Date: Mon, 22 May 2023 05:45:25 -0700 From: Juxepe Albi Subject: Seeing Sparks - Chapter 4 - Slow to Learn Chapter 4 - Slow to Learn Butch was the first out of the hospital; and he promptly stole his dad's car, or so we thought. Gerald was riding his bicycle to the library on Main Street, when he was struck by a car that Butch was driving at a break-neck speed. I was standing on the library steps waiting for Gerald, and saw the whole thing. Instantly, I diverted the car toward a stone wall surrounding the city jail complex, causing an accident totaling the car, and breaking the bones in Butch's left leg in four places. Gerald's arm had been broken and he also had to wear a neck brace; but Butch would be wearing casts for months. With Butch crippled, and five other key players in casts and neck braces, the school football team became virtually non-existent. The coach, Principal Akers' brother-in-law, had also enjoyed the bullying that he sometimes witnessed; and was furious when he understood that their season was lost. In the four math classes that he taught each day, he began to make derisive remarks to all the boys who did not play sports. We had a Geek Club; and, at the next meeting, I addressed the group, mentioning all the bullying that had been taking place with no interference from the principal, or the coaches. I announced that I had had enough, and the other members agreed unanimously. We had to make a plan. I had gone to the hospital to see Gerald, when I happened to notice that Principal Akers, the three coaches, and a couple of Butch's bullying friends were gathered talking to a man that I did not recognize. I asked the nurse for his name and learned that he was Helmat Akers, Butch's father. The way they were patting each other on the back prompted me to concentrate on their conversation. I was astonished to learn that I could read their minds! They were discussing a project. A project? Further listening revealed that it was a bullying project. They were even naming some of the members of the Geek Club whom they planned to harass----Sam, Ger and I were included. Akers mentioned that Butch had planted the porno DVD to try to frame me. He accused Butch of stupidly putting it in the wrong locker. "It would have put Olavin away," he had said. These people were crazy. Did they not realize what would happen to the academic rating of the school, if they succeeded in removing all the smart kids? When the group left, and Butch's father was alone with him in his room, I listened as Butch was being ostracized and threatened by his father for being an "effin' failure" and a "g-damned pervert.". I heard a loud slap, and could hear Butch crying, with more ranting from his father, calling him a "c-suckin' pussy", and threatening to kill him the next time he failed an order. When his father left, I looked in on Butch's room. He was still crying, and made no effort to hide it from me. "I'm sorry, Karlie," he said, using the familiar name I had been called in middle school. "I was ordered to bully you and the others, or have the stuffing knocked out of me every day after school. The same goes for Jeff and Bert. Our dads and my uncle are crazy and homophobic; I realize that, now. They even belong to a club of people like them called the Hunters' Club. It's a hate group that targets kids who don't play sports; the coaches belong to the group, too. They were all in the same unit in the service, where they worked undercover to expose what they called `deviants.' That would be anyone who is really smart and does not play sports, or want to kill people, like conscientious objectors. When I was home from the hospital the first time, I discovered that my dad had some prisoners in our basement, which is his private domain; and I have reason to believe that my uncle Dave and Coach Mathis might have some people locked up, too." "Butch, how long has this been going on?" I asked. "You know, when I first started bugging you in grammar school," he replied. "That's incredible," I replied. "Believe it, or not," he said. "What do you think happened to Principal Morse? They got rid of him!" "How?" I asked. "They framed him somehow and forced him to resign. There's a man on the school board who belongs to the club, too, maybe two men," Butch said. "Oh, and the Chief of Police. He served with them, too. Also some judge, we're screwed!" He started crying again. "I haven't told you everything. I just can't!" he said. About that time, Sal came to the door, lookin in. "What are you doing here, Karlie?" he asked, touching my shoulder fondly without thinking. Butch looked at us, and began to grin. "Maybe I can tell you everything, after all," he said. "My dad and Jeff's dad caught Jeff, Bert and me nekked in bed together," he confessed. "They said if we didn't want to be treated like the faggots that we were, that we would do exactly as they told us; and if we didn't, they would beat the shit out of us every afternoon after school until we moved away from their houses," he continued. When we didn't seem shocked or upset by what he just said, he continued. "Jeff and I have been friends since kindergarten, and have been together since we were eleven. Bert moved here that year and became our buddy from the first sleepover we had," he told us. "What about you guys?" "We were a lot more backward," Sal told him, but he didn't go into detail. "Jeff, Bert and I have scoped the two of you out from the first," he added, grinning lewdly. "And don't think we haven't noticed the size of what you two are packing. Even that midget, Greer, is hung like a damned rhino." Jeff and Bert were walking down the hall toward Butch's room, when they heard voices. Who could be visiting him that he would be talking about stuff like that? They sounded like kids. When they opened the door and saw us there, they both assumed the "deer-in-the-headlights" stance. "Come on in, lover-boys," Butch called to them, "We're all friends here, now." Please consider supporting Nifty with your donation to https://donate.nifty.org/ Funds used to continue these free stories