The Summer Job - 53. The Summit

Richard parked his blue 1986 Camaro in the lot of Ottima Pizza. It was an old car, and Richard was disappointed when he first saw it. Richard and Mr. Jens Van Houten had spent two months restoring the car, and now it was a masterpiece.

So was Richard’s relationship with his foster Dad, an immigrant from the Philippines of all places. They had bonded over every bolt, screw and wiring harness. Jens had been a petroleum engineer and had worked all over Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines. He retired early enough to enjoy it and still had a son and a daughter in college.

Richard was unsure of the relationship between Pops and Jens Van Houten, but apparently it was an old, close and robust one. When he asked about it, Jens would always say, we will talk about it when you are older.

Richard asked Karl and Carlos, “Are we clear on how this is supposed to go?”

Karl said, “Phillip will have Seth and David with him. We occupy them and give you a chance to talk to Phillip.”

Richard said, “Good. Now I’m going to tell you guys something I want you to keep close. There are entirely too many rumors about Pops flying around now, and it is only a matter of time before the cops show up.”

Carlos asked, “How sure are you about that?”

“You know I’m seeing a cop right?”

Karl laughed and said, “Probably the cutest rookie on anybody’s police force. You really lucked out to catching Brad Scott.”

Richard said, “Brad told me to steer clear of Farmer— this weekend in particular.”

“Jesus”, Karl exclaimed. “That soon? Couldn’t Brad do anything?”

Richard said, “Brad is a rookie. To the cops, he’s like a sixth grader is to us: cute, new and shiny, but dumb. No, I’m pretty sure Pops wants Phillip to be our new leader.”

Carlos shook his head and said, “Oh no. No way! He can’t lead the Lost Boys. He hasn’t earned it.”

Richard said, “Please don’t go all Latin on me Carlos. Think it through. If they kick his door, they’re going to try to put him away forever. Pops is fifty-something. He’s not running, so he’s not planning on surviving this.”

Karl sobbed, “Oh no, no, no...”

Carlos put his hand on Karl’s knee in the back seat and said, “How can you be so blasé about it?”

Richard said, “Don’t you think I’ve had my moments with this too? When the rumor started at the Y some old guys would suck your dick at Chuckle’s house and pay you a hundred dollars, the writing was on the fucking wall. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner the way Doug, Cade and the others are whoring and getting high. Pops should have never let that happen.”

Carlos said, “He was between a rock and a hard place. The Lost Boys, and let’s be frank, we know who they are, were going to whore and do drugs. At least Pops has kept a lid on it.”

“Nobody vanished into thin air or got raped”, Karl muttered. “That’s got to count for something.”

Richard replied, “Well, it won’t. There is a price to pay, and Pops is going to pay it. You both know what I owe him and why.”

Carlos said, “I’ve never really been clear on that.”

Richard said, “Long story short— my stepfather was raping me in sixth grade. I was the first Lost Boy, but Pops saved me.”

Karl said, “If we get outed to our parents, we’ll be living in the park too.”

Richard said, “There is Phillip’s car. Get your shit together guys. A lot is riding on this. Even if you don’t like Phillip for our new grand pooh-bah, he has the standing to help us and, he’s still a kid. It won’t put him in the same compromised position as Pops.”

Phillip got out of his car and Seth and David followed him inside. The dining room wasn’t packed, but the place was busy with to go orders and deliveries.

Phillip approached the front counter, waited as a young couple with a little girl placed their order. When they were done, he placed their order: one large pepperoni, onions and mushrooms pizza and then gave the cashier a handwritten note with the five pies to go. The cashier understood and gave them three glasses.

They filled their glasses at a drinks fountain and took a table in a corner without much traffic. Once they had a seat, a college aged girl delivered plates, silverware, napkins, and introduced herself as their server Michelle. She tried to flirt a little, but the three gay boys didn’t notice.

Once they were settled, Seth said quietly, “That was Richard’s Camaro in the parking lot.”

Phillip asked, “Who is Richard?”

David replied, “He’s a junior. Richard was gone before we ever got to Grayson. We’ve only met him a few times, but he started the club.”

“Marvelous”, Phillip said flippantly. “I’m going to meet an original gangster.”

Seth shifted nervously and said, “All the older guys know and respect him. I’m curious why he’s here.”

Phillip smiled at Seth and said, “Don’t worry. I’m as curious to hear what he has to say as you are.”

Detective Murray and Deputy Harris drove a nondescript van down a side road in Grissom Park just as the sun was going down. They closed the gate behind them and parked in the area where the park kept its equipment.

It was a gravel parking lot with a steel building that housed the bush hogs and other equipment used to keep the weeds at bay around the parks attractions.

Harris got out of the van and began setting up one of the Department’s three drones. It was an ugly, ungainly quad-copter that was a cousin of the drones used by the military. Once Harris was done, he got back in the van and turned on the control station, aligned the satellite dish and said, “She’s ready to fly boss.”

Murray asked, “What kind of endurance does that beast have?”

Harris said, “All night as long as we stay close and there isn’t a lot of wind.”

“Take her up”, Murray stated. “I want to see what it can do.”

Harris took the controls in hand and the little black drone began to hum and rise straight up. Harris said, “Typically, these drones go up to about twenty-five hundred feet. Then we have them hover and focus their cameras on an area of interest.”

The drone came to altitude and Murray directed it over to the southeast quad of the park.

Harris laughed and said, “You see the darnest things when people don’t know you are looking.”

Murray asked, “What did you see?”

Harris chuckled and said, “A pool full of kids skinny dipping. It looked like they were just chilling.”

“Ever go skinny dipping when you were a kid”, Murray asked.

Harris chuckled and said, “Of course. It’s the South. You are weird if you didn’t.”

Murray said, “It’s their backyard, not against the law and off mission. Forget about it and pull in for a nice look at our bad guys place.”

Murray watched as Farmer’s house came into focus on the drones control station. It was a two-story and fairly common for the neighborhood. At the moment there were no cars in the driveway or any people visible.

Harris asked, “Are we sure about this one boss? I know people who went to school when he was at Carver. They didn’t hear a peep about any of this.”

Murry said, “We’ve got enough for warrants. If he's not guilty, it'll come out in the wash. We have a solid case and, we aren’t going to sit on our hands while more kids are victimized.”

After ordering their dinner and filling their glasses, Richard, Karl and Carlos joined Phillip, Seth and David sitting at an adjoining table.

Seth politely introduced them, “Phillip, this is Richard, Karl and Carlos.”

Phillip gave them his best smile and said, “It's a pleasure to meet you guys.”

Richard shook Phillip’s hand as Karl and Carlos were seated and said, “We saw you on the news. You’ve done well at the Y.”

Phillip noticed Seth and David chatting with Carl and Carlos. The four boys stood and walked toward the video games. Phillip said, “It’s easy when you’ve got good kids like Seth and David.”

Michelle the server arrived with plates, silverware and napkins for the new arrivals and vanished just as quickly.

Phillip asked, “Why do I have the feeling we’re alone for a purpose?”

Richard grinned and said, “Because we are. You're being at the Y and hearing so many stories about Farmer and Grayson, I’m here to set the story straight.”

Phillip took a drink of his coke and said, “I’m listening.”

Richard said, “You’ve met the Gentlemen’s Club and think you know what it’s about, but you don’t.”

Politely, Phillip asked, “Excuse me?”

Richard sighed and said, “OK. Let’s back up. Farmer and I arrived at Grayson at the same time five years ago. My Mom had just remarried and, my stepfather was a real creep who got her fucked up on dope, so he could molest me at will.”

Phillip looked disgusted, but Richard continued, “I started spending the night in the park to get away from him, and it wasn’t long before the local perverts offered me a way to make extra cash. I was getting paid for what I had to do for free at home, so it was all good. Farmer jogs the park regularly and caught me with a trick. I thought I was cooked because my Principle had caught me blowing a guy for money, but he took me home, fed me, calmed me down and talked to me.”

“I didn’t tell him what was going on the first time. After he caught me a couple of times, I finally did. He said he suspected something like that because the behaviors always tell. Anyway, Farmer knew someone he thought would make a good foster family for me. They got certified and were available as soon as he filed the complaint. My stepdad is in prison, so is Mom for drug stuff, and I’m living with a good family. This should be the end of the story, but it’s not.”

“The woman in charge of CPS in this county, a bitch named Sturgis, got very pissed off at Farmer because he trampled on her turf. She has a feud with him and guaranteed that she would screw up anything he sent her way in the future. The system worked for me, but it is not going to work for the other kids.”

Phillip asked, “What other kids?”

Richard said, “Other kids that are in fucked up situations like I was. You probably haven’t met them because there are rules. The messed up kids are called the Lost Boys. They’re like I used to be: angry, aggressive and pissed off at the world. They should be in foster care. The homes they are in are nightmares.”

Phillip said, “That’s why there was so much bullying.”

“I wasn’t there”, Richard said. “I didn’t see it first-hand. Middle School is always pretty chippy. Put a bunch of kids in puberty all in the same place and that’s going to happen. It was worse at Grayson because of the Lost Boys.”

Phillip said, “He should have expelled or suspended them— something other than let them bully everybody.”

Richard said, “Think about it— what happens to kids that get expelled or suspended? They have to go stay in the same toxic shitholes that made them nuts in the first place.”

Phillip looked pale and said, “Jesus Christ.”

Richard grinned and said, “I’m pretty sure he had nothing to do with it. Now do you understand the problem Farmer has with his ‘Lost Boys’?”

Phillip nodded.

Richard said, “Now, hold on to your hat because I’m about to blow your mind: Farmer used the rest of us to create the Gentlemen’s Club for the kids who were gay, came from fairly stable homes and needed protection.”

Phillip looked at him dumbfounded and shook his head. “No. That... that’s...”

Richard said, “That’s exactly what happened. The bullying, at least in part, drove them together. He’s had people like Karl and Carlos fostering it until they aged out. We were going to bring Seth and David into the circle this summer, but you showed up.”

Still having problems getting his head around all this, Phillip asked, “What about the rumors of prostitution and drugs?”

“Again, think it through”, Richard urged. “The Lost Boys are the very definition of disturbed. Farmer can’t do what is really necessary or Sturgis will probably dump them into worse situations than they are already in. His answer was if he couldn’t stop it, he would regulate it so no one would vanish, get raped or take any really heavy-weight drugs. There’s an old hippie named Quinn who runs that and Farmer cordially hates him.”

Phillip put his elbows on the table and put his forehead in his hand.

Richard said, “I know. It’s a real headache and, it’s about to get a lot worse. The cops are probably going to raid Farmer’s house tonight thinking he’s the scum of the earth.”

Phillip said, “If they believe half the rumors I’ve heard, they’ll probably go in shooting.”

“Farmer is a little messed up. Did you know he used to be a soldier?”

Phillip shook his head.

Richard said, “He was a Green Beret in the first Gulf War. They sent him in to help the Kurds fight Saddam. They were all kids and most of them got wasted. He was nearly killed. When he was coaching at Carver, one of his kids vanished off the face of the earth. Farmer constitutionally cannot give up on a kid. He just can’t do it.”

Phillip got up from the table, rushed to a toilet and vomited.

He cleaned his face up and looked in the mirror and asked himself- what have I done.