Nikki wasn’t sure about that, but whether he needed medical attention or not, they’d need Dave’s younger sister to watch Jake for a while. In fact, she thought, he should stay at her house tonight.
Dave went into the bathroom and almost felt like screaming himself when he saw his reflection. He understood now why his wife and son freaked out. He looked like he’d been in a fatal car wreck and he was the fatality. But since he was standing in his bathroom, he would be a zombie if he’d been killed earlier. In his case, it had been a human wreck he’d been in. Two humans had collided in the street.
“Dave! Are you okay?” Nikki broke the trance he’d fallen into with his strange train of thought.
“I think it’s worse than it looks.”
“Joy says she’ll be over right away.”
“Good. That’s good.” He was still staring at his macabre reflection. It was hard for him to believe he was looking at himself. Had it been a photograph he was looking at, he wouldn’t have recognized himself.
“Dave, look at me. I think you’re in shock.”
He turned and looked at his wife. She was so beautiful. He wanted to marry her. They could have a little boy.
“I love you,” he said.
“You know I love you too, but I’m worried about you. You look like a… you look terrible. We need to get you to the hospital.”
“I think I’m okay. I just need to change out of this bloody shirt.” He repeated in an English accent, “This bloody shirt. Won’t you ‘ave a look at it? It’s all bloody, innit?” He started laughing.
Nikki didn’t know what to do. Dave was injured and bleeding and acting strange. Jake was alone in his room. The front window was broken, which meant whoever had hurt Dave could easily get inside their house. Dave clearly needed her right now, but so did Jake and she didn’t want them in the same room since Jake was still traumatized by the sight of his father.
Okay, Nikki. Get it together. You can handle this.
“Dave, honey. Can you go to our bathroom and wait for me?”
“Sure thing, love. I could go on walkabout,” he said, now using an Australian accent. “Fair dinkum.”
Nikki hoped he was just screwing around and demonstrating that he was in good shape by being goofy like usual. But he wasn’t laughing or smiling, so she didn’t know if something was wrong with his brain. That was a definite possibility as far she could tell with the big knot on his forehead and the blood everywhere.
Dave dutifully walked out of the main bathroom and toward the master bedroom, presumably to the bathroom there. Nikki sat with Jake and assured him that everything was okay. Daddy just bumped his head and it looked a lot worse than it really was.
“Aunt Joy is going to take you out for ice cream while I clean up Daddy’s face and put a Band-Aid on his cut.”
Jake wasn’t interested in ice cream. He clung to his mother and tried not to cry, afraid that his dad was hurt as badly as he appeared to be.
***
In the hospital waiting room, Nikki ended her second call with Joy, having been assured once again that she and Jake were okay. Of course they were. They were at Joy’s house and there was no reason to suspect that Ron knew where they lived or that he’d even do anything if he did. Which he didn’t.
Nikki could not calm her racing mind. The doctor had assured her that Dave was going to be okay, but that didn’t make her feel any better about the fact that he’d been assaulted to begin with. Things like this just didn’t happen in her life. Dave had done nothing wrong. He was a good person, concerned about a child. She had to talk to the police. No. Dave had to talk to the police. It wouldn’t do any good for her to report the assault. But she could report the broken window and the rock with the note on it. For that, she’d have to wait until they got back home.
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.
“We’re going to head over right now and see if he has an alibi for this,” the officer resumed
“What about the assault on me earlier today?”
“He had an alibi for that,” the officer responded.
“Great. Well, I’m glad I have a gun now since he’s going to be even more pissed off after giving you his new alibi. I don’t believe this.”
“Please don’t think about taking the law into your own hands. It would be best if you put the shotgun in a safe and dial 9-1-1 if you have any trouble. This isn’t the movies, Mr. Parsons.”
“Right,” Dave said. “I’ll just lay in the smoking ruins of my house with the stitches in my head and give you guys a call to come out and take a third report if he does something else. Maybe next time the coroner can join in the fun.”
Undermind: Nine Stories Page 3
