The Tsunami Thrillride | Chapter Three - Wild Side
Being seven years old in rural Michigan is pretty fucking fun, especially in the summer. It’s about as west as you can get in eastern time zone so it stays light out well past nine o’clock and the weather is just perfect. As long as you stay out of the woods, where the mosquitos live, it’s like heaven on earth. I spent a good chunk of the summer of 2000 with my Grandma. My mom and Rod took a trip to the south somewhere so they pawned me off on Louise. She was a saint for being so good to me, because the lord knows I was right in the middle of my fucking “I want to live with dad so I’m gonna be a total asshole” stage. I did some flat out terrible shit to that poor old woman that summer but bless her heart, she took it with a smile. She knew I didn’t have much in the way of role models so I think she kinda took it on the chin to put some sort of regularity in my life. Uncle Jack was great, but short of getting a PH.D. in pot identification I wasn’t learning much from him. Grandma would take me fishing, swimming, to the park, the playground, wherever. We’d go to libraries and museums and art exhibits and all sorts of stuff I’d never get from my mom. She’d always tell me “Johnny...you’re gonna get some culture if it’s the last thing I do.” Louise was a saint. When that summer ended, and I knew I’d have to go back with Peggy and Rod, I was fucking miserable. I still hadn’t told anyone about Rod’s late night beatings, partially because I didn’t want my mom to be hurt, but mostly because that piece of shit didn’t deserve the satisfaction of me being butt hurt about it. I moved back in with them and on the second night back, I lit the shed on fire.
This beating was impossible to hide. Mom had left early for work because she was trying to get her masters, hoping to get back into teaching. Rod had just gotten home from work, probably his fifth job in six months, and he was drunk as shit. He told me to do my homework and I told him to go fuck himself. Looking back on it I don’t know why I said it, it was kind of a natural reaction. His natural reaction? It was to slam his knuckles across my left cheek. Normally I was subjected to getting pushed down to the ground and then just kicked for a couple minutes. This though? It fucking infuriated me. He mumbled something about next time he’d break my nose and I believed him so I thought to myself if he’s gonna break my nose, let’s do something that’s really worth it. Rod didn’t have many possessions. He had a few pieces of jewelry, some clothes, an old beat up pick up truck, and shit like that. But his prized possession? He kept a 1986 Harley Davidson Fatboy in an old, rickety fence in the backyard. It was his pride and joy. He’d always brag about how much ass he got with that thing so i knew if I was gonna piss him off...this was the best way. I took the gas can he kept next to the lawnmower and doused that mother fucker. I sparked a match from the barbecue and just watched it burn for a moment. I could feel the heat fill my face up and it forced a huge smile to come across my face. For just a single moment, I was euphoric. It got even better when Rod brush past me in a panic and started to freak out. He tried his best to put out the fire but the damage was done. His motorcycle, the only thing in the world he loved, was gone. The best moment of my childhood up to that point was when I laughed in his face about it. I didn’t think about what he would do after, I didn’t care. I just wanted him to know I took his baby away from him. Pretty fucked up for a seven year old huh?
Well I couldn’t hide this beating. Rod not only broke my nose, he also broke my arm and split my forehead open so bad I needed staples and stitches. Who the fuck gets staples AND stitches? Peggy was in shock but Uncle Jack wasn’t surprised. My mom through Rod out but it was irrelevant at that point. He was arrested the next day so it didn’t matter. The saving grace out of all of this was that my mom finally woke up after that. She made a promise to me that she would never let anyone hurt me again, and she didn’t. She lived up to her word. Rod was released from jail six weeks later and turned into a stalker. We were living with Jack again, who had just purchased a house in Canton, but it didn’t matter. Rod knew where to find us, and no matter how drunk or stoned, he showed up at all hours of the night. I thought he would never go away. I remember praying before bed every night, hoping something would happen to him. Begging for him to just go away. My prayers were answered around Christmas time when Keith was released from prison. My mom had smartened up and when he came back around, she wasn’t having any of it. She was cool about us spending time together, shit she encouraged it, but she was very clear to Keith that it was all he was going to get. And you know what? Pops was cool with it. He was all about me. He knew he fucked up and that he lost a lot of time with me and he was more than making up for it. He would take me four sometimes five days a week. He had a small one bedroom apartment in Ann Arbor, right near where Uncle Jack used to live, and we would just listen to music and talk. We would play football and we would wrestle. It was awesome. I had a father for the first time in my life. But the best gift he gave me? Well that is a good story…
So he knew what Rod did to me. I don’t think he forgave Peggy for letting it happen either. Apparently he told her that if he ever saw him again, he’d put him in the ground. Well what we didn’t know was that after I told him about how Rod would show up random nights and try to get my mom to come outside that Keith would randomly park up the street at night and wait and see if Rod would show up. It took a couple of months, but right around Valentine’s Day, it happened. Rod came knocking up on the front door, as usual. And as usual, Jack would tell him to fuck himself and get the fuck off of his front porch. What we didn’t expect, was Keith to roll up on his ass. A remember hearing the thud from the baseball bat as it hit him in the back. Jack told me to go upstairs and get in my room as soon as it started, but I didn’t listen to him. I watched my father beat the living fuck out of my nemesis and made me feel proud of my father. I knew that when I grew up, whenever that happened, I wanted to be just like my Pops. I wanted to be like Keith McBride.
”You remind me of a guy I once knew, Joshua. He was a prick. A real low excuse for a human being. I don’t care what you did to me. I mean I get it, we did it to you. The truth is I expected it. But you put your hands on Evie? You threaten Remi? I have no tolerance for that shit, kid. I don’t have patience for a man that needs to feel so good about himself that he’ll establish his dominance over a woman just because he can. Remember that you started this, bro. I had nothing to do with it...you went after Evie. You called her names, you insulted her, you put your hands on her. You backed Remi into a corner….and no one backs Remi into a corner….my eyes are hungry and they’re fixed on you, Josh. You and your d-bag brother. You might have gotten the best of us last week…...but this week you’re gonna get yupped up. See you in a couple days.”
