A Fortnight of Fury

by David Culberson

  Captain Jay then turned and stepped back onto the dock and shouted for Boiled Bob.

  Charlie, Desmond and Arlan hurried down the dock. Lisa stepped off the sailboat and hugged Arlan and Charlie. Tommy lagged behind with Bob. Lisa’s jaw dropped when she saw the man in a jumpsuit stop next to the boat and salute. Desmond’s men looked confused. One of them glanced back into the cabin to make sure their prisoner was still there. Captain Jay continued to shout for Boiled Bob and tried to step onto Charlie’s boat. Desmond shook his head at his men telling them to not let Jay pass. They moved close together, blocking the opening in the boat’s rail, the only place where Captain Jay could board.

  Lisa leaned, or fell, back against the rail of the Happy Hobo and continued to stare at Bob.

  Tommy said, “I-it’s okay, Lisa. He’s n-not Boiled B-Bob. Just l-looks like him.”

  “Boiled Bob, Boiled Bob, Boiled Bob,” Bob said.

  Tommy shook his head, put his hand on Bob’s shoulder and said, “His n-name is Bob, j-just Bob.”

  “J-just Bob, J-just Bob, J-just Bob,” the man in the jumpsuit repeated with a big smile.

  Desmond’s men laughed.

  Boiled Bob heard the commotion on the dock and recognized the voices of Captain Jay and Charlie and that stuttering prick, Tommy. This was his worst nightmare. He struggled against his restraints, but he was going nowhere.

  Captain Jay continued to shout. His face was red, and he shoved one of Desmond’s men, who shoved back. “Let me onboard, or I’ll kick your black asses,” Jay shouted.

  Desmond moved toward Captain Jay. Charlie stepped close and said to Captain Jay, “You need to back off. We’ve got him. And we have your girlfriend and the boat. We’re done here.”

  “Bullshit. I’m gettin’ even with that asshole. He raped Lisa.”

  “He didn’t rape me,” Lisa said in a hushed voice.

  All eyes turned toward Lisa, who had stepped away from the sailboat.

  Her voice stronger, she said, “He tried to several times but couldn’t get an erection.”

  Desmond’s men fidgeted, fighting smiles.

  Boiled Bob heard Lisa, and his face reddened. “Bitch,” he mumbled.

  “He might have raped me when I was passed out after he pulled me from the water. But how would I have known.” With an even stronger voice she looked toward the cabin of Charlie’s boat and shouted, “How would I know if Boiled Bob stuck his dick into me? It’s so small I would never have felt it!”

  Desmond’s men laughed.

  Boiled Bob fumed inside the cabin. “I’ll kill that bitch once I’m loose,” he said to himself.

  The man in the jumpsuit laughed and said, “Little weenie, little weenie, little weenie.”

  Lisa smiled, and Captain Jay seemed to have settled down.

  Who the hell said that? Boiled Bob wondered.

  Charlie said, “Bring Boiled Bob out here. We need to make a decision.”

  Desmond nodded, and one of his men walked into the boat’s cabin and returned with Boiled Bob uselessly struggling in his captor’s tree trunk arms. He saw Lisa and sneered. Captain Jay was a few feet away, being restrained by Charlie. Arlan and Tommy stood back with a man in a jumpsuit wearing a floppy camouflaged hat. Boiled Bob stared at the man for a full minute. The man saluted him.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Boiled Bob asked, standing motionless.

  “Th-that’s you,” Tommy said with a laugh, which brought smiles to everybody except Boiled Bob.

  Arlan laughed but stopped when an idea began to nag at him. Something Tommy had just said.

  Charlie pointed to Boiled Bob and said, “I’m not hauling his sorry ass back to St. John. He either goes to prison here or dies here.”

  “There’s no proof he did anythin’ here to send him to prison,” Captain Jay said and licked his lips. “I can gut the son-of-bitch right here, and we can dump his body in the bay. I’m sure there are plenty of war casualties floatin’ around this island.”

  “There’s proof back on St. Marten,” Arlan said.

  Boiled Bob shouted, “I didn’t do that!”

  “That was Maynard. And he’s dead,” Jay said and nodded to Tommy.

  Boiled Bob recoiled and wondered how Maynard had died.

  Charlie looked over to Lisa and said, “What do you want to do with him? You suffered more than anybody else.”

  Lisa stared into the bay and shook her head. She didn’t want to decide.

  Desmond nodded toward Boiled Bob and said, “We can take dis Boil Bob and find a hole to put him in.”

  The man in the jumpsuit coughed and looked down at his clothing. In one of his rare lucid moments he said, “The hospital is a hole.”

  “Tis fo tru,” Desmond said with a tinge of embarrassment.

  The idea brewing in Arlan’s mind had come to fruition. He said, “I have an idea.”

  Everybody waited for Arlan to tell them his idea.

  “Let’s take him back.”

  “B-back where?”

  “To the mental hospital.”

  “I, f-for one, don’t want to see h-him go back th-there,” Tommy said and placed his hand on Bob’s shoulder. “B-besides, it’s blown up.”

  Arlan said, “I’m not talking about him,” pointing to Bob in the jumpsuit. “I’m talking about him,” Arlan said as he turned and pointed to Boiled Bob.

  Charlie smiled. After a moment Captain Jay laughed, as did Desmond and his men. Lisa even grinned.

  Boiled Bob, realizing what Arlan meant, tried to run and was grabbed immediately by Desmond’s men. “What the fuck are you talking about? I’m not going to any mental hospital.”

  “Would you rather be dead?” Charlie asked and shrugged. “Because none of us gives a damn either way.”

  Arlan said, “The owner of the drugstore told us a group of nurses and doctors were scrambling to find a temporary home for the patients that survived the bombing. I’m sure the US military will help with that effort once we explain the situation to Charlie’s friends.”

  Nobody spoke. Arlan looked around and saw that everybody was deep in thought, except the two Bobs. Boiled Bob was straining against the two large men who held him, mumbling, “Fucking idiots. Mother fuckers…”

  Bob in the jump suit looked at the struggling Boiled Bob and, with clear eyes and a cold stare, said, “Your name is Ben Joseph.” He then saluted him and said, “Goodbye, Ben Joseph.” He laughed, turned toward Tommy and said, “Just Bob, just Bob, just Bob.”

  “Y-you finally g-got it right, B-bob.”

  Arlan said, “We need to exchange their clothes.”

  Desmond nodded toward his men, who held Boiled Bob down and stripped him of his shorts and T-shirt, Boiled Bob screaming and kicking the whole time. With his clothes off they stood him upright, naked.

  Arlan looked to Bob with the jumpsuit and said, “Bob, we need your clothes. We’ll give you some new clothes in return.”

  Bob smiled, took off his jump suit and stood naked on the dock next to Tommy.

  Lisa couldn’t take her eyes from Bob’s genitals. All the men were taken aback too. Lisa smiled and said, “Well, at least we know they’re not identical twins.”

  Captain Jay said, “Jesus, Bob, what do you do with that? Hit baseballs?”

  Bob seemed not to be embarrassed. He liked the attention. He looked over at the still struggling Boiled Bob and said, “Little weenie, little weenie, little weenie.”

  Boiled Bob was humiliated. He tried to cover his small penis with his thighs. Desmond grabbed the jumpsuit and told his men to put it on Boiled Bob. Arlan then went into the cabin of Charlie’s boat and took a spare clean T-shirt and shorts from his overnight bag. He stepped back onto the deck and handed them to Bob, who saluted him and said, “Thank you, sir, thank you, sir, thank you, sir.”

  “You’re
welcome, Bob,” Arlan said and patted his arm.

  Boiled Bob struggled while the men put the filthy jumpsuit on him. Then he started to think that maybe this wasn’t a bad deal. Once in a mental hospital and with these gorillas nowhere around, he could easily escape. And these idiots would probably never know it. He smiled inwardly and resigned himself to be led away to wherever the hospital was.

  Desmond and Charlie left to talk to the commander at Point Salines. Desmond’s men returned Boiled Bob to the cabin and restrained him. He seemed much calmer. Lisa and Captain Jay relaxed on the Happy Hobo. Tommy, Arlan and Bob had joined them, but Lisa was uncomfortable with the Boiled Bob lookalike on the deck with her, so Tommy suggested they move to the cabin of Charlie’s boat to antagonize Boiled Bob.

  They could hear large aircraft taking off and landing at the Point Salines runway. An occasional helicopter flew by, and a spattering of gunfire could be heard in the distant hills.

  Charlie and Desmond returned just before sundown.

  “Okay. Here’s what we know.” Charlie then explained. “This invasion is about over. There are a few pockets of resistance around St. George’s. The campus at Anse Bay has been taken, and the students are being flown home. However, it turns out that there’s a third campus on that ridge over there,” Charlie said, pointing to the hill on the east side of Prickly Bay. “We’re going to hunker down here for the night and part of tomorrow while the military cleans things up. The Rangers will move in early tomorrow to rescue the students on that ridge. The commander tells me that the only thing left to do after that is to take the Cuban construction camp that’s located a few bays farther to the east. If all goes well, we’ll be getting a military escort into St. George’s about mid-morning, where we can deliver Boiled Bob and be done with this nonsense.”

  “What are we going to do with the new Bob?” Arlan asked.

  “That’s a good question,” Charlie said.

  Chapter 19

  Day 14: Oct 27

  Around eleven in the morning the distant gunfire slackened considerably, and Charlie announced that it was time to leave for St. George’s with Boiled Bob. Desmond and his men stayed back to watch the boats and the new Bob. Lisa chose to stay behind, not wanting anything to do with the real Boiled Bob. She wanted Captain Jay to stay with her, but he protested, not wanting to miss the chance to pummel Boiled Bob if he tried to escape.

  Charlie drove, Arlan rode shotgun and Tommy sat in the back near the handcuffed Boiled Bob to make sure Captain Jay, who sat on the other side of Boiled Bob, didn’t skewer him in route. Along the way the van was forced to take several sharp turns. Each turn where Boiled Bob leaned into Captain Jay was rewarded with Jay elbowing him in the ribs. Arlan glanced back at each left turn and saw the intensity of the jabs increase as the trip progressed. He was sure Boiled Bob had suffered several bruised, if not cracked, ribs.

  On the road that led north from Point Salines they met up with a military truck with two soldiers in the front and two more in the back, one manning a .50-caliber machine gun. The military vehicle led the van three miles north, past Anse Bay, and into St. George’s. They heard sporadic small arms fire from the hills but saw no violence along the way. In some places, locals celebrated the successful invasion, many holding hand-written signs thanking the US for saving them from communism.

  As planned, the escort truck drove to the harbor and to the street where the drugstore was located. About half the shops along the street were open. They’ll have a hard year ahead of them, Arlan thought. Tourists would probably stay away from the island for a while.

  Charlie parked the van on the street outside the drugstore and Boiled Bob, wearing the mental hospital jumpsuit, was led into the store. The owner, who was restocking shelves, recognized them and greeted them warmly.

  “Tanks fo watchin Ben,” he said and looked toward Boiled Bob.

  “We didn’t know you knew him,” Charlie said.

  “We all know Benny. He was dealt a bad hand. I’ve not seen him since he was sent to de hospital, but when he was younger he and his sister would come in here to get away from der fadder.”

  Boiled Bob remained quiet, but his head was screaming, I’m not Benny you stupid fuck.

  The store owner looked at Boiled Bob’s menacing expression and said, “I tink he has become more angry since I knew him.”

  “He’s violent too,” Captain Jay said. “He’s gonna need restraints and guards.”

  “Have you found a place for the patients from the hospital?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes. De two girls we kept wit us were taken to de new facility dis morning. I’ll call a nurse who is working der. It’s a short way from here. She can be here in five minutes.”

  The store owner walked to the pay phone near the front of the store and made the call. Boiled Bob didn’t like what he’d just heard. He looked around the store for an exit.

  “It l-looks like your g-going home, B-Benny,” Tommy said with a smile.

  “Fuck you T-Tommy,” Boiled Bob said, spittle flying from his mouth.

  Tommy stepped close to Boiled Bob and said without stuttering, “If you think you’re in the clear you’re as crazy as the people you’ll be living with the rest of your life.”

  Boiled Bob felt Tommy’s hand cup his balls and squeeze. He screamed, bringing the store owner scrambling over.

  “What tis de problem?”

  “H-he’s been this way since w-we took him,” Tommy said.

  “I think he’s shell-shocked,” Charlie added.

  “I told you he’s gonna need restraints,” Captain Jay said.

  As soon as Tommy let go, Boiled Bob bolted toward the back of the store, hoping to find an exit. The pain from his ribs was debilitating. He somehow found a door, but it was blocked with boxes and office furniture. Breathing heavily and doubling over from pain, he ran back toward the front of the store, chased by Tommy, Arlan and Captain Jay. He exploded out of the entrance door at the same time the nurse was entering. He bowled her over and kept going. What he didn’t expect was to run into the US military. The four troopers from the escort vehicles were on him in seconds. They took him to the ground and held him there.

  Boiled Bob lay on the ground, in pain and defeated. The simple task of taking a breath was agonizing. He stared up at his captors and wanted to kill all of them. Where was Maynard when he needed him, he thought.

  “We heard a scream from the store and decided we should check it out,” one of the soldiers said. “Looks like your patient is a flight risk,” he added.

  Tommy stopped and helped the nurse to her feet.

  The nurse stepped toward Boiled Bob with Tommy’s assistance and said, “Benny, what’s gotten into you?”

  “I’m not Benny, bitch. I’m Bob, Bob Blight, from Miami!” Boiled Bob shouted.

  “Oh, Benny, poor Benny,” the nurse said and shook her head.

  “I’m Bob, damn it! Bob. Bob. BOB!” Boiled Bob shouted.

  Perfect, thought Arlan and smiled.

  Boiled Bob looked toward Arlan and realized his mistake.

  “You don’t understand,” he pleaded. “These men have kidnapped me and have replaced me with the real nut job… whatever his name is.” Boiled Bob grimaced in pain and said, “I’m Bob. Boiled Bob. How can you not see the fucking truth?”

  The nurse shook her head and looked to the men around her. She said, “Benny is a mimic of sorts. He always claims to be somebody else… anybody he’s met or has been told about. And he changes his personality to fit his new name. Sometimes it lasts for a few hours. Sometimes it lasts for months.” She paused and said, “I’ve never seen him so angry. The bombing must have had a very bad effect on him.”

  The soldiers stood Boiled Bob up.

  “What do you want us to do with him, ma’am?” One of the soldiers asked.

  The nurse frowned at Boiled Bob and said, �
��Oh, Benny. What has happened to you?” She then looked at the soldier and said, “We have been given part of the prison that you liberated yesterday to use for our patients. We have plenty of security, and I’ve been told that there will be significant financial aid from the US to help us build a new hospital with modern upgrades and security. He won’t be a bother to anybody.”

  Boiled Bob shouted, “You stupid bitch! I’m not Benny. I’m Bob!”

  The nurse shook her head and said, “Of course, Be… Bob. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. You’ll be home in no time.”

  Captain Jay snorted and let out a laugh.

  The nurse turned to him and said, “This is not funny.”

  “Of course not, ma’am,” he said and turned away with a smile on his face.

  “Can I depend on you soldiers to escort Ben… Bob to our new facility? There are already other US soldiers and doctors there.”

  The soldier looked toward Charlie. Charlie nodded and said, “We can find our way back. I think you should do as the nurse asks. I’ll let your commander know where you are.”

  “Thank you, sir,” he said and then nodded to the other soldiers, who put Boiled Bob in the back of the truck and hopped in with him.

  “You can ride in front, ma’am.”

  “Thank you,” she said and turned to Charlie and the others. “Thank you so much for taking care of our Benny. He’ll be in good hands.” With a sad look she walked to the truck and got in the passenger side.

  Boiled Bob glared at the group as the truck slowly drove away. All were grinning. As the truck turned the corner Captain Jay smiled, raised his arm and waved at Boiled Bob with his fingers, like a child.

  * * *

  Charlie drove the van to the dock and let everybody off, motioned for Desmond to hop in, and they drove away. On their way out of the parking lot Tommy shouted, “Wh-where are you g-going?”

  “I need to make a couple more phone calls. Then we’re out of here,” Charlie shouted with his gruff voice.

  Tommy and Arlan entertained Bob, who’d made himself at home with Desmond’s men. They played dominoes for a couple of hours, after which Desmond’s men claimed that Bob was a shark. Charlie and Desmond returned, both carrying two large duffle bags from the van onto the dock.