BEAT to a PULP: Hardboiled 2

by David Cranmer

  "Can I sleep in here?" he asked.

  With Liam beside her, Mandy was almost asleep when her mom arrived home. Renee, who had switched on the bedroom light, wanted to know why Liam was not in his room. Mandy tried to lie, explaining Liam had a nightmare, but he woke up and spilled the whole story about Ettie screaming and how she said there were people outside coming to get her.

  Renee's skin went red. She whipped around and tore out of Mandy's room, down the stairs. Both Mandy and Liam leapt up and chased after their mom, racing down the stairs, flying through the kitchen, out the slider, across the yard, stopping in front of Ettie's apartment. Mandy and Liam listened to Renee and Ettie scream at each other. Their voices were loud but muffled because Renee had shut the door. Mandy could only pick up things when they hollered loudly, like, "You keep your BS to yourself, Ettie!" "I fucking hate your guts, Renee!" "I don't give a shit, Ettie!" and so on.

  When Renee emerged from the apartment, she slammed the door, muttering "alcoholic lazy freeloading bitch."

  Mandy and Liam trailed after her.

  "Shut that goddamned slider!" Renee shouted when they were inside the kitchen. She said to her daughter: "Take your brother up to bed and then come down here."

  Mandy did as she was told. Liam went to his own room without protesting. "Even though she's mad, I feel better Mom is home, don't you, Mandy?"

  "Yeah," she answered reluctantly. Her stomach was twisted up with anxious sickness.

  Back in the kitchen, Mandy saw a bottle of whiskey on the counter and her mother standing next to it, sipping from a glass. A Christmas stocking lay near the bottle. Mandy had never seen her mother drink whiskey before.

  "What the hell happened tonight?" Renee asked.

  Mandy told her exactly what had happened.

  Renee finished her glass, poured a little more, drank it, put the glass in the sink, and then put the bottle in a long Christmas stocking. She opened the bottom cabinet where she kept the Tupperware and shoved it in the way back, plastic containers falling over and banging. Then she stood up. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

  Mandy felt horrible.

  * * *

  On Tuesday afternoon, Mandy's father returned home for a two-night visit. Renee prepared a nice dinner, and when her husband entered the kitchen—just out of the shower, clean-shaven and dressed in pajama bottoms and a T-shirt—he asked why there weren't five place settings.

  "You know, Ettie, she hardly eats," Renee said, placing a large bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.

  Mandy's father ignored his wife. "Go get your aunt," he told Mandy.

  Outside, Mandy opened her aunt's door. "Ettie," she called up. "Ettie!"

  "Hey, hon," Ettie replied. "I'm here!"

  Mandy climbed the stairs to the studio apartment. Her parents had taken out a fifteen-thousand dollar home equity loan to renovate the place. The idea was to rent it out, recoup the money to pay off the loan, and then use it as extra income. Fortunately for Ettie, when she was put out of the house in Old Bridge, Mandy's parents had just finished the renovation and Mandy's father insisted they take Ettie in. Originally she had a job—at the 7-Eleven, in fact—but that didn't pay much and it only lasted a year and a half. Ettie blew through what little savings she had on booze and cigarettes until she took to stealing from Renee's purse. Because of this, Mandy's father insisted they give Ettie a fifty-dollar-a week allowance. His wife had fought this fiercely, but honestly, it was the most practical thing to do. Now Renee kept her purse hidden in her bedroom.

  "Ettie, do you wanna have dinner with us?" Mandy asked.

  Ettie drew on her cigarette. "The Regulator ain't asking, is she?"

  "My dad is home."

  Ettie, who was standing by the window, turned and grinned. "Sure, why not?"

  At the table, Mandy's mother hardly spoke or ate. Ettie chattered on about this and that, sounding completely normal, not once bringing up that It's Coming or the man with the dog on the rope. After dinner, she returned to her apartment, and Mandy's father took Liam out front to play ball. Renee went upstairs to lie down. Mandy cleaned up.

  * * *

  After school, Mandy's job was to pick up Liam from Joan's house—the sitter. Sometimes she remembered to tell Joan that she'd be late because of a cross country meet, and sometimes she forgot. Although, it didn't really matter.

  "I'm always here, sweetie," Joan always said. "You come get your brother whatever time you want."

  Liam and Mandy walked the two blocks home. It was Friday and he talked excitedly about how he'd been the only kid in his class to get nominated for the Science Club. "It's a great honor," he said. "I have to stay after school once a week on Thursdays and take the late bus home. Don't forget to tell Joan."

  Just as they reached their house, the man with the dog on the rope passed them. He nodded his head and continued on, towards the 7-Eleven, Mandy guessed.

  Liam didn't say anything but he stared up at his sister, who shrugged and looked way.

  * * *

  Liam wanted to demonstrate a science experiment with vinegar and baking soda, so Mandy and he set up the experiment on the patio table. "You are about to observe a reaction of two chemicals," he said authoritatively, holding up the bottle of vinegar and the box of baking soda. "Actually, many people mistake this simple experiment to be one reaction when it's actually two." He wore safety goggles over his eyes. Renee had gone to work.

  Ettie emerged from the apartment, a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. She twirled around in the backyard grass, dancing and singing an old rock song.

  Liam pushed his goggles on top of his head and frowned.

  Mandy whispered, "You wanna go on the front porch?"

  "Okay."

  She grabbed the small bottle of vinegar and the little glass her brother was using for his experiment, and Liam picked up the box of baking soda. They went through the house and out to the front porch, where Liam set up his experiment again. He poured the baking soda into the demonstration glass, and just as he was about the pour the vinegar into it, Ettie appeared again.

  "What are you two doing?" she asked in her drunken croaky voice.

  Mandy put her finger to her lips to signal Liam's concentration.

  "I'm cool," Ettie muttered.

  Liam poured the vinegar into the glass and suddenly it sizzled and smoked wildly, like a brew in a cauldron. Mandy clapped, Ettie cheered, and Liam beamed.

  "A future scientist!" Mandy said, applauding some more.

  Then there was a bark. The man with the dog on the rope waved. Ettie stared and Mandy put her hand on Liam's shoulder.

  Suddenly, Ettie did something unexpected—she hollered: "Pete! Pete Donner!"

  The man with the dog on the rope stopped. Ettie rushed in long leaps across the small front lawn. "Pete!" she cried, holding out her hand when she reached him. He shook it.

  At first he said nothing but then called, "Wow! Ettie! Ettie Hewitt. How are you?"

  They chatted for a few minutes while Mandy and Liam stood on the porch listening. Finally, Ettie invited the man with the dog on the rope to meet her niece and nephew.

  "Shake his hand, boy," Ettie ordered Liam when he tried to just wave.

  In a few minutes, the man with the dog on the rope—Pete Donner—was sitting in the back at the patio table drinking a beer while his dog sat at his feet. Liam went inside to watch TV while Mandy remained outside listening to Ettie and Pete talk. They had gone to high school together, although he hadn't quit school like Ettie. Pete had even gone to college.

  "Times went bad, though," he said to Ettie and Ettie nodded knowingly.

  "As they do," Ettie replied.

  Mandy glanced at Pete, who was missing a bottom tooth, had rough greenish tattoos on his knuckles and wore a sparse beard. His eyes were blue. He smelled like piss.

  "Life ain't easy, is it?" Ettie asked him.

  Pete nodded and bended down to pet his dog. "No, it isn't." His voice was smooth and his words were clear
and this bothered Mandy. What bothered Mandy more was the way he looked at her—his gaze was too long. She stood up and went inside to sit with Liam.

  * * *

  Right away, Mandy told her mother that Ettie had invited the man with the dog on the rope into the backyard. Renee marched out to Ettie's apartment and forbid her to have that man on her property, but it didn't stop Pete Donner and his dog from visiting several more times, always when Renee was working and Mandy's father wasn't home. Mandy usually found them drinking beer and talking at the patio table, the dog at Pete's feet.

  "Hey, Honey Bell," he'd say when she poked her head outside. Sometimes he called her Princess and other times, Rosebud. Mandy kept Liam inside, even when he wanted to do his science experiment in the backyard. "Do it in the house," she told him. He declined and said forget it, they were too messy, he didn't want to upset their mom. So he did the experiments on the front porch, Mandy sitting with him, nervous that Pete and his dog on a rope would appear. Liam displayed how craters were made on the moon as he dropped marbles and a thick rock into a tray of flour. "You see, it's not just the size but the velocity and the incoming angle," he explained. "Watch and observe."

  * * *

  Thursday, it was dark and wet by the time Mandy's bus let her off. It had been raining all day but her cross country meet in Keyport hadn't been cancelled because it hadn't rained there. Mandy was exhausted as she walked quickly to the sitter's house to get Liam.

  "He never got off the bus," Joan explained.

  Mandy grew panicked. "What? He always gets off the bus."

  "It was raining so I figured you weren't running today," Joan said a bit defensively. "I figured you got him from the bus stop. You did that the last time it rained."

  Mandy shook her head, confused. "No. He has his Science Club on Thursdays. I told you this. He gets off the late bus on Thursdays."

  "Oh, Jesus," Joan cried, realizing her mistake. "When he didn't come to my house, I assumed you got him and I went out to the store for an hour."

  Mandy's stomach clenched. Christ, had her brother been kidnapped? Or he was with Pete? She turned and took off, flying through the slick dark streets, choking on her frenzied sobs. When she reached her house, she fumbled with her key before getting it into the key hole.

  "Liam! Liam!" Mandy shouted as she burst through the door. She ran upstairs to his room—he wasn't there. She ran downstairs, screaming, "Liam! Liam!" She whipped the slider open and raced outside, across the patio, to the garage, and attempted to open Ettie's door. It was unlocked but stuck. Mandy pushed against it, once, twice, until it fell open and she was able to get through. She raced up the steps. There, she found Liam sitting on the couch next to Pete Donner. Pete was drinking beer and Ettie was on her bed, passed out. Liam jumped up, appearing confused.

  "What are you doing?" Mandy demanded from Pete.

  "Hey, relax," the man said.

  Mandy glared at her little brother. "Come here," she ordered and Liam leapt to her side.

  "He was scared," Pete said. "Me and Ettie were hanging out and he came home all freaked out because his sitter was gone and you weren't around. So we said he could hang with us. That's it."

  Mandy turned to Liam. "Why didn't you go next door to Janice's?"

  Liam shrugged and began to cry. "I don't know," he murmured.

  She looked back at Pete. "How long has Ettie been asleep?"

  Pete gazed down at his dog and rubbed its chin. "Not long," he said.

  Mandy led Liam down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, she called up, her voice shaking: "You—you and your dog should leave now! My mom will be home soon and she doesn't like visitors." Liam went to say something but Mandy put a finger to her mouth. She waited a long moment, waiting for Pete Donner to respond, before she called up again. "Okay?"

  Pete appeared at the top of the stairs like a ghost. "Sure thing, Honey Bell."

  * * *

  Liam insisted that Pete hadn't done anything strange or bad. "But he's weird."

  Mandy was worried. She didn't have a specific reason, but she didn't want Pete Donner around anymore. She wracked her brain for something concrete, but he hadn't done anything wrong except come to her house when he wasn't supposed to—and that was more Ettie's fault. Still, he was creepy. Something was off about him, something more than his homelessness and his grungy appearance. It was the way he looked at her with that long gaze, called her Honey Bell or Princess, the way he was sitting so close to Liam when she found them. There was something wrong with him. There had to be.

  Renee had told her husband that Pete Donner and his dog on the rope were hanging in the backyard with Ettie, but Mandy's father had brushed the entire thing aside. "Let her have some friends, for Christ's sake." A huge argument followed and her father had thrown the word "Divorce" into the shouting. No, he wasn't going to throw Ettie out. Yes, he knew Ettie was troubled, but he downright refused to let her live on the streets. And goddamn it, he would kick Renee out if she continued to be a selfish bitch about things.

  Mandy went to the computer, recalling that August day when the police officer came to the house. He'd said, yes, there were some convicted sex offenders living in the camp. However, he'd explained, all sex offenders, including child molesters, were required to register with the town they lived in and that the police were aware of who these men were. Also, they could be found on the state's sex offender site, so if Renee wanted to, if they saw anyone suspicious hanging around the neighborhood, they could check these guys out themselves.

  Mandy glanced down at the keyboard and typed: New Jersey Sex Offenders. Within seconds, the site the cop had been talking about appeared and Mandy clicked the link. After plugging in her zip code, a list of local offenders and their photos popped up. Three lived in the camp behind her house. None were Pete Donner.

  Frustrated, she punched in other zip codes of neighboring towns. Nothing. She typed in his name. Nothing. Perhaps he'd been a sex offender in another state. Perhaps he hadn't registered with the police.

  Then, a plan formed in Mandy's mind: she would tell Ettie she'd found Pete Donner's name on the sex offender site. If her aunt didn't believe her, she would tell her mother and father the story and her father would forbid Pete Donner from coming around. Mandy knew her father wasn't computer literate, nor was Ettie, so chances were they'd believe her. As for Mandy's mom, who was computer literate, Mandy could come clean and tell her she'd made the whole thing up. Surely her mother would go along with it. And surely her father would choose to protect his children over his sister.

  Mandy didn't know that back when he was out of work, he would drink with Ettie.

  All in all, it was a weak strategy, but Mandy was going to give a shot. She went out to the apartment and banged on the door until her aunt came down.

  "Your friend Pete is a child molester," Mandy said, her voice shaking. "Don't let him come here anymore." Mandy told her she found his name and picture on computer site.

  Ettie was wild-eyed, buzzed from alcohol. "He's not a child molester. He's my friend."

  Mandy took a deep breath. "Don't bring him around or my dad will get real angry."

  "No, he won't."

  "Yes, he will," Mandy countered, trying her best to be quick on her feet. "And if you bring Pete Donner around again, my mom will put you out."

  "I hate that fucking Regulator!" Ettie slammed the door.

  * * *

  A few days went by and the plan seemed to work—Pete Donner didn't come by. Mandy's father returned home for a three-day break and things were quiet. After he left, Ettie and Mandy's mother got into an argument up in the apartment about the cigarette butts Ettie kept leaving all over the backyard. The apartment door was open. Mandy stood outside listening. The cigarettes and Ettie's overall laziness were the topic until Ettie yelled, "He ain't no child molester and you can't kick me out."

  "What are you talking about? Who?" Renee demanded.

  "My friend, Pete."

  "He's a child mo
lester?"

  "That's what your daughter said. She said she found it on the computer. But it ain't true. Your daughter's a liar. Pete was just being nice to Liam. We were looking out for him when Mandy was off on her school runs and Liam came home without nowhere to go. He was crying, saying his sitter was gone. We took care of the boy. Pete didn't do nothing. And my brother ain't gonna kick me out!"

  "When did this happen?"

  Suddenly, things grew quiet. Mandy turned and rushed into the house. Liam was sitting on the couch, watching television and Mandy sat down next to him. Renee came inside and within a moment, was standing in front of the TV. She switched it off.

  "I need to speak with both of you." She interrogated Liam first, who told her what he'd told Mandy—Pete Donner didn't touch him but he was weird and they were up in Ettie's apartment when she was drinking and she fell asleep and then Mandy burst in and brought him back into the house.

  "What do you mean by weird, Liam?"

  Liam shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe not weird. Maybe scary."

  Mandy faced her brother: "You said 'weird,' Liam."

  "I know. But I meant scary."

  Renee put her hands on her hips. "How was he scary, Liam?"

  "When I asked him about his tattoos on his fingers, he said he used to live in jail."

  "Jail?"

  "Yeah. He said he was in jail for killing a guy in a fight."

  "He told you this?" Renee snapped.

  "Yes. That's why I just sat next to him when he told me to. He killed someone and I didn't want to make him mad and make him kill me."

  Enraged, Renee faced her daughter. "Why didn't you tell me?"

  This was news to Mandy. Liam had never mentioned this part of the story.

  "I didn't know he killed someone," Mandy said. "I thought he was a child molester. But he's not. I made that up."

  "You made that up?"

  "Yeah," she choked out. "Because he scared me and I thought if I told Ettie he was a child molester, she'd make him stay away."

  "That was a fucking stupid plan. Ettie doesn't give a shit about anyone but herself."