Apologies for the long delay in updating. I have not abandoned this story and intend to see it through to the end. This whole chapter is continuing on the flashback. I think I will abandon the perspective vehicle for the time being.
Big Bob Pataki didn't consider himself a bad person. Just a man trying to make ends meet for his family. He had hit a string of bad luck, most recently with this blown deal with Chet Smith. The deal fell through because Chet soon discovered Bob had wildly misled him on the status of his inventory. Bob led Chet to believe he had a large supply of cell phones and just needed Chet's distribution network to reach a wider consumer base.
This was not the case. Bob only has beepers. I mean it's the Beeper Emporium for crying out loud. However, Bob thought if he got Chet in the door then he could convince Chet to buy his beepers. After all, beepers are overdue for a comeback, right?
Wrong.
Chet humiliated Bob. Insulted his business acumen and ripped the deal away from him. Bob was well-aware that this was his last shot before financial ruin was inevitable. This is the state Bob was in when he returned home to his youngest daughter.
Bob's relationship with Helga was in a word, nonexistent. A workaholic with no interest in developing a real bond with Helga, it's a wonder he even knew she was home. But he did. He heard her moving around upstairs and hollered at her to come downstairs. She did which is when one thing lead to another and suddenly Big Bob is seeing red after Helga insults his intelligence. Big Bob lashed out. With his massive hand sporting an impressive gold ring he connected with Helga's face.
Immediately, Big Bob wished he could take it back. He's not a monster, just a man who had a bad day and snapped. However, that's not how Helga will see it. No, she won't forgive this and why should she? He hasn't exactly given her reason to have to benefit of the doubt. Big Bob wouldn't let this one indiscretion end him. No, he still had cards left to play. He wouldn't go down without a fight. That's not the Pataki way. Admit no fault. What's done is done. Move forward, always.
Helga had bolted out the house. No sense trying to reason with her and he had no idea where she run off to. Big Bob stormed up to Helga's room looking for something. What he didn't exactly know, but he had a feeling his daughter had something in her room that would help him. Turning over her bedroom, tossing drawers on the floor and throwing her clothes from the closet all about yielded no such luck. He was about to give in when he spied a crawl space in the closet. At first, he wasn't sure what this space contained. Turning on his flashlight revealed what appeared to be some sort of effigy and initially he was unsure to whom the sculpture was modeled for. On closer examination, the shrine appeared to be of that orphan boy with the strange head. Also, Bob was surprised to find countless pink books lining the walls of the crawl space. He opened one and saw lines of poetry describing a "corn-haired beauty" and "football-headed angel".
"Must be that Arnie kid", Bob thought to himself.
Taking a step back and removing himself from the closet, Bob weighed his options. He could either own up to his actions of striking his daughter or he could use what was found in the closet to sell his daughter out. Little time was spent deciding on the route he would take. Remember the Pataki way: Admit no fault. What's done is done. Move forward, always.
He would use the contents of the closet to paint Helga as a troubled teenager with psychotic and tendencies how attacked him in a fit of rage once he discovered the crawl space. After all, what well-adjusted girl could make a shrine to another boy. Never mind the fact that her father essentially chooses to ignore her existence and her mother is a poorly functioning alcoholic.
Even with the evidence he discovered and the lack of any other eyewitnesses, Bob suspected no cop worth their salt would believe he would need to hit Helga with force he did to leave those cuts on her face. No, he would need some assistance from the inside. Luckily, Big Bob knew one such connection: Officer Sean McDonald. Big Bob doesn't just see beepers at his Emporium. No, he also sells home surveillance equipment, some of which is not strictly legal in this state. One customer of these more advanced pieces of illegal equipment is Officer McDonald.
Big Bob dials McDonald and a gruff voice answers, "Pataki?"
"Yeah, listen Sean, I need a favor…"
Big Bob proceeds to describe the events that have just transpired and how he needs McDonald to handle his daughter should she come forward.
"Ok Pataki, if she comes in then I'll make sure she's assigned to me and it will be dealt with," McDonald responds coolly.
"Great, let me know when you have an update," Pataki barks.
Several blocks over while Big Bob was preparing to trade his daughter for maintaining his reputation, Helga was currently changing in Arnold's bathroom.
"I cannot believe the night I've had," Helga thought to herself as she relished in being surrounded by Arnold's scent. "Only a few hours ago my asshole father smacks the living daylights out of me but then here I am. In Arnold's house, wearing his plain white undershirt, about to spend a night with the boy of my dreams."
Helga luckily spied a brush from one of the boarders in the bathroom and straightened her hair out. Gazing in the mirror she studied her reflection. An expressionless face gazed back. For all the time she had spent fantasizing about this moment to finally happen, she was shockingly numb. The truth was that for as brave a face she puts on, her father's actions that night had changed her. Long had she known he didn't care for her but to strike with such malice led her to believe that he in fact despised her. And if her own father, who was genetically predisposed to liking her, hated her. Then how could anyone else, even someone like Arnold, care for her.
At this thought, she again wept. Silently, in Arnold's bathroom with a brush hanging from her long blonde hair.
That is it for now. I will pick up with Arnold and Helga in the flashback for chapter 6. Thanks for reading.