Chapter 23

09:30 August 29, 1983

A Talk With Mom

I had gotten up at my normal time and did the morning chores. Then I went for my run. After my talk with Mom, I’d have to get back to loading and unloading hay bales. Over breakfast, I approached the idea of maybe branching out and using one field and the barn’s empty stalls to breed thoroughbred racehorses and Arabians. Pap-pap said, “Tell you what, Harrison. If you can, get a few and we’ll talk about it. If you want to go that way, maybe we should start by just clearing that field beside the big barn and putting in a corral to exercise horses in. Maybe start with boarding ‘em instead of breeding ‘em”

“Not saying we won’t try breeding, but we need to learn. That might be something for you to work towards after graduation.”

Then he smiled. “Granny talked to Mr. Snodgrass on the way home yesterday. He’s drawin’ up our new will, leaving you everything. The whole 160 acres, the house, and the equipment. Your sisters will get a little from our money, but after yer gift to ‘em, I doubt they’ll even need it. The only stipulation is ya can’t sell the place. Iffen you try, then it goes to yer sisters. If they try, then it goes to yer cousin Peter. If after thirty years you ain’t making it, you can sell. Now, you could rent the fields, but not the house, barns or equipment.”

I nodded. “Pap-pap, I can’t promise to live here full time, or to keep farming. But I promise it won’t sit fallow and no one without the Parker name will live in the house. I have a couple of ideas to keep the place in the family and make it profitable. But I hope the day I inherit is far, far in the future.”

“Harrison, I’m almost seventy. It ain’t that far in the future. Granny may tell everyone she’s twenty-nine and holding, but she’s been holding longer than when she really was twenty-nine. I know you know this, but there are two things you can count on in this world: Death and taxes. In two weeks, we’ll be paying a hell of a lot of taxes. So what’s left fer us?”

I shook my head. “Not if I can help it.”

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Son, you may be smart, but you listen. Nobody can undo the fates. Seline spins the thread of our lives. Phoebe measures that thread and when the time comes, Luna cuts that thread when the weaver is done with you. Harrison, you need to understand, once the thread has been spun, measured and cut, nothing can stop what comes next. Not the gods, not the reaper, not anything!”

I started to say that I’d changed it with Amaryllis, but he held up his hand. “I know what yer thinkin’, but don’t you see? Luna didn’t cut your girl’s thread. Your girl cut her own thread early. That is why you could change her fate. Because it wasn’t her fate.”

“Remember this if nothing else, Son. No one cheats the Fates. When it’s your time, it’s your time.”

Just then, we all heard Dianne’s car and the puttering sound of a Volkswagen Beetle. The city Parker women had arrived. May and Mary Jane were trying to do as I’d asked and stand with me. But I was worried that they would get upset when they learned that the man threatening their friends was their daddy.

I gathered myself and went out to hug them each and bring them inside. Time to get serious about protecting my family. The Fates be damned if they tried to stop me. I’d take them on too. As I hugged Mom, she whispered in my ear. “I tried to come alone, but the twins said they needed to be here. Harrison, please don’t make them hate their father.”

I squeezed her. “My goal isn’t to get people to hate him. I won’t lie to them or you about what I’ve found out. But I need to make sure all three of you know what might be coming, so you can be prepared.”

She pulled back. I could see in her eyes that, while she was worried the twins would hate Robert, she was more worried that she would. I hated that I was causing this pain for her. For one fleeting second, I wondered if I was protecting them. Could it be that, in reality, I was the one causing them pain? Fuck me running. I hope I wasn’t. Nevertheless, deep inside, there was that little kernel of doubt.

We all went inside and Granny got everyone drinks. I asked for a second glass of pineapple juice, and May and Mary Jane started giggling. “I think someone read our Cosmo magazine!”

Mom looked at her. “What are you talking about, May?”

Both my sisters blushed bright red. But May leaned over and whispered in my mother’s ear. Mom’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “Harrison Benjamin Parker, did you lie to me about your nutritional needs?”

I shook my head at the same time I was shrugging. “Not really, Mom. Pineapple juice is better for me than soda or even iced tea.”

Mary Jane lost it at that point and laughed out loud. “Yeah, but that isn’t why you’re drinking it, is it, Harrison? You read our Cosmo.”

I stared my sisters down. “Pay attention. I’m only saying this once. I may have read about some other benefits of that particular juice. However, I made a promise to both of my girlfriends and Pap-pap that nothing sexual would happen under clothing this year. Rule eight!”

Mom glared. “If you break that rule, Harrison...”

“I won’t, Mom. You know how important those are to me. Speaking of which, I promised to tell you the last two. Rule Nine is: Loyalty is worth more than diamonds. Be loyal and reward those who are loyal to you.”

“Rule Ten states: The girlfriends are always right. Even when they are wrong, remember they are right. A happy girl or wife means a happy life. Now, did you bring your mortgage payment book with you as I asked?”

“Yes, but I don’t know why you want to look at it. You said Granny and Pap-pap needed to see it?”

“We all need to look at it, Mom. First things first.”

I reached into the file folder I had laying on the table and pulled out the two Polaroid Pictures. One shows Granny holding both the ticket and Yesterday’s Gazette. The second revealed the winning numbers both on the ticket and in the paper. It was instantly obvious they were the same numbers. Mom looked over at Granny. “Harrison told me yesterday. I felt shocked. I’ve never known you to take a chance before, Granny.”

Granny pointed at me. “I didn’t take a chance. Harrison gave me the dollar and the numbers. He had a dream that I won playin’ that dern game. That’s the second true dream he’s had, Rosland. Your son is a seer.”

While they had been talking, I’d been flipping through the payment book. I was counting how many payments they had left. I couldn’t believe the difference between how much my parents had paid for our house and what I paid for my first house. But what really upset me was the way the developer had structured their mortgage. My father was supposed to be a Branch Manager for a Savings and Loan. How the hell had he let them get stuck with such a terrible interest rate? I’d written the price of their payments. Even though I understood how monumentally bad it was, I needed my sisters to see it for themselves. “Mom, you still have 301 payments left on the house?”

“Yes Harrison, we got a thirty-year mortgage when we bought the house. We’ve lived there for five years now, so yes, 301 more payments.”

“Why is the last payment so much higher than the others? By your payment book, all the other payments are for $450.00 a month. The last payment is for $7,044. I don’t understand.”

She sighed. “It’s called a balloon payment, Harrison. See, when you make your monthly payments, you are paying on the principal. Which is the amount loaned to you. The balloon payment is all the interest on the loan.”

I frowned. “How much was the house?”

“We bought it for $43,340 five years ago.”

“By my calculations, if you put down 10% and mortgaged the rest, you’re gonna end up paying almost $60,000 for a house that is brand new and was only worth $44,000. That’s an interest rate of double the standard, isn’t it?”

Mom frowned. “That can’t be right. You must have done the math wrong.”

I handed my sister the notepad I’d done the math on. “Mary Jane, would you check my math, please?”

Mary Jane’s tongue stuck out the right side of her mouth as she redid my figures. She looked up and said, “Harrison, you’re spot on.”

Mom took the pad and did the math as well. When she came up with the same amount, her face went white. “What’s this all about, Harrison?”

“Mom, even with the payments you’ve made so far, you still owe $33,060 on the house. This is about two things. The first is something I hate to talk to you about. But from the information we heard at the school in Principal Nicolas’ office, you know Ms. Dent is putting together a case against the Mayor and anyone else involved. A case of corruption and obstruction of justice against the Mayor.”

Mom nodded. “Yes, but what does one have to do with the other? And what does any of it have to do with you?”

“This is where I’m going to probably upset you. So I’m sorry in advance. I apologize to you and May too, Mary Jane.”

I pulled the list of rumored girls raped by the gang of five and laid it on the table. “This is a partial list of the girls who may have been raped by Kent and his friends. I know of one more and I didn’t get to see the names on Mrs. Morris’ list. What I found out from the parents of two girls so far is that Robert is probably going to be arrested, at the very least, for witness tampering.”

“Mayor Glenn, according to two different parents of two different girls so far, has confirmed this. The Mayor has sent someone to see the parents of Kent’s victims. Each has been offered a payment of $10,000 to keep their mouths shut. The person delivering the checks has also threatened to destroy the girl’s reputations and have their families run out of town if they insist on pressing charges. The man who does that works at the Savings and Loan, and sleeps at your house.”

Mom is shaking her head. “No, that can’t be right, Harrison. He would never do that. My God, he has two daughters. He couldn’t do what you’re saying.”

“Mom, he did it. Two different fathers told me personally. Robert came to their homes and gave them a check to shut up. He then warned them that if they persisted in trying to make trouble for Kent and his boys, their freshly raped daughters would have their names and phone numbers splashed on restroom walls all over the city. Men looking for easy fucks would harass the girls. Robert threatened the fathers that if they didn’t stop, they would lose their jobs and be run out of town.”

I hated being the one having to tell everyone. All four women at the table were openly crying. It made me feel like the worst monster in the fucking world. It also angered me that Robert had put me in this position.

Suddenly what I knew, from my first time through this year, made more sense. I had always wondered why Amaryllis had asked to move last time. What if Robert had come to give Hiram and Wilma that check but encountered Rhyll instead and still threatened her? Even worse, what if she’d refused the money and the phone calls had started already by the time she killed herself?

I sighed and swallowed hard. “Mom, you need to realize he may end up in jail. If so, his income will end. How will you pay off the house then? How will you, May and Mary Jane, survive?”

“Harrison, you’re wrong. Those men, they’re wrong. They have to be wrong.”

I shook my head. “Let’s hope that my belief is incorrect, and yours is correct. I know you don’t think I feel that way, but I do. Not for...” I swallowed and said the name I didn’t want to call Robert anymore. “Dad’s sake, but for the three of you. I hope I’m wrong. But what if I’m not? He will go to jail.”

I sighed. “So here is what I’m going to do. I’m going to have Joseph approach the mortgage lender and offer them $65,000 to buy your mortgage from the company. May, Mary Jane and I own a company called Tie-Dyed Developments. Then you’ll owe us the $33,060 still outstanding on the loan. However, for every year you live in the house, we will forgive $5,500 of loan payments. You won’t pay anything for the next year. Until either you decide to move out or the loan is finished.”

Mom was shaking her head. “You three can’t afford to do that, Harrison.”

That’s when Granny spoke for the first time. “Rosland, honey. They can afford to do that. All the Lottery money is going to the three of them. They’ve already set up the company to do what Harrison is saying, putting in enough money to pay off your house. They still have plenty of money left after that for college and buying their own homes someday. Honestly, jest about anything else they want to.”

My Mom looked at me. “What’s the price, Harrison? What is this going to cost me that makes you so nervous?”

“The price, as you called it, is simply this. We won’t allow you to put the house up as collateral to bail Robert out of jail.

Now it was her eyes that turned dark and hard. “You hate him that much? The man who helped create you and has raised you. You hate him enough to let him go to jail and rot there to save a goddamn house?”

I shook my head. “This has nothing to do with hate, Mom. It honestly has nothing to do with him at all. This, for me, is about protecting you and Mary Jane and May. That’s all it’s about. Do I dislike Robert Parker? You’re damn right I do. I told you the other day, if he was on fire, I wouldn’t piss on the flames to put them out. But this is the only way I know to keep the three of you in your home.”

Mom stood up suddenly and the chair she had been sitting in tipped over backward. Then I felt it as she came around the table and slapped me in the face. Not once, or twice, but until I had no choice but to reach up and stop her hand as blood from my split lip filled my mouth.

She jerked her hands out of mine. Snatched her mortgage book and glared at me. “Don’t bother offering to buy the mortgage, Harrison. I’ll refuse to stop paying the loan even if you get the house.” She turned and started for the door, stopped, and turned to face me. I knew what was coming. I dreaded it, but I knew what she was going to say. “Don’t contact me again. I won’t be answering your calls anymore.”

She turned and looked at my sisters. “Come on, girls, there’s nothing for us here. Let’s go home.”

My sisters looked at me. I knew they were trying to decide which side to pick. “Go with her. I love you both, and her too, but she needs you more than I do right now. I’ll see you both at school next week.”

They both hugged me quickly and followed her out. Granny came over and hugged me. “Don’t despair, Harrison. She’ll calm down and change her mind.”

I shook my head. “Maybe, maybe not. I might have to pay this cost to protect her from herself, Granny. Estrangement from all the city Parkers. It’s fine if she doesn’t. I made my choice and now I have to live with the cost of that choice.”

Granny patted my back. “Come on, let’s clean you up. You’ve got blood all over your face.”

Nodding, I stood. I had made a vow to myself to let no one hit me again. Mom had slapped me over and over and I just sat there and let her. I had broken a promise, even if it was just to myself.

*****

12:00 August 29, 1983

Amaryllis arrived just as I was sitting down to dinner. After the morning I’d just had, she was a healing balm for my wounded heart.

She must have studied the Daisy Duke poster on my wall. She’d duplicated the look right down to the red checkered shirt tied just under her breasts and those super short, tight cutoff jean shorts. Rhyll was a teenage boy’s walking wet dream come to life. I couldn’t stop my fifteen-year-old hormones from raging. They wanted us to grab her and show her just what a love nest in the hay loft could be used for. Instead, I had to eat and get to work. Pap-pap was going to take the heat of the day off. But I hadn’t been out to load hay bales yet.

At least I’d have her help. I’d let her drive the tractor while I loaded the bales. Then, after we got the trailer empty, I would get the chance to show her the nest Pap-pap had let me build for my girlfriends. Which got me wondering, where was my other girlfriend?

“Rhyll love, where’s our Jules?”

“Her mom wanted her to go school shopping. They offered to take me along, but I missed spending time with you yesterday. So I told her I’d go keep our boyfriend warm. She can have you tomorrow.”

“You have got to stop saying things like that, Love. I know what you mean, but my body thinks you mean something else. Which I promised both you and Pap-pap wouldn’t happen this year.”

“But what if I want it to happen this year?”

“Please Rhyll, please stop teasing me about this. I want that too. I just think we’re too young to do what we both want. Help me protect us. I really am trying to protect our relationship and give us time to grow up a bit more.”

She looked around and saw we were alone. She climbed into my lap, facing me, her hot little body plastered up against mine. My body responded, just like she hoped it would. “But I ache Harrison. I need...,”

I kissed her to shut her up, and she ground down on my lap. Neither of us was sure who made the noise first, but I knew if I stayed there, I’d need to take a shower before I could go to the field. I sat her back beside me.