Victor Brown was on the verge of being let go. "Come back and make a toy that will sell," his boss was saying. Victor nodded and left the room with a heavy heart.
The thing was, it was hard to make toys in this sort of world. The company was slowly turning into some strange auto-mechanic factory. Toys weren't the innocent toys anymore. It was all killing games and things that made children behave so violently. He didn't just want to make some toy that was another action figure or some loud contraption that taught kids bad manners. He wanted to make something meaningful. But he had to find something, or he would lose his job.
Sighing, he walked through the outdoor market. The place was crowded and busy, and all he heard were the sounds of what he feared: whining spoiled children. It was Mommy give me this, Mommy give me that. Why couldn't he ever hear…
"Like this one, Momma?" A quiet voice. Victor looked up to see what he had been looking for. A kind child helping his mother. The woman was holding a baby girl in her arms, and it would have been harder for her to get her shopping done in this crowded place, except for that her son was helping her. He would hand her things when she needed them, and, poor as they were, he looked happier and sweeter than all the other children around them. He was inspired.
"Can I sketch you three?" he asked politely. The woman looked confused, and the boy stared with large blue eyes. Victor ran his fingers through his hair, a little nervous because he didn't want them to think that he was an old creep. "It's just… I haven't seen a kind loving family like this in a while, and you are like a breath of fresh air to an old man. Do you mind?" Now the woman smiled; Victor noticed that her eyes seemed sad. Like she had been through hard times.
It only took a moment. He had the sketch done. He knew what sort of toy he was going to make. "I'm Victor Brown," he said, holding out his hand for her. She took it. "I'm Elizabeth. Elizabeth Ray. This is my daughter, Lisé, and this," she ruffled her son's tangled hair, "is Charles." The man smiled. "Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. Charles." The boy continued to just watch him quietly, with those large, blue eyes, freckles, and overalls too big for him. "Thank you," he said to the woman. "Thank you all, for being so full of light in a world like this."
The boy was Charles Lee Ray. At last, the truth will be known. Continue reading this if you would like to know how he progressed from this small child to the feared "Lakeshore Strangler" we know of today. If not, go ahead and put this book aside and never pick it up again. But curiosity strikes, does it not? After all, no one has known anything about him for so long; wouldn't we all like to know a bit of his secrets, since he has so brutally invaded our lives?
If you are still reading, I will continue. Here begins the truth.
-Maggie Peterson