by R E Swirsky
"So it's Bluffington where you've been hiding." Gerald nodded. He knew what he was going to do next.
CHAPTER 68
Marilyn called Tommy down to her office and announced that his request for an escorted outing was granted. She repeated what she had suggested to the review board: it was a reasonable request as the boys were really no risk to anyone inside or outside the facility, and with the upcoming trial pending and the boy's futures at stake, the boys could use a short holiday. The review board agreed.
Tommy and Jason were to be escorted out for a few hours on Thursday to share a meal at one of the local restaurants. Tommy suggested the Marlon's Pizza on Crowchild Trail in the northwest. He told Marilyn he and Jason had a lot of good memories at this particular place growing up. His request for this particular location was also approved.
Tommy uttered his many thanks to Marilyn and promised her he would follow all of the rules and not let her down while on the outing.
Moments later, Tommy called Ricky and asked him to find Bobby and have him come up to Spy Hill to see him that night. It was extremely important. When Ricky asked what it was about, Tommy only told him he really needed to speak to Bobby first. It was urgent.
Hours passed while Tommy paced around the facility and waited for Bobby to arrive. He found Jason in the recreation room and repeated the announcement that they were granted the pass. Jason shared Tommy's enthusiasm, but Tommy could see that Jason was filled with worry.
With only a few minutes before visiting hours were over, Bobby finally arrived. He was ushered into the visitor's room where Tommy soon sat across from him and began to lay out his plan in great detail. He made it very clear that Bobby's vehicle was needed if they were going to pull this off.
"You want me to do what?" Bobby was astonished that Tommy had the nerve to ask such a huge favour of him. He wanted nothing to do with it.
"C'mon, Bobby. You know me. I wouldn't be trying this if I didn't think it would work. Think about Ricky and Tim. You were the one who told me what kind of a state Ricky is in these days. Ricky's arm is broken, and you certainly can't do it!"
"And Jason knows what you're planning?" Bobby asked.
Tommy nodded. "Absolutely. He wants this more than I do, actually. He is so upset about all of this, and Ricky certainly can't do this on his own. You'll need to discuss this with him."
"Why don't you talk to Ricky?"
"I'm worried he won't go along with this idea if he doesn't hear it from you first. You have the vehicle. He will need to know you're willing to step up to help him too. You're the best friend he has right now. That's why it needs to come from you."
Bobby scowled because he knew Tommy was pushing their friendship to its limits. He hesitated before he answered Tommy.
"You already know there's no question that Ricky's going to be all in for this with the shit that's going down at home for him right now. I don't think he feels he has anything to lose. He is so upset," Bobby said. He then backtracked a moment. "But I am not sure I really want to be involved in any of this. Not after getting caught the other night."
Tommy grabbed Bobby's hands. "This is the real deal. It's far beyond anything anyone is suspecting, and that's why I think it'll work. It's a big risk for you. I know it is. I don't know who else I could ask. I'll think of a way to make sure you are in the clear. Please, Bobby."
Bobby pulled his hands out from under Tommy's. He hesitated and then reached out a single hand and grabbed one of Tommy's hands in his own and squeezed. He sat quietly and stared at Tommy for a few minutes as he mulled over what Tommy was asking of him. Tommy stared back, biting his lower lip while his eyes pleaded with Bobby to understand how important this was for everyone involved.
"If there is only one thing in my life that I know I should choose to do, Tommy, this is probably it." He sighed heavily. "I shouldn't be doing this. If my mom ever found out..." He shook his head. "If you can find a way to make sure I stay in the clear, I'll be there. But that's my condition. I'm not doing this if there's a chance I will be caught. No way, Tommy. And Bluffington is totally out of the question."
"You'll see, Bobby. You'll see. I'll call Ricky late tonight after you've had a chance to talk to him. I'll figure something out and let him know how we'll keep you both clean in all of this."
"Just so long as I'm clean, I'll start checking things out on my side. And there's no way I'm going anywhere near Bluffington if we do this. That's just too much risk."
"Bluffington is out," Tommy replied.
The two boys agreed to meet one more time to confirm that everything was in place and to finalize the plan. Visiting hours ended, and Bobby was ushered out. He jumped into his vehicle and took a deep breath. He exhaled slowly and rubbed his leg for a few minutes before he drove away. He hated himself for agreeing to go along with what they planned. It was a foolish idea, but there was something about the promise of getting rid of those tapes that made what they were about to do necessary. It was the right thing to do. He thought more about what he had just agreed to, and he was left with a welcomed anxiety. He had a lot to do between now and Thursday.
CHAPTER 69
The Safeway store was only five blocks away from her new house, and Sarah felt a new freedom as she walked the few blocks alone. The sky was lightly overcast and a warm summer breeze wafted slowly through town. She only wanted to grab a few basics for the next few days. She paid for her items and left the Safeway store with her small bag when she looked out across the parking lot and suddenly went dizzy. She spotted what she was sure was her old car from Calgary sitting at the outer edge of the parking lot. She reached out and rested her hand against the building wall to stabilize herself as she stared at it in disbelief.
Was it her car? The one she left behind with Gerald?
Panic filled her chest and made it difficult to breathe. As much as she wanted to look closer, she didn't dare go anywhere near the car. She squinted in the sun and was sure she could even see what looked like the staff parking sticker from Forest Lawn High School, where she used to work, still attached to the windshield. Her heart pumped heavily inside her body. She scanned left and right across the parking lot. She expected to see Gerald charging down angrily towards her, but she didn't see him anywhere. She turned her gaze back to the car. The car was empty. If that was her car, then Gerald was not far away.
Sarah needed to get away.
She walked as quickly as she dared along the front of the building. Her feet wanted to run, but she wouldn't let them. She knew she would immediately attract attention if she ran. She continued to move alongside the building, away from the car, and was careful to keep her head tucked away from the street. She rounded the corner of the building and slipped down the side and out to the back of the store.
Panic continued to rise from deep within her. It brought back memories of the many evenings she sat and waited for Gerald to get home from work. She always let the panic rise, minute after minute, until she finally looked into his angry face when he arrived home.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she spotted the alley that connected the back lot of the Safeway and knew it was the means of escape. She darted as fast she dared from alley to alley until she was safe inside her house on Founders Road. She locked the door, set the alarm and called Simon at the restaurant.
"Simon, Gerald's in town! I just saw him. Please come! Hurry," Sarah pleaded.
"Gerald? You saw him for real?"
"Well, not exactly. But my car... I saw my old car in the parking lot. It has to be Gerald."
Simon quickly reminded Sarah of the last time she thought she saw Gerald in town. He tried to convince her that it was just her wild imagination again, but Sarah was nearly hysterical. Simon finally gave in and told her he would be right over after he gave the staff some directions.
When Simon finally arrived, Sarah was still in a fine state of hysteria. She was convinced
that Gerald was in Bluffington. Simon tried to calm her down, but she begged Simon to go to Calgary and see if her car still sat where she left it in the front driveway of her old house.
"Okay, okay! I'll go to Calgary. You'll see," he said. "I'll go up, and I am absolutely positive that I'll see Gerald's truck and your car parked in the back at your old house. Your car is exactly where you left it, sweetie. It probably hasn't been moved for six months now." He smiled at her and tried to reassure her that all was fine.
Sarah sat on the couch and trembled. She shook her head in disbelief that Gerald was really still searching for her. "Not this time. That was my car in the parking lot, Simon," she said. "It was my car. I even saw the parking sticker in the window."
“That could be any sticker. There are a lot of cars like yours about."
Sarah didn't believe him. "I am so scared, Simon."
Simon sat down next to Sarah and cuddled her in close. "I know you are scared. And I am here for you."
Sarah nodded. "I know you are. It's just..."
"Hush now. You just hush and speak no more of this. Tomorrow afternoon I'll head up to Calgary and I won't come back until I am sure that Gerald is up there and not down here looking for you."
Sarah gave Simon the directions to her old place in Calgary with the description of Gerald's truck and her car. Simon promised he would be careful and would come to see her tomorrow night when he returned. Simon stayed with Sarah until late into the night when she was finally sound asleep.
CHAPTER 70
Thursday finally came. The details were finalized, and Bobby fought past his nervous reluctance and stepped outside with his keys. He opened up the back of his CRV and made sure everything Tommy asked for was loaded inside. All looked to be in order.
It was still early in the afternoon, and his mother wouldn't be home until late in the evening. His thought about her and how upset she still was about the break in. He wasn't supposed to be going anywhere, especially with Ricky, so he decided it would be best if he left her a short note. "Gone to Calgary to catch a movie. Hunger Games. Will go see Tommy at Spy Hill afterwards. Might be home late so don't worry about supper." That would satisfy her questions when she arrived home to an empty house.
Ricky was already waiting at the meeting point by Baxter's Garage when Bobby pulled up in the CRV. Ricky quickly hopped inside and grimaced. He anxiously began to pull tiny loose strands of fabric from his cast. "I am so nervous, Bobby."
Bobby smiled. "Me too. This is going to be some ride today. I hope it works out."
"Depends on those two, doesn't it?"
Bobby nodded back. "It does. It really does."
Forty minutes later, Bobby turned the CRV down a common-looking back alley and slowly crept along. He finally stopped beside the back of a cream-coloured, stucco building that was home to Marlon's Pizza. Bobby turned off the ignition. He rubbed his thigh unconsciously with the heel of his palm.
"Now we sit and wait," he said.
"How long?" Ricky asked.
"I don't know," he replied. "We'll just have to see what happens."
Time passed slowly as the boys waited and watched for any sign of Tommy and Jason.
"Is your dad still pissed at you?" Bobby asked.
Ricky rolled his eyes. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"C'mon then. Tell me," Bobby prodded. He could see the consternation on Ricky's face, and he suddenly became very serious. "Your dad scares me sometimes."
Ricky's eyes grew wide in response. "Scares you? You have no idea." He shook his head. "If he finds out what we're up to, I am dead. So dead, Bobby."
"He's not going to find out anything. That's why we have our alibis. We'll both be nowhere near here when this all this goes down later.
"But he'll still suspect I had something to do with it. He'll hear about it on the news, and I'll get the third degree from him as soon as I walk in the door tonight. He doesn't trust me, and he just won't stay out of my face."
"But we have an alibi. That's the great part. It was Tommy's idea. There was no way I'd be doing this if I wasn't so sure it would work. My mom would never understand. I am in trouble so deep with her already."
"Well, I really hope so."
Bobby watched the street that crossed at the end of the alley. The vehicle with Tommy and Jason inside would have to pass across in front of them in order to enter the main parking lot.
"He calls me names all the time now," Ricky said sadly.
"Names?"
"Yeah. He calls me lazy and a slacker. He never used to do that. Still calls me a quitter every chance he gets. I hate going home. I hate it, Bobby. He thinks I quit everything just because I quit hockey. We never even discussed college this year, and now I'm graduated and have nothing planned for my future. I don't think he even cares anymore, and he wants me to fail. I'm thinking about getting a job and moving out."
Bobby understood. Ricky had graduated, and it made sense to do something if he was not going to college.
"Mom wouldn't like it though," Ricky added.
Bobby's thoughts drifted to the reason they were doing what they were doing today. He studied Ricky and tried to sense his sensitivity. Ricky looked very agitated as he picked away unconsciously at the strands of fabric that protruded from the end of his cast.
"There are others out there, you know," Bobby finally suggested.
Ricky didn't answer right away and Bobby wondered if he said too much.
"I try not to think about it," Ricky replied. "It's too weird sometimes. Every one of our friends that I ever played hockey with… I can't help but wonder every time I look at one of them."
"Mmm," Bobby mumbled back.
"I'll see one of them at the school or on the street. Somewhere, anywhere. And when I look at them, I see them so very differently now. I find myself looking beyond their eyes. I study them as they look back at me, and sometimes I feel like they are expecting something from me. It's inside them that I'm really searching, I guess, for any pain inside crying out. I know that pain might be there. And then we go our separate ways, sometimes not having spoken a single word to each other, I just want to turn around and tell them it's okay now. That it's really okay and I understand."
Ricky wiped his eyes.
"How many others do you think there are?" Bobby asked.
Ricky shook his head. "I bet there's more than anyone thinks there is. It's just that there is only a hand full of us who even know what really happened. How many years, Bobby? How long had this been going on?"
Bobby wondered how many there really could be. How many years did Tommy's dad coach hockey in this town? He knew he wouldn't ever be able to understand it from Ricky's point of view, but he felt Ricky's pain. He knew too well what it felt like to feel different from everyone else. He knew what it was like to be stared at.
Several more minutes passed as Bobby and Ricky continued to wait in the alley. Ricky suddenly spotted the large white sedan move slowly past the end of the alley in front of them. Tommy and Jason sat beside each other in the back seat. "There they are!" Ricky shouted.
"I see them," Bobby replied and sat up straight. He glanced in the mirrors and was pleased to see the alley still empty behind them.
Ricky continued to fidget and look anxiously at the stucco building. He pointed to the small window high in the wall above the cardboard recycle bin.
"That's it?" Ricky asked.
"Uh huh. Looks small doesn't it?"
"Sure does!"
Both boys sat quietly and waited. Time seemed to creep slowly along, and Ricky frequently looked at the time on his cell phone. "C'mon already," he whispered.
"They'll come," Bobby replied. "Just be patient."
More minutes passed by and, for a moment, Bobby wondered if his friends had changed their minds. Just then, the small, wooden-framed window was pushed open from the inside.
"Shit!
Here they come!" Ricky said excitedly.
The two stared up at the window in awe as Jason slid his lean body out through it with ease. He reached his arms out in front and tumbled, head first, onto the recycle bin in a graceful roll. He then ran madly for Bobby's CRV. Bobby jumped out and had the back hatch open just in time for Jason to jump inside. Bobby quickly tossed an old, unzipped sleeping bag over him and slammed the gate.
"Tommy's coming! He should be right behind me!" Jason said from under the sleeping bag.
Bobby and Ricky stared up at the building looking for Tommy to appear.
"Where is he?" Ricky whispered.
"He was right behind me. He followed me into the washroom as I was climbing out."
The boys went quiet as they waited for Tommy to appear. More minutes passed and Jason thought something had gone wrong. "Do you see him?" Jason's muffled voice called from underneath the sleeping bag. "He should be coming out already! He was right behind me! Do you see him?"
"No," Bobby replied. "He's not coming."
"But he was right behind me!"
Jason was highly agitated.
"Do you think he got caught?" Ricky shouted loudly. He turned away frantically from the window towards Jason. "Maybe we should leave! Bobby?"
"No! I don't think we should leave without him." Bobby replied softly. "We just need to wait a minute."
"Shit, guys!" Jason called out. "We can't just wait here. If Tommy's caught, he's probably trying to buy us some time. You know how Tommy is!"
Bobby reconsidered and nodded in quick agreement. "He's right! We should go."
"You sure?" Ricky asked. "This is not how we planned it."
"Like Jason just said, maybe Tommy's covering for us. I'm not waiting to get caught," Bobby replied. "Done that once already this week. I'm not doing it again. We're leaving."
Bobby started up the CRV and began to pull away down the alley.
Ricky suddenly shouted as he stared back towards the pizzeria. "Stop! Stop, Bobby! Stop! It's Tommy! It's Tommy! Here he comes!"
Bobby slammed on the brakes and turned to look out the rear hatch window. Tommy was slithering his way out of the window as best as he could. Bobby reversed quickly, stopped and rushed out just as Tommy got to his feet after climbing down off the recycle bin.
