Chapter Nineteen

In the third year at the new house Kily and Selene stepped off the school bus to find the driveway crowded with police cars once more. Her first thought was that step father had returned to the house and had actually shot someone. Kily and Selene quietly entered the house to find the living room full of police officers. The two men in suits were back and sitting at the table talking to mother. When the girls came in the officers told them to have a seat. As the story unfolded the girls learned that step father had been at the house earlier that morning. After he left the house he had stopped at a gas station next to the freeway to get gas. The two men in suits explained that they had kept pictures of step father posted at all gas stations close to the freeway because they knew he would eventually have to get gas if he did indeed come up to see his wife and daughters. The poster they had put up in the gas stations had promised a sizable reward. This proved to be prudent on their part they stated, as one gas station attendant telephoned them to say he was sure the man they were looking for was at that time sitting in his car waiting for the attendant to finish filling up his gas tank. The two men flipped through their papers and told mother the man’s name. Kily and Selene gasped as they recognized the name. It was Johnny’s father. Both men in suits turned to look at the girls but did not ask them any questions.

When the men turned back to mother they explained that just before the officers arrived at the gas station, step father had told the attendant he thought his tank was full enough, paid for the gas and drove onto the freeway. Some officers stayed to speak with the attendant and others immediately entered the freeway to catch up with the car they believed step father to be in. As they approached the vehicle they were able to confirm that it was indeed step father and a high speed chase ensued. "Several attempts to get him to pull over were made, but step father’s response was to open fire on the officer’s who were chasing his car up the freeway and over the siskiyou mountain pass," one man explained to mother as if he were narrating the events from a script. The other man in the suit added, "When the suspect refused to pull over and instead opened fire on the officers, more units were called in". When it became apparent that he was going to cross the state line, units from the California side were notified as well. At the most critical point in the high speed pursuit there were fifteen units involved in the chase. Several other units had been in the chase as well, however, they were forced to disengage due to gun fire damage to their vehicles," he stated. Mother sat in silence and stared at her hands. Kily and Selene sat on the edge of their seats not daring to move. More papers rustled and one of the men started speaking again, "The pursuit continued for quite some time. The pursuit came to a conclusion when the suspect swerved onto an off ramp that led to a small shopping center. The suspect’s vehicle careened to a stop sliding sideways in front of an elderly man who had been sitting on a bench reading a newspaper. The shopping center was full of shoppers, some children, and the suspect exited the vehicle, took the elderly man hostage by holding his gun to the mans head". Mother put her hand to her mouth as the man continued with his narrative. "Officers continued the pursuit into the shopping center where they were fired upon by the suspect. The suspect continued to use the hostage as a shield in an attempt to get away. The officers returned fire hitting your husband three times. The hostage was also shot in the head, an investigation is pending to confirm that the shot to the hostage did indeed come from your husband’s gun and not from the officers," he said with some anger in his voice. "Mam," the other man in the suit said. Mother looked over at him. "Your husband is still alive. He is currently in custody at a hospital. Do you wish to go see him?" Mother looked at the man with tear filled eyes that screamed fear. "No," she said in a shaky voice. "I was the last one to see him. He will think that I turned him in. I know that he will think it was me that turned him in and he won’t believe that it wasn’t me. He told me that if he ever thought that I turned him in he would kill me. You may have him now, but he will get out at some point and when he does I don’t know what he will do," mother said as the tears spilled down her cheeks. Both men sat quietly, then nodded their heads. "Did you know that your husband re-married, Mam," one man said to her. Mother and the girls were stunned when they heard this. "No," mother said in almost a whisper. "Mam, when your husband escaped from here it seems that he ran along the irrigation ditch for its full length across several properties, made his way to one of the local taverns and struck up a conversation with a waitress there. He told her he had been in a motor vehicle accident which explained his disheveled appearance and convinced her to give him a ride to another city when her shift ended. She states that he was a very nice man and she gave him her telephone number and told him to call if he needed further help. She did not here from him again for a couple of weeks but then he began calling her, they dated off and on for sometime. She explained that he had told her he was a business man who was away a lot on business trips and lived in the San Francisco/Bay area. Periodically he would come up to visit her and eventually convinced her to visit him at his home in the Bay area. Eventually they married and she relocated to that area. I believe she had a son who attended the school that your daughters attend". Everyone was silent as the man flipped through his papers again. "Ah, here it is", he said. He gave the boys name and Kily and Selene almost fell off their chairs. They knew the boy. Kily remembered hearing the boy talk about the new boyfriend his mother had. He had talked about how rich his mother’s boyfriend was and how he was always bringing them expensive gifts and taking them on trips. Kily remembered how she wished someone nice like that would come into their lives and felt jealous every time the boy talked about it. She also remembered when he had come to school and told everybody that he was moving because his mother was getting married and they were moving to San Francisco. Kily felt very angry at that moment. They had been forced to live in fear every day of step father and his cruel punishments. They had lived very poor making ends meet on the money he would periodically leave with mother, and all along he had been living a good life with someone else, buying them expensive presents and taking them on fun trips. Kily felt as if she were about to explode from the anger that welled up inside of her. The mans voice called her attention back to the conversation. "Since your husband had another family, he may not be as angry with you, Mam". Mother shook her head in denial, "You don’t know him," she said. "He will believe that it was me, I know he will! He won’t believe that I had nothing to do with it". The man in the suit tried to reassure mother that step father knew she did not have anything to do with his capture, as the police had already informed him that it was a gas station attendant who recognized him and made the call that led to his capture. Kily sat silently watching the torment that mother was going through and she could tell that mother was not convinced. Kily only hoped that step father would be locked away for a very long time so they didn’t have to worry about him coming after them.

For the next week or so the police continued to come and go from the house always needing more information, or having some other information they needed to relay. Kily learned that mother had lived in terrible fear the whole time she was with step father. He had threatened to kill mother and the girls if he thought he would ever be caught. Kily also began to understand the isolation that mother had lived in as well as herself and Selene. Perhaps mother’s isolation was even worse, as she could tell no one what she was enduring. Pieces of step father’s life flowed into the house as if it was brought daily by a swelling tide. The tide of officers and men in suits would come and Kily heard them speak words in fragments; " so when you would meet him at the freeway rest areas where were your daughters?" one man asked. "They were at the movie theater," mother replied. "Did you know about all the other robberies he did while you lived up here?" "No," was mothers reply. "Did you know he had a trunk full of guns, ammunition, and home made bombs in his vehicle at all times?" A shocked look and emphatic "no" escaped from mother. Tide flowed in and when it receded each day the girls and mother were left wondering what the next tide that came tomorrow would bring. Kily sat absently stroking Freckles and thought how step father had lived a much different life than she had imagined. She had always pictured him staying in motel rooms, moving from place to place with no real place to call home and all along he was living a very rich life with a fancy house and new family.

Things eventually calmed down, the daily tide of officers became less and less, and for the first time Kily, Selene, and mother didn’t have to worry about step father unexpectedly showing up anymore. Mother continued to live in fear of revenge from step father, even though she had nothing to do with him getting caught. The transformation from a life of secrets and fear was difficult to adjust to. They had all lived with such fear and isolation from the normal day to day life so long that the pattern of it would be difficult to break. And once again Kily found her life taking a different turn. On the last day that Kily saw the police officers walking out of the house, one of the officers stopped and said, "it’s all over now, you don’t have to worry any more". Kily stared at him and wondered what would she do instead? She had never lived without worrying before. She had never lived without being afraid of step father. His words seemed so simple. Kily watched him get into his car and back out of the drive way. She thought about his words for a long time. "Okay," she said, "I don’t have to worry any more, so what will I do with the rest of my life instead? How do I begin to use my correct name? What is my correct name? How do I tell kids at school that now I can be just like them?" The questions that rattled across her mind gave her a headache and once again spoken words had set her life onto a different path.

copyright 2006