A Deal With God: The Power of One (26 page)

“What did you hear?”

“Policemen come to Vito’s all the time. Friday two of them sat in my station. They were talking about one of your classmates. They said his name but I could not hear. The restaurant is very loud on the weekends. They said he was having trouble or some kind of dispute with his parents. For some reason they are monitoring the situation. Do you know anything about this boy?”

“I’m not sure who they were talking about. Are you sure you didn’t hear part of a name?”

“No, I wish I did. Please keep your head up and your eyes open for me. The police made it sound very serious.”

The truth was, Deana made up the story about the policemen and their conversation. She was trying to get any kind of clue or information from Mark. She knew the ‘when’ and ‘where.’ She knew part of the ‘who’ was Mark. She needed to know the rest of the ‘who,’ the ‘what’ and the ‘why.’ Deana also wanted to alert Mark that something was going on.

All Deana could do is pray and wait. Hopefully, in time, more clues and information would present itself. If it didn’t she was in big trouble.

This year, more than in the past, Deana strictly enforced Special Night for Matthew and Mark. Every Sunday afternoon Luke and Deana spent two hours together. Deana loved spending time with the boys and they enjoyed talking to her. It was a great experience for all four of them. Most importantly though, it helped her keep an open dialogue with Mark.

“The boy Ashley dated before you, is he upset at you for taking his girlfriend?” Deana asked Mark one Monday night on their walk.

“I don’t know why he would be. When I started dating Ashley, he started dating Jennifer Allen. Jenny is smoking hot and they’re still dating each other.”

On another Monday night toward the end of February, Deana asked Mark,” Do any of your friends or any of the other boys have really bad tempers. Have you ever noticed a mean streak in any of them?”

“The only kid I know that remotely fits that description is Randy Mullins. I’ve known him since second grade. He likes me, but he is one of those ‘I hate the world’ kind of kids.”

“Is he violent? Have you ever seen him go off the deep end?”

“No, never. He just talks a lot of crap. He hates the baseball coach for cutting him. He hates the teachers for giving him bad grades and he hates the principal. He’s said on occasions he would love to cap all of them. Randy is just talk.”

Deana quickly changed the subject. She asked Mark if he would go back to Turner field with her this April. Mark said he’d love to. Deana praised God; she may have gotten the lead she needed.

“Delores, what do you know about Randy Mullins?” Deana inquired two days after her talk with Mark.

“I know a lot about the Mullins. They live on the street behind me. I know I’d never want to get them mad at me.”

“Why is that?”

“Gerald Mullins was in Special Operations in the military. He was given some kind of unusual discharge. Rumor has it he beat the heck out of quite a few Iraqi police officers. He was training the policemen and he heard they backed down from a fight. I guess Gerald wanted to toughen them up. When he got home, he was in a bad mood. Now his disposition is even worse. I’ve heard him beat his dogs and I pray he doesn’t beat Randy or his wife Nadine.”

There was a good chance Deana may have found the ‘who’ and possibly even some of the ‘why.’ She was thankful for the progress.

It broke Deana’s heart when she thought about what her death would do to Luke. Imagine being under twelve years old and being told you have to bury your second mother.

Deana was everything to Luke. She was his cheerleader. She never missed a soccer game. Deana cooked and prepared all of Luke’s meals. She was his best friend and confidant. If Luke ever had a problem, he had a rock solid woman who had his back. Deana was the source of his confidence.

When Leon was at work and the boys were at school, Deana would rigorously train. She lifted weights, ran 3–5 miles per day or skipped rope. She spent hours on her music; she rehearsed alone or with Gary and Mrs. Jarvis. Often, when no one was around, she broke down and cried. She loved her life and didn’t want it to end.

As March was coming to an end, Deana stayed committed to enjoying the last weeks of her life. Her cooking skills were better than ever and she took the time to enjoy every meal. Her Sunday performances at church were awe–inspiring. She made love to Leon every single night. They shared more passion and more depth than any other time in their relationship, which was already extremely good. The kisses were even sweeter and Leon was late to work quite a few times.

Even work was more enjoyable. The job she hated seven and half years ago, and all the way through college, no longer seemed that bad. In hindsight, if Deana was not a waitress, it would have been almost impossible to raise three boys the way she did. Working only 25 hours per week from 5 to 10pm, and making what most people make working full time, gave her time to be a homemaker. She could cook, clean and invest time in the boys. She was now grateful for the opportunity she had been given.

Monday March 30th, 2020 would be one of the last times Deana would be able to talk to Mark before the big event happened.

About 15 minutes into their walk Deana turned to Mark. “How is your friend Randy doing?”

“Randy is a strange guy. He’s real upset at our English teacher Mr. McAfee. He gave Randy an ‘F’ on his term paper. It’s 1/3rd of our grade. If Randy fails English and one other subject he will not have enough credits to graduate next year no matter what he does over the summer or how good a senior year he has. Randy is livid; he says if he fails, Mr. McAfee will pay dearly.”

“What do you think he means when he says he’ll make McAfee pay dearly?”

“He keeps talking about wanting to bust a cap in the guy.”

Deana acted as if she was surprised. “Do you think Randy would actually bring a gun to school and shoot a teacher?”

“A while back I would have said ‘no,’ but the way he’s been acting lately, I’m not so sure. He definitely talks a big game.”

“Hey Mark, while we’re on the subject of big games, how about we hit Turner Field next week?”

Mark nodded his head enthusiastically, giving Deana the answer she was hoping for.

It was now Sunday April 12th, 2020. Like every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening Darla Robertson went to Vito’s and drank a lot of wine with and after her dinner. Mrs. Robertson was a widow in her late 50’s. She would drink until Deana, Delores or Peggy cut her off. Tonight, Mrs. Robertson was in Deana’s station; she liked Deana the best.

That night Deana tried a different approach. She did not cut Mrs. Robertson off, she let her keep on drinking. At 9:45pm Deana approached Mrs. Robertson’s table.

“Last call Mrs. Robertson.” Mrs. Robertson was too drunk to get her debit card out of her purse.

Deana assisted the older widow. “Let me help you with that.” Deana pulled Mrs. Robertson’s debit card out of her purse and took care of the transaction for her. “I’m going to have to drive you home, Mrs. Robertson; you can come get your car tomorrow morning.”

“You are such a dear, Deana.” Mrs. Robertson held onto Deana for support as she walked with assistance to Deana’s car. Fortunately, Mrs. Robertson was small like Deana and Deana was extremely strong.

Monday, April 13th was Matthew’s birthday. At breakfast he mentioned to Deana that he wanted to take Sandy to dinner and a movie after school. Deana was glad to treat; she gave Matthew sixty dollars and told him to have a good and safe evening.

“Oh Matthew, by the way, I need a favor, make sure Luke gets to his bus stop all right. I need to run into town for about an hour.”

Deana hurried to her car and drove quickly to Morrison High School. She needed to know the morning routine for the school janitor. She got out of her car and walked around the school campus. The janitor was in the furthest left of the four buildings; he proceeded to go left to right. Deana got in her car and drove away before Matthew and Mark arrived at school. They always got to school at the very last minute.

That night, Deana and Mark went for their walk. It was mid–April and the weather was getting warmer every day.

“How’s your friend Randy doing?”

“Not so good. It’s almost certain McAfee is going to fail him and Randy is also failing Math. Randy keeps saying he is going to make McAfee pay. Apparently, Randy, Randy’s dad, McAfee and the principal are going to have some kind of talk on Friday. Maybe something will get worked out.”

Maybe something will happen Friday that will push Randy over the edge, Deana thought to herself. Maybe this meeting going badly will make Randy lose control.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, Deana went back to Morrison High School. The janitor kept the same pattern as the previous. He would start at the left, which was building 1A and finish in building 4D. Deana left Morrison High School before Matthew and Mark arrived. She then headed to Athens to find a good costume shop.

Deana bought a black colored men’s hair wig with curls in it. It looked quite realistic and was very expensive. She also purchased a matching mustache. Deana also bought a woman’s wig that looked like Mrs. Robertson’s hair. Her final purchase was a janitor’s one piece jump suit. It was very similar to the one worn by Morrison High School’s actual janitor.

Deana had borrowed Mark’s baseball cap and Matthew’s sunglasses. She had worn these and a baggy blue jacket into the store. She made sure to pay cash for her purchases.

Next, Deana drove to the biggest retail store in Athens. She bought a big yellow mop cart and mop like the actual janitor had. She also bought a pair of ladies dress gloves and a box of clear skin–tight latex cleaning gloves. Her final item was a medium sized air–tight container.

Finally, she went to a chemical supply store one of her customers owned. Deana obtained a pint of pre–mix ether.

On her way home she drove past the Mullin’s house. It was after 3pm so she was hoping Randy would be there so she could get a good look at him. Deana only knew what he looked like from a yearbook picture; she wanted to see what he looked like in person.

Sure enough, he was in front of his house working on his truck. He was very big. He was almost as large as Matthew and Mark. Randy was well over six feet tall and close to 200 pounds. Deana got a nervous feeling as she drove past him; Randy glared at her with a look of disdain.

Deana drove home to meet the boys and to start dinner. She now had a plan; she also had a lot of praying to do.

Friday’s meeting at the school did not go very well for Randy Mullins. In front of Randy’s father and the principal, Mr. McAfee reported that Randy was extremely lazy and had a bad attitude. He said Randy deserved a failing grade. Randy became enraged while Gerald Mullins mainly glared at his son. When they got home later, Gerald Mullins gave Randy the beating of his life. Gerald showed no mercy.

Randy vowed vengeance against Mr. McAfee in order to teach all instructors like him a lesson. Not only did he want to annihilate his teacher, he also wanted to vent his rage on as many of the “kiss ass” students as possible. Monday morning it would be Randy showing no mercy.

Sunday April 19th, 2020 would probably be Deana’s last performance at Dothan Christian Church. She made sure it was her best effort. That week, Gary, Deana and Mrs. Jarvis had rehearsed for two and a half hours. The hard work paid off. They performed for over twenty minutes during the service and received a standing ovation.

After the service, Deana went to talk to Mrs. Robertson. “If you come to Vito’s tonight and sit in my station, I’ll get you a free drink or two.”

“I will definitely take you up on your offer.” Mrs. Robertson smiled. “I always have such a nice time when I come to Vito’s.”

Sunday afternoon during lunch, Deana told the boys she had to go to her doctor in Atlanta on Monday morning. Her appointment was at 8am so she’d be leaving early that morning to get there on time. She told the boys the doctor always made her turn her cell phone off during the visit. If they needed her, they’d have to text her and she’d get back to them as soon as possible.

Later that night, Mrs. Robertson went to Vito’s and sat in Deana’s station. Deana knew she had a high tolerance for wine and it would probably take over six glasses to get Mrs. Robertson tipsy. Deana gave Mrs. Robertson the two free glasses she promised her, and then Mrs. Robertson ordered five more on her own. She was sloshed. When Deana’s shift was over, she went into Mrs. Robertson’s purse and took out her debit card, automobile insurance card, and driver’s license. She carried Mrs. Robertson to her Stratus and drove her home.

When Deana got home, the boys were just going to bed. She kissed all three of them good night. She made a mental note where Matthew put his truck keys before the lights went off. She then took a quick shower and snuggled up next to Leon. Because their time together was drawing to an end, she did everything she could to make it extra special.

In the middle of the night, Deana snuck into the boys’ room. She brought two pair of pliers with her; one pair was needle–nosed and the second pair was regular. She proceeded to break Matthew’s ignition key in half beyond repair. She wanted the boys nowhere near Morrison High School tomorrow morning. Deana took the broken bottom half and put it on Matthew’s floor mat under his ignition. She wanted it to look like it had broken the last time Matthew pulled the key out. She hid the top part of the key still attached to his keychain under his bed.

On the other side of town, Randy Mullins was also making preparations. Randy broke into his father’s gun collection. He stole his father’s pride and joy, an AK47 Gerald had taken off of an Al Qaeda insurgent that had illegally snuck into Iraq when Gerald was on patrol. An AK47 is an assault rifle; it can put an end to a lot of lives in a few seconds.

Randy also stole his father’s hammerless snub nosed handgun. It is one of the premier concealed weapons in its class. Last, but not least, Randy stole a 22 revolver. The two handguns were small, discreet and easy to carry. His plan was to give the two handguns to his friends for back–up while he did the heavy damage with the AK47.