brightly smiling toddler, dressed in a frilly pink dress, her long dark hair hanging down her back in long ringlets and tied away from her face by a huge pink bow. "This is my daughter, Mary Kathryn. Her birthday is July 29, 1977, which means she just turned four years old this past July. She's a typical four-year-old, full of endless questions and endless amounts of energy," Jill began speaking as the board members began to look uncomfortable. "She also thinks that the only real monsters are the ones that exist under her bed and in her bedroom closet. Right now, she's not old enough for her daddy and me to tell her otherwise."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Danko, but what does your little girl have to do with why you're here today?" One of the board members asked.
"She has everything to do with why I'm here today. If it weren't for Steve Wainz, my daughter would have an older brother or sister. My husband and I don't take Mary Kathryn into restaurants very often. We fib and tell people it's because she's so small and she doesn't have the attention span or the patience to sit through a restaurant meal. That isn't true. Mary Kathryn is actually a fairly well behaved child. We don't take her because we can't relax in a restaurant setting. You refused to let my husband come here today and speak because you said he wasn't the victim that night. There were a lot of victims that night. I was the only one who was actually injured, but my husband was also a victim. So were our friends. I honestly don't think too much about that night, anymore. After all, it's been eight years and time eases the pain. The only time I really think about that night is when my husband and I enter a restaurant. That's because I visibly see his radar come up. If we can't get a table where he can watch the door, we'll leave. I don't want Steve Wainz released. It's that simple. I don't care if he's taught the whole prison to read while he's been in here. He doesn't deserve to walk free where there are other potential victims of his rage. Thank you for letting me speak," Jill concluded as she put Mary Kathryn's picture back in the canvas bag and stood up.
"We'll contact you by mail within the next week with our decision," one of the board members told her as he escorted her to the door.
Driving back to Los Angeles with nothing but the radio and her thoughts for company, Jill thought about the day she'd received word that Wainz was possibly about to be released from prison.
CHAPTER ONE: AUGUST 1981
After an afternoon spent playing in her wading pool, followed by dinner and a bath, Mary Kathryn was more than ready to settle down with her mother and a good book. Mike was attending orientation classes all week in preparation for teaching an academy class starting in September. Jill was sitting on the edge of Mary Kathryn's bed, reading to her from Winnie the Pooh.' "Why does my daddy have to go to school? Thomas' daddy doesn't go to school. I thought when you were a daddy, you were done with school," Mary Kathryn pointed out to her mother as Jill slowly closed the book.
"Daddy has to go to school so that he can teach school. It's only for a few more days, then he'll be home to read to you," Jill opened the book back up as she glanced at Mary Kathryn. By the look on her face, Jill knew her small daughter wasn't done with her questions. "Mary Kathryn, do you want me to read or do you want to go to sleep right now?"
"Just one more question."
"Okay, what is it?" Jill asked as she bit back a smile.
"When my daddy gets finished with this school, is he going to be the smartest daddy in the whole wide world? Smarter than Thomas' daddy, even?" Mary Kathryn asked as her eyes got huge.
"You know what, Mary Kathryn? I think he already is," Jill leaned down and kissed her on the forehead as Mary Kathryn giggled. "It's time for you to go to sleep."
"Just five more minutes?" The little girl begged as Jill stood up.
"No more minutes. We'll finish Winnie the Pooh' tomorrow night. Sleep tight, I love you," Jill handed Mary Kathryn her rag doll and walked toward the door.
"Mom?"
"Mary Kathryn, enough talking. Go to sleep," Jill scolded as she began to pull her door closed.
"But, mom, monsters. Daddy always checks under the bed for monsters. Thomas says sometimes they escape from the closet," Mary Kathryn whispered in fear as Jill walked back into the room.
"Thomas has a vivid imagination," Jill mumbled as she made a great show of getting on her hands and knees and lifting up the covers on Mary Kathryn's bed. "All right, all of you monsters Get out from under Mary Kathryn's bed or her daddy will put all of you in jail I think that scared them," Jill assured her daughter as she got up off of the floor and straightened the covers. "If that doesn't work, we'll put salt down on the floor."
"Salt? What does that do?" Mary Kathryn asked her mother.
"Oh, monsters are scared of salt. They won't go near it," Jill once again kissed her daughter as she left the room and pulled the door partially closed.
Once downstairs in the quiet of the living room, Jill walked around picking up members of Mary Kathryn's doll family, which were scattered around the room and placed them in an old laundry basket near the stairs. Then she walked over to the bowl where she'd placed the afternoon's mail and began to leaf through it, something she was never able to do while Mary Kathryn was awake. She noticed a white envelope with the return address of The California Board of Pardons and Parole' addressed to her. She couldn't imagine why she'd be getting a letter from this particular agency. She sat down on the sofa and opened the envelope. Her face went pale as she read the form letter. "They've got to be kidding," Jill whispered as she continued reading.
It had been almost eight years since that awful night, but only about seven since the perpetrator had been sentenced to what Jill had hoped would be a long prison sentence. At the time, 25 years had seemed like a lifetime. Jill had thought it to mean that he had to serve that entire sentence. She and Mike rarely went out to dinner any more and it was even more rare that they entered a restaurant with their daughter. Jill saw the stark terror written all over her husband's face every time they walked in the door of a restaurant. He thought he wasn't being obvious and maybe to other people, he wasn't, but Jill saw it and Jill knew the reasons for it. The guilt still had a tendency to eat him alive inside, even though it was something they no longer ever discussed.
Jill put the letter back into the envelope and glanced around the living room. The living room and the wall leading up the stairs resembled a photo gallery of their lives since that awful night. There were dozens of pictures of Mary Kathryn on prominent display. Baby pictures, vacation pictures, pictures of the three of them as a family. Any stranger who entered this house could plainly see how much that little girl was adored by her parents. Any stranger would also probably get the story of how long it took for Mike and Jill to conceive her after that awful night. It was almost four full years from that night in October of 1973 to Mary Kathryn's birth in July of 1977. Willie's wife, Jennifer, didn't even know the full story. As far as Jill knew, Jennifer didn't even know anything about that night and Jill had wanted to keep it that way. The same went for Terry's long-time girlfriend, Serena. The looks on people's faces after that night had been bad enough. Jill had no desire to re-live it.
It was almost nine o'clock when Mike pulled into the driveway and hit the button on his sun visor for the garage door. He parked his car in the garage while Jill parked in the driveway. She could never park in the garage and leave Mike enough room, so they had worked out the arrangement where she got the driveway and he got the garage. As Willie had pointed out, it saved money on divorce attorneys in the long run. Mike had grinned and readily agreed with his old friend. Getting out of his car, he walked over and unlocked the door that led from the garage to the kitchen. Hearing the TV, he knew Jill was in the living room. "Babe, I'm home," he called out as he walked to the refrigerator for a beer.
"Hi," Jill walked over and wrapped her arms around him as he was trying to reach for a beer.
"What's wrong?" He asked, noting that her actions and her body language spoke volumes. "Is Mary Kate okay? Are you okay?"
"Mary Kathryn's fine. She's been asleep for an hour now. I got a very strange letter today and I don't quite understand it," she told him as he got his beer and closed the refrigerator door.
"Who was it from?" He asked as he took her hand and led her into the living room, sitting on the sofa and pulling her down beside him. "Talk to me, babe."
"I'll do better than that. Here, read for yourself," Jill handed him the letter and settled back against the sofa cushions.
Mike unfolded the letter and began to read. As he read, he felt the fury come back to him. "Dear Mrs. Danko, this is to inform you that Steven R. Wainz will be appearing before the parole board on Oct. 31, 1981. If you wish to give reason why he shouldn't be considered for parole at this time, please make arrangements to speak to us on or before the above date. Sincerely, John Walters, President of the California Board of Pardons and Parole," Mike handed the letter back to Jill and she put it back in the envelope. "He can't possibly be coming up for parole, yet."
"Well, apparently, he is. Mike, I thought he got a flat 25. That's what the D.A. told us, remember?" Jill reminded him. "He told us that he'd be in that place for 25 years. No parole, but he had to be released after the 25 years. We didn't like it, but we were okay with it."
"I knew he'd get what they call good time.' They knock so many days off of his sentence for every day he serves. I just thought he'd do more than eight years " Mike shouted before he realized that he'd wake up Mary Kathryn.
"Why didn't you tell me about this good time?' Why didn't the D.A.?" Jill asked, now clearly furious.
"Baby, you were so upset. I didn't see the need to upset you further. I think I just wanted it to go away so we could move on with our lives," Mike apologized as Jill stared at him. "I thought it was enough that he was going to prison."
"How many times did we meet with the D.A.? How many meetings where we were forced to rob Peter to pay Paul just to get him charged with anything that happened to us that night? Mike, I see your reaction every time we go into a restaurant. Even taking Mary Kathryn to McDonald's freaks you out. Wainz is the reason why You're damn right I'm going to make arrangements to talk to them We have to protect our daughter from the Wainz's of this world Right now, she thinks the only monsters are the ones that she can't see. If I have my choice, she'll continue to think that way for the next ten years," she stressed as Mike reached over and pulled her close to him.
"I was hoping to never think about it again and I was definitely hoping to never talk about it again," he whispered into her neck as she held onto him.
"If it weren't for him, Mike, we'd have two children upstairs asleep right now. He can't get out. I won't allow it," she pulled away to look at him as he nodded.
"I'm going to go tuck the baby in and kiss her goodnight," Mike slowly stood up and made his way toward the stairs.
While Mike was upstairs with Mary Kathryn, Jill walked around and made sure the house was secure for the night. After locking everything up, she walked upstairs and paused outside of Mary Kathryn's room, where she could hear the little girl sleepily talking to her father. "Mommy's going to put salt on the floor," she heard Mary Kathryn mumble as Mike tucked her in and once again handed her her beloved rag doll, which had fallen to the floor.
"I love you. Go back to sleep," Mike left the room and once again pulled the door partially closed. It was only then that he looked at his wife with a puzzled expression on his face. "Salt?"
"I'm from the South, remember? That's what you use to get rid of Haints," Jill smiled as she walked into their bedroom. "You put salt around the bed and the monsters won't go near it."
"She told me one night that this particular monster is green, yellow and purple and he used to live at Thomas' house," Mike said as he pulled his pajamas out of his dresser drawer.
"Is he the one that escaped from the closet?"
"One and the same. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said as he walked into their bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Jill sat on the edge of the bed for a few minutes until she heard the shower running before getting up and entering the bathroom. It was one of those nights where she needed to be with him. She removed her nightshirt and walked over, sliding the glass shower door opened. "Did she say how many eyes he had?" She asked as Mike stared at her in surprise.
"Four, but they're all different colors," Mike grinned as he pulled Jill into his arms.
"Those two should write horror movies," she ran her hands down his arms as he kissed her.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he pulled back to look at her with serious eyes.
"I don't want to talk about that right now. There'll be plenty of time to talk about that later. Right now, I just want to be with you," she whispered as she nestled closer to him.
The next morning, Jill went through the ritual of fixing Mary Kathryn's hair before sending her over to Willie and Jennifer's house for the day. Mary Kathryn was playing with one of her many dolls while Jill was tightly French braiding her long hair into two braids. "Ow " Mary Kathryn cried out as Jill yanked particularly hard on her hair. "Mom, you're going to make my eyes all slanted "
"Well, if you'd sit still, this wouldn't hurt," Jill retorted as she continued to deftly plait the little girls' hair. "You're going to make daddy late and then Eddie's going to get mad."
"I need to ride my bike to Jen's. We're going to the park today," Mary Kathryn reminded her mother.
"I know, Mary Kathryn. Daddy already got it out of the garage. Okay, you're done," Jill stood up and put the comb and brush back on her dresser.
"Mary Kate, let's go " Mike called from downstairs.
Jill walked the two of them out the front door and watched as Mike snapped Mary Kathryn's bicycle helmet into place before allowing the little girl to get on the small pink bike with the training wheels. "I'll see you this afternoon," Jill told Mike as Mary Kathryn began pedaling down the street. "Mary Kathryn, wait for your daddy "
"I'll talk to you later," Mike kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you, too. Be careful," she told him as he nodded.
Mike followed Mary Kate down the street to the Gillis' house and allowed her to ring the doorbell. Willie answered the door with seven-year-old Thomas right behind him. "Hey, come on in," Willie ushered Mike and Mary Kathryn into the house. "Thomas, why don't you take Mary Kate's bike to the backyard," Willie suggested as his son took the bike by the handlebars and pulled it toward the back of the house. "Jen's going to take the kids to the park later."
"Yeah, Mary Kate told me about three times already. Hey, you're not going to believe this, but Jill got a letter from the Prison Board telling her that Wainz is coming up for early parole," Mike announced as Willie stared at him in shock.
"How can that be?" Willie asked as Jen came down the stairs carrying two-year-old Natalie. "I thought he got a flat 25-year sentence."
"I don't think there's such a thing, anymore," Mike said, lowering his voice as Jen took Natalie to the kitchen. "Does Jen know about any of this?"
"No, I've never told her anything. Do you want me to tell her?" Willie asked as he looked toward the kitchen.
"No. Let Jill decide how much she wants her and Serena to know. Anyway, are you about ready to roll?" Mike asked as Willie nodded.
"Jen, I'm going " Willie shouted as Jen came back out of the kitchen. "I'll see you tonight."
"Okay, you guys be careful," Jen advised them as the two older kids came thundering back into the room. "Thomas, you and Mary Kate stop running in the house."
"Mary Kate, kiss me goodbye. I have to go," Mike said as Mary Kate ran over to him. "Have fun at the park and wear your helmet."
"I will. Bye, daddy," Mary Kate kissed him as Willie walked over and opened the front door.
"So, what are you and Jill going to do?" Willie asked as he and Mike got into his car and Willie started the engine.
"Prevent him from getting out of prison," Mike vowed to his longtime friend as Willie backed of the driveway and drove down the street.
TO BE CONTINUED