TWO WRONGS

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Note: This story is just one of seventeen taken from a novel by JAlexander called “SHIPWRECK”  

 “If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.” (Ephesians 4:26)

David rang the bell and then stood back and waited. He was a little surprised when he heard an older woman’s voice call out, “Hold on, I’m coming!”

The door opened and there stood the sweetest little old lady that he had ever seen. Following right behind her was a mild-mannered gentleman whom David guessed was her protector. The little man must have had problems with his eyesight, because he was standing right behind her, yet had to ask, “Who is it dear?”

She replied, “I don’t know who he is, but he looks like a very nice young man!”

The old man offered David his hand and greeted him; “Hello, I’m Danny Stone and this is my wife Rebecca. How may we help you?”

“Nice to meet you Sir, my name is David McMaster and I’m just passing through the neighborhood doing a survey on ‘Anger.’

Mrs. Stone pointed her little finger at David and remarked, “You can’t fool me young man; I know you; you moved in next door at # 6 about a month ago. We haven’t seen very much of you, I guess you work long hours.”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Stone but you must be mistaken. You see ma’am, I just arrived here today and I will be moving on before it gets dark. I’ve heard that everyone has a double, but I pity the poor guy that looks like me.”

“Please come in young man and we will sit and talk. Why don’t you and Danny go into the living room and I’ll bring some hot tea and cookies.”

David looked around the room and commented, “You have a lovely home, Sir, and I can tell by the smell of homemade bread that your wife must be a great cook!”

“She’s the best in the world and if you had met our son Jerry, you would have seen the results of her cooking. He was 6’4” and topped the scales at around 250 pounds.”

“Boy, he sure was a big man! I pity any guy who makes him ‘Angry.’

From the look on Danny’s face, David knew that he had said the wrong thing. He tried to change the subject, but couldn’t find the right words.

At that moment, Rebecca returned carrying a tray. Her warm smile lit up the whole room. “What are you two talking about?”

They just looked at each other but didn’t utter a word. Rebecca smiled and said, “I know you two were talking about my Jerry, right? David, did Danny show you Jerry’s picture? I love this one, it’s my favorite. I think he looks so handsome in his uniform; don’t you agree?”

“Oh yes, I agree with you! Was he in the army?”

“No,” Rebecca replied; “He was a Marine, a Green Beret. He went to Viet Nam, but he never came home. We got a letter from the military saying something about him being MIA. They even sent us a metal; I believe it represents bravery; I’m sure it’s around here somewhere.”

“Anyway, we didn’t pay any attention to what they were saying. We know our Jerry is alive and well. I think the little rascal found himself a cute little Asian girl and has settled down in some small town. I expect him home any day now. You see, Sir, I’m dying to see my grandchildren. I wonder if they can speak English, because at my age I don’t think I could learn another language. Lately I have enough trouble just speaking English.”

Danny interrupted, suggesting, “Honey, why don’t you get David and I some of those delicious brownies you made the other day?”

“Sorry Danny, but if you remember, I put them in the freezer so it will take quite a while to thaw them out.”

“We don’t mind waiting. You know what I always say, ‘anything worth having is worth waiting for’, right David?”

“Yes Sir, I agree wholeheartedly!”

When Rebecca left the room, Danny turned to David; “As you can see my dear wife can’t or won’t accept our son’s death. She even blocks out the real reason he went into the service in the first place.

If it’s okay with you David, I would like to tell you Jerry’s story.”

“Please Danny, go ahead; I want to know everything.

“We used to live on a small farm out west; it wasn’t much, but we got by. Of course, there was always a lot of work for Rebecca and me, so it was such a blessing when Jerry came along to help us out. We could tell, even when he was a young boy that he would grow up to be a fine young man and be as strong as an ox.”

“When Jerry started school, all the kids made fun of him because of his size. To make matters worse, the maintenance man had to make him a special desk that was so big; the only place it would fit was in a corner away from the other kids.”

Danny’s story continued; “As the years passed, Jerry grew bigger and taller so of course the teasing at school continued to get worse. At least one day a week, Jerry would come home from school early. He would tell us that the principal suspended him again for fighting and not just with one kid; oh no, not our boy!  He had to take on two or three of them at one time.”

“The only time Jerry acted meek and mild was when he was with his girlfriend Tina. He loved her more than life, and all he ever talked about was marrying her and having lots of children. Actually, Tina did most of the talking and Jerry just listened and nodded his head in approval.”

“One beautiful summer day, just after his eighteenth birthday, Jerry told his mother and me that he was going to the big city to make his fortune and once he did, he would come home and marry his beautiful Tina!”

“He was only gone about two months when we had to call him and tell him that something terrible had happened to his sweetheart. The phone went silent for a moment and then in a worried voice Jerry promised, ‘Dad I’ll be home in a few days,” and then he hung up.

“Jerry arrived home sooner than he had planned and the first thing he said was, ‘I want to see Tina, where is she?’

“Jerry, there is something I need to tell you; your Tina is not the same person you knew before you left. You see son, she was raped by a bunch of guys and the doctor thinks it did something to her mind.”

“Please Dad; I just want to see her!”

“When Jerry walked into the hospital room, he couldn’t believe his eyes. His beautiful Tina was lying on the bed but she wasn’t the same person he knew from childhood. He barely recognized her; it was like someone else was in the bed pretending to be her.”

“Her beautiful hair was a tangled mess and her eyes were almost closed due to the swelling. Jerry could see that her jaw was broken and when he spoke to her, she didn’t respond and that was the last straw. Through clinched teeth and tightened fists, he made a vow to his fiancée, insisting, ‘I promise you, my darling that the men who hurt you will pay with their lives!’

“His Dad grabbed his arm and begged him, “Please Jerry, let the Police handle this; you know it would kill your mother if anything happened to you.”

“Just tell Mom I’ll be okay and that I’ll be home as soon as I take care of a little business.”

Jerry went directly to the police station and asked who was in charge of the Tina Miller case? The officer at the desk replied, “That would be Sergeant Connors. Please wait here and I’ll see if he is busy.”

After about five minutes, a plain clothes officer came out and said, “Hi, I’m Sergeant Connors and you are?”

“I’m Jerry, Jerry Stone; Tina’s boyfriend.”

“Please come into my office and I’ll fill you in on the latest information we have. I’m sorry my friend, but we don’t have much to go on because we haven’t been able to get Tina’s side of the story.”

“Have you rounded-up any suspects or gangs in the area?”

“No not really, but we have talked to some of the local boys; they didn’t know anything.  There’s a good possibility that some punks were just passing through our little town and decided to stir up some trouble.”

The Sergeant then looked at Jerry and said, “I think you should go home and be with your family. I’ll contact you if we get any new leads.”

Jerry returned the look and replied, “I’m sure you will, but I want to make one thing clear; you better find them before I do, because I’ve got nothing to lose!” 

When Jerry was a young boy, he taught himself to hunt and fish, and he was also an excellent woodsman. He would spend days and sometimes a whole week living off the land and enjoying Mother Nature. This made him very familiar with the area where his sweetheart was attacked.

He started spending a lot of time looking for clues that would identify the gang members. There was one spot near the lake where he noticed a fireplace made out of rocks and thought, “This is definitely a party place;” but when he checked out the surrounding area, he was a little confused, because there weren’t any footprints. He didn’t have to look very hard to find the big branch that someone had used to cover their tracks to deter people from knowing someone had been partying there.

Another thing that caught Jerry’s eye was a pile of empty beer cans; when he sorted through them, he noticed that every fifth or sixth can was crushed, indicating that someone was very angry.

The next day, Jerry asked his Dad to help him carry his old wooden boat down to the lake, but he didn’t tell him why!
Although the police didn’t think that Tina was attacked by locals, Jerry did; he was certain that if these guys believed they got away with this crime, they might be arrogant enough to keep on partying and looking for their next victim.

After patrolling the lake for two weeks, Jerry was getting very disappointed because he couldn’t find any new clues and the trail was getting cold. Then one sunny afternoon while he was fishing near a small cove, he heard music playing and people singing out of tune. As he rounded the bend, he could see a hidden cove and a beach with about six young men attempting to dance but they were so drunk they could hardly stand up.

When Jerry brought his boat to the shoreline, one of the drunks shouted, “Hey you, this is a private party so get lost!”
Jerry yelled back, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be gone in a few minutes. My boat has a small leak and all I want to do is empty out some of the water, then I’ll be on my way.”
Just then another guy who looked like he hadn’t taken a bath in weeks confronted Jerry ordering, “Make it quick or you’ll be one sorry guy!”

After a loud burp the drunk finished his beer, and then crushed the can; and with a smile that showed his rotten teeth, he tossed it into Jerry’s boat. Jerry could feel the anger building up inside of him as he stared at the crushed can. Without saying a word, Jerry reached into the boat and took out a huge axe handle. As he started walking toward old dirty face who was now laughing hysterically as he called to his buddies to come and watch him kick the crap out of this loser.

“Come on boys, let’s show this guy how real men party!”

The guy on Jerry’s left side took a swing, but he was so drunk he missed by a mile. Reacting quickly Jerry swung the axe handle and the sound of the wood hitting the guy’s head could be heard over the loud music. It was a sickening sound that made all the other guys stop in their tracks. They may have stopped, but Jerry didn’t! He hit the next guy across his knees and he crashed down, letting out a piercing painful cry. The other three guys begged Jerry to stop, but he continued beating them until the last one fell to the ground, leaving only the man with the rotten teeth to face his punishment.

Jerry swung the bat at the guy’s head but missed him on purpose; the guy fell on the ground and with a look of panic cried, “Why are you attacking us? What did we ever do to you?”

“It’s not what you did to me, it’s what you did to the woman I love. We were going to be married next year, but that won’t happen, because of what you guys did to her, and for that you will pay dearly!”

“What are you talking about, you nut bar?”

“Do you remember a few weeks ago when you and your friends were partying and you saw a pretty young girl all alone on the beach? You knew she wouldn’t put up much of a fight, so the six of you decided to have a little fun and take turns raping her.”

“I swear Mister, it wasn’t me! I never touched her; it was Freddie and the other guys. I tried to stop them but they wouldn’t listen, you got to believe me!”

Jerry pointed the axe handle and said to the coward lying on the ground crying; “You listen to me, you piece of trash! In my eyes you’re all guilty and I’m going to make sure each of you pay for putting my Tina in a mental hospital.”
He added, “I know my Tina wasn’t your first victim, but I’ll make sure today that she’s your last. By the way, her last name is Miller, and she was going to change it to Stone, but you never gave her the chance.”

The guy started to say something, but Jerry didn’t let him speak; he just kept on hitting him until his arms and legs were broken. He was just about to deliver the final blow to the man’s head when he heard a voice behind him call out, “Attention, this is the police! Put down that weapon and back away!”

Jerry dropped the axe handle and turned to face Sergeant Connors, who had stopped to check each of the bodies to determine if they were dead or alive.

“I hope you made sure these are the right guys, Mr. Stone; if not, you’re in a lot of trouble!”

“Oh, it’s them alright, and this poor excuse for a man is their ringleader; but take it from me Sir; they’re all guilty. I’m sure you won’t have any trouble getting them to confess.”

Mr. Stone looked at David and said, “Things were never the same around here after what happened! They put poor Tina in a mental institution, and Jerry joined the Marines. We did receive some letters and pictures from him for a while, but then he was sent to Viet Nam, and we never heard from him again!”

Just then Rebecca returned to the room carrying a tray and as she laid it on the table she commented, “I hope you guys are ready to eat the best brownies on Anger Street?”

After sitting down and patting David’s knee, Rebecca looked at her husband and said, “Isn’t it nice having Jerry home again, Papa?”

David just sat there thinking, “Anger can destroy people’s lives and leave scars that never go away,” and then he thought of a passage from the Bible:

“If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin, and do not stay angry all day.” (Ephesians 4:26)

BY JALEXANDER