Desperate Times Three - Revolution (3 page)

“By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make people see even heaven as hell, or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” ~ Adolph Hitler

The cars continued to trickle in next door in ones and twos, and by mid afternoon, Jimmy counted thirteen vehicles parked over at the lodge. Jimmy and Julie spent the day outside, enjoying the sunshine, avoiding reality, and watching the show unfold next door. Dundlemore and his friends looked to be drunk before dinner, and by the time the sun started to settle over the western sky, a towering fire had been sparked, and ʼ80s era rock-n-roll music was being pumped through an expensive sound system.

Ken and Doc had spent most of the day at Patty’s bedside while Cindy looked after her father. This had left Paula free to do what she wanted, which was hang out with the new neighbors.

“Look at her,” Julie said, glaring down over the wall from the deck. “Did she dress like that when you two were together?”

Jimmy shook his head, but only because he was embarrassed to tell Julie the truth. Paula had always been proud of what God had given her, and it wasn’t unusual for her to dress provocatively. Jimmy had asked her on more than one occasion to put on a bra or to find a longer skirt to wear, but Paula only seemed to rebel against his sense of conservatism. He quickly learned that commenting about her lack of clothing would only fuel her attitude. Jimmy could see Paula clearly from where he stood. She was wearing a tight white T-shirt over a short black skirt and sandals. With temperatures rapidly falling, Jimmy could plainly see three indicators that Paula was feeling the cold, one of which was her breath.

“She is such a tramp,” Julie spat. “Doc’s in love with her. You know that, right?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy replied over the metallic screaming of Twisted Sister. “What do you want me to do about it? They’re both adults, Julie. Sure, I feel bad for Doc, but he knew what he was getting into. Christ, it wasn’t like I sold her to him.”

“I hate her.”

“I know you do.”

Julie scowled as Paula began to dance seductively to the music. The group she stood in was nearly twenty strong. Paula, smiling and brimming with feminine confidence, was obviously enjoying the attention as she danced in the early evening firelight.

The door to the porch suddenly opened, and Cindy stood holding it as Bill hobbled outside on his crutches. His eyes looked clear for the first time in weeks, and he even managed a smile. “Hey, guys,” he said. “I just had to take a look at the neighbors.”

“Well, there they are,” said Julie, sounding short. She quickly finished her comment. “Can you spot any familiar faces over there?”

“Nope,” said Bill, “but who’s looking at the faces?”

“You’re disgusting,” Cindy said, her eyes growing large at the scene down at the fire. “Doc isn’t going to like that,” she added.

Jimmy spotted Mark Dundlemore wading into the young men; he began dancing with Paula. Dundlemore was such a poor dancer that Jimmy actually found himself feeling sorry for her. Dundlemore suddenly tripped and nearly fell into the fire. The young men roared with laughter as he brushed himself off and charged in for another spin. Paula gazed up at the four of them up on the deck and gave them a frosty smile.

“What a bitch,” said Cindy.

“You can say that again,” said Jimmy.

“What are you trying to do, Bill?” asked Julie.

“Well, somebody has to go look after her,” he said, “and it looks like it has to be me. Besides, I need to get some air.”

“You’ll never get down the stairs,” Cindy said. “Knock it off. Paula can get in enough trouble on her own without you being there to help.”

Bill surprised them all by hopping down the three wooden stairs on his one leg without even using the crutches to help maintain his balance.

“Don’t do it, Bill,” Jimmy pleaded. “You can’t afford to reinjure your stump.”

“I feel great! Don’t worry about me; I’ll be fine,” he said, before wobbling and pin-wheeled his arms. “Scared you, huh?” Bill asked, a sly smile spreading across his face. He slowly made his way down the stairs without further incident.

Cindy stared at the two of them for a long moment. “We can’t leave him alone down there and you both know it. You should also know that there is no way in hell I am going down there.”

Jimmy stared at Julie and couldn’t help but to chuckle. The whole situation was so preposterous that there was nothing left to do about it. Julie’s frown said it all, and that only made Jimmy laugh harder.

“Stop it, Jimmy,” said Cindy. “This isn’t funny.”

“What isn’t funny?” Doc asked, walking around from the side of the house to stand next to the porch. “Hey,” he said, pointing down to the open gate. “What the hell does that damn fool think he’s doing? For crying out loud, Cindy, how could you let him leave like that? He could catch
pneumonia
out
here
.
”

Jimmy immediately quit laughing as Julie glared at him. They both watched Doc as he turned to get a look at the party going on below them. They both watched as his face registered unadulterated shock, quickly followed by rage.

“I’m sorry, Doc,” Julie said. “You’re too good for her.”

“What?” Doc asked. “So, she’s trying to have a good time. Do you have a problem with that? After the hell that poor girl has gone through, she deserves to have a little fun. I’m okay with it; we have an understanding. We’re going to get married, in case anyone’s interested.”

“That’s great,” said Cindy.

“I don’t give a damn what she does, Doc,” Julie said, turning to head into the house. “She’s a big girl and the two of you have an
understanding.
Good luck with that.” She opened the front door and disappeared inside the house. Cindy followed close behind.

Jimmy suddenly wished he were anywhere else on the planet. Doc continued to stare at Paula as she danced in the firelight. Jimmy could see Mark Dundlemore still trying to keep up with her and that he was now pawing at her. Paula was trying to brush him off, clearly being made uncomfortable by Dundlemore and his snaky hands.

“I’m going to kick his ass if he doesn’t stop that,” Doc growled.

Jimmy had no doubt that he could do just that; but they were outnumbered ten-to-one and even with Doc’s Black Belt and Jimmy’s Golden Gloves, he knew they didn’t stand a chance. “Just let it go, man,” Jimmy urged. “They’ve been drinking all day long and you know how kids are. Besides, Bill said he was going down there to keep an eye on things.”

“Oh, we know what things he’s keeping his eyes on,” scolded Doc. “The man is a complete pig.”

Jimmy shrugged his shoulders and sighed. Nobody knew that better than he did. Bill might know Paula’s body better than he did, simply because he never seemed to be able to take his eyes off of it. Jimmy remembered how that had felt and pitied Doc because of it. “I’ll walk down there with you if you want,” Jimmy offered. “Maybe she’ll come back when she sees us.”

Doc shook his head. One of the larger, younger men had just taken Dundlemore by the shoulder and was shaking a meaty finger at him. There was no mistaking the warning. “No, she’s fine and she has to know that I trust her. You understand, don’t you?”

Jimmy nodded. He understood all right. “Sure,” he said.

Doc took another look and turned and walked back in the direction he’d come. Jimmy ran after him. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Doc said. “Just let it go.”

“I just want to ask about Patty. How is she?”

Doc sighed heavily and stopped dead in his tracks. “She isn’t good. Her condition is deteriorating by the hour and to be honest with you, I don’t know if she’s going to make it through the night. I can’t say for sure; I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to dealing with her symptoms. We always air-lifted them out as soon as possible. I wasn’t equipped to handle patients like her. I’m not a brain surgeon, Jimmy. I’ve never claimed to be one.”

“So, what the heck are we supposed to do?”

“I told Ken the best thing we can do for her is to drive her to Duluth tomorrow morning. We have to get her to a real hospital. I’ve done all I can do for her.”

Jimmy could feel his eyes mist over and rubbed at them. “Why don’t we put her in one of the cars and just take her now? What the hell are we waiting for?”

Doc put his hand on Jimmy’s hand in a fatherly gesture and gave it a light squeeze. “Have you given any thought to how we’ll be accepted when we return to society? You honestly don’t think we’ll be welcomed back with open arms, do you? Don’t kid yourself—by this time tomorrow we could all be looking at the world through the bars of a prison cell.” Doc turned and continued walking to the back of the house.

“Where are you going?”

“I’ve got a jug of Ken’s whiskey, and I’m going to get drunk. You’re welcome to join me if you bring cigarettes.”

Jimmy thought about that for a half a second and tapped his pocket. “I just opened these,” he said. “Hang on. I’ll join ya.”

“I’ll be down in the workshop. I suspect Ken will be joining us.”

“I’m just going to tell Julie. I’ll be right down.”

Doc just stuck a hand up in the air as he continued to walk away. Jimmy watched him go and felt his heart go out to his friend. He wished there was something he could do, but he knew better. He walked back to the front of the house just as someone cranked up some old Van Halen.

They were about to spend their last night in the big house, and things were about to slowly unravel as their world came crashing down around them.

"
When dealing with the insane, the best method is to pretend to be sane." ~ Hermann Hesse

Under the glow of the oil lantern in the cool air of the basement, Jimmy and Doc stood at the workbench smoking cigarettes and sipping whiskey. Jimmy listened to his friend ramble on about everything from Patty’s condition to what they could expect when they returned to society. The one thing he refused to talk about was Paula. Ken joined them for about fifteen minutes, long enough to knock back a shot and burn a smoke, but he looked lost, and Jimmy could see the fear building behind his eyes. Ken took the stairs as if his feet had turned to cement, and Doc stared at Jimmy with an expression that chilled him to the bone.

“I wish there was more I could do,” Doc said, reaching for the bottle and pouring an inch of the amber liquid into the water glass. “We’re going to have to get her to a real hospital as soon as we can.”

Jimmy nodded as he watched Doc drain his glass and immediately refill it. Jimmy had never seen Doc drunk, but he was sure that was about to change. The strain on his face was evident, and his words began to slur as he spoke.

“You know,” Doc said, scratching his freshly colored beard. “Paula and I are going to head up to the Boundary Waters. I wasn’t going to tell anyone, but I think I can trust you. We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks.”

“That’s great,” said Jimmy.

“We’re going to live up there for the summer.”

Jimmy lit up another cigarette and said nothing. Despite everything that had happened and his love for Julie, he was still wrestling with the fact that Doc and Paula had hooked up. He knew he should just let it go, but he had loved Paula and on some level it still hurt.

“She loves me.”

Jimmy nodded, but he couldn’t look at Doc. He understood all too well what his friend was going through. Still, part of him wanted to ask him why Paula was partying with the newcomers on the other side of the wall. He knew he should say something and wished he could think of what that thing was. Suddenly, the sound of footsteps on the stairs saved him.

“Don’t worry,” Jimmy heard Paula saying. “He’s a great doctor.”

There were three of them, including Paula; one was the young guy named Nate Vetter, and the other man Jimmy didn’t recognize. He was young with stringy blonde hair, and his skinny arms were covered in tattoos. He was dressed like Vetter in a sleeveless shirt and jeans. He looked at Jimmy with wild eyes that looked ready to pop out of their sockets.

“This is Nate and Kyle,” Paula said. “Meet Jimmy and Doc.”

“Hey,” said Jimmy.

“Hello, boys,” Doc said. “Paula, why don’t you grab a jacket? You look cold.”

Jimmy watched as both of the newcomers turned and stared at Paula’s chest. They turned and smiled at each other. The tension had suddenly risen in the room, and Jimmy could feel the air grow thick with it.

“I know,” Paula said, giggling. “I’ve got cold boobs, big deal. Doc-baby, Nate has a big metal sliver in his finger, and I told him that you’d take a look at it. You don’t mind, do you?”

“I think it’s infected,” Nate Vetter said, holding up the index finger of his right hand. The finger was bright red and swollen.

“Go put on a jacket and grab my bag from the porch,” Doc grumbled.

“Quit making such a big deal out of it. You’re embarrassing me.”

“Would you just go?” asked Jimmy.

“You’re an asshole, Jimmy. He’s the one I was telling you guys about. Fine, I’ll be right back.”

Paula scurried away and scampered up the wooden steps, leaving the men in silence.

“Let me see that finger,” said Doc.

Vetter stepped into their space and held his finger up under the lamp. “The damn thing hurts like hell. Paula said you might be able to give me something for it. I could pay you.”

“Yeah,” said Vetter’s sidekick. “And I have a really bad back and I hurt, too.”

Doc, ignoring Kyle, took out his glasses and shook them open. He perched them on the tip of his nose, taking Vetter’s finger and examining it under the yellow light. “What the hell did you get into?” He asked, squeezing yellow-green pus from the infected finger.

“Ouch!” cried Vetter. “Hey, man, be careful. That
fricken
hurts!”

“The old dude’s a doctor, isn’t he?” Kyle asked, moving into their circle and reaching for the half-empty bottle of whiskey.

Jimmy grabbed Kyle by the shoulder. “You need to learn some manners, dude,” he said. “That’s my bottle, and I’m particular about who I share it with. Do you understand me?”

Kyle spun like a wildcat and returned to where he had been standing. “Don’t
fricken
touch me! Paula was right about you. You’re an asshole.”

“Mellow out, man,” Vetter said, pulling his finger away from Doc. “Or I’ll kick your skinny ass. I need to get my finger fixed. Sorry about him, guys. He’s got a big mouth, and if he opens it again, I’ll knock his fricken teeth out.”

Paula was suddenly jiggling down the stairs and rejoined them under the lamp with Doc’s bag and without a jacket. Jimmy gritted his teeth as he watched her and Vetter exchange a steamy look. “Here you go, baby,” she said, setting the black bag down on the workbench.

“Thank you,” Doc said, his face and neck growing red with anger. He opened up his bag with Vetter standing behind him, trying to get a peek inside. Doc pulled out a syringe and a vial. “This is going to hurt. Do you want me to give you something before I work on that?”

“Of course he does,” Paula said, thrusting out her chest and putting her hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” said Vetter. “Numb this thing up.”

“I’m afraid I don’t have a local anesthetic to do that. All I have is morphine.”

“Shoot me up!” said Kyle, sticking his arm between them. “My back really hurts.”

“Knock it off, Kyle,” growled Vetter. “I’m first,” he turned to Doc. “Morphine is fine. I don’t want to feel it when you dig that thing out.”

Jimmy and Doc locked eyes, and Jimmy was suddenly sure that things were about to go from bad to worse. Doc’s eyes were wild, and his neck and face were flush with color. He watched as Doc filled the syringe and tapped the air bubbles out.

“Bad back, huh? Well, get over here,” Doc said to Kyle. “Just promise me that you’ll keep your mouth shut while I work on your friend.”

Once again the skinny Kyle brushed past Jimmy and stuck his arm out to Doc like a practiced junkie. Doc took hold of the arm and stuck the needle in the center of a flaming guitar that was tattooed on Kyle’s wrist. Kyle smiled at Jimmy and returned to his place outside the circle. Jimmy watched as Doc refilled the syringe.

“Aren’t you going to use a clean needle?” Paula asked. “You have a ton of new ones in the bag.”

“The morphine cleans the needle,” Doc said. “There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure about that?” Vetter asked, looking back and forth between the two of them. “I don’t want to get sick or nothin’.”

“I’m a doctor. I know these things.”

“He is,” Paula said.

“Okay, I suppose I can trust him.” Vetter said, nodding his head.” Just shoot me up.”

“Oh, please,” Doc said, drilling the tainted syringe into the side of Vetter’s bicep. “Now, give me that finger.”

“I don’t feel so good,” said Kyle, sheepishly. “I need to go out and get some air.”

“Paula,” Doc said, pointing at Kyle. “Get him out of here. Take him out through the garage and over to his own people. Do it now.”

“You’re not the boss of me,” Paula said haughtily. “But I need another beer, so I’ll do it. Come on, Kyle. I hope you’re not going to puke.”

“I hope your back feels better,” quipped Jimmy, watching Paula as she led the stumbling Kyle around the corner into the shadows to the door that led into the tuck-under garage.

“I’ll be back in a minute. You’re an asshole, Jimmy,” Paula said before slamming the door.

“She’s so hot,” Vetter said, dreamily.

“How are you feeling?” asked Doc. “I’m going to work on that finger now.”

“What?”

“Your finger. Are you ready?”

“Huh?”

Again Doc gave Jimmy that same cold look that had chilled him just a moment before. Jimmy had watched Doc on several occasions as he had given Bill his daily dose of morphine, and he knew that he had injected both Kyle and Vetter with a whole lot more of the drug than he’d ever given Bill. Vetter’s eyes were glassy, and he was now swaying on his feet. Doc removed a small bone saw from his bag and examined it in the light. The instrument glimmered in the oily light, and Jimmy’s mouth went dry at the sight of it.

“This man has blood poisoning,” Doc said to Jimmy. “I’m afraid there’s nothing left to do but amputate his hand at the wrist. If we don’t, he’ll die. I’m going to need your help.”

“No!” gasped Vetter as he tried to wrestle his arm free from Doc’s steel grip.

“Doc, I don’t know about this.”

Doc pointed at Jimmy with the saw. “You will help me! Take hold of his other arm. This won’t take long.”

Jimmy did as he had been ordered and could feel Vetter’s lean muscles slowly turn to jelly because of the morphine. He was now whimpering in his drug-induced stupor. Jimmy turned his head as Doc planted Vetter’s hand on the dirty workbench and began to saw into the wrist, just above the hand. Vetter squealed in pain.

“You’re lucky you came to me when you did,” Doc grunted over Vetter’s shrieks as he continued to hack away with the bone saw. “Quit moving!”

The sounds of snapping tendons and sawed bones sang sourly in Jimmy’s ears, and he felt a sudden wave of nausea flood over him as hot blood spattered his bare arms.

“
No
…” moaned Vetter, but the fight had completely left his body, and Jimmy found himself holding Doc’s patient up by the armpits.

“Almost there,” said Doc, as if they were pulling out a bad tooth. “Jimmy, we’re going to need Ken’s torch to cauterize the wrist. Just about there…”

Jimmy swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat as he stared at the butchery in progress. The fingers and thumb of the nearly severed hand were twitching, and spaghetti-like veins jittered as Doc continued to hack away. The smell of blood was thick and nearly enough to make Jimmy gag. He fought with himself over the ethics at work here. He was following a doctor’s orders, but he was also certain that Doc had gone quite mad. The question was if his condition was temporary.

“There! Quick, Jimmy, hand me that torch over there. He’s losing a lot of blood.”

“He’s passed out. What do I do with him?”

“Drop him. He isn’t going to feel it.”

“I can’t drop him,” Jimmy said, now beginning to feel the anger growing inside of him because of what Doc had made him an accomplice to. With Doc holding a shop rag over the spurting wrist, Jimmy gently lowered Vetter’s prone body out on the concrete. He went for the torch.

The door from the garage suddenly swung open, and Paula stared at Jimmy with wide eyes. “Oh, my God, Jimmy. What happened to you?”

A moment later she was screaming loud enough to wake the dead.

Jimmy tossed Doc the small propane torch, and amid Paula’s wailing screams, Doc twisted the gas valve open and clicked the igniter button three times. Blue flame shot from the tip of the torch, and as if casually soldering a leaky pipe, Doc began to cauterize the bloody stump at the end of Vetter’s pale arm. Vetter suddenly woke up and began to scream at the top of his lungs.

“He had blood poisoning,” Jimmy shouted at Paula, who was now sobbing into her cupped hands. “Doc had to take the hand off or he was going to die.”

Ken and Cindy were suddenly standing in the workshop and Cindy gasped as she stared at the grizzly scene in the inky light. She immediately spun on her heels and charged back up the stairs. Ken stood frozen in his tracks, shaking his head and muttering silent curses.

“Jimmy’s right,” Doc said, his eyes threatening to bulge right out of their sockets. “I had to do it!”

“You get that kid back to his people and clean this mess up!” Ken shouted, sternly, yet dismissively. Jimmy could see that this new development was too much for him to comprehend right now. Ken stood and stared at Jimmy, open mouthed, before he also spun around and stalked back up the wooden stairs.

Paula tuned to Jimmy also and stared at him, but the look on her face was one of hatred, as if she blamed him for what had happened down there. Jimmy returned the look with a scowl of his own and followed Ken upstairs. He had seen enough and had no desire to see what happened next. Julie was waiting for him in the kitchen. She had her hands on her hips, and the expression on her face was nearly enough to send Jimmy back into the basement.

“What in the hell happened down there?”

“I don’t know,” Jimmy replied, honestly. “Doc said that he had blood poisoning and that if he didn’t amputate his hand, the guy would die.”

Julie blinked hard as she digested what Jimmy had said. “Are you kidding me?” she asked, her jaw hanging slack and her eyes studying him with incredulity. “So, you just stood by and let him chop off the poor guy’s hand?”