Storiesonline.net ------- The Blackwell Triangle by Openbook Copyright© 2005 by Openbook ------- Description: The fourth story in the Caddymaster Saga. Cousin Billy's life takes a few quick turns as he struggles to adulthood. Codes: mf Mf rom cons non-con rough ------- ------- Chapter 1 In September of 1955, my cousin Dale left for Worcester, Mass. to attend Clark University. It was a proud moment in our family, as he became the first person from the Connecticut branch of the family to ever be enrolled in a four year university. We had a few normal school attendees, including two graduates, but a university man, he was about to become the first. It is difficult to say who was happier on the day that Dale left, him or his brother Billy. Dale was happy to be getting away from an environment where actually studying and completing home work assignments was looked down upon, while Billy was thrilled to finally have his own bedroom. Billy had just turned seventeen, celebrating that happy event by announcing that he was done with school forever more and would henceforth become a member of the working force. Uncle Bill and Aunt Margaret accepted Billy's decision, though with reluctance, realizing that he'd seldom applied himself in school anyway. One of Billy's friends was able to get him a job cutting firewood for his father. To everybody's surprise, Billy liked working hard physical labor, and became a model employee. Billy's five year quest to have sex with the lovely Margaret Tracy was now in it's end game. Over time he had broken down every other barrier she had ever erected. They had had a stormy run over the years, making up and breaking up, but each time they parted everyone knew they'd eventually get back together. Margaret really had no other choices since Billy ran off any would be suitors with either threats of violence or actual mayhem. He had beaten one poor boy from Poquonnock Bridge so badly that he'd been kept in the hospital for seven weeks. That boy had asked Margaret for a dance and had objected when Billy immediately tried to cut in. The police were called, but Billy got off because the other boy had been drinking and he was two years older and quite a bit bigger than Billy. After that incident, mere threats served for the most part. Now that Billy had the privacy of having his own bedroom, he was certain that he had overcome Margaret's final objection. It took until November for Billy to lure Margaret into his bedroom. He told her that he'd bought her an expensive gift for her birthday, but that she wouldn't get it unless she agreed to come into his bedroom and make out for a little bit. Margaret was a very attractive girl, possessed of both a gorgeous body and a stunningly pretty face. Her personality was both venal and vain, and her intelligence was highly suspect. While she may not have been very smart, she knew that she had the looks that could lure a rich husband to her if she could only somehow get free of Billy's control. By the time she consented to go with Billy to his bedroom she had already formulated a fool proof plan to accomplish her goal. Margaret got her birthday present, but not before Billy had managed to pin her down long enough to forcibly take the virginity that she'd so long denied him. She made some token protests that Billy had raped her, but even her own parents asked her what she'd expected, agreeing to go into the bedroom of a boy who'd as much as told her that he expected to screw her. The whole incident became a non-issue in the neighborhood soon after when Billy and Margaret jointly announced their engagement right before Thanksgiving. Betting was 9 to 1 in favor of Margaret being pregnant as the cause of the upcoming nuptials, but, as spring came to New England Margaret was still not showing any signs of imminent motherhood. The wedding was set for the second Sunday in June and banns were posted at the church, announcements were sent out and Uncle Bill met with Margaret's parents to coordinate renting the wedding reception hall and getting together some things for the newlywed's new apartment. Minnie, Billy's grandmother, got into the spirit of the occasion and generously offered to cater the entire reception at the Griswold Hotel, in a smaller banquet room, at a 50% discount from normal rates. When Uncle Bill pointed out to her that she got that discount just for being an employee at the hotel, Minnie decided to personally provide free beer and wine as her gift to the happy couple. Minnie called in a few favors and got the drinks given to her by a group of Hotel vendor's wanting to stay in her good graces. Cousin Dale returned home from Clark University at the end of May, having finished his first year of college with distinction, being placed on the Dean's list for both semesters. Billy resented having to once again share his bedroom with his brother, but took solace from the fact that he'd soon have his own place and wouldn't have to put up with Dale's unwelcome presence after that. He felt like he'd always come up short in comparisons between the two of them and was glad to finally be free of that. Dale had managed to save more than $3,000.00 from his caddying and working other odd jobs through the years. He was on a full scholarship at Clark which included all tuition, room and board, books and lab fees. He also had a part time job at the University that took care of all his spending money needs for incidentals and entertainment. As a result of all his scholarships and grants, Dale had actually managed to save a little money his first year away. After hearing Dale telling his parents about how well his finances were doing, Billy began hoping that he might somehow convince Dale to either give or loan him $500.00 so that he and Margaret could enjoy a nice week long honeymoon in New York City. Cleverly, Billy sent Margaret over to pigeon hole Dale and try to convince him that doing this would be a very good thing. Dale had never had much, if anything, to do with girls up to this point in his life. He had a monstrous crush on Yvonne Di Carlo, the movie star, but that had never really blossomed, no doubt due to the fact that she was never aware that Dale even existed. Dale did have the most comprehensive pornography collection in the neighborhood though, so it was clear that he did have some interest in the fairer sex. By the second of June, Margaret reported back to Billy that Dale was really considering giving them the $500.00 as a wedding present. She told Billy that she thought that Dale would be pushed over the edge into doing it if Billy would agree to have him serve as the best man rather than just as an usher. Billy absolutely refused to consider that as an option. He had always said that John Spicer would be his best man, and he wasn't about to change that now. He told Margaret to keep working on Dale, that he was sure to come around if she used her charm on him. The next day, Margaret worked on Dale from just after the time she got back from driving Billy to work, almost getting him to commit to gifting them the money two or three times, but each time he almost said he'd definitely do it, something would come up either in Dale's mind or in his mother's, that needed either clarification or reassurance from Billy and Margaret. By noon Margaret was getting very frustrated at continually coming so close and then having the prize somehow elude her. She decided that she needed to get Dale out of the house and away from his meddling mother if she was going to ever succeed in getting the money. She asked Dale if he'd ride with her over to Mystic, keeping her company, when she went to pick Billy up from work at four that afternoon. Dale agreed and Margaret went over to her house for lunch and to rest up from the headache that trying to convince Dale had given her. At 4:00 Margaret came and got Dale and the two of them left to get Billy and bring him home from work. At 7:00, a pissed off Billy walked into his parent's house wanting to know what the hell had happened to Margaret coming to pick him up at 5:00.When neither Margaret or Dale had been heard from by 10:00 that evening, Uncle Bill started calling the police, the hospitals and the Connecticut State Troopers. He was worried that there had been an accident and that Dale was hurt so bad that he couldn't get to where there was any help. On the seventh of June, four days after they'd left to go pick up Billy, Dale and Margaret called from Maryland to tell Margaret's parents that they'd just gotten married. Margaret's dad called Uncle Bill that night and told him the news. When Cousin Billy was told about the marriage he went totally out of control, throwing furniture through windows and completely trashing his parents house. Police came and arrested him, and when he resisted arrest he was beaten into submission and then taken to the state mental hospital over in Norwich for a 72 hour observation. Billy was released from the hospital after his 72 hour stay, but was booked down at the police station and charged with a host of serious misdemeanors, including assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest. Uncle Bill bailed him out with money he'd been planning to spend on furnishing Billy's new apartment. The newlyweds had a travelling honeymoon throughout the month of June. They began telephoning both parents, three or four nights a week, negotiating conditions for the two of them returning home. Dale said he'd quit school and go live someplace where no one would find them unless he received assurances that Billy wouldn't harm either him or his new bride. Uncle Bill and Mr. Tracy both attempted to reason with Billy, with no success. Billy vowed that he'd kill Dale if he ever saw him again. In Uncle Bill's mind, one Dale was worth an unlimited number of Billy's. His greatest goal in life was to be present to see his son graduate college. His biggest fear in life was that his other son, Billy, would kill someone someday because of his violent temper. He knew that he couldn't just sit by and allow Dale to quit school after only a single year. He was desperate, so desperate that he came over to our house to see my mother and father. Uncle Bill feared and hated my father, and rightfully so. My father was an extremely volatile and violent man. He had either threatened to hit, or actually had hit, most of the men living in the neighborhood over the years. Uncle Bill had been thrown off the front porch of my father's house once for simply asking my father to calm down. He knew firsthand that my father could be a scary person. He tried to convince my father to put the fear of God into Billy. He wanted my father to scare Billy into leaving both Dale and Margaret alone so that Dale would come back home and then go back to the University in the fall. My father recognized that this was almost an ideal opportunity for him. He could be a hero, and, at the same time, probably get a chance to kick the living shit out of that little piss ant nephew with the smart mouth and the bad attitude. "Yutch, run over to Uncle Bill's house and tell your cousin that I need to speak with him." My father always called mt "Yutch" for some reason unless he was mad at me, and then he'd call me names a lot worse. I was out the door and running the sixty feet or so to my uncle's front door. I walked into the house and called out Billy's name. "I'm back here Jackie." Billy was spending a lot of time in his bedroom, reading Dale's pornography, the only possessions of Dale's that he could get his hands on that he hadn't totally destroyed in his rages. "Billy, my dad sent me over to get you. Your mom and dad are already over there and they've been yapping for at least fifteen minutes already." "You tell your dad he can blow it out his ass, too. This isn't any of his business and it's between me and Dale and me and Margaret." "Billy, you really want me to tell my dad you said to blow it out his ass? Unless you've got a deathwish, cuz, I'd get your ass over there and find out what he wants to say to you. You can always tell him to blow it out his ass after he has his say. But, I'd have to tell you honestly, I wouldn't advise that course of action to you." Billy looked at me like he was trying to decide whether to just kick my ass and send me back as a message to his parents and mine, or else get up and go with me to get the whole thing over with. In the end, he got up off the bed and walked over to my house and walked right in the front door. I was right behind him, anxious to find out first hand what was going to happen. The only way to explain what happened next would be to say that Billy somehow thought or came to believe that eight or nine months of cutting down trees and chopping wood had made him so strong that he no longer needed to fear my father. "What the fuck do you want to say to me Uncle John?" I couldn't believe my ears when he spit those words right out of his mouth. Both my mother and his withdrew in horror, their hands covering their mouths in surprise and fear. Aunt Margaret broke out crying and Uncle Bill looked like he was going to be sick right on our kitchen floor. My father was the calmest one of all, surprisingly. He even managed to smile at Billy and told him to have a seat. "Fuck you! I'm sick of everyone telling me shit about Dale and what I should do. I hate that motherfucker, and not just for this latest shitty thing either. For every Goddamn thing he's ever done to make me look bad and to feel stupid. He has everything going for him and still he takes the only beautiful thing I've ever had. It wasn't even because he wants her either, he did it because he knew it would ruin it for me. I'm going to kill him and I'm going to enjoy it too." "Billy, you're absolutely right, he does deserve to die for what he pulled. I, for one, am damn proud to know that you realize it and aren't too chickenshit to make him pay. If my own brother did it to me, I'd have to kill him too. You should kill the bitch too, I certainly would. In fact, I wanted to see you just to make sure you had a gun. If you don't have one yet, I'll give you one of mine. I doubt Dale has the balls to face you man to man and settle this, so you're going to have to sneak up on them both and shoot them. Shoot Dale first, I'm sure he's faster than that cheating little cunt anyway. Shame though to waste such a good looking little piece, but you've got to do it. Well, I guess that's all I had to tell you, good luck." My dad then stood up and offered Billy his hand. Billy smiled and reached his own hand out to shake, then my dad knocked him flat on his ass. Billy was out cold before his head hit the linoleum floor. "Fuck me, hah, Fuck you, you little prick!" My dad picked Billy up in a fireman's carry and took him back home and put him in his bed. "Yutch stay with him tonight. If he wakes up you tell him I still want to talk with him tomorrow but he better keep a civil tongue when he speaks with me." He turned around then and left. I checked on Billy to make sure he was still alive and then I got undressed and got into Dale's old bed. What a night, I thought. I see someone tell my dad Fuck you, and then live to tell about it, and then I see my cousin get back a little of what he'd been dishing out himself for the past five or six years. I was pretty happy with the way things had worked out. I couldn't wait to see what Billy would do when he woke up. ------- Chapter 2 I woke up early the next morning to the sound of cousin Billy crying in his bed. I could tell it wasn't the kind of crying someone might do because they were in physical pain. These were tears of emotional pain that I was hearing. It took me a little bit by surprise that Billy would embrace his pain by crying rather than lashing out angrily. His crying was somehow scarier to me than his tantrums had been. I stayed quietly in Dale's bed, hoping that Billy wouldn't notice that I was there, witnessing his distress. The crying continued on long enough though that I either had to get up and go to the bathroom or else wet myself in the bed. I got up. I saw Billy looking at me as I opened his bedroom door and walked over to the bathroom. Neither of us spoke. After I finished up taking my whiz, I went back to the bedroom and started putting on my clothes. Billy had composed himself by now and was sitting up in bed smoking a Camel. "He really clocked me didn't he Jackie? I just barely saw his hand move, and then, pow, and my legs just wouldn't hold me up anymore. He sure packs a wallop, your old man." Billy sounded like he admired what my father had done to him. "I wasn't really knocked out you know, not all the way at least. I'm not saying I could have fought back or anything, just that he didn't knock me out cold. I knew it when he lifted me up and put me over his shoulder." Billy ground out his cigarette in the ashtray by his bed and got up and used the bathroom himself. When he got back to his room ten minutes later he was shaved and his hair was combed. He started to dress just as I was finishing lacing up my sneakers. "I guess I better get over to your house and see what Uncle John wants to tell me." We walked over together. I saw my Aunt Margaret in the kitchen, but she didn't say anything to either Billy or me. We walked into my house and I saw my dad sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee and having a cigarette. He motioned Billy over to a chair across from him and told him to sit down. "You ready to listen now? Or do you want to run your mouth at me some more?" "I'm listening, Uncle John." "OK, good. Now the first thing I'm gonna tell you is that I wasn't blowing smoke last night when I told you that it's OK to be pissed at Dale and whats her face, Margaret. They both really stuck it to you. But, of course, you can't really kill either one of them. You have to just let it go. It's over. Maybe you loved her, whatever, you sure been sniffing around her for a lot of years, since you and her were babies almost. She found a chance to get away from marrying you and she took it. Dale deserves a good kick in the slats for letting her talk him into doing what they did, but you know in your heart it was her doing all along don't you? She must have talked Dale into it because he sure wouldn't come up with a doozy like this all on his own. So, I'll make a deal with you, Billy, a real honest to goodness deal this time. You tell your folks you'll leave Dale and Margaret alone, that you are through with the both of them. When they come home, whenever that is, you can do to Dale what I did to you last night. One punch though, and that's it, you hear me?" "That ain't enough!" "Maybe so, maybe not, but it's all you're gonna get. So take it or leave it, I'm not negotiating with you, I'm telling you. In the long run your best revenge will be watching the way she ruins your brother's life. That poor bastard is going to regret the day he ever let her get her claws into him, you just see if I'm not right." "Uncle John, I loved her, I still love her! It's not enough." Billy looked like he was going to cry again. I hoped for his sake he didn't do it. My pop hated crybabies worse than anything. "Jesus H. Christ, Billy, listen to yourself! You never loved her, she was just a pretty ornament you wanted to have. I'll grant you that she looks really good, but what does she have besides that? Looks are great when you're just out for some fucking, but maybe they're not that good though when you're looking for a wife and the mother of your kids. I guarantee you that you'd never have been able to hold on to her anyway. Neither will Dale, although he has more of what she's looking for than you ever will. Be content with knowing that you were the first one to nail her, that Dale's only getting your sloppy seconds." "I'll think about what you told me, Uncle John. Right now, to be honest, it sounds like you're just out to help keep Dale from getting what he has coming to him. And, that ain't right. But I'll think about it." Billy turned around and walked outside. "You know Yutch, that is one bull headed son of a bitch, your cousin Billy. He and I are gonna lock horns again before this is done, and that's too bad. He's the best of that sorry bunch over there. At least with Billy, you don't have to try to guess where you stand with him, he'll let you know. Your Uncle Bill is backing the wrong horse in this race. Somebody's going to have to teach Dale that the whole fucking world doesn't revolve around his skinny ass. I hope Billy doesn't wind up killing him over this, but I can't say I'd really blame him if he did." Billy went back to work that day, catching a ride to work with a friend. My dad went out to the sub base to work and I left for the golf course to go caddy. Like my father, I had a bad feeling about how it would all end. I disagreed with his assessment that Billy was the best of the Blackwells though. Billy was the most like my father, but Dale was certainly the better person between the two brothers. I really hoped that my father's intervention would keep Billy from doing too much damage to Dale. I hoped that Dale would be able to come back for visits and still be able to finish his education. When I got back from the golf course later that evening, I saw Billy sitting on the Contino's porch steps playing with Theresa's year old son. Theresa was sitting further up on the stairs, beaming a tremendous smile as Billy played with the boy. Everybody in the neighborhood knew that it was Billy's son, and I thought it was a good thing that Billy was starting to pay the boy some attention. I watched for awhile as the two played together, Billy tickling the little kid and little Billy laughing so hard it filled up the early evening air. Dale phoned over to our house that night after talking with his parents. My father told him that, in his book, he was a sorry son of a bitch for doing what he did to his own brother. He told Dale that it wasn't safe to come home right away and suggested that he and Margaret look for housing up in Massachusetts, by the university. He told Dale that he doubted Billy would travel up that way to do the two of them harm. When he got off the phone, my dad told my mother that Dale wasn't a man and wouldn't ever become one. He said that any kind of man at all would come home and face the consequences rather than hide out for this long. I was hoping that Dale would know enough to stay away until time had passed and Billy had gotten over his blind anger. Billy was always going to be mad, but I doubted that he'd stay killing mad for that much longer. I was about 10:00 that night when we all heard Billy invite my father out to the front yard. "Hey Uncle John, why don't you come out here. I'm ready to give you my answer now." Our front screen door was latched, but the regular door was open and all of us in the living room heard what Billy was yelling. My father stood up from his arm chair and put his loafers back on. He carefully set his highball glass down on the coaster, smiled at my mother and us kids and walked out the door. He stood on the top steps and looked over at Billy. "Have you given a lot of thought to what you're going to tell me Billy? I hope you have, boy because once you say the words they won't be easy for you to take back. Now, what's your answer?" "It's fuck you, Uncle John. It's fuck Dale, and fuck my parents too. Fuck all of you. I'll do whatever I want to with Dale. That's my answer." As he spoke, Billy had his fists balled up at his sides. I got to the door first and watched as my dad started walking down to confront Billy. He wasn't hurrying, but he was making purposeful strides. His hands looked relaxed as he closed the distance between them. "Not a good answer, boy. I guess I'm going to have to change that answer for you." As my dad got closer, Billy charged right at him, taking a glancing blow to the side of his head as he got within reach. The force of his charge knocked my father backwards, but he maintained his balance and the two started throwing punches at each other in earnest. My father was about six feet two and weighed 225 pounds. Billy was about five eight and maybe one sixty or one sixty five. My father was thirty seven years old and was in pretty good shape, although he smoked a lot and had been known to drink more than was healthy for him. My father was also a very experienced brawler. Billy was seventeen and a very tough boy. He was only a boy though, and had never tried to match himself up against anyone as tough as my dad. Billy got in a wild roundhouse right hand in the first few seconds though, and a cut opened up over my dad's left eye, and blood began running out, into his eye and down his cheek. He was wearing a white tee shirt and bloodstains soon turned the front of it a dark red. After he got hit, my dad backed up and started to circle to his right. Billy charged again, but this time my dad was ready and he landed a solid blow right in the middle of Billy's face. Just from the sound of the blow and Billy's yelp, we knew that the nose was broken. My father hit Billy about fifteen quick body blows, one after another, right away. The sound of each punch could almost be felt by all of the spectators. I looked across for a second, taking my eyes off of the fight, and saw my Aunt Margaret clutching at Uncle Bill's arm, urging him to stop it. He just stood there, a look of total resignation on his face. I looked back to see Billy crumpled up in a ball on the ground, one hand covering his face, the other protecting his groin area. My father circled above him, looking like he was trying to find an open area to kick. "You want some time to reconsider your answer boy? I need you to let me know if you do, because I'll stop if you say you need some time. Otherwise, I'm going to end it right here and make sure you don't bother your brother about any of this. What do you say?" "Please, Uncle John, I've had enough, I'll think about it some more." The words weren't that clear because of the nose, but everyone understood what he'd just said. Billy stayed on the ground as he spoke, still covering up as best he could. I was starting to hate what I'd just seen. Nobody deserved to be taken apart like Billy had just been. To say it was brutal wouldn't do it justice. It was clinical, methodical applied mayhem, administered by an expert. Billy had never had a chance and everybody there now understood that. I heard Uncle Bill throwing up over the side of his porch railing. I looked behind me and saw my mother and two sisters crying and my brother covering his ears with his hands. There were another fifteen people outside looking at the two fighters. I saw Tony Contino, Sr. gazing over with a grim look of satisfaction on his face. Maybe he thought that Billy's beating made up a little for what Billy had put Theresa through. My father relaxed and stepped back away from Billy, and my Aunt Margaret rushed over to kneel at Billy's side. She ran her hand through his hair, whispering words of comfort to him. She was dressed in a bathrobe and bedroom slippers, but seemed oblivious to anything but her little boy's welfare. After a few minutes the police arrived and started asking questions. They took my father and Billy away in separate squad cars. They took them both to the same hospital, my dad for six stitches for his cut, and Billy to have his nose set and to get his ribs x-rayed and then taped up. They brought my dad back home after I was asleep, but Billy was kept in the hospital overnight and released the next morning. No criminal charges were ever filed, and neither was ever arrested or booked for the incident. I got back from caddying late the next evening. As soon as I walked in the door, my dad sent me next door to get my cousin. My dad had quite a shiner now and the cut over his eye looked jagged and sore. Billy had a bandage across his nose and two black eyes. His left eyelid was closed and a dark purple. His right eye had a broken blood vessel in it and looked terrible. He came with me and was noticeably wincing as he took each step. He looked like a beaten man. I felt confident that he'd agree to do exactly what my dad told him to do from now on. I knew I would have, and from the beginning too, not waiting like he did to get knocked out once and beaten to a pulp another time. Of course, I knew my dad a lot better than Billy did and knew that resisting him was not a wise choice to make. We walked into my house and found my father once again at the kitchen table. He stared at Billy for a long time, probably admiring the damage he'd done to Billy with that one great punch. "Have you thought some more about the agreement I offered you Billy?" He smiled as he said it, confident that Billy had probably thought about little else. "Yes, I have, Uncle John. I really have. The problem I'm having with it is that Dale gets away from what he did to me with a lot less punishment than I've been given just in these past few days. I can't live with that, so you just go ahead and do what you need to do. If I come out of it alive, I'm going to kill him if I get the chance." Billy just stood there, offering neither resistance nor flight. Physically he was beaten, but he still wasn't giving anything up. My father stood up then and I was convinced that I was about to witness my cousin's murder. "What am I going to do with you Billy? You've got more moxie than the rest of your whole family put together. In my book, for whatever it means to you, you're worth a dozen Dale's. I suggest that we both agree to leave things just the way they are right now. In a few days, when your ribs are feeling better, and your nose isn't so painful and sensitive, and even more importantly, when you can see out of your other eye, then we'll meet again outside, and I'll try, one more time, to show you the error of your position. In the long run it isn't important whether you change your thinking this week or next. The only thing that's important is that you do change your thinking. Are you OK with this suggestion, Billy?" My dad had his fists ready in case Billy wasn't OK with it, but Billy seemed to think it was a reasonable suggestion. "It's Ok with me, but I'm not going to change my mind, not ever." Sometime in the past day, I'd started to root for Billy to come out of this without any further consequences. He was still a prick and a bully, but what Dale had done was pretty low, and a case could be made here that Billy was a victim. "Well, I hope for your sake that you're a quick healer then. The next time I won't be holding anything back or pulling my punches. Is taking revenge on Dale worth all this suffering Billy? Is that little split-tail that good in the kip? I don't think you'd survive me giving you a real beating Billy, so you better say your goodbyes to that little kid of yours next door if you decide you just can't bend a little here. It would be a waste to have him lose his daddy just when he's starting to get to know him." Billy stared at my father, maybe beginning to finally understand what the true cost of resisting my father's dictates could possibly be. "Maybe I could live with Dale not coming anywhere near here for the rest of his life. Margaret too." "That's not possible, Billy. How about Dale can't come home for a whole year, and if he does come back before that, you can do whatever you want to him? I can't speak for what Margaret might decide so let's stick to just Dale here. After a year though, that's enough and you leave him alone." "I'll think about it and let you know." Billy turned again and walked out of the house. He was still obviously in pain, but he tried to carry himself with some semblance of his old jaunty swagger. My father stared at his back as he left, probably in admiration for the man that Billy was becoming. I stared in disbelief, wondering how Billy had found the nerve to even make an attempt to get my father to back off from his unconditional ultimatum. Two days later, while we were all eating supper, Billy stopped in to tell my dad that he would agree to Dale staying out of Connecticut for one year from the date Dale and Margaret took off, June 3rd. He said that he didn't care if Margaret came back or she didn't. He was through with her anyway, he said. If Dale stayed away for the whole year, Billy promised to leave him alone after that. He and my dad shook hands on the agreement, Billy watching my dad's eyes for any sign of a repeat of their last attempted handshake. The next day Uncle Bill had Dale call our house and speak to my father. "I want you to listen to me Dale, because this is important. Billy has agreed to let you alone as long as you stay completely out of the state until next June 3rd. After that date you can do whatever you want to, but you better keep away until then. Billy says he's done with your wife and doesn't care whether she comes back or not, so this ban is only on you. Yes, I guarantee Billy will leave you alone after that, unless you do something new to make him angry. OK, I agree. Yes, that's right, I said it and I meant it, I guarantee he'll leave you alone. One last thing Dale, before you hang up. If you do come back before the year is up, I personally guarantee you that you'll never leave the state alive, if it means I have to kill you myself. I believe you Dale, I just wanted you to know what will happen if you try to pull a fast one on me." My dad hung up the phone and shook his head a few times before coming back and sitting in his chair. Dale stayed away through the summer. He called home often and let his parents know that he was doing OK. He got a job for the last month before school started up again and he and Margaret were living in Boston. As soon as his classes started up again, Margaret moved back home with her parents and she and Dale communicated only through the mail. I saw Margaret from time to time that winter. She generally stayed in her house whenever Billy was at home, trying her best to avoid running into him. When Billy was gone to Mystic for his job, Margaret was out and about a little bit, although she mostly kept to herself. She was supposed to go to Massachusetts for Christmas to be with Dale, but that plan changed somehow at the last minute, and she stayed at home in Groton. The family learned sometime in January that Margaret had filed legal papers for divorce. Aunt Margaret told my mother that Dale didn't seem too upset when he told her the news. In fact, she claimed, he seemed somewhat relieved to have Margaret well on her way to being out of his life. I told Billy that Dale and Margaret were getting a divorce but he didn't seem concerned one way or the other by the news. A few weeks went by and then Margaret started moving around the neighborhood whenever she felt like it, even if Billy wasn't at work. I was sitting with Billy over on his porch, the first time she walked over where Billy couldn't help seeing her. He looked right at her, but didn't try to say anything. She saw him watching her after awhile and just kept walking to wherever she'd been heading. After she was out of sight, Billy went in the house and I didn't see him again for a few days. We were well into March before I saw the two of them together. Billy was standing beside Margaret's car and the two of them were speaking together quietly. I saw Billy walk over to the front passenger door and open it and get inside. In a minute Margaret started up the car and they drove off together. When April came around and it was showing signs of spring, Billy and Margaret started being seen together all the time. My Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bill were dead set against them getting together again, but there was nothing they could really do. The couple went out and got themselves a little furnished apartment in New London and moved into it together. Billy moved back home on the first of June. He refused to answer any questions about where Margaret was living or what she was doing, just shrugging his shoulders at whatever questions were being asked. On June fourth, Dale came home. He and Billy slept in the same room, ate at the same table and shared the same bathroom. At no time did either one speak in the presence of the other. Billy ignored Dale and Dale seemed grateful that this was the case. Dale had done well in school for his sophomore year, but no one heard either parent brag about any of his accomplishments. The first time my father saw Dale after he returned home, he turned his back and walked away from him when Dale offered his hand to shake. There was no mistaking how my father felt about the things that had occurred. It was later in the month when Margaret again showed up at her parent's home. She arrived in a nice car being driven by Billy's best friend, John Spicer. In the back seat was John's brother, Tommy, and Herbert Martin, a slightly retarded boy also from the neighborhood and someone who had associated with Billy in the past. Margaret went into her parents house for a few minutes, coming out rather quickly, as if she were in a hurry to leave. While she was in her house, the three boys came down and knocked on Billy's front door. Billy came to the door and stood out on his porch chatting with his friends. When Margaret came back out and saw where the boys from the car were, and who they were talking with, she moved quickly over to John's car and got in on the front passenger side. All four boys strolled over to the car. It looked like they were getting ready to take off and Billy was seeing them to their car. "Get out of the car Maggie.You're staying here now I guess." As he said it, John looked over to Billy for confirmation. Billy nodded that that was correct. Margaret stayed where she was, a look of abject fear on her face. "C'mon now, get out, we're leaving." As he was talking, the boys all got into the car. John reached across Margaret and opened the door on her side, signalling her to get out of the car. "Get out of the car!" Margaret moved to get out of the car but stumbled and fell down when John pushed her just as she was stepping out. She got up quickly and slammed the door before running back over to her parent's house. The car started up and quickly backed out of the parking space and drove away. It had gone half a block when it suddenly stopped and returned in reverse gear. John got out and opened his trunk and pulled out two suitcases and a canvas bag which he carried over to the Tracy's porch. After putting the luggage on the steps, he got back into his car and again drove away. When Dale and I returned from caddying that night, the news had spread throughout the neighborhood that Margaret had been shacked up in New London with three or four boys from the neighborhood. She had been sleeping with all of them, according to those same rumors, in exchange for her room and board. There were whispers also that Margaret was using drugs. We stood around outside, Dale and I, listening to what people were saying. While we were out there Mr. Tracy came out his front door and headed over to the Blackwell's place. Dale and I followed him to the door and watched as he began pounding on it. Uncle Bill came to the door and we watched as Mr. Tracy pushed him aside and went searching through the house for Billy. It didn't take long for him to find Billy and we soon heard the sounds of a fist fight taking place inside. After a minute or two, Uncle Bill came out the door helping to support Mr. Tracy as they navigated back to his place. He had a bloody mouth but didn't look all that beaten up. Billy came out on the porch and watched as the two men walked away from him. "Looks like your wife has turned into a whore, Dale. For some reason her father blamed me for that. You know anything about her taking pills Dale? Where'd she ever start doing that I wonder?" Dale looked like he was ill. I wondered if it was from what Billy was saying to him or just because Billy was talking to him at all. My curiosity would have to wait though as Uncle Bill returned and all the Blackwell's went back inside their house. I went home myself and got something to eat. I figured I could get some good information out of Dale when we were at the course waiting for our golfers to come in and play. The next morning I was surprised that Dale didn't show up to caddy. I worked until about 7:00 and when I got home I learned that Dale had packed up and left to go back up to Massachusetts. No one was telling me anything though. My mother looked very troubled and when I started asking questions my father told me it wasn't any of my business and to butt out. I didn't learn the whole story until after the 4th of July, and when I did find out what happened, I was totally shocked. ------- Chapter 3 My sister, Annie, was Dale's age, having just turned twenty in May. She was a nice girl, unassuming and pretty quiet. She wasn't a looker like my younger sister, Joan, but she was very dependable and would help anybody she could. After Margaret was brought back home by the Spicer brothers, Annie went out of her way to be friendly with her. It was unusual to see the two of them both outside and not be talking together. Annie worked the night shift over at Electric Boat. She worked in the tool shed, down in the dry docks area, checking out the big power tools needed only once in awhile, for certain specialized jobs, and seeing that they were returned after every use, in good condition. She would usually get home at around seven every morning and sleep until around noon. She never seemed to need much sleep. Annie had been engaged to a sailor based off the USS Fulton, a submarine tender tied up in New London, but he'd gotten cold feet and dumped her a month before their planned wedding. My father had had a few words with a couple Chief Petty Officers that he was friends with, that were also stationed on the Fulton, right after the split up, and the guy suffered a freak series of accidents soon after, these accidents didn't stop until he was finally transferred away to another ship over in the Pacific fleet. In those days the Navy was a pretty close knit society, and the Chiefs looked out for each other. It was Annie that finally filled me in on what had happened from the time that Dale and Margaret had run off until the time that Margaret came back home with the Spicer brothers. I had made a couple innocent comments at the supper table about missing Dale being around for the summer. Dale had always been like a mentor to me, showing me the ropes about how to get around and how to get ahead. I was pretty good in school, too, not as good as Dale had been, but better than nearly all the other kids in my neighborhood. Dale was always helping me at the golf course and getting me in good over at the Griswold Hotel with his grandmother and some of the people at the bell desk and some elevator operators too. "Jackie, you shouldn't look up to Dale as much as you do. He never helps anyone unless it helps him too. He isn't a very nice person." Coming from Annie, this was very unusual. I didn't ever remember her saying a bad word about anyone, not even that bozo who'd dumped her cold after promising he'd marry her. He'd lied to get into her pants and then just dropped her, and the worst she ever said about him was that a person has a right to change their mind. "He's always been Jake with me, Annie. I don't have any complaints at all." Of course, even as I said it, I remembered all the times that Dale had taken financial advantage of me, had misled me, and how he sometimes used me to take the blame for things he had done or instigated.Overall though, I quickly rationalized, we had had a relationship where I felt I'd made out pretty well. Annie just looked at me and smiled her sweet smile. "Jackie, one of your best qualities is you always see the best in people." Now if that wasn't a case of projection, I'd never seen one. I was cynical most of the time, looking for an angle or some way to profit from things that I'd learned. Annie was always the one who looked for the good in people, not me. "Sure and the Pope eats steak on Fridays too." That earned me a sharp palm to the back of my head as my mom was walking behind me just as I said it. This was another weird thing in my family. My mother never sat down and ate with us. She would stand around in the kitchen, bringing us food, drinks and condiments, and serving us. If something was needed or missing, she'd run and get it and bring it to us. If one of us dropped a fork on the linoleum floor, she'd be right there with a clean one to replace the old one. After we were all done eating, and had gotten up from the table, she'd sit down and have her meal. I never could get her to tell me why she did that, she'd just tell me that it was her way, that's all. "Aw ma, that hurt." My dad gave me the look, the one that said you're lucky your mother hit you and not me. My dad wasn't even a Catholic, or in fact, religious at all, but that didn't mean he'd miss out on an opportunity to support my mother with her views. He just liked to enforce discipline, it didn't really matter to him whose discipline he was enforcing. After dinner, I was sitting on the front stairs enjoying the air when Annie came out and asked me if I'd take a walk with her. That wasn't a usual thing since Annie usually stayed in her bedroom before she went to work, mooning over her lost love or something. We started walking away from the houses, moving in the direction of Judge Avery's apple orchard. After a few minutes of walking we came to this wall made of the boulders that are so common in New England. The glaciers left enough rocks strewn about so that even the poorest homeowner had plenty of free material to build a nice fence. Annie stopped and sat on a flat place on the wall and patted the spot next to her for me to sit. "Jackie, we need to have a talk. About Dale. He's ruthless. He doesn't care about anything other than himself. He's been that way all of his life, near as I can tell. He puts up a good front, pretending to be helpful and all concerned, but down deep he just uses people and takes advantage. Jackie, when Dale and I were thirteen, he tried to rape me. We were out in the woods, supposedly picking some berries, but really just kissing and stuff. He just suddenly started attacking me after a little kissing. I managed to fight him off finally, but he tore my dress and slapped me around some, before I pushed him off balance and ran home, but he almost succeeded. I was afraid to tell anyone, and maybe ashamed too because I thought that I'd led him on by letting him kiss me and touch me a little too. But I never said anything, and he and I just avoided each other after that. I've become good friends with Margaret now. She's a little bit in the same situation as I am now, with the rumors and everything. She doesn't have anyone she can trust anymore. "Margaret told me what happened to her, Jackie, and it sounds to me like she's telling the truth. She says that she had a bad headache when she went to pick up Billy from work. Dale told her he had pills for headaches that worked good for him and he gave her two to take. She said she took the pills right before they left and started feeling light headed and dizzy a few minutes later. She said she pulled her car over because she couldn't drive anymore, and Dale said he'd drive them to get Billy. Here's the part that might not make any sense to you Jackie, before Dale started back to driving, Margaret started making a pass at him. She said she had a plan to get Dale and Billy both jealous and fighting over her so that Billy would just call off the wedding. She wasn't sure how far she'd go with her plan, but she did say that maybe she was even going to have sex with Dale just to make sure that Billy would break up with her. She felt trapped and didn't want to marry Billy. She thought that she could marry someone rich if she could somehow get away from Billy. She starts kissing Dale and those pills were really making her feel funny. She liked the feeling, everything was slow and dreamy like. Dale got all excited and was feeling her up all over and she just let him do what he wanted to. She said it didn't seem real to her anyway, so why bother stopping him. "Dale took her over to a roadhouse halfway up to New Haven and got them a room. The two of them had sex and spent the night in the room. The next day Margaret wanted to go home, but Dale convinced her that Billy would just kill the two of them now anyway and suggested that they stay in the room for awhile until he could think up some plan to save their lives. Margaret said that the two of them stayed in the room for two more nights, taking those pills and having sex. Dale came up with the idea of driving to Maryland and getting married. He convinced Margaret that if they got married they could later divorce, she would be free from Billy's control, she could go on after that and find herself a good husband. Once they were married, Dale thought that Billy would accept that she was lost to him forever and would just eventually forget the whole thing. While she was all high on those pills, Dale's idea made sense to her and so that is what they did. "Right after they got married, Dale told her that they were running pretty low on money. They were someplace in North Carolina, staying in a rental cottage on a beach that Dale had rented for a week. Dale went out for awhile by himself, and after he came back he insisted she take three of his pills. She didn't need too much convincing by then because she liked the way she felt when she took them. Dale brought in two of his friends later and both of the men had sex with her. Margaret said she was barely even aware of what they were doing at the time, she was off in a little world of her own, thinking some pleasant thoughts. She only found out later that Dale's friends were two men he'd just met on the beach and offered Margaret to for $50.00 each. For the rest of the summer, that's how Dale and Margaret paid for everything. Dale would find a few guys every week and they'd come to his room and have sex with Margaret. He kept her in a steady supply of pills and she didn't make too many objections when he brought guys in for her to service. When Dale started back to school he sent Margaret home with a big bottle of pills and plans that she would come back to Massachussetts before the pills ran out. A week after Margaret got back home, she flushed the rest of the pills down the toilet and quit taking them anymore. She was a week in her bedroom getting those pills out of her system. She said it almost drove her crazy because she wanted them so bad. She told her parents that it was just the flu, but she stuck with it and was finally over the cravings and the withdrawal symptoms. "After she and Billy got back together and moved to New London, one night she got up the courage to tell him about what had really happened, including telling him that she had a plan all along to avoid marrying him. Billy left her the next morning, telling her that he was through with her. He told her it wasn't the pills, and it wasn't the whoring that finished it for him, it was her deliberately using his own brother against him. He told her he didn't blame Dale for fucking her when he had the chance. He'd been wanting to kill Dale because he thought Dale had somehow seduced her. He left her there in that little apartment, with no money and no job. She didn't want to go back home so she started whoring from the apartment. In a couple days she had located a contact to get more pills and was staying loaded to the gills on pills and only going out to find some guys when her money ran low. "Billy had some of his friends keeping a watch on her.After awhile he couldn't take what she was doing to herself, so he sent his friends to help her. John Spicer went over to her apartment one day and took all her pills and he and his brother and Herbert Martin kept her in that apartment, cleaning out her system and making sure she ate and slept. When she was over her addiction, at least the physical part, Billy had them bring her over to Groton and visit her parents. That night, when the boys left her at her parent's house, she told her mother and father what she'd been doing in New London, knowing they'd be finding out from someone else sooner or later. She didn't tell them about Dale, only about the pills and the whoring, and never told them where it had all started, so Mr. Tracy naturally blamed Billy. "Jackie, I'm not saying Billy wasn't wrong about how he's treated Margaret all these years, but, at least he loved her. Dale just used her and exploited her to his own advantage. Margaret didn't use good judgement either in a lot of things, but mainly Dale was to blame I think." I looked at my sister after she was finished talking. I could tell how upset telling me all this had made her. I thought I even understood why she felt she had needed to tell me. "Don't worry, Annie, I won't ever grow up to be like him, or dad, or Billy either. I like people. I don't think that Dale or Billy or dad do like people." She gave me a hug and we walked back home so she could get ready to go to work. Shortly after my sister had told me about Dale trying to rape her, I went to my father and we had a talk. He drove me up to Worcester, Massachussetts in the middle of July. I already had Dale's address from letters that we'd exchanged. My dad pulled up to the curb a block away from where Dale's apartment was and I got out of the car. "Yutch, this might be a bad idea for you. I shouldn't have let you talk me into it. It isn't your kind of thing. Why not get back in the car and let me handle it. You and Dale were always close." I just looked back at him and walked away. I walked the block to Dale's and climbed the steps to the second floor apartment and knocked on the door. "Jackie! Isn't this a surprise, come in, come in. What brings you here, have a fight with your old man?" I walked in his little efficiency apartment and took a seat at the dinette table. Dale came over and took the other chair across from me. "Tell me, what's been going on back home. are they all still going nuts or what?" "Dale I came to talk to you about Annie. She told me what happened in the woods there when you were both thirteen. I wanted to hear it from you Dale, you know, your side of it." Dale looked back at me nervously, licking his lips and running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Thirteen, Jesus Jackie, that was a long time ago. In the woods you say? I guess you mean that time when we were picking berries and she misunderstood what I was trying to do. See," I cut him off before he could say anything more. "No Dale, I'm talking about that time you and her were in the woods, kissing and fooling around and you attacked her and started to rape her, that time." "It wasn't like that, Jackie, I swear. Sure, we did some kissing and a little petting maybe, but I never tried to rape her." "You're a Goddamn liar, Dale. Annie told me what happened that day, and Annie wouldn't ever lie to me. You would, especially to avoid getting your ass kicked." "I admit I got a little excited, I was only thirteen you know, maybe I came on a little too strong, but I'd never have raped her Jackie. Honest." "That other thing you did with Margaret, Dale, the pills and the whoring her out, letting Billy get so crazy that my dad had to step in and almost kill him. Well all of that used up any slack I might have cut you. I know it was a long time ago, but I only just learned about this thing with Annie, so its a fresh wound for me so to speak. I had my dad drive me up here so that you and I could settle up for Annie. He's waiting outside in case you'd rather deal with him, so go ahead, be my guest and take off running." Dale stared at his door, but just the prospect of knowing my father might be right outside his door assured me that he'd stay right where he was. "How much money you got here Dale, in the apartment I mean?" "Money, Jackie? What money? Maybe ten dollars that's all." "Hand me your wallet Dale." Surprisingly, he handed it over and I took out a big stack of bills. It was three hundred and forty seven dollars, I know because I counted it right there in front of him. "Go get me the rest Dale, do it now if you want to stay alive." Dale stared at me, his eyes open wide in excitement. I thought he was going to start laughing at me, since I'd never spoken like this to him in the past. I was only fourteen years old and he was twenty. I was taller by a few inches and we were about even in weight. I wasn't sure I could beat him in a fair fight, but I wasn't planning on fighting fair. "Do it now or I'll kill you where you stand." I hoped I looked like my father as I said it, because I almost meant it when the words passed my lips. Dale just stood there, uncertainly, trying to decide. He turned away from the door and walked over to a milk box that had records in it and started taking bills out of the record jackets. Most of the bills were $50's and $100's, an uncommon denomination at that time. There was another $2,600.00 from that record storage that he handed over to me. All together I had almost $3,000.00, all the money that Dale had managed to save from the time he started shoveling snow and mowing lawns when he was ten years old. "Is this everything now?" "That's all of it, Jackie, but I'll just call the police after you leave, I won't let you get away with it. You better just give it back to me Jackie." I stood up then and punched him in the mouth with every ounce of strength I possessed. He staggered backwards and was saved from falling only by the wall that stopped his backward progress. "Now bring me the pills, Dale, all of them." He looked over to the left, at a closet near the door. I followed his eyes and started over to the closet door. Dale jumped on my back, scratching my cheek with his finger nails. Literally clawing my face in his desperate attempt to prevent me getting to his pills. I bent over and broke his hold on me. He landed on his back, losing his wind for a second. When he attempted to get back up, I kicked him in his head, hard. It stopped him in his tracks and I opened the closet door. There was a gallon mayonnaise jar, the kind they have in the kitchens at restaurants, and it was full to the top with these little red pills. There were probably 10,000 of them. I picked up the jar and put it under my arm. Dale was on the floor, holding his head where I'd kicked him and crying like a baby. I looked at him for a minute, angry about him scratching my face. "If you tell anyone about this Dale, I'll come back and kill you. If I'm in jail, my father will come get you. If he's in jail, Billy will come get you. This better be the last time I ever see you, Dale. If it isn't, I'm the last thing you'll ever see, and that's a promise from me to you. You'll stay away from me and my family from now on, you hear me?" He looked up at me, his nose was running and his eyes were already bloodshot from the crying. He nodded his understanding of what I said. "Jackie, at least leave me a handful, OK?" I opened the jar and took out about thirty little pills and threw them at him on the floor. They bounced and went in every direction as he scrambled to get to them all. "You remember what I said Dale, because I really mean it." I walked over and opened the door, closing it behind me when I left. I walked over to my father's car and got in on the passenger side. He started it up and we started the long drive back home. My father took out his handkerchief and handed it to me and I dabbed at the blood from Dale's scratches. I don't know why, but after we were on the road for a few minutes, I just started to cry really hard. I couldn't seem to stop, no matter how much I wanted to. For once, my father mercifully stayed silent, letting me get it out of my system. After awhile I was able to stop. I blew my nose on his handkerchief. He reached his hand over and patted me a couple times on my knee, an unheard of display of affection from him. "I told you Yutch, it isn't your kind of thing. You should leave shit like this to people like me. I'll tell you one thing though, I'm glad it isn't something you enjoy doing. Sometimes I wish I'd never started in doing it." We drove the rest of the way in silence. When we came to a little stream by the road I had my dad stop the car. I went and dumped the pills in the water while he watched me from downstream, enjoying taking a leisurely piss into the running water. It was late that night before we got home and I crawled tiredly into bed. I had some bad dreams that night, waking once with my father shaking me and telling me to keep it down or I'd wake up my brother. The next morning I got dressed and walked over to the Tracy's house and knocked on their door. Mrs. Tracy let me in and gave me a funny look, wanting to know what I wanted. I told her I needed to see Margaret. She looked at my face and went back and got Margaret up out of bed. Margaret came over to the door where I stood waiting. She was dressed in her robe, and suspiciously asked me what I wanted. It wasn't any secret that she and I had never liked each other. "Annie told me some things about her and Dale, and about you and Dale. I went up to see him yesterday and got a few things taken care of. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the things that happened. I took the two things that mattered the most to Dale, all his money and that big mayonnaise jar full of pills. I also beat him up quite a bit, but that was for Annie, and for my family, for what he did to her. I threw the pills into a creek, so they're gone now. I've got his money though, and I don't want it. I was wondering if you'd take it. Maybe you could use it to get a fresh start or something? Buy yourself some good clothes, to maybe get a job and meet somebody nice." "So why would you care about how I make out Jackie, I thought you hated me?" "No, I never hated you, I just didn't like you, or you me. This isn't about that though, this is about trying to make things that were bad a little better. My cousin Dale, he treated you pretty bad. I can't do anything about that, but maybe, with the money, you can make the future a little better for yourself." "Well, how much money did you take from him?" I noticed Mrs. Tracy's ears perked up when Margaret asked me that question. "Almost $3,000.00." "Holy shit! You're pulling my chain, right?" "$2,947.00. I'm pretty sure that was every penny that Dale had ever saved. You know how much his money meant to him. It's enough for you to make a fresh start I think." "I guess, it's more money than I've ever seen, that's for sure. And you just want to give it to me like that? No strings, nothing in it for you?" "Well, there is one thing, that I'd like you to do, but I won't make it a condition. I'll give you the money regardless." I took out the envelope I'd stuffed all the money into and handed it to her. I was glad to get rid of it. She took the envelope, peeked inside and closed it back up. I could see her hand was shaking. Her mother looked like she had wet herself when I handed Margaret the money. "So, what's this one thing you want from me?" She had a big smile on her face. I wondered what she might think I wanted from her. "I want you to apologize to Theresa Contino for calling her a whore that time. The time Billy beat the shit out of me." I turned around and left. A week later, Margaret moved out to California. She told Annie she thought she'd try to get into the movies. The day before she took the train to California she went over to the Contino's and apologized to Theresa. The day after that, Theresa came over to where I was standing, talking to Cousin Billy and a couple other guys and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the lips. "Thank you Jackie, it was nice of you to remember me like that." As she walked away I couldn't help but notice Billy looking over at her, checking her out as she walked. Dale got himself straightened out with his pill addiction, kept his scholarships, and made it through to graduate with high honors in the spring of 1958. Only Uncle Bill attended the graduation ceremony. My Aunt Margaret never forgave Dale for the beating my father had given Billy in our front yard. The two didn't speak again until my Uncle Bill's funeral in 1963. I saw Dale at that funeral, but I ignored him, and he didn't approach anybody from our side of the family. It was late in the summer of 1958 when Billy finally found himself a girl that would love him in spite of his many flaws. He was a tireless worker though, and a good jack of all trades handyman, having bought and then fixed up a little old farm house on twelve acres of land, situated over close to his work. It took him a whole year to get it fixed up the way he wanted it, and nobody saw him for most of that time. It was June of 1958 when he started coming to Groton again, stopping over to his folks house a lot for a quick visit. Everytime he came over he'd bring a little toy or a stuffed animal for Little Billy. After about the third or fourth visit, he brought a big bouquet of long stemmed red roses and handed them to Theresa. She was shocked, but delighted, and ran into her house to put the flowers in water and to have herself a little cry in private. Billy's butt stayed glued to her stairs, playing a game of catch with Little Billy and waiting patiently for Theresa to come back outside. It took Theresa an hour to make it back to those stairs. When she did come back out, the two of them talked quietly until Little Billy got a little too tired and cranky, and then she took him in for a bath and to put him to sleep. The next time Billy came by, he took Theresa and Little Billy out for an ice cream cone. When they got back, Billy went inside and had a talk with Tony, Sr. Tony punched Billy in the mouth and split his lip, but Billy, who could have killed him with either hand, didn't hit him back. He stayed away from Groton for another couple weeks, but then he came back again, this time with a toy for Little Billy, a box of candy for Theresa and a bottle of Four Roses whiskey for Tony Sr. This time Tony didn't press his luck, and go for another punch, and the two of them sat down and put a dent in the whiskey as they talked over their differences. After they were done that night, Billy had Tony's permission to court his eldest daughter. It wasn't a long courtship. Billy asked her to forgive his past mistakes and marry him. She told him she would, and she would. The wedding was a huge affair. There were more than four hundred guests, mostly family of the bride and the groom. The reception was held in the grand ballroom of the Griswold Hotel, catered by Minnie, Billy's grandmother and featuring a five foot tall, nine layer wedding cake lovingly baked by the bride's happy father. Everyone was surprised when Billy asked my father to be his best man. After the two returned from their honeymoon in Jamaica, Billy hired a lawyer and got little Billy's name legally changed to William Contino Blackwell. Dale sent a wedding present, but Aunt Margaret threw it in the trash unopened. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2005-08-31 Last Modified: 2005-09-01 / 08:09:19 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------