by Doug Draper
After a month had passed since Ben gave his statement to the county’s lawyers, Rachel received a call that he needed to meet with them again at the courthouse in Provo. Ben would miss a day of school and Rachel would have to take time off from her job to drive there. Ben didn’t mind making the trip until his mother added a new piece of information—the lawyers representing Derek and Denny would also be at the meeting.
“I’m supposed to warn you that these lawyers won’t be nice to you at all. They will ask you a lot of tough questions and try to get you to change your story.”
With a smile, she added, “But don’t worry. All you need to do is tell the truth and everything will be fine.”
CHAPTER 19
Telling lies came easy at first for Ben. The one about the bruises on his back and thigh rolled off his tongue without much thought. Sheriff Kort recorded the story and thanked him for providing so much valuable information.
When Ben needed to present his lies a second time, the county’s lawyers made the effort more difficult because they asked him for details and he struggled to remember what he had already told the sheriff. He did his best to say it the same way and survived the second round. When it came to the third round, he faced a much tougher opponent.
“Your original statement to Sheriff Kort didn’t include any mention of Derek Dean threatening to kill you when you claimed that he hit you on the back with a board,” said the leader of the three lawyers defending Derek and Denny. “Now, you’re saying that my client hit you and threatened to kill you at the same time. Is that what happened?”
“Uh, yes sir,” Ben said, feeling uncertain if he should include a few more details to make his story more believable.
“Would you be surprised to know that Derek Dean, Denny Siegen, and Susan Meadows all have testified under oath that Derek never hit you with a board?” the lawyer asked with a piercing stare. “They don’t even recall a board being available that Derek could have used for this alleged attack.”
“They probably didn’t remember with so much going on that day.”
“Are you sure the memory issue isn’t yours, not theirs?”
“Huh? I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“Let me be clear. Have you forgotten that your father pushed you onto a ladder shortly before the alleged robbery? Please let me know if that fall caused the bruises on your back.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“Derek Dean saw it happen because you had asked for his help to find the ladder. He said that a few minutes later, your father knocked you down because he was angry about you not being able to hold a light for him. And when you fell, you landed on the ladder. Do you remember that happening?”
“The light slipped out of my hand—that’s all.”
“After dropping the light, do you remember your father knocking you off the ladder?”
“I remember slipping off the ladder, but I didn’t get hurt. Sometimes things like that happen when working on cars and trucks.”
The defense team members whispered briefly before the questioning resumed. “When you claim that you didn’t get hurt after slipping off the ladder, are you saying that the bruises on your back didn’t come from the fall?”
“Well, no, I’m saying that it didn’t hurt me. I bounced back up and then Joe took my place holding the light. He’s a lot taller than me and could do it better.”
“So, did the fall off the ladder leave bruises on your back?”
Ben hesitated as he thought about how to get out of this trap and then replied cautiously, “I’m not sure. I think that I might have had a few bruises the next day.”
“Did you or didn’t you have bruises on your back that resulted from falling off the ladder?”
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Ben said, recognizing that his lie had trapped him. He didn’t know how to respond without revealing that his father’s fit of anger caused the bruises.
“I’ll simplify my question,” the lawyer said. “Did you end up with bruises on your back from the fall off the ladder?”
Deciding that he could mix the truth with his lie and still be on safe ground, Ben said, “Yes, but Derek gave me more bruises by hitting me with a board.”
“However, you didn’t mention the bruises on your back until Sheriff Kort noticed them. Is that correct?”
“I guess.”
“Ben, please answer with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ so that we all can be sure what your testimony is.”
“All right.”
“Did you mention the bruises on your back before Sheriff Kort noticed them?”
Ben paused, considering the impact of his answer, and then replied as the lawyer had instructed with a firm “No.”
“Thank you. And did you mention the bruise on your thigh before the sheriff asked you about other injuries?”
“No. I didn’t think it was important. Derek took our stuff—that’s what matters!”
“Please focus on my questions,” the lawyer said, giving Ben a forced smile. “It’s my job to ask them.”
Ben stared at the lawyer but said nothing. The lawyer continued. “You didn’t hesitate to tell the sheriff about Derek allegedly slapping you in the face and hitting you in the chest. Is that true?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you think the bruises on your back and thigh would be as important? From looking at the photos, they appeared to have caused you much more pain.”
Ben replied by shrugging his shoulders.
“Ben, please answer my question with a clear verbal response.”
“OK.”
The lawyer took a deep breath and let it out slowly before asking the question again. “Why didn’t you mention the bruises on your back and thigh to the sheriff when telling him about the slap in the face?”
Ben lost control of his emotions and yelled at the lawyer. “I wasn’t thinking about the bruises because I have them all the time! I never think about them and nobody has ever cared about them until today. I wish you would stop asking me about bruises and talk about what really matters—Derek took our stuff and we want it back!”
Rachel put her hand on Ben’s back and calmly said, “You need to settle down. These gentlemen are only doing their jobs and trying to make sure we all know exactly what happened.”
Still angry, Ben leaned away from his mother’s touch. “My dad pushed me off the ladder and then I fell on it. When I tried to run away from him, he kicked me. That’s how I got the bruises.”
“Then, Derek didn’t hit you with a board. Is that what you’re saying?”
“He slapped me and punched me. Isn’t that enough?”
“Did he hit you with a board?” the lawyer asked, raising his voice.
“No!” Ben shouted with his face reddening from anger and embarrassment. He wanted to run out of the courthouse.
At that point, the lawyer asking questions nodded toward the corner of the room and all three defense lawyers met there for a lengthy conversation. They conducted it in whispers and pointed at Ben a few times. Rachel looked away from Ben and the lawyers during the discussion.
When the lawyers returned to the table, the questions focused on what happened when leaving the service station. The lead attorney for the defense asked, “Did Derek Dean force you to leave the station with him?”
“No, I rode with Denny in the truck because they said we were going to the racetrack so we could fix my dad’s car,” Ben said. “It sounded like a lie to me, but I went along with it until we started driving the wrong way and stopped on a dirt road south of Santaquin. Then I escaped because I knew for sure that Derek had lied.”
“Did Derek or Denny chase you?”
“No.”
“What did they do?”
“They drove off and left me there.”
“Did Derek or Denny ever say that they were kidnapping you?”
“No. That’s what the sheriff called it when I first talked to him.”
“So, when you were w
ith Derek and Denny, did you think they were kidnapping you?”
“No. I was trying to find a way to stop them from stealing my dad’s tools.”
“So, you went with them voluntarily. In other words, you made the choice to leave the station in the truck with Denny.”
“Yep.”
Ben’s reply led the defense lawyers to hold another whispered discussion in the far corner of the room. When that meeting broke up, the lawyers returned and asked Ben a few more questions before announcing that they were done for the day.
“Thank you, Ben,” said the lawyer who had asked the questions. “You’ve been a tremendous help today and we appreciate your cooperation and honesty.”
For a few seconds, Ben took the remark as a compliment, but the discouraged looks of the county’s lawyers and Sheriff Kort told him that he had helped Derek and Denny, not the citizens of Alma. While everyone else stayed in the room, Ben followed his mother down a short hallway and out the courthouse exit. The bright sun and fresh air felt good to Ben as he walked to the car.
Rachel didn’t say anything until in the car. She quietly went through her usual drill of searching in her cluttered purse for car keys and then coaxing her old car to start. Breaking the silence, she said, “You did fine in there. It was hard for me to hear it, but you told the truth and that’s what we’ll have to live with.”
CHAPTER 20
Derek and Denny ended up in prison despite Ben lying about some of the details of what happened at the service station. The interview in the county courthouse became the last time he had to testify against them because the opposing legal teams worked out a deal to drop the kidnapping and assault charges if Derek and Denny pled guilty to theft. As a repeat offender, Derek received a sentence of five to seven years in the state prison. For his first felony, the judge set Denny’s prison time at two to three years.
Not being required to testify in a trial thrilled Ben. His interviews with the lawyers gave him a preview of what he would have faced in the courtroom—a stressful and humiliating experience. While enjoying that reprieve, the public disgrace of his actions still caught up with him. People viewed Ben as the boy who let two detestable criminals get off easy. The rumor mill generated stories about what led to a “mere rap across the knuckles” for the criminals. Many people assumed that Ben had refused to testify because he thought the men might escape from jail and kill him.
The lies Ben made up to protect his dad remained known to only a handful of people and none of them, including the sheriff and his mother, followed up with Ben about what truly caused his bruises. Ben knew that nobody told his father what he said. Otherwise, his father would have whacked him for embarrassing the family.
Over the next few months, chatter in the community about the crime story faded. At school, though, bullies kept it alive by calling him a “coward” for not helping the sheriff give Derek and Denny all they deserved. Ben did his best to ignore the teasing.
When Spring arrived, Ben began riding his bike to school instead of taking the bus because he preferred the solitude. On the bus, he became an easy target for boys who found it hilarious to sit behind him and make snorting sounds to imitate sucking snot into their mouths. Then they would pretend to spit a “loogie” into his hair. The boys usually didn’t deliver anything, but he still had to listen and hope that he wouldn’t go to school with saliva and snot in his hair. At times, they released a vile payload that he had to wipe away while listening to their giggles.
After enjoying a few days of not having to take the bus, three of his classmates noticed Ben unlocking his bike from a rack near the school’s rear entrance. One of them, Scott Graham, said, “Hey, Benny, I want to take your bike for a ride. Give it to me.”
Scott and his friends laughed when Ben turned to face them. Ben’s glum expression let them know that they had humiliated him again. “So, are you going to give me your bike or do I have to beat you up first?” Scott asked.
Ben ignored the question and completed the combination to open the lock that secured a chain wrapped around the rack and the rear wheel of his bike. He kept his back to Scott, but he turned his head slightly to the side to keep an eye on him.
Scott handed his books to his friends and walked toward Ben. While approaching, Scott loudly repeated his demand, “Give me your bike!”
Ben answered by pulling the chain free from the bike rack and whipping it into the side of Scott’s head. Being completely caught by surprise, Scott didn’t have a chance to raise his hands to deflect the blow and it dropped him to the ground. He clamped both hands to his head and rolled to turn his back to Ben.
Scott’s friends stood still, staring at Ben with stunned expressions. Ben thought they might come to save their buddy, so he started spinning the chain over his head like a lasso and took a step toward them. He liked the deadly noise the chain made when it whirled above him.
Both boys responded the same way, dropping their books and running to the school entrance while shouting for Mrs. Adamson. Ben turned his attention back to Scott and stopped spinning the chain. Scott hadn’t moved since the attack and remained on the ground holding the side of his head. His knees were pulled to his chest and he cried. As Al Baker would say, “Like a girl.”
Seeing Scott crying iced Ben’s fury. When driven by anger, he had been ready to bash Scott again, but he suddenly felt sorry for him. The boy looked shattered and Ben knew what that felt like. He hated it and gave up any thoughts of a second strike. Instead, he quietly wrapped the chain around his bike seat and locked it.
After pushing his bike away from Scott, he jumped on and calmly pedaled for home. Within a few seconds, he heard Mrs. Adamson calling his name and turned to see her standing at the side entrance with Scott’s friends. She waved Ben back to the school and then hurried to Scott’s side, bending down to look at him closely.
Ben sat on his bike, debating whether he should keep riding or return and face serious trouble. Nobody stood between him and escape, but he decided to go back, simply because he liked and respected Mrs. Adamson. He rode to where Scott still cried and cowered on the ground.
Mrs. Adamson told Scott’s friends to get Principal Smith. “He’s at the bus lines. Tell him it’s urgent and that he needs to come here immediately. Run, boys!”
After they left, she asked, “Ben, what made you do something so cruel? You’re not that kind of boy.”
Instead of trying to explain the intensity of the anger inside of him, Ben shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Don’t know.”
Ben didn’t explain that Scott had threatened to take his bike, knowing that had little to do with it. He wanted to hurt someone because he had grown tired of being bullied every day—and Scott’s threat added the extra scrap of motivation that compelled Ben to smack the boy in the head with a chain.
Mrs. Adamson found it shocking what Ben had done because she couldn’t see the fury building up inside of him. She wasn’t scolding a boy struggling with immaturity and throwing an occasional temper tantrum. Ben’s mind had become a constant battlefield, with a wish to live peacefully on one side and a ruthless desire to seek vengeance on the other—and the brutal side threatened to control, shape, and devour him.
CHAPTER 21
After Principal Smith discussed the chain attack with Scott’s parents and Ben’s mother, he decided that expelling Ben from school wouldn’t be an effective punishment, recognizing that he would be glad to stay home. Instead, he made significant changes to Ben’s school routine with a four-week in-school suspension. He needed to make sure every student knew that what Ben had done wouldn’t be tolerated.
Ben also received a stern lecture from the principal about proper behavior and the importance of kindness and self-control. While being scolded, Ben applied skills his father had taught him about dealing with a reprimand and showed neither a “smart mouth” nor a “sad face.” He listened to the principal, agreed with all his points, and presented a “happy face.”
“Thank you for no
t arguing with me,” Principal Smith said. “And remember that we’re friends. You can come to me for help whenever you need it.”
Ben spent the next four weeks in a small windowless room that primarily served as a place for filing cabinets. The principal added a small desk and chair. In this detention cell, he received and completed assignments from Mrs. Adamson. Office staff members also came in to add documents to the filing cabinets.
While always being polite, Ben worked hard to keep up with everything handed to him. He didn’t receive recess, physical education, or the “privilege” of going to the lunchroom with the other students. Even his bathroom breaks were timed for when the halls had emptied. Ben saw these punishments as wonderful gifts. The only drawback was the requirement to take the bus because he wasn’t allowed to ride his bike to school.
Ben loved the solitude of his private classroom and would have gladly accepted his punishment being extended until the summer break, but the principal sent him back to the classroom for the remaining weeks of the school year. The kids on the bus had avoided him since the chain attack, so he returned to the classroom with optimism that he would also receive a cold-shoulder there.
As always, Julie gave Ben a warm, sincere welcome. “I hope you stay out of trouble and will be able to come to class every day. I don’t like seeing your empty desk.”
“I’m never the one looking for trouble. But it usually finds me, so I can’t make any promises.”
Even though his school time became more tolerable, Ben began each day by looking at the calendar on the classroom wall and counting down the days until summer break. He also became obsessed with checking the clock, wondering if it had stopped and nobody had noticed.
When Ben finished fourth grade, he gathered his things and went home, planning to hide from the world for a few months. He set a goal to take care of his chores quickly every morning and then head into the mountains to hike or read.
