Five days had passed since he had discovered the three people on
the road. Late October passed into early November. The colors of
fall faded as the leaves fell to the ground and slowly turned brown.
Even in five days time, the weather had turned colder. Glen had
started working on the interior of the house.
Glen drilled the hole for the wiring to pass through the stud. He
only had one more wall and the ceiling to finish drilling and then
he would be ready to start running the wire through the house. He
could hardly wait for that part of the job to get finished. As much
as he enjoyed the soft light afforded by kerosene lamps, it would
be nice to get rid of the odor they generated. Most evenings were
spent with the single light over the desk and the dull light from the
fireplace.
His work was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. He ignored
it and drilled another hole in the next stud. The knock was repeated
a second and a third time. Tired of it, he shouted, “Fuck off.”
“It’s the Sheriff. We’ll break down your brand new door if you
don’t answer!”
Glen was going to ignore the Sheriff until he realized that the guy
would probably carry out his threat. He set down the drill and
stormed over to the door. He threw it open and challenged, “What
in the hell do you want?”
The Sheriff smiled at Glen. Glen stood there in blue jeans and
work boots. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he was covered in
sawdust. He looked like the construction worker in the diet cola
commercial; the rugged blue collar man that the white collar
women went wild over. The Sheriff replied, “Well, I had a little
talk with the judge about the Metchettes.”
“What’s that?”
“Not what, who. The Metchettes are the three people you rescued
last week.”
“I don’t want to know their names. I don’t want to know anything
about them.” Glen had done his bit and now it was over. All he
wanted was for his life to return to its normal isolation. He would
work on his house and everyone else would stay away. He liked it
that way. He turned and went back to where he had been working.
Dale smiled as he considered the effect that his next statement
would have. He stated, “You’ll have to know their names. The
judge has awarded you custody of them until they recover.”
Glen stared at the Sheriff for a full minute as he tried to make
sense of what he had just said. He finally blurted, “What the fuck
are you talking about?”
Dale stated, “Well, you see it’s like this. Those three kids have lost
everything. They have no money, no car, no home, and no
relatives. They are stuck here until their property is recovered. In
the mean time, they need a place to stay while they recover from
their wounds, so the judge has awarded you custody of them.”
“What in the hell does that mean?” Glen was afraid that he
understood very well. The idea that the kids were that down on
their luck caused a twinge of guilt. Still, his cabin wasn’t really the
place for them.
“You have to take care of them until they recover.”
“No, I don’t,” Glen might not be a lawyer, but he knew a judge
didn’t have that kind of power. A judge can’t arbitrarily make
another person responsible for someone else. He argued, “The
judge can’t do that.”
“Well, I guess you’ll have to take that up with the judge. He’ll be
back in ten days. Until then, you have to take care of them.”
Glen couldn’t believe that a judge would issue an order like that
and then leave for ten days. There had to be some mechanism for
him to contest this situation. This was ridiculous and he knew it
wasn’t true, but he took a look at the Sheriff and realized that
arguing the legality of it wasn’t going to work. Instead, he fell back
on stubbornness as he replied, “I won’t do it.”
Dale was enjoying this. He had threatened to play rough and now
he was going to deliver on that threat. He stated, “Yes you will. If
you don’t, I’ll just have to put you in jail. They’ll stay here
anyway.”
“I guess you’ll be taking me to jail then. I don’t want people out
here.”
Dale laughed gleefully and then said, “I was hoping you’d say that.
I’m going to arrange for you to have visitors in the jail. People will
be talking to you nonstop the whole time you are there.”
Glen knew the Sheriff well enough to know that he would carry
out that threat. He fumed at the invasion of his privacy that this
represented. He was going to have to put up with strangers for ten
days. He stated, “I can’t do it. This place isn’t fit for human
occupation.”
“That isn’t stopping you from living here,” countered the Sheriff.
“Shit,” retorted Glen. He looked around his unfinished cabin and
tried to imagine four people living in it. He added, “I don’t even
have beds for them. They’ll have to sleep on the floor. They’d be
more comfortable in your jail than here.”
“Well, we thought about that,” replied the Sheriff with a grin. He
pointed to a truck and stated, “That truck has two mattresses from
the hotel in town. They’ve been refurbishing the rooms and
donated the beds. They also threw in sheets, blankets, and pillows.
The church has contributed a bunch of clothes.”
“Damn it Dale, why are you doing this to me?” Even as he
complained, he felt guilty about it. The Sheriff might be doing this
to him, but he was doing it to help out the three kids.
Dale looked around with a very self-satisfied smile. He hiked up
his pants. He was proud of himself for having come up with this
idea. He stated, “Well, you need to interact with people. Now you
have to, whether you want to or not. The fact that the Metchettes
are taken care of at the same time sounds real good to me.”
“I guess I’ll put them up at the hotel in town. Ten days shouldn’t
cost me that much.”
“Nope, that won’t do. They need to be watched in case there are
unforeseen complications due to the treatment they received at the
hands of that madman.”
Glen fumed. He realized that there was nothing he could do. He
said, “You aren’t going to let me get out of this, are you?”
“Nope.”
“I don’t have a bathroom.”
“You will soon. Until then, they can use your outhouse.”
Glen grumbled, “It’s more an out than a house.”
The Sheriff laughed at the statement. He shook his head and turned
to a couple of men in the truck. He shouted, “Bring that stuff into
the house.”
Glen watched in horror as two men climbed out of the truck and
proceeded to carry a couple of mattresses into the house. When
they got inside the cabin, one of them asked, “Where do you want
it?”
Glen answered, “Anywhere else except here.”
“That’s funny. Seriously, where do you want us to set up the beds?”
Glen pointed to the far end of the cabin. It put the maximum
distance between where he stayed and where they would stay. He
answered, “Over there.”
The men quickly set up two queen size beds in the areas he had
framed in for bedrooms. While one of the men arranged the
mattresses on the beds, the other went back to the truck and
brought back a box of bedding material. He nodded at Glen and
then stated, “It’s sure good of you to do this for them folks. They
really are down on their luck.”
Glen just turned away. He wasn’t doing this out of the goodness of
his heart. The Sheriff had forced him into doing it. In a way, that
made him feel even worse about himself. There was a time when
he would have been the first to volunteer to help. Glen went over
to his recliner and sat down, trying very hard, but unsuccessfully,
to ignore the activity within his cabin.
The Sheriff leaned against the wall and watched Glen fidget. He
knew that this was a tough time for the son of his friend. He waited
to see what Glen would say or do next. He was surprised to see
that he didn’t do anything. The degree of submission Glen was
demonstrating was very uncharacteristic.
After the men who had set up the bed left, another car pulled up in
front of the cabin. The Sheriff let the woman and her teenage son
into the cabin. They carried boxes of clothes that had been donated
for the Metchettes. Glen numbly watched them come and go
without comment. He wondered how many more people would end
up trooping through the house.
After all of the activity died down, it was very quiet in the cabin.
The only ones there were Glen and Dale. Dale stated, “Glen, snap
out of out and talk to me. They’ll be here soon.”
Glen looked over at the Sheriff with an even gaze. He stated, “I
will do as I must. Don’t expect me to thank you or jump up and
down in joy.”
“Before they get here, you’ve got to understand some things. These
kids have had a tough time. The boy was raped. Now rape is tough
on everyone, but often worse when the victim is male. The twins
are very fragile. They were treated brutally. They all suffer from
nightmares. You are going to have to be very gentle around them.”
Dale stared at Glen.
“Look, I’m not the right person for this. I mean look at me.”
“Glen, you are the only one around that can take care of them.
You’re here twenty-four hours a day. Hell, you’re the only one that
I know that doesn’t have a real life to live.” It wasn’t a nice
assessment of Glen’s life, but it was accurate. He added, “Living
here, they won’t have to deal with other people until they are ready
for them.”
Glen thought about it. He stated, “Don’t expect me to coddle them.
I’m not a wet nurse.”
“I don’t expect you to coddle them.” The Sheriff heard a noise
outside and looked out the window. He said, “They are here. You
might want to put on a shirt.”
“Are you telling me that I’m not pretty enough?”
“Nah, I just don’t want you exciting the women.”
Glen actually laughed at that. He turned and put on a shirt. There
was a knock on the door, which the Sheriff answered. Glen turned
to watch a group of four enter the cabin. The deputy led the twins
into the cabin. They were followed by the young man. It was the
first time that Glen actually looked at the three of them. He put
their ages in the late teens or early twenties. They all had sandy
brown hair and you could tell that they were all related.
The Sheriff waved the trio over and stated, “Glen, this is Cliff,
Sandra, and Wanda Metchette. Metchettes, this is Glen. You’ll be
staying with him for a couple of weeks until we can figure out
what to do with you.”
Cliff smiled uncertainly as he extended his hand. “Nice to meet
you.”
Glen looked at the hand and just nodded in Cliff’s direction. Cliff
didn’t know how to react and stood there awkwardly. Finally, he
put his hand back in his pants pocket and stared at Glen. He
decided that he didn’t really like this guy.
The twins, almost in harmony, stated, “Hello. Nice to meet you.”
Glenn just stared at them wondering which girl was which. He
frowned as he decided that he would never be able to tell them
apart. He nodded in their direction and then went over to the wall
of the cabin and leaned against it. He watched the three of them
stand there nervously.
Sandra smiled uncertainly and nodded her head in Glen’s
direction. She was tired already and wanted to take a nap. She
meekly asked, “When will we be going to your house?”
Glen actually smiled at the question while the Sheriff laughed. The
Sheriff answered, “You’re there. This is where he lives.”
Wanda, the much more conservative and introverted of the two
twins, burst out, “It isn’t even a real house! We can’t live here.”
Cliff interrupted, “Girls, we’re safe here.”
That stopped all arguments. Glen had hoped they would argue a
little more about staying here. He was all ready to use that to
suggest they go somewhere else. He stated, “Your beds are over in
the corner. They brought some clothes for you.”
Dale stated, “Well, kids. I’ll leave you to get settled in. Don’t worry
about Glen, he’s gruff but has a good character. He’s the one that
found you.”
All three of them started to thank him, but he held up his hand. He
was about to say that he should have left them there, but a glance
at the Sheriff he stopped himself. Instead, he said, “Don’t ever
mention it again.”
The Sheriff slowly shook his head and opened the door. He stated,
“I’ll be seeing you tonight at the diner. My niece has arranged an
account there for you to pay for your meals from donations. Now,
I’ll expect you kids to tell me how he’s treating you. Okay?”
The trio all nodded, very nervous about being left with this strange
man. With a quick glance in Glen’s direction, Cliff answered, “I’m
sure we’ll be okay.”
Glen walked over to his recliner and noticed the magazine on the
floor next to it. He shoved it under the chair with his foot. The
bottle of hand-lotion was still on the desk. That wasn’t so telling of
his normal nightly routine. He watched the Sheriff leave. He went
over to where he had dropped his drill and went back to work.
The trio stood there in shock. They weren’t use to being ignored so
effectively. For several minutes they watched him drilling holes in
the studs. Finally, Sandra went over to him and tapped him on the
shoulder. He turned to look at her before asking, “What?”
“What are you doing?”
Glen looked at her for a moment and then answered, “I’m drilling
holes in the studs.”
“Why?”
He shook his head as though he had just bitten into something
extremely sour. He replied, “I’m getting ready to run electricity
through the house.”
“Oh. Will you be done soon?”
“I plan to work for another couple of hours.”
Sandra pouted and said, “We’re really tired. Can you stop while we
take a nap?”
Glen looked at the trio for a moment. “I guess I can stop drilling
for a while. You have your choice. I can drill holes, I can use the
power saw, or I can nail some electrical boxes onto the studs.
Which would you prefer?”
Sandra frowned as she answered, “They are all noisy. Can’t you do
something quiet for a while?”
Wanda stated, “I need to go to the bathroom. Where is it?”
Glen stood there for a moment looking at the trio. “Building a
house is a noisy activity. The bathroom is in the woods.”
Wanda whined, “In the woods. I can’t go to the bathroom in the
woods. I’ll get eaten by a bear.”
Glen shrugged, “Well, you figure out where you want to go to the
bathroom. This house doesn’t have a bathroom right now and won’t
until after I get the walls wired, the sheet-rock put up, and the
plumbing run. All of them are noisy activities.”
Cliff listened to the discussion. After the ordeal, he was driven by
his guilt over his failure to protect his sisters. He asked, “Can you
let me borrow a gun so that I can stand guard over my sisters when
they go to the bathroom?”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
“They aren’t that tough to figure out.”
Glen looked at Cliff as if he was an idiot. He stated, “You’ll shoot
your foot off at best and kill someone at worst.”
Cliff crossed his arms and glowered at the older man. Glen walked
over to a stack of wood and picked out a four-foot length of two by
four. He threw it over to Cliff. Cliff nearly tripped over himself
catching it. Glen stated, “Use that. It’s a low skill weapon.”
Cliff hefted the board and realized that he could easily use that
against anything except a gun. He answered, “You’re probably
right.”
Glen walked over to the door and opened it. He turned to the other
three with impatience. He stated, “Well, follow me if you want to
find out where the outhouse is.”
The three siblings looked at each other and then followed Glen as
he strode off to the woods. They raced to catch up. As they
approached the woods, Glen pointed to a white flag tied on a tree
branch. He stated, “That flag shows where you enter the woods. It’s
easy to spot in the dark with a flashlight.”
He entered the woods right under the flag. The trio looked at each
other and whispered, “We are coming out here in the dark?”
Twenty steps into the woods, Glen stopped. The trio almost walked
into him. He pointed to the seat mounted on the wood box. He
stated, “There it is.”
Wanda broke out crying while Sandra’s lower lip quivered. Cliff
stated, “There aren’t any walls!”
“You have a roof and that will keep the rain off of you.” Glen
pointed to the sheet of plywood nailed to a couple of tree limbs. He
added, “There’s no one out here to see you except us. I sure as hell
won’t get sexually excited by the sight of you taking a shit.”
Cliff reacted to the callous disregard for his sisters. The guy didn’t
have to be so disrespectful. He shouted, “Don’t talk like that in
front of my sisters!”
Glen ignored him and headed back to the house. It wasn’t his idea
to have these people stay with him. His living situation was the
way it was and he was working to improve it. He didn’t need
anyone telling him that it wasn’t good enough for them.
Cliff went to his sisters and tried to comfort them. He stated, “We
won’t be here for long. I know it’s tough, but we can stick it out.”
Wanda, covering her eyes with her hands, cried, “He’s a horrible
man. He hasn’t said a nice thing to us once.”
Sandra, trying hard to hold back her tears, added, “He’s the rudest
person I’ve ever met.”
Cliff stated, “I’ll talk to him and make him behave nicely with
you.”
Sobbing, Wanda said, “We should never have left home. First, we
get attacked, robbed, and raped. Now this!”
Her words struck Cliff like arrows. He hugged her in an attempt to
comfort her. He stated, “We had nothing at home. We had to
move. I’m sorry everything has turned out this way.”
Sandra put her arm around her sister. She said, “Cliff is right.
We’ve got to make the best of this situation that we can.”
Cliff added, “We’re all tired. Let’s go back and take a nap. We’ll be
better afterwards.”
Wanda continued to weep. She sobbed, “He’s going to make so
much noise that we can’t sleep.”
Sandra stated, “I’ll ask him not to do it. He hasn’t been nice, but he
hasn’t acted as if he wants to hit us.”
Cliff, deciding that they had been out here long enough, stated,
“We had better get back to the house.”
Wanda looked at the outhouse for a minute. With her voice
trembling, she said, “I still have to go to the bathroom.”
Cliff looked around at the surroundings. He stated, “I’ll go out to
the pasture. If you have a problem, yell and I’ll come running.”
Sandra, knowing that would only help calm her sister a little,
added, “I’ll stay here with you. Then I’ll go.”
The trio took turns using the outhouse. The experience was not as
bad as they had expected. Of course, it was still the middle of the
day. The thought of going out there in the dark scared all of them,
even Cliff. They slowly returned to the house afraid of what they
would find.
Glen was putting in the electrical boxes. He was actually making
good progress in getting them all installed. He had just about
caught up with where he planned to be for the day. He looked out
the window and saw the trio returning to the cabin. He shook his
head as he thought about how ill prepared they were for the rugged
life living here would mean. Maybe they would settle into the
rhythm of life here, but he doubted it.
The trio entered the cabin. Cliff looked at Glen in trepidation. The
twins went over to the beds and started to make them. The twins
worked together with practiced ease. Cliff went to Glen and stated,
“Sir, we really need to get some rest. Can you find something quiet
to do while we are taking a nap?”
Glen looked over at the twins, watching them make the bed. He
grumbled, “I’ll install this stuff until you get into bed. Then I’ll do
some wiring. That is relatively quiet.”
Cliff smiled, “Thank you.”
Glen went back to work on installing the outlet boxes. He had all
but one of the outlet boxes installed by the time the girls had
finished making the beds and separating the clothes. He glanced
over at them and stated, “Last one. Then I’ll start wiring.”
Wanda and Sandra exchanged a look of surprise, incredulous that
he was accommodating them at all. Sandra stated, “Thanks.”
Glen installed the last box. He went over to the corner where his
building supplies were stacked and picked up the box of wire. He
carried it over to the electrical closet. He turned and looked at the
trio. They were just standing there. He asked, “What’s the matter
now?”
Sandra stated, “We can’t sleep in our clothes.”
Glen exhaled loudly. He stated, “So get undressed and get into
bed.”
Wanda bit her lower lip and looked like she was going to cry
again. Sandra’s hands had gone to cover her eyes as her shoulders
shook. Cliff looked at his sisters and then stated, “Glen, can I talk
to you outside?”
Glen, realizing this was a ruse to give the women a chance to
undress and get in bed, went outside with Cliff. Tersely, he asked,
“What do you want?”
“Look, these are my sisters. They need some privacy.”
Glen nodded, “I understand that. Privacy is in short supply here.”
“You need to fix that problem.”
Glen looked out over the front yard. In the spring, he would hire
someone to plow it and level it. Then he’d plant grass so that it
would be a nice lawn. For now, he’d live with the weeds. In the
back yard, he was going to plant fruit trees. For now, it would have
to remain empty. He stated, “Things have to be done in a specific
order. When it is time to get more privacy, we’ll get more privacy.
Until then, we can only look in a different direction.”
Cliff frowned as he thought about it. He could understand Glen’s
position. He replied, “Okay. The girls are probably in bed by now.”
The men entered the cabin. The twins were in one of the queen-
size beds with the sheet pulled up to their chins. Cliff asked,
“Would you turn your heads so that I can get undressed?”
As one, the twins answered, “Okay.”
They turned. Glen didn’t bother to answer. He started running the
wire through the holes had had just drilled. He worked quickly and
confidently as he went through the process of running the wires. It
wasn’t going to take him too long to finish wiring the lower part of
the cabin.
He finished working and turned to look at the trio as they slept in
the bed. One of the twins had stolen the sheet from the other. He
laughed as he looked at one twin wrapped up like a mummy and
the other naked as the day she was born. He went over to the box
of bedding and pulled out another sheet. He draped it over the one
that was bare.
He looked around and realized there was nothing he could do
while they were sleeping. He grabbed his fishing rod and headed
out of the house. He would get in an hour or so of fishing. Maybe
if he caught a fish he wouldn’t need to go to town. Then he realized
that he would have to catch four fish to feed everyone. He cast his
line into the water and sat down by the stream. He slowly retrieved
the lure.
After ten minutes, he had entered a mindless state where the
motions were automatic. He took his time thinking about the trio
that was in his cabin. He had no idea what he was going to do with
them. For now, he was stuck with them despite his desire to be rid
of them. He promised that he was going to get even with the
Sheriff one of these days.
He was surprised to get a bite and reeled in a very nice looking
Brook Trout. He removed the hook and returned it to the stream. It
was a good-sized one, but not sufficient to feed four. Maybe it
would grow up to be a monster fish that was smart and difficult to
catch. That would not be a bad result of today’s catch. Everyone
needed to have that rascal giant fish that resisted all attempts to
catch it. He laughed to himself as he set his pole down and leaned
back against a tree. He took his time to watch the wildlife for a
while. The time spent relaxed him significantly.
He stood and headed towards the cabin. It was time for the trio to
wake or they would never sleep tonight. He noticed Cliff walking
towards the outhouse. He wondered if the guy was going all that
distance just to piss. He usually stepped out the back door and
pissed on the first tree he came across. Thinking of that, he
wondered what would be the reaction the first time he did it now.
He shook his head as he debated the wisdom of doing that.
Entering the cabin, he noticed that the women were awake and
dressed. He relaxed a little now that one more argument was
avoided. As a result, he wasn’t ready for the barrage that hit him on
entry. Wanda started it by asking, “What’s your last name?”
“Wiseman.”
Sandra asked, “How old are you?”
“Ancient.”
“Seriously, how old are you?” Wanda followed up her sister’s
question.
“Thirty-six.”
Sandra continued by asking, “Why are you living out here like
this? What do you do for fun? Are you happy like this? How come
you’re building your own house? Why aren’t you at work?”
“None of your business,” retorted Glen. He felt like he was a
murder suspect getting grilled by the cops. He didn’t like it at all
and decided to turn it around, “How old are you?”
“I’m twenty. So’s my sister, but she’s ten minutes older than me.
We’re identical twins, but very different in terms of our
personalities.”
“She’s the extrovert. I’m the shy one. Together we are one person.”
Glen went to his wardrobe and pulled out two colored
handkerchiefs. He threw the red one to one of the twins and the
blue to the other. There was no way he was ever going to be able to
tell them apart. He stated, “Wear these. From now on, you’re red
and you’re blue.”
The twins looked at each other and tied the handkerchiefs around
their necks. While they were doing that, Glen moved the ladder
into the center of one of the bedrooms. Once in place, Glen stated,
“Red, hand me the drill. Blue, come here and hold the ladder while
I drill some more holes.”
Wanda moved over to the ladder. Sandra looked around for the
drill. She asked, “What does it look like?”
“Women!” Glen snorted in disgust. He walked over to her and
picked up the drill that was at her foot. He held it up and said,
“This is a drill.”
He went back to the ladder and climbed up. He had stopped
drilling so that he could finish the lower half of the house while
they were asleep. It took him just a few seconds to drill a hole.
Wanda shouted, “You’re getting sawdust all over me! Stop it!”
Glen snarled, “Blue, if you want privacy then you will hold the
ladder. We won’t have walls until I get the wiring run.”
He leaned over and drilled another hole. He climbed down and
moved the ladder. Climbing, he drilled two more holes. Those
were enough for the bedroom. He went to the next room and
repeated the process. Each room that was to have lights or fans
installed was taken in turn. He continued to work, not realizing that
Cliff, Wanda and Sandra were taking turns holding the ladder. He
had installed the outlets when he had completed the rafters since
they had been reinforced to support the weight of ceiling fans or
major light fixtures. He then worked at running the wires from the
switch boxes to the overhead outlets. By the time he was finished,
he was hot, sweaty, and covered in sawdust.
He looked at his watch and turned to the trio. He stated, “It’s
getting late. Let’s clean up and go into town to eat.”
It was almost two hours later before they were able to leave the
cabin. The twins had balked at taking a shower under the hose on
the porch. Disgusted, he stripped in front of them, went outside,
showered, dried himself, and then returned inside to dress. The
twins were blushing furiously the entire time. He and Cliff had to
wait out front while the twins took their showers. Glen knew they
were going to do nothing for the whole drive to town except
complain about the cold water. Not for the last time, he thought
that he should have driven on past them that first day.