Burning Second Street Park

A Novel

by Tom Bessette

Copyright 2009 BessetteBooks

Chapter 6
Emil Rainville

I’m scared alla time.

I’m scared a my gramma.

My gramma jus’ yells alla time.  I dowanna even go home ever, ‘cause she alla time yells alla time. She don’t never care if I come home anyways, she says so her own self.  I gotta sleep onna couch, but only when she’s done watchin’ TV.  She don’t make me no food, so I gotta get my own alla time.  If I ever get my clothes dirty, she welts me a good ‘un an’ grumbles over the washin’ alla time.

I think my momma’s dead.  Gramma says she goddam is better off dead ‘cause she wrecked her son’s life an’ all, ta hell with ‘er, that’s what she says. My daddy ain’t been aroun’ in a long, long time; I can’t remember the las’ time I seed ‘im.  Gramma says he’s off payin’ for my momma’s sins but she don’t tell me where.  I don’t even think I know what he looks like anymore. He gived me a ball glove once, but I lost it right away.  He’ll hate me if he ever finds out.

I remember I gotta older brother, but the cops took ‘im away las’ year an’ I ain’t seen ‘im since and gramma won’t say where he went, or nothin’.  He used a pertect me and watch out fer me and yell back at gramma when she yelled at us, but he ain’t here no more, so gramma can yell all she wants.

Gramma’s got orange colored hair like me an’ it gots some ruby red in it, too, except the parts right near her head that’s kinda white.  She puts lotsa powders on her face so it’s real white, like a cotton dishcloth. An’ she alla time smells like cigarettes an’ alla time has one hangin’ outa her mouth, an’ it wiggles aroun’ when she’s talkin’.  Looks pretty funny, but don’t ever laugh if ya know what’s good fer ya.

She goes a church alla time, like every day, even.  She is alla time yellin’ at me ‘cause I don’t like a go ta church, er nothin’.  She meets up with her lady frien’s and they alla time go off yellin’ about interperance an’ furniturcation an’ stuff like that.  They gets all worked up an’ mean about it, too, yellin’ at each another about how the whole world is all full a heathens an’ furniturcaters, an’ money chargers and all other stuffs that they’s alla time yellin’ about.  They even gets ta yellin at Father Dufresne if he don’t get yellin’ at the furniturcaters enough ta make my gramma an’ her lady frien’s happy about it.

I guess she thinks I’m gonna be a furniturcater myself when I grow up, ‘cause she says it alla time, lookin’ at me like I’m the wors’ guy anybody ever met.  She alla time tells me I’m her cross ta bear an’ I’m gonna be the death a her an’ all that, an’ I believe her.  I’m scared about it alla time.  I dowanna kill nobody, even gramma.

Gramma says I gots ta go ta school in two weeks jus’ like ever’ body else has ta. 

“Whataya think, yer special,” she says ta me?  “You think ya know ever’ thin’ they is ta know,” she says?  “Yer jus’ a worthliss spawn a the devil,” she says, “and I wisht I was shut a ya,” she says.

“I’m sorry I’m so bad alla time.  I don’t know why I am, I jus’ am.  I’m sorry, gramma!” 
“Yeah yer sorry! Sorry like yer worthliss momma what bore ya in shame and ruined my poor son inna bargain.” 

“I’m sorry gramma!” I don’t know what else I can never say.

I scared a Uncle Pete, too.

Uncle Pete is Gramma’s other son.  He lives with us, too, but has his own room.  He don’t got a wife er nothin’. Uncle Pete is alla time tryin’ a hug me an’ pet me an’ tickle me, even though I dowanna. Gramma says I alla time gotta do what Uncle Pete says.

He says I can come sleep in his room anytime I wants ta but I dowanna no more.  I tole Uncle Pete about Mim an’ the weeds a while ago, and it’s since then he wants me ta sleep in his room.  He says Mim was a good guy an’ was only teachin’ me how ta be a man, an’ so could he.  I dowanna be no man anymore, I think.

When I went ta sleep in his room that night, he had me get right inta his bed and all snuggle up an’ all.  He smelled like beer a lot and has real bad breath alla time.  I dowanna talk about what I did.  I was real bad, I think.  Uncle Pete says I was real bad an’ I better never tell nobody ‘cause the police would take me away and put me in jail an’ I’d never see my Gramma or nobody again, or my daddy when he comes back someday. Bad kids like me would be in big trouble if they knew what we did.  He wouldn’t tell Gramma what I did if I didn’t, which was OK with me. Uncle Pete tole I could sleep in his room again, ‘cause once I done what I did, it was OK ta do it again, but I still couldn’t tell nobody. Mim tole me the same thing, too. I dunno.  I’m scared ta. 

So, sometimes I jus’ stay out all night an’ don’t go home no more.  I had made me a good place in Bobby’s weeds an’ it was great till Mim followed me inta it that time.  I got a new place in the old fort but that jus’ burned down a little while ago today.  Now its dark and I don’t know where ta go.  I’m scared. 

Yoder is real bad, too.  I’m real scared a him.  He says we’ll do business an’ I dowanna, I dowanna!  He was talkin’ today, before, an’ talkin’ about Mim.  But Mim was nice.  Nicer than Uncle Pete.  Even though I did a bad thing ta him, Mim didn’t act mean about it.  He said it was natural an’ everybody did it, which didn’t make me feel so bad.  But Yoder was mean an’ he hurt an’ said he was gonna kill me no matter what, that it was jus’ a matter a time.  I wanna hide but I dunno where ta go.

An’, they was talking about burnin Mim’s house down, even with his mother an’ sister in it while they was sleepin’.  I’d rather see Yoder burn down, an’ even Uncle Pete an’ Gramma, before Mim.  I dunno what ta do.  If I tell Mim, Yoder’ll kill me.  Yoder said the more I went against ‘im, the more he’d make it hurt when he killed me. Besides, it was my fault what I did with Mim.  Uncle Pete tol’ me so.  He said I wasn’t hardly worth the trouble.  I dunno why I was so bad. I think I was better than nothin’.

Mim said that Slug did the bad thing with him, too.  An’ I see the way Slug looks at Yoder, so I think Yoder might a done business with Slug, too.  Slug was pretty fun before the summer, before Yoder come.  Since Yoder come, Slug’s got all quiet an’ slow an’ all an’ never says much no more.  I think Yoder for sure did business with him.

After the guys all left ta go ta the old fort, I jus’ sat inna park, thinkin’ about all this stuff, an’ all. I leaned against the tree an’ felt like I was safe fer a little while.  I thought maybe tonight or tomorra I’d die.  Yoder would kill me like he said, or I’d go home an’ Gramma would find out the bad thing I did ta Uncle Pete an’ I’d kill myself afore the cops got me, or somethin’.  Maybe it would be the best thing, if it didn’t hurt too much. I wouldn’t have ta go at school or get yelled at by Gramma or snuggled by Uncle Pete if I was dead.

I hoped if Yoder was gonna kill me that he would do it without doin’ business first, like he said he would. It was real bad an I dowanna do that again, no matter what.  If I saw him comin’, maybe I’d haveta quick figger a way ta kill myself before he made me do business. It was the most horribalest thing I ever thought, doin’ business with Yoder, way worse than snugglin’ with Uncle Pete or doin’ the bad thing ta Mim in the weeds.

Maybe I could tell somebody, but I didn’t know who.  Gilly was the onliest one that I thought might wanna beat up Yoder, or even kill ‘im first, but ya never knew about Gilly.  I think he liked Yoder a lot and I don’t think he liked me at all; I was jus’ a small kid ta him.  He might jus’ even help Yoder kill me if I tole him.  But I don’t think Gilly ever did business.

I could tell Moose!  He was pretty tough an’ near as big as Yoder an’ I think Yoder either really liked Moose or was afraid a him.  I was afraid a Moose but his brother Dicky was only a little older than me an’ was alla time pretty nice ta me.  Nobody ever bothered Dicky ‘cause they all knew Moose would kill ‘em if they ever did.  I bet Yoder never tried business with Dicky fer sure!

I thought about Bobby, too.  I had saw his big brother Billy send Mim away an’ he was real tough an’ even bigger than Yoder.  He could take care a Yoder, that’s fer sure.  An’ Bobby was bes’ frien’s with Moose an’ Dicky an’ all.  An’, Bobby had a real good daddy who would beat people up what bothered him, I think, so maybe he’d beat up Yoder for me. It was decided.  I would talk ta Bobby an’ get his dad ta help me with Yoder.

I had been sittin’ there a long time an’ alova sudden it was all dark already.  The big guys wasn’t playin cards no more an’ they wasn’t nobody aroun’.

I was jus’ about ta get up when I saw all the guys come up from Central Market way an’ all start up a game a Blacksmith, I think.  Moose an’ Dicky an’ Bobby an’ Gilly an’ the Molinari’s an’ a bunch a other guys was there.  Gilly counted an’ ever’ body scrammed ta hide and alova sudden I saw Yoder comin’ my way. Sumbitch, where’d he come from?  it was like a nightmare.  I looked aroun’ real quick fer somebody else but they had all scrammed an’ Gilly was still countin’.  Yoder was comin’ right at me an’ he had that look what I seen before, like he was ready ta do business right now, no waitin’ an’ he didn’t care who saw!

I got up an’ runned away as fas’ as I could.  Maybe I could ascape Yoder an’ get all a way ta Bobby’s house.  Bobby usual runned under his porch at Blacksmith anyways, so I could catch up with ‘im there.  I don’t think Yoder would try ta do business ta me in Bobby’s yard, if I could get there.

I heard Yoder screech in a whisper, “Come back ya li’l fucker, if I catch ya, yer dead!”  An’ he laughed while he runned.  I could hear him.

I didn’t yell er nothin’; I wanted a save my breath fer runnin’.  I whooshed by the basketball place and runned past Malvern’s house.  By the time I got ta the alley between Bobby’s weeds an’ his house, I was puffin’ pretty good.  I hadda stop an’ get my breath.  I stood under the monkey tree an’ breathed hard fer a bit.  I could see Bobby’s house over at the end a the alley, right next ta the ravine where people dumped all kinds a stuff and the sick water runned. 

it was dark as anything, an’ pretty spooky.  I heered Gilly yell 123 Blacksmith at Nicky way over there inna park.  ‘Cept fer that, it was so quiet ya could hear a pin drop, or somethin’.  I didn’t know if Yoder was still chasin’ me; I couldn’t see him when I looked aroun’, but it was all dark and they was weeds ever’ where so who knows. 

I was lookin’ as hard as I could at Bobby’s porch ta see if he was there an’ was jus’ gonna start over there when I heard a crack of a stick behind me.  I jus’ about jumped outa my skin.  Then a hand grabbed on ta me an’ I spun around and it was Bobby. Phew!  Not Yoder!  I could feel the wet between my legs where I jus’ peed my pants fer cripes sake.

Bobby whispered at me, “Hey Frecks, I didn’t know you were playing.”

“I wasn’t, I was lookin’ fer you.  I gotta talk ta ya.”

“Well, I’m in the game; we have to be quiet, OK?”

“OK.”

“Let’s go over ta my back porch.”

I felt pretty weird.  I was pretty sure Yoder was here somewheres an’ listenin’ ta us, prolly hidin’ in the weeds near Malvern’s, but I figured I was pretty safe with Bobby, I think.  We walked over ta Bobby’s.

“So, what’s up, Frecks?”

I got all embarrassed alova sudden an’ couldn’t say nothin’. I started cryin’, dammit!

“Come on, buddy, what’s wrong? You worried about something?”

I jus’ snuffed an’ still couldn’t say nothin’.  I was scared.  What if Bobby tole Yoder?  Maybe he was more friends with him than what I thought.  Then I’d be dead fer sure.

“Is somebody bothering you?  Mim or somebody?”

I was still snufflin’ so I was hard ta unnerstan’. “I wanna tell, but I’m afraid.”

“Listen,” Bobby said, “I won’t tell anybody if you don’t want me to

“I’m afraid!”

“Come on, tell me.”

“Yoder’s gonna do business ta me an’ kill me!”

“What do you mean, business?”

“I mean business,” I said.

“Come on, Frecks, what’s ‘business’ mean?”

“He’s gonna kill me!”

“Nobody’s gonna kill you, Frecks.  Honest!”

“He said!”

By this time, we was on Bobby’s porch.  His momma heard us an’ comed out ta see what we was doin’.

“What’s going on, Bobby?”

“Nothing, Ma, were just talking.”

“Don’t ‘just talking’ me, young man, your friend Emil, here, is crying like he lost his mother.”

“I don’t got no Momma,” I said, “She’s in jail.”

“I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t know.  Why don’t you tell me what’s bothering you?”

Bobby’s mom was being nice to me.  I wasn’t used ta it.  I didn’t know if I should tell her or what.  Ya never knew.  They could be bein’ nice an’ all an’ then when ya tole ‘em somethin’, they got all mad an’ tole ya that ya was a cross ta bear an’ was a bad kid an’ all.

“He says that Yoder says he’s going to kill him,” Bobby said.

“I told you that that Jimmy Yoder is trouble.  I think he is a lot older than you kids, even though he doesn’t look it.  He has that look about him, God knows.” 

Bobby’s mom looked pretty serious when she said this.  Maybe it would be OK.

She said, “What did Jimmy say to you, honey?”

“He said he’s gonna do business with me again an’ kill me, no matter what.”

“Oh, Emil, he’s not going to kill you, don’t worry about that.  But, what do you mean when he says he’s going to ‘do business’ with you?  I don’t know what that means.”

“it hurts,” I said.

“What kind of hurt?”

“I dunno!”  I didn’t wanna say about it. It was a bad stuff.

Bobby said, “Ma, where’s dad?”

“I think he’s still helping Mrs. Beauchamp, honey, or maybe he stopped at Smith’s for a beer.”

“Maybe dad should talk to Yoder.  Yoder can’t bully dad.”

“Maybe. Emil, do you want me or my husband to talk to Yoder for you?”

“I dunno!”  I didn’t know what ta do.  One way I did, an’ one way I didn’t.

“Maybe we could talk to your grandmother, too?  Is she taking care of you?  What about your father?”

“I live in her house. She don’t care. Don’t tell her, she’ll jus’ yell at me.  I don’t got no father. He left.”

“I really need to know what is happening to you, honey.  Would you rather I went inside and you talked to Bobby?”

“Yeah. I think.  I guess.”  it was hard ta tell a growed-up about stuff.  Bobby’d be better.

“OK, then, I’ll be right inside if you need me.  Bobby, find out what the matter is, OK, honey?”

“OK, ma,” Bobby said.

She went back inside an’ turned up the TV. I could hear the Lawrence Welk music through the door. Gramma liked that, too.

Bobby said, “What’s ‘business’, anyways, you got us all wondering?”

“it’s bad,” I said.

“OK, but what is it?”

“it’s real bad, Bobby!  You’ll hate me, I know!  its bad things what I do.  Ever’ body will hate me!”

“If Yoder’s making’ you do bad stuff, it’s not your fault.  He’s older than you and shouldn’t be picking on little kids, not even like me. Geezum, Billy and Nosal and those guys would kill him dead!”

“I dunno how he makes me do it.  He says I have ta an’ then tells me I did a bad thing.  I dunno.”

“Does he take your money?”  Bobby always had some money. He thought about money, lots.  Him an’ Moose an’ Doodles.

“No, I never got no money anyways. It’s worser.”

“Does he make you help him hurt guys, like niggers or something?”

“No, I dunno what a nigger is, even. It’s even worser.”

“Do you beat up on girls”?

“No, worser, even.”

“Worse than beating up girls?”

“Yeah,” I said. “it ain’t got nuttin’ ta do with girls or nobody else. It’s jus’ with me!”

“Geezum, Frecks, is it like what they say about Mim?”

“No! I mean, yeah, I mean, kinda.”

“What do you know about what Mim does?”

“He undresses little guys an’ kisses ‘em an’ touches ‘em, an’ stuff like that.”

Bobby looked real upset.  “Yoder does that to you?”

I was upset, too.  “Yeah.  I mean, no.  I mean, not like Mim.  Mim’s nice! it’s diff’rent!”

Bobby whooshed his breath out an’ looked like he saw a ghost or somethin’.

“I’m sorry Bobby, I tole ya it was a bad stuff!”

“What Yoder does is worse?”

“Mim is nice an’ don’t hurt.  Yoder hurts.”

“How?”

I didn’t like this at all. It was way bad. But I gotta tell somebody, may’s well be Bobby. He was the bestest guy what I knew. I was dead anyway.

“Yoder makes ya do the bad thing what Mim does, but then he uses a stick in yer hiny.  He gets blood out. It really hurts.  He says he has ta do it ‘cause ya did the bad thing ta Mim.  If ya don’t let ‘im do it, he’ll kill ya.  But now he’s gonna kill me anyways. An’ ya heard him talk about burnin’ Mim’s house with his mother an’ sister an’ dog an’ ever’ thing.  He means it, I bet.”

Bobby didn’t say nuthin’.  He jus’ sat there, like his head turned off, or somethin’.  Like he never knew what I was talkin’ about.

He said, “Yoder do this with anybody else, that you know?”

“I’m pretty sure Slug an’ Nutso, an’ he talked a lot about wantin’ ta do business with Nicky Molinari an’ even you an’ Doodles, if your brothers didn’t find out.”

Bobby said, “Wait here,” an’ he went in his house.

The Lawrence music turned down. It sounded like the end a the show, so musta been aroun’ 9:30.  I heard bobby an’ his momma talking but couldn’t tell what they said. All I knew was I was dead, no matter what.  The police would kill me for doin’ all the bad stuffs or Yoder would fer tellin’.  I was hopin’ the police, ‘cause ever’ body says they does it by a bullet in the back a yer head an’ it’s so fast it don’t hurt.  That was fine by me.  Gramma would be happy, too, I bet.

Then I heard the whisper.

“Yer fuckin’ dead, ya little cocksucker, I’m gonna fuckin’ rip yer fuckin’ bones out an’ shove ‘em up yer fuckin’ ass, ya little prick!”

I got all tingly all over.  The whisper, it come from the steps ta the porch.  I didn’t say nothin’.

“I know yer in there, ya little fuck!  They’s nobody gonna save ya now.  Ya think we done business?  I’ll show ya business.”

I was shakin’ like a leaf.  If I didn’t already peed my pants, I’d a done it now.  I was froze solid, couldn’t even move my arms.  If he come fer me now, I was a goner.  I tried ta call out ‘Bobby’, but nothin’ come outa my mouth.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill yer wussy frien’, Baby, too, ya little fuck. I’ll show him business, then rip his nuts off an’ make ‘im eat ‘em, an’ you too!”

This was worser than the scariest TV show.  I wanted a scream ta Bobby ta come out, but still couldn’t make a sound.

I heard the back porch door start ta squeak.  Jus’ then, Bobby comed out with his momma an’ they was a clumpin’ on the steps and ya could hear Yoder, if it was really him, runnin’ through the yard an’ off through the weeds.

Bobby’s momma said, “What was that?

I said, “it was Yoder.  He was comin’ ta kill me.  He said that he was gonna kill Bobby, too.  Sorry, Bobby, I shouldn’t a ought a tole ya nothin.”

“Both you boys come in the house.  Nobody is going to kill anybody, over my dead body, I’ll tell you that, true. Don’t worry, Emil, you did the right thing.  We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

We went inside.  Bobby’s momma locked the back door an’ closed the winder.  Then she went ta the front an’ closed an’ locked the front door an’ closed them winders, too.  I felt better.

“Bobby, I’m going to call your father to get him home. You go watch TV with Emil for a few minutes. Emil, honey, you make yourself at home.  You’re safe here.  We’ll put an end to this nonsense right now.”

We went back inta the TV room what they had.  I couldn’t believe a separate room for TV from the one what they called the livin’ room, an’ all. It had a couch that was in two pieces, along two diff’rent walls, an’ all, so lotsa people could watch TV all at once.  The wall was dark wood with ant holes or somethin’ all through it. Also, they had a new color TV what Bobby said they had jus’ got that summer, ‘cause his dad had sole lotsa insurance an’ stuff.  Boy, I could live here.  They was no Uncle Pete an’ the only gramma they had was Bobby’s grampa upstairs what had only one leg an’ was real old and prolly never snuggled up ta Bobby er nobody.

It was pretty close ta 10 O’clock an’ I knowed Gunsmoke comed on at 10 o’clock on channel 10.  My Gramma never watched it so I never did neither.  She liked Hollywood Palace alla time, although she grumbled about the Billboard Girl ‘cause she said she looked way too sexified, an’ all.  An’, too, Gramma was real mad when the Roller Stones was on at the beginnin’ a summer, cause they was bad heathens an’ all.  Maybe here I could watch Marshall Dillon an’ Festus an’ all them, ‘cause Bobby said they always got ta. Now I was glad I tole. I felt all better, now.

Bobby’s momma comed back inta the TV room, lookin’ some mad. 

I thought I was in trouble again, but she said ta Bobby, “Your father isn’t at Smith’s and the Beauchamp’s don’t have a phone that I know of, if he’s still there helping poor old little miss helpless over there.” 

I didn’t know what she meant, but she sounded like she didn’t think whoever miss helpless was needed no help, much.

Bobby said, “I could run to Gilly’s and see if Dad’s there.”

“No, honey, I think it’s best if you stay here.  If this Jimmy is really hurting people like Emil said, I don’t want you running around out there at night alone.  I don’t trust that boy, never have.  There’s something sinister about him that sets me on edge. And I’ve met his father, who seems like a real brute to me, even worse than Gilbert’s father, in a way.  And, Mrs. Mason, up the street, says his mother is a little flighty thing who doesn’t see her son for what he really is.  Now, Mrs. Mason is a gossip, I’ll grant you, but more often than not, she knows of what she speaks.”

I dunno who Bobby’s momma was talking’ to, but I was pretty sure it weren’t me or Bobby ‘cause I figured we don’t neither of us know what all she’s talkin’ about anyways.  An’ they wasn’t nobody else with us, so maybe she was jus’ talkin’ ta herself, the way I seed growed ups doin’ alla time before.

“Emil, honey,” she said, “can you tell me your grandmother’s phone number?  I want to call her and tell her you’re here, safe, and let her know about the trouble you’ve been having.”

I didn’t wanna tell ‘er that I hadn’t been ta Gramma’s house in five nights er nothin’.  She’d prolly think that all this bad stuffs really was my fault. She was bein’ pretty nice an’ all, now, lettin’ me watch TV an’ stuff an’ not tellin’ me how bad a kid I was or how I was a cross ta bear or anythin’, an’ I didn’t want her ta get all madded up at me like Gramma alla time was.

“She don’t got no phone. She gotsa call people from nex’ door an’ I don’t know what the nex’ door phone is.” 

I was lyin’ my head off.  Gramma had a phone an’ I knowed what it was, but didn’t want her ta make me go home an’ have ta snuggle with ol’ Uncle Pete an’ get tole how bad a cross I was an’ all.

“Well, OK, then, I guess, you’ll just have to stay here with us until my husband gets home and can clear this matter up.”

This was fine by me, ‘cause Gunsmoke was comin’ on. I liked the beginnin’ part where ol’ Marshall Dillon guns down the bad guy right in the street, with the music an’ all.

Right then, we heard a crash, like branches breakin’ an’ a thump inna back yard.  The winder was open an’ Bobby an’ his momma went ta it.

Bobby yelled out, “Yoder, that you?”

Yoder said, “No!”

Bobby an’ his momma looked at each another.  I thought Yoder must a been up in their tree, listenin’ ta us, an’ all.

She yelled, “Young man, we know who you are and what you’ve been doing to these poor boys.  I’m calling the police right now.”

Right as she turned an’ was headin’ ta the phone, the winder crashed in an’ a big rock comed in an’ smacked the back a the TV.  I ‘most jumped outa my skin an’ Bobby sat down on his hiny real hard alova sudden. Lucky the TV still worked!

Bobby’s momma screamed like the dickens had her an’ runned right ta the phone an’ read a number off the calendar an’ dialed it up as fas’ as she could.

Another rock comed crashin’ in an’ she yelled, “Bobby, get away from the window.  Jumping Jehoshaphat!”

Bobby said, “That stupid Yoder’s gone nuts, Frecks!”

This was all my fault.  I made Yoder go nuts.  If I hadn’t done the bad business with ‘im, maybe this wouldn’t be happenin’ now.  Maybe I was a bad kid, like Gramma said, ‘cause I was all causin’ trouble with Bobby an’ his momma now, an’ they didn’t do nuthin’ bad.  I should jus’ go out there an’ let Yoder kill me an’ get it over with, an’ stop causin’ so much trouble alla time.

Bobby’s Momma was in the kitchen yellin’ at the phone. “Yes, officer, 134 Main Street.  Yes, he’s throwing rocks through our window. Right now!  I don’t know.  I think it’s a boy named James Yoder.  Yes.  No. My son’s friend says that the Yoder boy has been doing bad things to him and a few other young boys from around here. Bad things, officer.  Yes! Things that a young man shouldn’t be doing to little boys. Really! That’s what he said.  I know, officer, but I don’t think he’s lying.  Yes.  No!  Will you just send a car?  Please!  OK.  Yes. No, my husband isn’t home.  OK.  Yes.  134 Main.  OK, thank you. Please hurry!”

Out in the backyard we heard, “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill all a ya, ya bastards!”

“My goodness,” Bobby’s Momma said.

Then we smelled smoke.

“Mom!” Bobby said. “The papers under the porch!” They dad put all their ol’ newspapers underneath fer ol’ ‘Crazy Mitch’ ta come get an’ take ta the dump.

“Oh, my goodness,” she said, an’ started ta unlock the back door.

Bobby grabbed her by the arm ta hold ‘er back, sayin’, “No Ma, he’ll kill us!”

“Bobby, we can’t let him burn the house down with us in it!”  She runned out ta the porch an’ we follered.

Ya could see the light comin’ out from under the porch an’ hear cracklin’ noises, an’ smell the smoke an’ all. It was pretty cool unless ya thought that ol’ Yoder was tryin’ a kill ever’ body we knew.

Bobby’s momma runned down the porch steps an’ started shriekin’ an’ yellin’ ta beat the band. “Get the hose!  Turn on the water!”

Mr. Miller from next door had runned outa his house in jus’ his ol’ shorts an’ was helpin’ Bobby’s momma hook up a hose an’ all, ta squirt water on the burnin’ papers.

Mr. Miller said, “I saw that crazy kid from up the street fall out of your tree and then start throwing rocks at the house. It was dark, but I’m pretty sure it was him. That’s when I come out.  By that time, he had tossed matches under your porch and skedaddled.”

“What crazy kid?” Bobby’s momma asked.

“That Kozinski kid up the street.  The one they all call the Nutso. I don’t know his first name. He was with some other joker that I didn’t know.”

Me an’ Bobby looked at each another. Nutso?  Not Yoder? What the!

All I could think about was how Nutso would be normal soundin’, at least fer him, one minute an’ then alova sudden start bein’ a crazy guy, actin’ like he was inna army or somethin’. It’s like he didn’t know ya when he was like that, an’ ever’ body pretty much stayed away from ‘im when he got crazy. An’ then later, if ya asked ‘im about it, he usual didn’t know nothin’.

Then we heard the fire engine sirens comin’ up the street.  The fire guys all jumped off a their trucks and comed runnin’ ta the house, pullin’ they hoses.  Bobby an’ me kinda slunk inta the shadows so they wouldn’t see us again an’ think we done it, ya know?

Before we could hardly blink, the fire was all out. It was only papers anyways an’ never started ta burn the house or nothin’.  I was kinda disappointed, ‘cause I missed seeing the Calvary Fort fire before.  I wanted ta see this one.

“Bobby!”  That was his momma. “Come over here, honey.”

We looked over ta where she was an’ she was talkin’ a the cops an’ I alova sudden figured that she was tellin’ them about me an’ all the business I done an’ other bad stuff with Mim an’ Uncle Pete an’ all, an’ I got real scared an’ all.  I couldn’t even remember if I tole Bobby about Uncle Pete.  Gramma would kill me. It might be better to let Yoder kill me an’ have it over with.  But Bobby grabbed my arm an’ we walked over ta the cops an’ his momma.

“I don’t know what’s going on, officer.  All I know is that Mr. Miller saw young Richard Kozinski throw the rocks and light the fire.  My son’s young friend here, Emil Rainville, says he has been improperly treated by young James Yoder, the one I told your sergeant about on the phone.”

The cop was writing stuff on a little pad, holding a flashlight in his mouth ta see with. I could see ‘is drool comin’ out a ‘is mouth on either side a the flashlight. He finished writing an’ took the light outa his mouth.  Then he wiped ‘is hand on ‘is pants, an’ stuff.

“Well, ma’am, I ain’t seen so many fires in one day as we had today.  I think these kids are all just runnin’ wild, lightin’ fires an’ fightin’ an’ stealin’ an’ everything. It’s the parents.  A bunch of drunks an’ thieves if you ask me. Wasn’t your own boy implicated today?”

Bobby’s Momma looked at him.  “Yes, officer, and he got a good talking to and a whole new set of regular chores to do.  But what are we going to do about this?”

Just then Mrs. Kozinski comed down the sidewalk.

“Mrs. Nolette, is everything alright?”

The cop turned around real surprised, like.

“Mrs. Kozinski?  Your son Richard?”

“Yes, why?”

“He was just seen breaking the Nolette’s windows and lighting this porch fire.  Do you know where he is now?”

“My Ricky was home for supper earlier.  I was coming down to see if anybody had seen my boy, Matty.”

Bobby’s momma walked over ta Mrs. Kozinski and put her arm around her shoulder.

“I’m sure Ricky didn’t mean it, Lorraine.  I’m sure there’s some misunderstanding.”

The cop said, “Probably.  When was the last time you saw Ricky and Matty?”

“Like I said, Ricky was home for supper a few hours ago.  I haven’t seen my Matty since breakfast, though.  He’s been acting real funny lately and I’m really starting to worry about him.”

“Funny how?” the cop said.

“Well, he stopped talking back in July.  Got real quiet.  Stopped playing.  Sat around a lot.  I don’t know. Ricky’s gotten real mean acting.  He’s flying off the handle about everything.  My husband says it’s just how boys are when they’re almost teenagers, but I don’t know.”

“It’s Yoder,” I said, then I clapped my hand’ on my mouth.  I was mortilized that I said this right out in front a ever’ body.

The cop looked at me, an’ so did ever’ body else. “Yoder! Didn’t you just say his name, Mrs. Nolette?”

“Yes.  Emil here told my Bobby that this Yoder has been making some young boys do those bad things I was talking about.  I’ll tell you this.  I had a bad feeling about that young man since they moved here at the start of the summer.  I think he’s older and has seen more things than anybody lets on.”

The cop looked at me.  “Tell me what kind of things he does, son.”

I couldn’t believe a cop was talkin’ ta me an’ I hadda say these bad things ta him.  He’d arrest me fer sure if I tole. I dowanna but I gotta.

“it’s business, what he makes ya do.  I think he done it with Slug, I mean Matty, an’ maybe even N-, uh, Ricky, too, an’ maybe lotsa other guys what I donno. He wants a do it ta Bobby an’ Doodles an’ Nicky Molinari, too, he tole me so his own self.”  I was dead an’ arrested fer sure now.

“Business?” the cop asked.

Bobby said, “He makes them do sexiful stuff, like with girls, only with boys. Frecks says he calls it ‘business’.”

Mrs. Kozinski put her hands over her face and said, “Oh, my God!”

“Where does this Yoder character live?” asked the cop.

Bobby’s momma said, “Right down at the corner of First and Main, here, upstairs from Mrs. Mason.  Mrs. Mason told me last week that she was pretty sure he is enrolled in St. Simian the Oppressor Catholic High School this fall, maybe even not a freshman.  These boys are much younger than he is, then.”

The cop put away his notebook.  “All you folks, you just let us handle this.  Go on inside and keep your eyes out for any of these kids.  Call us if you see them. We’ll put an end to this right now.”

He went and got in his car an’ did a way cool u-turn in front a Bobby’s house an’ went whizzin’ down Main towards First Street ta get Yoder. It took me a minute ta remember that he didn’t put cuffs on me an’ throw me in the cop car.  Prolly jus’ forgot.

The fire guys was all done an’ leavin’.  The house wasn’t burned down.  Bobby’s brother Bummer an’ a bunch a his friends was on the side talking between theyselves, like they was makin’ plans.  Maybe Moose an’ Nosal an’ those guys would go kill Yoder for me.  As Bobby’s Momma was takin’ us an’ Mrs. Kozinski in the house, Bummer an’ Nosal an’ the guys went off inta the weeds.