CHAPTER SEVEN

His name was Jeremy Springfield and he didn't mean to like boys. He just did.

He also never meant to take an interest in science, which Father considered blasphemy against God. Again, he just did.

He was fifteen when Father disowned him.

"You're determined to spit in God's face, aren't you?"

The boy stared at the floor, ashamed.

"When you were born with two different colored eyes, I knew something was wrong with you. I wanted to give you away, but your mother wouldn't hear of it.

"For her sake, I've also tolerated your little science experiments. But this? Never! As of this moment, you're no longer my son! I want you out of this house."

"No," Jeremy's mother screamed. "Please, Hiram! You can't do that."

"Can't I? Who owns this property, Carmelita? Surely not you. If I say he's leaving this house, he's leaving this house!"

"But where will he go? He's only fifteen."

"Only fifteen, you say? I worked in a West Virginia coal mine when I was younger than that!"

Tears streaming down his face, Jeremy said, "Please, Father, don't throw me out. I'll try to change."

"You should have tried to change before you kissed a boy! Now it's too late. Go upstairs and pack your things."

His young face darkened. "I know you want to leave me, but I refuse to let you go."

Hiram's eyebrows arched. "Oh, really?" He raised his muscular right arm and backhanded Jeremy's cheek. The boy screeched and careened backward, tripping over an ottoman.

"You beast!" Carmelita ran to her son, dropping to her knees and cradling his head in her soft, loving arms.

Hiram was outraged. "Why are you holding him? He's nothing but a filthy, God-hating degenerate!"

"He's our son," she managed between sobs.

He pointed an accusing finger. "No, he's your son. And you can leave, too, if that's how you feel!"

xxx

She moved Jeremy and herself into a rooming house three states away, where nobody knew her son's damaging secret. Once they had settled into their new life, Carmelita sat the boy down. "You know all about your father's history, but nothing about mine. I'd like to tell you."

"I wish you would! I've wondered. I've wah-wah-wah-wah wondered."

"You'll have trouble believing this, but I swear it's all true." For the next two hours, Carmelita spoke nearly non-stop about her father Miguelito Loveless, her mother Antoinette, and her half-brother Miguelito, Jr. Jeremy listened in rapt silence. Finally, Carmelita concluded, "I wanted to name you Miguelito, but your father absolutely refused."

"After Granddad?"

"No, your uncle. I didn't see much of Daddy when I was growing up."

"Because he was always away, trying to rule the world?"

"Exactly."

Jeremy shrugged. "Acting on your best behavior. Turn your back on Mother Nature. Everybody wants to rule the world."

She ignored that. Jeremy was always saying these cryptic things. "Mama used to accompany him, but she became pregnant with me. She and Daddy agreed it was best that she stayed home and raised me. My brother was there a lot, too. He had his flaws, but he was there for me.

"Mind you, Daddy was an excellent provider. We never wanted for anything, even when Misters West and Gordon foiled his plans and cost him a lot of money."

Taking it all in, Jeremy observed, "Now I know why science is my favorite subject."

"Yes, it runs in the family."

"She blinded me with science, and failed me in biology."

Again, Carmelita ignored her son's inexplicable words. "Now, I've something to show you." She went to the other room and emerged moments later with a cardboard box bursting with old, yellowed papers. Setting it down on Jeremy's bed, "That's just the first one."

"What are they?"

"Your granddad's records."

"You said they were destroyed in a fire."

"Those were copies, designed to fool Misters West and Gordon. These are the originals."

As he leafed through the reams of paper, Jeremy asked, "Did Father know about these?"

"No; he would have destroyed them. He never wanted you to know about your heritage. But since he disowned us, he no longer has a say in the matter. From now on, I make all the decisions about your upbringing. And you've every right to learn where you came from."

He pored over Granddad's files with amazement and reverence. Now he knew what to do with his life!

With Carmelita's permission, he had his name legally changed to Miguelito Loveless III. He also shot up to six feet two inches tall. Given his leanings, he and Mother both thought it a good idea that he learn self-defense. He became proficient at martial arts and boxing, and also learned how to properly use a gun, a knife, and cruder weaponry like a baseball bat. When his effeminate looks earned him the wrath of others, he shut them down with a punch, a chop, a kick, or, in more extreme cases, a stab wound or a gun butt to the head. During one such encounter, he took out four men at once. Eventually, the word spread: "Leave the fairy alone."

But one person did not do so. After a year of silence, he came to their door. Carmelita gasped when she answered. "Hiram! What are you doing here?"

Miguelito III whirled in shock at his despised father's name. One look at the man's cruel face filled the lad with anger and hate. Was this how Granddad had felt about Misters West and Gordon?

"I hired a private detective to find you. Wife, this nonsense has gone on long enough! You're coming home with me."

"Can our son go, too?"

"Absolutely not! I threw that hellspawn out of my house with good reason."

"Then I'm staying right here."

"The hell you are!" He grabbed her arm and yanked her out the door. She screamed and clawed at Hiram, who growled and slapped her face.

"Leave her alone!" his son screamed.

"Shut up, you little queer!"

Years of resentment bubbled to the surface. The young man bounded across the room, clenched his right fist, and delivered a staggering blow to his father's head. Hiram let out a pained "oof" as he lost his grip on Carmelita.

Miguelito III was on top of him, landing punch after punch on his father's skull, chest, and gut. He picked the man up over his head and threw him down the corridor, stomping after Hiram's crumpled form and further beating up on him.

"Look what a fairy can do, old man! Old man, take a look at my life!"

Carmelita pleaded, "Honey, stop! You're going to kill him!"

"Good!"

"No, don't! He's not worth it." She ran up to her son and grabbed his arm. "Please, no more!"

Not wishing to displease his cherished mother, he agreed. As they returned to the room, Hiram vowed through bloodied mouth, "You haven't heard the last of me!"

xxx

And they hadn't. A week later, four men cornered Carmelita in an alley. Each took turns raping the poor woman. While her physical wounds would heal, the damage to her psyche was irreparable. She wound up in a mental health facility.

Miguelito III was determined to exact revenge, but not in a conventional way. Instead, he turned to Granddad's files. He worked diligently, day after day, week after week, month after month, barely sleeping or eating. His only breaks were his daily visits to Mother, whose mental health never rebounded. He assured Carmelita that Father would pay for what he had done to her.

If she understood, Carmelita never showed it. Since the assault, she had been virtually comatose, never speaking and rarely moving. With each visit, Miguelito III's hate grew deeper and more intense. Finally, he was ready to confront his father.

When Hiram answered the door, he was shocked to see his ex-son standing there. "What do you want?"

"You," through clenched teeth. He produced a spray gun, which he unloaded in Hiram's face.

The man coughed violently. "What is this?"

Miguelito III smiled vindictively through straight white teeth identical to his grandfather's.

Hiram was slightly taller than his ex-son, but found himself looking up at the lad. And the boy seemed to get taller! Or was Hiram somehow shrinking?

The boy once known as Jeremy reached into the sack he carried and pulled out a glass jar. He unscrewed the lid, picked up his eight-inch-tall father, and deposited him inside.

"Don't worry," screwing the lid back on. "I punched air holes in the top." He brought the jar up to his face and laughed at Hiram's expression of horror. "That's right, little man. Mother told me all about my lineage. What Granddad once did to Mr. West, I'm doing to you. Except, I didn't make any recovery formula."

"You really are of the Devil!"

"Allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste. I've been around for a long, long, year, stole many a man's soul and faith."

"You'll burn in hell for this, Jeremy Springfield!"

"I'll meet you when I get there. And it's Miguelito Loveless III."