Chapter 17

05:30, August 27, 1983

Lottery Day

Just like clockwork, my eyes popped open at five-thirty. I put on my shorts and the shirt I wore when working out. With me having worn them every day for nearly two weeks, they were smelling bad, even to me, so I needed to wash them. I’d toss them and the rest of my dirty clothes in the washer after my workout.

The ride home last night had taken me longer than I liked because once out of the housing development, the street lights ended. I’d spent too long saying goodnight to both my girlfriends, who kept asking for more kisses. In the dark, I’d had to go slow to keep from having an accident. Thankfully, the moon was almost full and there were no clouds, so I could see, but barely.

Then I’d unloaded all my boxes and brought them into the room that had been Robert’s, the man formerly known as my father, but was now mine. I didn’t unpack because it was late, and I knew that my internal clock would still have me up at the normal time.

I came into the kitchen and grabbed the coffee mug that I was thinking of as mine. It wasn’t mine. I’d had a Batman Mug my teammates had gotten me when the Michael Keaton version of the Batman movie had come out. It was a big ass mug, and I missed it something fierce. But the mug I was using would do, even if I had to drink two servings to equal one of the Batman Mugs offerings.

Pap-pap was already sitting at the table. “So yer old man closed yer account at his bank and kept the money? What else did you want to talk about?”

“Pap-pap, I don’t want to talk about any of it, but you need to know the things I’ve found out. They might affect all of us, the whole Parker family.”

Pap-pap’s spoon stopped moving toward his mouth and he returned it to the bowl of oats. “What things?”

“First, as I told you last night, I am no longer Robert Parker’s son. He made that plain at the Savings and Loan yesterday. Made sure he told Shelly and told her to make sure people in the bank heard her tell me he doesn’t have a son. To be honest, Pap-pap, after what I found out yesterday, I’m glad not to be his son anymore.”

“That’s plumb foolishness, boy. He can deny ya, he can make any damn fool announcement he wants, but his name is on yer birth certificate under ‘father’.”

“Yes Sir, but that just makes him the sperm donor in my conception. It doesn’t change the fact that he has disowned me and claims I’m not his son. I’m glad he did it.”

“That’s the second time you say you’re glad not to be his son. Why are you glad?”

“That brings up the other thing I mentioned last night. Tabitha Hornsby and our family’s debt to her.”

“I remember you sayin’ that. What debt do we as a family owe this young lady?”

I sighed. “Pap-pap, that’s the thing. I don’t think it’s just her family. Here’s what I was told. Last year, Kent and four of his buddies, including the ones I put in the hospital, raped her at the homecoming dance. That was bad enough. When she went to the hospital, they called the police. The officer told her it wouldn’t do any good to file charges because they would brand her as a slut who agreed to party with them and changed her mind when the deed was done. Her father insisted on the charges. The next day, a man from the Savings and Loan showed up at their house with a check for ten thousand dollars. Her father described the man. Want to take a guess who it was?”

“He didn’t! Why the hell would Robert pay them off?”

“Because he works for Glenn, doesn’t he? Glenn ordered a ten thousand dollar payoff. Mr. Hornsby would not take it, but was told to refuse was foolish. If he refused to take the money and keep his mouth shut, his phone number would go up in all the men’s rooms at school and around town, saying to call his daughter for a good time. Then, if they continued to cause problems, the Mayor would have them run out of town. Here’s the worst of it, Pap-pap. Joseph has a list from a member of the school staff listing more than a dozen girls that claim to have had the same thing happen to them. I don’t know how many are duplicates, but May and Mary Jane are giving me a list of rumors about girls they know who have been through the same thing. I think we are going to find that Tabitha’s dad wasn’t the only girl whose father has had Robert Parker hand them a check and tell them the consequences of turning down the Mayor’s generous offer.”

“He wouldn’t would he? I mean, that’s criminal, isn’t it?”

“I don’t know, but I know that Ms. Dent is threatening to open a case against anyone involved. If any of the families name him as the Mayor’s bribery deliverer, Ms. Dent will open a case against him and he could be arrested and charged.

“Damn, this is a mess, boy. How could he let himself get involved, especially with your sisters? You’d think he’d be on the side of the girls’ fathers, not the Mayor. How do we fix this for our family? I mean, if you’re right and Harriet comes after him, this could hurt your mom and sisters. They could lose the house.”

I shook my head. “No, actually they won’t lose the house unless he can convince Mom to put it up as collateral for his bail if he’s arrested.”

“Whatcha yapping about, boy?”

“In my other life, the one before I came back, I found out that the house wasn’t in Dad’s name. He was worried someone would sue him as the branch manager of the Savings and Loan or maybe for what he was doing off the books for the Mayor. Anyway, the house isn’t in his name, it’s in Mom’s name only. So if I can convince her to not put the house up for him, then we can pay off the mortgage with some winnings from the drawing tonight.”

“Is there another way to make sure he can’t get his hands on it?”

I thought about that for a minute, cycling through the knowledge I had from my old lifetime. “Maybe. In my time, some finance companies will sell a mortgage to have an influx of ready cash. The housing developments’ mortgage company holds the mortgage for the house.

If the girls and I offered to buy the mortgage, they might just sell it to us. When Mom can’t make the payments, they’ll have to foreclose and might get less for it. We could offer the entire loan amount, including what they expect to make as interest, and they may take it just to get away from the Parker name. We’d take half of the price from my half of the money and half from the twins. After all, when Mom and Dad pass, it will be split between the three of us, anyway.”

“Not a bad plan. Let’s hope we don’t have to do any of that.”

Pap-pap’s eating signaled to me that the conversation was finished. I drained my second cup and headed out to do the morning chores and my daily exercise routine. Pap-pap caught up to me as I was sitting the pail of milk on the back porch and covering it to keep the barn cats out. “I’m headed out to bale the first field. Once yer girls get here, bring the flatbed, and you three load the trailer.” He looked me in the eye. “And don’t be thinking I didn’t notice that old quilt disappearin’ from the linen closet. Iffen, you promise me to not get them girls in a family way, you can have two, and only two bales for a little sparkin’ nest. Sparkin’ only Harrison, them girls are too young for what else you young uns get up to.”

“Pap-pap, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m the one trying to slow things down. Amaryllis is raring to go further and Julie wants everything Amaryllis is getting. So I told them that until we are older, no touching inside of clothes. We may rethink that in a year or two, but even though I know everything my older self knew, I will not have sex at fifteen. I’m not saying we won’t be exploring some, but I won’t have sex with them for at least two years. We probably will do some things, but for this year we won’t go below the clothing of anyone.”

Pap-pap smacked me on the back. “I swear things were different back in my day. The girls that would let a fella do even what you’re talking about got a reputation as easy. Hell, yer Granny wouldn’t let me even touch her outside her clothes until after I took her to the preacher and said ‘I do’.”

“Well, Pap-pap, the first time through you gave me a piece of advice I’ve used ever since you told it to me. ‘A true Southern Gentleman never brags about what a lady lets him do.’ You told me that before my first date. I’ve always kept it in mind and adhered to it. It’s not one of my life rules, but it is a part of me. I wouldn’t have even told you what I did today if I didn’t want to set your mind at ease. Be assured it’s the last thing you’ll ever hear about any girl I’m going out with.”