A Bullet For God

by Eben Le Roux

  Chapter 3

  Ross Carter was becoming more and more desperate by the day. He had been thinking long and hard, trying to shake certain ideas off his mind. Whatever choices he took from here, he realised that his fate was now in his own hands. Driving home from another failed job interview, he had made up his mind; he was going to do it. As much as he did not want to go that route, there seemed to be no other way. As he took the freeway off-ramp, he started dialling the number of a friend who he knew was as desperate as he was. Sweat was forming on his face, and he could not understand why life has to be so cruel to him. Never ever had he imagined committing a crime, but this time he made the decision. He had to do it.

  Ross Carter had enough problems of his own and his life history was proof of that. Born into a family with an alcohol problem, he was doomed to be a failure just like his two elder brothers. One of them was shot in a brawl at a local drinking spot, and the other was still doing jail time for robbery.

  His father was an alcoholic, and would always come home from work in a drunken state. The problem was so bad that when he lost his job, he was never sober enough again to look for another. His mother was a factory worker, and on weekends, she would happily join in with his father’s drinking sessions. Fortunately, for Ross, he attracted the attention of the neighbours.

  As an unsupervised toddler, he used to wander in the streets unattended. The neighbours had noticed the danger he was in and had reprimanded his parents numerous times over their negligence. Their warnings seemed to have been ignored as he was back on the street only the next day. In the end, they decided it was safer to have him play with their children. What they saw on that first day, having Ross with them, had hurt the Johnson family a great deal. The child was so hungry that he had eaten an apple without even leaving the seeds behind. When they had given him a sandwich after that, he hardly chewed, trying to swallow as fast as possible. Peter then instructed his wife, Irene, to bring Ross to their house every day and to care for him. However, that was not necessary as Ross was at their gate every morning after that. On weekends, if he had arrived too late, their son, Ray, used to walk next door to fetch him. The two boys became the best of friends. In fact, they later became more like brothers, for Ross had copied Ray in addressing his parents as Mom and Dad.

  As time went by and Ross grew older, he considered the Johnson house as his home. Peter took a real liking to him as he noticed that this boy was doing most of the work around the house. Most people who knew Ross and Ray thought of them as brothers. Since Ray was a year older than Ross was, he had finished school a year before him. The next year he had to leave home to study marketing. The sad part was that Ross had to stay in a boarding school as the college was in another town. They saw less of one another, but the bond between them had stayed the same. As far as they were concerned, they were brothers, and they were going to keep it that way. Circumstances, however, did not turn out as well for the rest of the Johnson family. Collin and Sandra, Ray’s younger brother and sister, were from a completely different generation. They were always fighting with their parents about wanting the latest fashions and gadgets on the market. Peter had them controlled, but his wife mostly gave in to their demands. It became harder for Peter to discipline his children because their mother was constantly siding with them. Ross overheard them having an argument one day and he heard Peter telling his wife, ‘If you want those two to turn out like Ross and Ray, you better stop following their orders. Seems to me they are in charge of you. You give, give, and give whatever they want. What if one day we cannot afford that stuff any longer? They will start to look for their supplies outside this house. Do you know the dangers that follow this? I am telling you now that this is not what I want for my children.’

  Irene did not stop, and Peter was forced to deny her access to his accounts. He instructed her to send the children to him whenever they needed anything. This did not sit well with her, and she got herself a job at a nearby supermarket. It was sad as Peter could then only watch how she carried on spoiling the two. Since then, it was as if the rest of the family had lost contact with Peter and lived around him in the house. One day, Ross brought this up with Ray, and both of them spoke to Sandra and Collin. That seemed it was already too late as Sandra was pregnant. Peter took it very hard, and worse, the two parents started blaming one another. That same year, the police came to question Collin about one of his friends’ involvement in a robbery. Though Collin was not charged or arrested, Peter would never recover from that blow.

  What Ross had noticed was too sad for him to handle. Peter was now reduced to an unattended member of his own family. Ross remembers how proud this man used to be. As a school principal, he was highly regarded by his teachers. In his community, he was the kind of person whom people would look up to, and he was well respected. Then, one day, life dealt Peter the worst blow he could ever imagine. As a principal, he strived for high standards in his school, something he maintained year after year, until he met with any teacher’s nightmare.

  He had a boy in his school that had shown complete disregard for discipline. Other children were intimidated into handing over monies and valuables to him. On some Mondays, this boy would reek strongly of alcohol and sometimes slept in the classrooms. Peter had realised that his problem was beyond what any school could handle, as the regulations were not really on the school’s side. He confronted the boy on numerous occasions, even threatening to expel him from the school, which he finally did. However, the boy’s family objected, and the school body voted against the school’s ruling. A month later, the boy was allowed back into the school and this time, the situation worsened. The boy now had no respect for discipline, as he felt untouchable. What made it worse was that he had followers who respected him as their leader. Sometimes, he would even taunt teachers just to show off his power over them. On one ill-fated day, the boy came to school drunk and caused havoc in the classroom. Peter was called to deal with the situation, as the teachers were by then too scared to confront him. That day, a big argument broke out between school principle and student. So heated was the quarrel, that the boy had tried to attack him. In that moment of anger, Peter smacked him hard across the face. So hard was the blow that he started bleeding through both his nose and mouth. Out of anger and having had enough of the boy, Peter walked him through the gates and locked him out. His parents and the police found him there, still with the blood on his face. The boy’s bloodied face was on the front page of five newspapers the following day. For this, Peter was suspended and subsequently dismissed from the school.

  Ray knew that his father’s spirit was crushed on that day as Peter Johnson had a love for teaching that was only second to his love for his family. In a very short space of time, he had lost both. Ray thought of giving up his studies to bring support to his father but instead, Peter put enough money in his account to make sure he finished his studies. That day, Peter said something to Ray that made Ross a very proud man. ‘Don’t worry, son. Ross is still around to keep me going.’ It was then that Ross made a promise to Ray to honour those words.

  Sandra had moved out of the house to stay with her then latest boyfriend, and Collin had slowly become a problem child. His parents had a hard time keeping him in school and sometimes, Ross was called upon to give him some tough talk. By then, Ross was working at a steel engineering company, a job he had lost more than eight months ago. Since then, he had tried in vain to find other work. He knew very well that the money he had saved was not going to last long if something did not come up very soon. As he was sitting with a glass of ice-cold juice, he wondered if Peter Johnson could still be alive. It was during times like these that he needed the wisdom and parental guidance from the man he had called Dad since he could remember, and today, he really missed that support.

  The sound of the doorbell shook him out of his thoughts. Suddenly, he was not so sure if he still wanted to do this. He opened the door and let the men in. Much to his surprise, one of them was Collin. As the men
walked through the door, Ross stood for a number of seconds just staring at them. He slowly closed the door behind him, paused for a moment, and then called on Casey to follow him to the other room.

  ‘What the hell is this?’ he asked him, not hiding his disappointment.

  Casey looked at him in surprise. ‘What seems to be the matter, Ross? You don’t even greet us properly.’

  ‘Casey, I am not going to work with these guys. Are you telling me you cannot find better than this?’

  ‘Hey, come on Ross. What is it you wanted . . . hardened criminals? You told me not to come with gangsters and killers. You want me to question everybody in the streets about their criminal records. What are you looking for, people who could pass an army test?’

  ‘This is no joke, Casey. I am putting our freedom on the line here. We have to do this right from the beginning.’

  ‘So what seems to be the problem?’

  ‘You want me to pull a job with Collin and Max . . . ?’ Ross spoke in complete dissatisfaction of his choice of men.

  ‘Ross, I think you underestimate these guys . . .’ Casey did not get to finish as Ross angrily interrupted him.

  ‘Don’t you understand that it is not that simple Casey? I was brought up and looked after by Collin’s family and now you want me to pay them back by dragging their son into crime? That one is a definite no.’

  ‘Ross, Collin is as streetwise as I am. That boy has been hanging out with Twist and his company since I know him. I bet you he has the most knowledge about this kind of stuff than any of us here.’

  Ross did not like Casey defending for Colin and it started to anger him even more. ‘You leave Collin out of this...and Max, he is no good for society. I have been trying for years to get Collin out of his company. Suddenly, you want me to endorse the guy to him?’

  ‘Ross, there is nothing wrong with Max. He is only a loudmouth and just needs to be kept in place. If you want somebody that will never split on you, then he is the right man. You said you want to get into a house unnoticed, I know nobody better than him. Trust me, he will not even tell his best friends how he makes his money.’

  ‘I don’t know, Casey. I wonder if I should not just drop this idea.’

  ‘You mind telling me what this is about?’

  ‘If I tell you that I know where we can knock off a Rolex, what would you say?’

  ‘Hell . . . Ross a Rolex! You think we can pull it off?’

  ‘Well, if we can get the right guys, yes.’ Ross said with uncertainty.

  Casey looked at him in surprise while he asked; ‘When were you planning on doing it?’

  ‘As soon as possible Casey, that house is going on auction very soon.’

  ‘I think we should discuss it now. We need some planning. Does not matter how little, but we have to.’ Casey sounded scared, but excited.

  ‘Listen, Casey. I still do not want Collin involved. I need to speak to him alone . . . and do not tell the others anything yet.’

  As Collin walked towards Ross, he knew there would not be any soft talk coming from him. Ross had helped him out of trouble too many times and he was very well aware of that as he came near him. The last time Ross even told him that it was getting to the point where he wanted to give up on him. As much as Ross wanted to help Collin, he did not want him to feel comfortable with the life he was living. He also knew that if he failed the boy, he would be failing Peter Johnson. There were times when Ross believed that Peter Johnson was already dead and thought about letting go with helping Collin. As much as he tried, he could not fail him this far. He made a promise and Collin was still a little brother to him.

  ‘Collin, I want you to leave this house immediately.’ There was no sympathy in Ross’s voice.

  ‘Ross, but . . . ’

  Collin was interrupted very harshly.

  ‘Do not use “buts” on me, Collin. I said leave . . . now!” He said it so loudly that the others jumped to their feet and came to see what was going on. Ross did not like the interruption and was just about to send them back when Max started talking. ‘Come on, Ross. Give the man a chance he is one of us.’

  This only infuriated Ross more. ‘You know, Max, you are the last person to speak for this man. Maybe your influence got him where he is today. Not one of you is moving one inch forward in life and I still hold it against you for introducing this man to Twist. Talk about giving him a chance, he had plenty. Even if the best opportunity had come to him, he would not even have noticed. Go back inside there. I am not done with him.’ Ross waited until they were all in the living room before he addressed Collin again. ‘Tell me, Collin, do you sometimes wonder what could have happened to your father?’

  ‘There were times, yes,’ he answered softly.

  ‘And . . . ?’

  ‘Hey, Ross, why do you have to embarrass me like this, man? I’m not a little boy any more, you know?’

  Ross shook his head for the young man in front of him in sadness. ‘You are so right, Collin. Since the age of sixteen, you wanted to be your own man. At the age of twenty-one, you sold your father’s house. You had so much money that you felt like you owned the damn neighbourhood. Now, at the age of twenty-three, you are standing in front of me, begging me to be part of a crime. So you see, Collin, you do not need to be embarrassed. You are an embarrassment to yourself.’

  ‘Please, Ross, I don’t have anywhere I can start from. If only I could have some money . . .’

  ‘Collin, your head stinks over money? Did you not listen to your father? A future starts with positive thoughts and a lot of patience. People like Swift and Max will ruin your life forever.’

  ‘I know that very well now, and I want to get away from their influence.’

  ‘Why don’t you go talk to Ray? Maybe he can help.’

  ‘Ray is still mad at me.’ Collin was speaking softly, as he felt trapped in the conversation.

  ‘Rightly so,’ Ross sneered at him. ‘I also despised you for selling that house. Just six months after Mother moved out, you thought it wise to sell something that was not even rightfully yours. Ray is right. That was the only address your father could come back to. By selling it, you deleted him from our lives. Where are you staying now?’

  Collin hesitated for a moment, as if he was scared of the question. ‘I moved in with a friend of Max’s until I can find a place.’

  ‘Collin, you make me sick. I borrowed money for you to pay your rent. Now you are staying with Max’s gang, and you are looking for a place. What crap are you trying to sell me? Looking for a place my arse man... you don’t even . . . Collin, listen here, and listen very carefully.’ Ross was so angry that he had to take a deep breath. He remembered how quickly Collin started spending the money he got for the house and how they only learnt about the sale a month later. With no money to refund the new owners, Irene had no option but to sign the transfer documents over to them.

  ‘You know this thing that I am planning to do? It has been in my head for over two months. Every day I have planned to do it, and every time I have put it off. You know why Collin? Because I think of how your father raised me. It is painful to know that you rejected that man’s wisdom.’ Ross then felt he could no longer stay calm talking to Collin. ‘Collin, I think I am wasting my time with you. We will talk about this again. Just remember, I am not done with you, the others are waiting for me.