Thanks for all the support on this, including guest reviews, even if I can't reply. All appreciated :) Time settings might shift a little, like in this one, because the pieces are on a theme so Tim's age changes between 'chapters'. This is just a short one.
I'm nine years old the first time I'm in a cop car. To be honest, I think it's a gas. I'm disappointed the miserable fucker won't put the lights and siren on.
Don't think it's so funny when I catch a licking for bringing the freaking cops around.
"Do I wanna be seeing that at my door?" my daddy yells. "Ain't you got the sense you was born with?"
I'm used to the way Ma wallops me. I even got used to the fucker who wasn't our uncle slapping me. But this is the first time since Daddy came back that I've been in serious trouble. I have to lie on my front because Daddy uses his belt, meaning my behind and the back of my legs is on fire for the rest of the night.
I learn something. I learn that breaking a few windows ain't worth this. No way. I learn that, above anything else, I need to not get caught.
Curly keeps sniffing, looking over at me. Eventually I tell him to shut the hell up. He scurries over to me. We got two beds in here now, thank God, I don't have to put up with him kicking me all night no more. So he crosses the couple of feet between us and whispers to me that he hates Daddy.
I reach up and slap him one around the head. Moving hurts.
"You shut up," I hiss at him. "Don't you say that." Sometimes I think Curly is a retard. What in hell does he think would happen if Daddy heard him say that? I know Curly don't remember Daddy from before he went away. But he's been back for months now. Even Curly's gotta see how things are now.
Curly goes back to his own bed, sulking. At least that means he'll be quiet.
xxXxx
I'm twelve when I get my first trip downtown. I've crossed some line where the cops think that taking you home will be enough of a warning. I sit in the holding cell out back, by myself, hearing them talk about me. Talk about my old man.
Fucking right I'm a chip off the old block. My old man is tough.
My old man is also back inside, so it'll be Ma they call to come get me. That'll piss her off. I'm just taller than her though, and I'm definitely quicker than her, so if she wants to tan my hide she'll have to be smart about it.
She doesn't come.
Around midnight they bring me a sandwich and a paper cup of soda. I'm embarrassed because I think the cops are sorry for me, that Ma didn't come. I tell them that I want my smokes, they're fucking thieves if they think they're keeping my smokes. I can't believe they made me empty out my pockets.
A voice drifts out of the next cell. I didn't know there was anyone there, I can't see into it.
"Let the boy have his smokes," the voice says, sounding old and tired. "You know his next stop is the reformatory and he'll learn pretty quick what a weed's worth in there. Hey boy, you any good on your knees? You better learn, you like those smokes so much."
The cop shouts back to keep his dirty mouth closed.
I don't think I understand.
After the cop has gone and it's quiet again, whoever it is in the next cell starts whispering to me, about what they will do to me if I go to the reformatory or to the real jail.
In the end it's Gramma who comes down, the next morning. That's even more embarrassing because she starts in on me before we even leave the station house and everyone hears her, telling me that the Lord sees all and he sees me in this sorry place and do I want to be heading straight to Hell because I'm on the path there, sure enough, and sending her to an early grave while I'm at it.
Dom is outside with the car, she lets him drive most times now, since he got his licence and her eyes ain't so good. When she starts up again in the car, he says to leave me alone, didn't I already learn my lesson, spending the night in there? He winks at me in the rear view and I grin back.
I did though. I did learn a lesson. I learned that I need to stay out the reformatory and if I can't, I need to learn how to defend myself, before I get put in there.
When Gramma goes into the house, I ask Dom to show me how to use a switch.