All in the Family (7 page)

“Why did you cut him up?” Bobby asked. Body parts lay scattered about. “You could have just cremated him, right?”

“Well, son,” Herman said, still as calm as ever, “that is a fine idea. I was so wrapped up in it, I didn’t think of it. I’ll keep it in mind.” Herman looked at his son, covered in gore. “Now let’s get ourselves cleaned up. What about that bully you beat up?”

“Dad, we may want to go look at him, I beat him real bad. He might be going to see Jesus tonight,” Bobby said; his voice barely above a whisper.

Herman chuckled. “Going to see Jesus; I didn’t think you had it in you. Let’s get cleaned up. We will go soon.”

“What about Uncle Bob?”

“We’ll leave him; I’ll clean him up later.” Herman ushered Bobby toward the wash basin near the washer and dryer. “Strip and clean up then it’s my turn.”

* * * *

“Where have you been, Bobby?” Loretta asked as Bobby emerged from the basement and rounded the corner into the kitchen. “Where’s your father?”

“I’m right here,” Herman said, rounding the corner behind his son. Herman was dressed in another black suit, his normal attire, even at home. Bobby was dressed in an old outfit that he hadn’t worn in near a year.

Nervousness overcame Loretta now, had he been here the whole time? She wondered. What if he heard me? God, what a fool I’ve been.

Her hands began to shake as she moved a steaming pot from the stove to the sink. Dumping the steaming water into the sink and with her back to them, she continued to talk. “I must not have heard you come in.”

“Must not have,” Herman replied.

“Bobby, where did you get that dreadfully, awful outfit?”

“Bobby had been playing rough outside and got his other clothes absolutely filthy. I got him all cleaned up; now we have to run and get his backpack, he forgot it down by the creek.” Herman more or less pushed Bobby toward the door.

“What about Frank, what did he have to say?” Loretta asked, still with her back turned.

“Not now, dear, I’ll tell you about it later.”

With that, the two were out the door. They rode in silence as there wasn’t much to be said. The hearse pulled up near the tree, the place where Bobby had left Robert lying. Bobby stayed in the car as Herman went to investigate. His stomach was in knots, but he knew that he had to remain calm, no matter the news.

“You did a good job beating him up,” Herman said to Bobby as he walked back toward the hearse.

Lightening flashed across the sky lighting up the darkness; they both jumped.

“Is he,” Bobby regained composure from the startling crack. “Is he going to see Jesus tonight?”

“Jesus, Satan, either way, one of them already has him.” Herman grabbed a black body bag out of the back end of the hearse where Bobby sat. At that moment, the rain began. It began to pour as if God himself was taking a piss on the murdering duo.

“What are you going to do?” Bobby asked loudly in order to be heard over the thrum of the rain.

“Don’t you worry about it.”

The body was stiff; it had been when he put it in the bag. Bobby was at home, about to enjoy a home-cooked meal, and the rain still poured down. Herman wrestled the bag to the edge of the hearse’s rear end. It wasn’t that the boy’s body was heavy, far from it. It was only that a stiff corpse was hard to maneuver, and he didn’t want any unnecessary breaks.

The train tracks weren’t far from the creek. In fact, the creek was fed from a river that the train had to cross, about a mile from where Bobby had left the boy to rest in peace. The tracks crossed a wide gorge, which Herman remembered being taught in school was created by the river’s fast flow and thousands of years of erosion. The river was lazy now and only really got to running when a bad storm came, like the one tonight. This was a perfect place to dump the body. If he was found, the fall itself would be enough to cause the damage to the face, and that would explain it all. The rain would wash away any evidence, and then Herman would dispose of the body with fire when his parents were told that he was far too busted up for an open casket funeral.

Herman unzipped the bag and dragged the body out. He needed to work quickly. No doubt, the parents had already phoned the police when their son had not returned home by nine o’clock or so. He took one last look at the beaten and bloody corpse, and then hefted the body over the side of the gorge. It tumbled; he watched as much as he could. The body disappeared into the inky darkness, some thirty feet down. He didn’t hear it hit the water below or make any kind of thud; the storm was far too loud.

On the way home, he passed several police cars that had their spot lights on, obviously looking for the boy.
He’s back there, boys,
Herman thought with a quiet chuckle.

He drove home and joined his family for supper. They were finishing up as he sat down. Loretta stayed behind, not so much to spend time with him, but to study him, to see if he knew what she had done.

“What do you say if I take my turn to cook tomorrow?” Herman said between bites. The potatoes were bland and lacked butter, the string beans were limp and lacked the snap that he so loved and the meatloaf was just that, meatloaf; a dry meatloaf without the thick ketchup like topping. He ate it anyway; he ate because he was famished, because he hadn’t eaten much all day.

“I’d say thank you,” Loretta replied. “What do you have in mind?” She asked as she scrubbed the dishes in the sink.

“Stew. I have a special recipe.”

* * * *

It was the next day, Friday. It was Halloween. Bobby had truly looked forward to Halloween all year long; his favorite holiday. The school had allowed everyone to dress up, reasonably. No masks, nothing to draw a lot of attention. The children in his class were all dressed up, and that seemed to thrill the teachers to no end. They all wanted pictures and to know why everyone had chosen the costume they had chosen. One teacher even made them write an essay on their character and why they chose that specific character.

Bobby had chosen a vampire costume. He had been a vampire the last three years. He didn’t really have a reason other than it was just an easy costume. It wasn’t really scary, the traditional Count Dracula outfit. Like Bram Stoker’s horrific creature of the night, Bobby had fangs, a cape and white makeup on his face in an attempt to make him appear paler. As if he needed help. The bad part about it was that Robert had always picked on him about it, but now, Robert wasn’t there. This actually made him feel better.

The whole school had been buzzing, too, buzzing about Robert’s mysterious disappearance. Police had been at the school all day. They were interviewing everyone, teachers and students alike. This made Bobby fear for what he had done. What if one of them cracked? What if one of them told on him? Bobby had to make sure that didn’t happen.

Lunch time rolled around quickly, and the police hadn’t gotten to his class or to Robert’s goons. Bobby sat beside Tommy, who had hardly spoken to him all day. It was quite odd for such a chatterbox. Robert’s goons left as a group and went toward the boy’s restroom. No longer terrified of repercussions, Bobby stood.

“I’ll be right back.”

Tommy shrank back and continued to shovel food into his mouth from the bountiful feast that sat before him. He ate when he was troubled.

The restroom was quiet. Bobby stood at the door as it closed behind him. From around the corner of the wall to the left, he heard whispers and shuffling. He walked to the corner, emotions beginning to rush forward, not knowing what to expect. A tear ran down his cheek. He put a trembling hand on the wall to steady himself. There was more shuffling. He felt as if he might lose it again. No, damn it, he told himself, not here, not now.

He took a breath and rounded the corner. To the left, sat a row of stalls, all of the doors open; to the right, there was a row of urinals. Directly against the far wall, the three boys stood huddled together. Their whispers stopped as they saw him. They scowled at him.

“We know what you did to ...”

“You shut the fuck up!” Bobby cut him off, his voice quivering. “Now, you all listen to me. Nothing happened that night, nothing. Do you understand? When they ask you, you don’t know where he is. Maybe he ran off. Got it?” Bobby had never been so forceful in his life. He hadn’t noticed, but he was now nose to nose with the closest boy. It was Randall. He and Randall had once been friends. What happened to their friendship? Robert. When Robert moved into town, he took over, he made Bobby an outcast, and that was how he kept it.

Randall trembled, his pants were wet and piss was running into his socks and shoes. The other two were smashed against the wall, their eyes wide, watching his every move.

“Do you guys fucking understand?” Bobby yelled.

“Yes,” they all whimpered in unison.

Bobby left the boy’s room and flipped off the light as he walked out. In the quietness of the bathroom, whimpering and weeping broke the silence.

He rejoined Tommy, who was still feasting. Bobby sat down and finished his meal in silence. When it was over, he turned to Tommy. “Tommy, how long have I known you?”

Between huge mouthfuls, Tommy answered, “I suppose all our lives. Why?”

“Would you consider us good friends?”

“Of course I do.”

“Would you do anything to help your friend?”

“Yes.”

“What are you going to tell them when they ask you about Robert?”

Tommy stared at him in silence.

* * * *

Jessica sat in Mister Fairfield’s classroom enjoying her lunch as well. Mister Fairfield enjoyed her company, visually devouring her. He had pizza delivered for the two of them; though he wasn’t much for pizza, he thought she would enjoy it. She seemed to be. He admired her costume. Her hair was pulled back in two long pigtails, her lips colored and pouting. Her short skirt matched her low-cut blouse. She had on red heels with shiny red sequins. She carried with her a stuffed dog that she kept calling Toto.

“Are you enjoying the pizza?” he asked, watching her savor every bite.

She nodded and swallowed quickly, putting a hand over her mouth. “It’s delicious.”

He smiled. “What are your plans for the night? You know it’s Halloween?”

She returned his smile. “Oh, how could I forget? Bobby has been talking about it since last month. I guess I’m just going to hang out at home. We don’t get many trick-or-treaters up our way, so I’ll probably just watch some movies and have some popcorn.”

“Would you like to join me for a Halloween party?”

“Sure,” she said, taking another bite.

“I think we will have to hurry, my next class will be coming in soon,” he said, looking at his watch.

She took another bite. “Well, get it out, and let me finish the last piece.”

Mister Fairfield unzipped his pants and awaited the coming pleasure.

* * * *

Tommy sat in the principal’s office, nervously pumping his knees. Trying to stop them, he pressed harder with his hands. The officer that sat across from him was a large man, quite a giant compared to the children Tommy saw day in and day out. His name tag read: Glenn Riverstone.

“Hello, son,” Glenn said. “Do you know why you’re here?”

“No, sir.”

“Well, boy, a schoolmate, maybe even a friend, is missing. We need to find him soon. The sooner we find him, the better. His parents are real worried about him. Do you know Robert Wallows?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you seen him lately?”

Tommy sat for a moment, remembering how the boys had jumped them by the creek. He remembered running like a pussy.

“No, sir.’ Tommy shook his head.

“Well, if you can think of anything that will help with our investigation or if you see him, please contact me immediately.” Glenn offered him a business card. Tommy accepted it quietly. “Thank you, young man. We’ll find him, don’t you worry.”

Tommy left the office quietly and entered the restroom. On his knees in front of the toilet, as quietly as he could muster, he cried. Then, just as quietly, as the spasms hit him, he vomited.

Chapter Six

It was Halloween night, the sky was growing dark and the time for trick-or-treating was nearly upon them. Bobby waited at the door, looking outside.

“Close the door, boy,” Herman said. “You have to eat first.”

Bobby shut the door and joined the rest of the family at the table. His father took a large pot from the stove and put it on the table on top of several pot holders that were spread about. His father was dressed in his usual attire. Herman put a hand on either side of the pot, waiting on Loretta and Jessica to stop their chattering.

“Well,” he started when they were quiet, “it’s been a rough year for us so far.” Herman paused and took the lid from the pot. He spooned a ladle full of stew into a bowl and passed it to Jessica, who in turned passed it to Bobby. Bobby sat the bowl in front of him and looked back toward his father. “Now, thanks to Uncle Frank, this family will never have to worry again. We don’t have to worry about food. We don’t have to worry about money. We don’t have to worry about anything anymore.” He spooned the other bowls full and then sat down to join his family for supper.