Undermind: Nine Stories (4 page)

Oh God, she thought. The word home didn’t mean
what it had before. It was no longer their sanctuary; the safe
place they returned to after each day of dealing with other people
and things in life. Would they even be safe living there anymore?
They had to talk to the police. This was totally crazy.

She paced and worried and tried to figure out
what they needed to do and finally she saw Dave walking toward her.
His forehead was bandaged and he was smiling. Was he on pain
medication, or still in shock?

“Thirteen stitches. Can you believe it?” he
asked, still smiling.

She ran toward him and put her arms around him.
“Dave, this is not something to be smiling about. We have to talk
to the police, and we need to figure out what to do. I was thinking
we should stay in a hotel for a few days.”

“Over a broken window? I’ll just call someone
out to have it repaired. No need to get drastic.”

“It’s not just about the window. Look where we
are, Dave. You were assaulted. You could’ve been killed today, and
that man knows where we live. He’s already been to our house. I
don’t feel safe there, and you shouldn’t either.”

“Nikki, I think we’ll be fine. I angered him by
calling child services, and now he’s gotten his revenge. He has no
reason to do anything else to us.”

“You don’t know that. Let’s see what the police
advise.”

“I don’t want to talk to the police. It’ll just
make him even more determined.”

“Or maybe it won’t,” she countered. “Once the
police are involved, he’d be crazy to do anything else. Dave, we
have
to call the police.”

Dave considered whether to tell Nikki about
Ron’s threat regarding “next time” he told anyone anything. He
didn’t want to scare her, but she was insistent about calling the
police
–
the one thing that might really
provoke Ron into more violent action.

“Let’s get the window taken care of and take
things one step at a time. Our house isn’t secure, so let’s deal
with that first, okay?”

Nikki reluctantly agreed, but she was determined
that they would call the police no matter what. You didn’t just let
people commit violent crimes and
not
call the police. Wasn’t
that obvious?

“What did the doctor say?” she asked as they
made their way to the parking lot.

“Keep it clean.”

“That’s it?”

“Um… don’t bang on it.”

Nikki shook her head. She appreciated Dave’s
sense of humor, but this wasn’t the time for it. “I’ll drive,” she
said as they walked up to their SUV.

“Good. The painkiller has me feelin’ pretty
loopy,” Dave replied, and walked around to the other side.

They were silent for a moment as Nikki navigated
her way out of the parking lot and onto the freeway a few blocks
away.

“Dave, I’m really worried and I need you to be
serious for a minute. Okay?”

“Okay. Sorry. I guess I’ve just been avoiding
thinking about it. I wish I had never gone to that house.”

“But you did. And now we have a problem, so we
need to talk about what we’re going to do. If you won’t tell the
police this cretin assaulted you, I’m at least going to tell them
he threw a boulder through our window. Just think if Jake had been
in the front room. He could’ve been killed, Dave. Do you realize
that?”

“Yes. And you’re right. We need to fight fire
with fire. We’ll call the police when we get home. Speaking of
calling, I need a new phone.”

***

After they stopped to get a replacement phone,
they went home and cleaned up broken glass while waiting for the
window repairman and the police to arrive. After both had come and
gone, Dave felt the repairman had offered better advice. The
officer had just said to call again if they had any more trouble.
The repair guy suggested they buy a shotgun.

They had a short talk and decided to stay in the
house rather than getting a motel room. They also felt it was a
good idea for Jake to stay overnight at Joy’s. With those two
issues settled, Dave grabbed his keys and said he’d be back
shortly.

“Where are you going?” Nikki wanted to know.

“To get a shotgun.”

“Really? Just like that, you’re going to go buy
a gun? You don’t think we should talk about this?”

“What’s to talk about?” Dave asked. “You heard
the cop. He’ll be more than happy to come out and take another
report
after
another crime is committed. That doesn’t help
us
during
a crime. If this guy ever comes to our home again,
I want us to be able to deal with him in some way that doesn’t
involve ducking or hiding and hoping we’re able to call the police
after he’s finished with us.”

“I’ve read that more often than not, people end
up having their own guns used against them when their homes are
invaded.”

“That’s probably because they waited too long to
pull the trigger. I won’t have that problem.”

“But what if I do, Dave? What if he comes back
again and you’re not here? You weren’t here today when he busted
out the window. What if you’re not here the next time?”

“Then you’ll have to shoot the son of a bitch.
What else are we supposed to do, Nikki? Just wait around to be
victimized again?”

“I’m not sure that taking the law into our own
hands is the solution either.”

“I’m not going to hunt him down. But if he comes
here, I will defend my wife, my child, and my property. A shotgun
is the best home defense weapon. I’ll feel a lot safer knowing I
can protect you and Jake. The alternative is to call 9-1-1 and
pray. That’s not good enough.”

“I don’t want to fight with you, and I’m not
against having a gun in the house as long as we’re safe about it. I
was just taken by surprise that you didn’t talk to me about it
first.”

“I’m sorry. I’m just reacting and dealing with
this moment by moment. With the window fixed, our home looks normal
again, but I have to say, knowing that there’s now a report in a
police computer doesn’t make me feel any safer. They’re going to
talk to him. A lot of good that’s going to do. It’s not like he’s
going to admit to it and let them haul him off to jail. You
know?”

“Maybe someone saw something and with a witness,
they can arrest him.”

“But Nikki, they’d only know if someone saw
something if they canvassed the neighborhood and talked to all the
neighbors. Have you ever heard of the police doing that in response
to an assault? Maybe if he’d killed me, yeah, but not after hitting
me in the head with my own phone. Besides, we were between his
truck and my SUV. I’m pretty sure no one saw anything. He probably
planned it that way.”

“I don’t want to stay here alone. I’m coming
with you.”

“Good. Then we can learn together how the
shotgun works.”

“You’ve never shot one before?” she asked.

“Not yet. But maybe I’ll get lucky soon.”

On the way to the sporting goods store, Dave
called Child and Family Services and asked to speak to Yvonne. It
took a while for her to pick up and when she finally did, Dave
asked what the status was on the report he had filed. Yvonne said
that she couldn’t talk about it due to confidentiality
restrictions.

“Can you tell me whether or not the child is in
safe hands now, or is he still subject to being abused?”

“All I can tell you is that the child continues
to reside at home and we will monitor the situation.”

“If he’s still there, then he’s not safe. You
might want to add to your case file that the father attacked me
today. I have thirteen stitches in my head as a result.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Mr. Parsons. That’s
terrible.”

“Do you believe me now that this man is a menace
to society and that child is still in danger?”

“I’m sorry. We have procedures and protocols,
and as I said, there are also confidentiality rules.”

“I hope to God that child isn’t harmed again. I
thought that calling you would result in him being taken somewhere
safe.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Mr.
Parsons, but I do need to take another call.”

“I bet that will do a lot of good. Goodbye.”
Dave ended the call more angry and frustrated than he had been from
the lack of response from the police officer who took a routine
report from him as if his bicycle had been stolen. He slammed his
phone down on the console between the car seats.

“Hey. We just got that. Insurance only covers
one phone per year,” Nikki chided.

“I just can’t believe people. This man has
assaulted two people, one of them a five year old, and no one seems
to even give a damn.” Dave slammed the palm of his hand on the
steering wheel.

***

After they returned with their new home defense
weapon, they ate the take-out dinner they’d picked up on the way
home, then they practiced dry-firing the shotgun in the backyard.
When both of them felt comfortable with loading, unloading, and
sliding the action, Dave removed the round from the chamber and put
the shotgun on the top shelf in their bedroom closet.

They were both exhausted from the long, crazy
day and after Nikki called Joy and talked to Jake for a few minutes
and told him she’d pick him up the following day, the two of them
got in bed and Dave turned on the television. He mindlessly changed
channels, not paying attention to what was on any of them.

Nikki wasn’t interested in watching anything
either, so she slid her hand down Dave’s chest until she reached
the waistband of his boxers.

“Do you want to….?”

Dave took hold of her hand and pulled it up to
his mouth and kissed it.

“I love you, Nikki, and you’re incredibly sexy,
but believe it or not, I don’t want to. Not right now.” He let go
of her hand and rolled onto his side, his back facing her.

She rubbed his back for a few minutes, then
stopped abruptly. “Do you smell smoke?”

Dave bolted upright, sniffing the air.

“Yes!” he exclaimed, jumping out of bed and
rushing over to the chair where he’d left his pants. He quickly put
them on as Nikki went to the closet to get her own clothes. Dave
ran to the door and when he opened it, smoke poured into the room.
He turned around and retrieved the shotgun.

“Go out the back door and call 9-1-1. I’m going
to kill that bastard.”

“Dave, no!”

He ignored her and held his shirt up over his
face as he went further into the house. Nikki went to the laundry
room and out the door into the backyard from where she could see
smoke rising in the night sky from the other side of the house. If
she had to guess, she’d say it was Jake’s room that was on
fire.

Dave saw no one in the living room but there was
heavy smoke and flickering light coming from Jake’s room. He
wondered why the smoke alarms weren’t going off as he ran out the
front door hoping to catch Ron out there, but there was no one
outside but two neighbors. One of them was talking on their cell
phone and the other was making a video of the fire with their
phone.

“Did you see anyone?” Dave yelled at them. They
both shook their heads. “Damn him!” Dave ran back up to his house,
threw the shotgun on the grass and turned on the garden hose and
began unspooling it from the hose caddy by the front door.

He was still spraying water through the bedroom
window when the fire department arrived and ordered him to get away
from the house.

“It’s practically out now. I took care of it,”
he said, defiantly. He wasn’t in any danger now when the fire was
nearly out and wasn’t inclined to obey orders from a firefighter,
but he saw a police car pull up next to the firetruck, so he
dropped the hose and let the firemen finish the job.

“I know exactly who set this fire,” he announced
as he approached the officers who had just exited their vehicles.
He didn’t recognize either of them. He was hoping the one from
earlier that day would’ve come.

“Is there anyone inside, sir?” a firefighter
called out to him.

“My wife is in the backyard, but no one’s
inside. I’ll be right back,” he said to the police and ran to the
side of the house. “Nikki!”

He returned to the front yard holding his wife’s
hand. She was crying and shaking her head. When she saw the police,
she yelled, “You’ve got to do something! This man just tried to
kill us!”

It took a while, and each of them spoke to an
officer separately which really annoyed Dave since this wasn’t a
domestic issue, but eventually, they explained everything to the
police. They were advised to sleep somewhere else, which Dave
thought was a stroke of genius. Who would sleep in their
fire-damaged house?

“Before you go, I want to know what you’re going
to do about this. I called child services on this bastard and then
he assaulted me. Then I called the police about the assault and he
set my house on fire. Now that I’ve reported his arson, or
attempted murder – whatever he intended – he’s probably going to
kill me next. What has to happen for you to arrest this man?”

“Sir, we’ll investigate and do whatever we can
do. This isn’t the movies where we can just go arrest anyone we
want. We have to acquire evidence and establish a case.”

“I’ve got evidence for you. Look at my fucking
house. Look at my head. What more do you need, a goddamn corpse on
the lawn?”

“Please calm down, sir.” At the mention of the
word “lawn” the officer looked over at the grass and saw something
shiny. He started walking toward it.

“That’s mine. I bought it today for home
defense. I didn’t know I’d be needing a fire extinguisher
instead.”

A fireman came through the front door of the
house just then and said, “The batteries on your smoke detectors
were not connected. You’re lucky you got out in time.”

“Oh shit.” Dave remembered pulling the batteries
partly out when he’d forgotten he was heating leftover pizza one
day and had turned it into black smoking wedges.