Manny Needs a Nanny - 17. Memories Hit Hard

Sunday Night

Rocky has been thinking about Bruce since he called him a fruit on Thursday. That, and hanging out with his two new gay friends on Saturday, all made some memories come bubbling to the surface overnight into Monday. Bass heard Rocky scream "Nooooooo!"

Bass didn't bother knocking but rushed into Rocky's room. The scream was loud enough for Manny to hear it across and down the hall. Manny arrived seconds later.

Manny panicked, "What happened?"

"Don't know, I only got here a moment ago myself."

Rocky was sitting up in bed, shaking uncontrollably. Initially Bass sat on either side of him, initially just holding him, trying to calm him. After a couple minutes, Rocky was calm enough to talk.

"It felt so real."

Manny took the lead, "What did?"

"The dream. Well, no, the memory."

"Take your time. We're here now, nothing is going to hurt you. Tell us what happened."

Rocky looked at Manny and Bass. He saw the concern in their faces and gathered up the courage to finally share something he had never told anyone before.

"Bass, do you remember when I quit Cub Scouts a couple years ago?"

"Yes. If I remember, it was after a camp-out. You just decided, you didn't want to go anymore, but wouldn't tell anyone why."

"Something happened on that camp-out that made me quit. I remembered…"

Manny waited a few moments, then prompted, "Keep going. It's okay. Whatever it was, we won't get mad at you."

"No, I didn't do anything wrong. After seeing Bruce Wilmer in school, and spending the day yesterday with my new friends, it all came back—what happened, I mean."

Manny and Bass sat quietly, waiting for Rocky to continue.

"He wasn't as big as he is now, but Bruce was my tent partner. It didn't click when I first saw him again. The last night of the camp-out, he… he… um… molested me."

Manny and Bass gasped, trying, but failing to hide their shock and anger. Again, they waited for Rocky to continue.

"It seemed innocent at first. He said, he'd never seen another boy's dick and asked if I would show him mine. I knew, things like that happened. Even though, I was home-schooled, I'd heard enough at Scouts to know, kids played ‘show me yours’. So, I said, ‘okay’, if he would show his, too. But he didn't stop at just showing his. He rubbed me, down there, and then pushed me down, laying on top of me. But then, he was laying with his dick near my face. I tried to fight him, but he was already bigger than me and was able to put it in my mouth. Then he… he…"

Manny tried to limit Rocky’s discomfort, "Shhhh. It's okay, Rocky. You don't need to say it."

"Yes. I do. At the time, I thought, he peed in my mouth. Although, now I know it wasn't pee. When he got off me, I took my sleeping bag, left the tent and tried to spit it all out. I slept outside the rest of the night. The Scoutmaster wondered why I was outside the next morning, but I was afraid to say anything. I told him it was too warm in the tent. Luckily, we were going home that morning. I came home and said, I didn't want to go back to Scouts."

"Oh, Rocky. I'm so sorry that happened to you. I'm going to get hold of his parents tomorrow, the school—hell—even the police."

"Nooo, Manny! I don't want anybody to know."

"You didn't do anything wrong."

"Manny, please? I just started at this school. Everyone will think…"

"Everyone will think, you were attacked."

"No. Bruce won't want anyone to know, he started it. He'll say, I wanted to do it. Nobody really knows me there. He'll make everybody believe him. You can't tell anyone!"

"We have to do something, Bass."

"Let's not decide that right now. What we will do for sure is get Rocky an appointment with a child psychologist. We'll let him or her…"

Rocky panicked, "HIM. Please! I couldn't tell a woman this."

"Of course, Rocky. We'll let him advise us what to do. Is that alright, Rocky?"

"I guess so. As long as nobody says anything right away."

"It's been two years, I don't think, waiting a little while to possibly take any action will make any difference."

"Thanks, Bass. Will one of you stay with me the rest of the night?"

"I will, Manny. I wouldn't want Rocky to possibly thrash in his sleep and accidentally hit your arm. Is that okay, Rocky?"

"Yeah. Thank you."

"Let me just go get my cell phone, so if something does happen, I can get Manny here too. I'll be right back."

Bass left to retrieve his cell phone.

"Manny, can I stay home from school tomorrow? I don't think I can face Bruce now that I remembered this."

"I think that might be a good idea. If we're lucky, we can find a doctor to see you right away."

"Thanks."

Rocky hugged Manny, "I love you, Manny."

"I love you too, Rocky."

Manny turned off Rocky’s alarm and Bass came back to spend the rest of the night with Rocky. Fortunately, Rocky had a king-size bed, like Manny and Bass, so there was plenty of room for both of them. Manny told Bass; he was letting Rocky stay home from school the next day. Bass agreed, that was a good idea.

The rest of the night was quiet.

Monday

Bruce noticed Rocky wasn’t in class for second period but didn’t get a chance to say anything to Bobby. Lunchtime was a different story. Bruce’s tongue had healed well enough for him to talk properly again.

“Where’s the new fag today?”

“He’s not a… he’s not gay, you ass.”

“Watch it, Mark. You don’t want to be calling me names. It might not be good for your health. But yeah, you keep on believing that.”

“Whatever, we don’t know where he is. He just didn’t come in today. Maybe he’s sick.”

Paul added, “Of your face.”

The rest of Rocky’s friends snickered.

“Are you looking for trouble too, Bangor?”

Paul just looked away.

“Yeah, didn’t think so, fucking faggot. Give your new butt buddy a get-well kiss from me.”

Bruce walked away. Bobby mumbled under his breath, “Kiss him yourself, you fuckhead.”

That elicited another chuckle.

Steve wondered, “Why does he have to be such a jerk?”

Bobby’s answer brought a full laugh to the table, “Probably a closet homosexual, trying to protect his lack of manhood.”

Mark continued the ragging, “Yeah, him and Pecker, ‘oh, bwuce, I just wuv your muscles, they make me so hawny’.”

The laughter got louder. Finally, Mrs. Spiffle, that day’s lunch monitor, came by and told them to settle down. Lunch was nearly over by then, so it wasn’t much of a challenge.

*******************************

Manny made a few phone calls, and after describing Rocky's issue with as little detail as possible, got a four o'clock appointment that day. Since Manny wasn't comfortable driving yet, Patrick drove them and found something else to do for an hour, telling Manny to text him if they were done sooner.

Manny filled out the typical paperwork, a little difficult with his new disability, but was able to complete it on the clipboard he was provided.

The doctor stepped out of his office a short time later, "Hello Mr. Talbot. This must be Rocky Tanner. I'm Doctor Pearson Steele."

"Hi. Yes, it is."

"Can I ask what your relationship is? I don't want to run into any patient confidentiality issues."

"Sure, I'm Rocky's legal guardian, I have paperwork you may copy."

"Very good. Cassie, would you make a copy of Mr. Talbot's guardianship papers?" To Manny, "You can pick up your originals when we're done. Why don't you both come in?"

"So, how can I help? I see by the limited notes, we're looking at a sexual abuse case. Is that why you are his guardian, Mr. Talbot?"

"No—and it's ‘Manny’, please. It's something that happened to Rocky a couple years ago and recently, situations have occurred to bring it back to the forefront of his memory."

"I see. Rocky, are you comfortable sharing the details in front of Manny?"

"Yes. I told him after my nightmare last night."

"Very good. Begin when you are ready. Feel free to take your time. Would you like a bottle of water before you start?"

"No, I think, I'll be okay."

Rocky recounted what he'd told Manny and Bass overnight.

"Well, you definitely did right, Manny, to get him in for counseling. And this boy has now re-entered your life, Rocky? Why did that take two years?"

"I was home-schooled until my st… mother died in July."

The doctor made no reaction to Rocky's near flub, but Manny definitely noticed. He remained quiet until his input was requested.

"I understand, and I'm very sorry for your loss. Am I to understand your father is no longer in the picture?"

"Yes. He died as a result of the same accident as mom."

"Again, sorry for your losses. Are you afraid, this boy may attempt to repeat his actions?"

“Wow. No, I wasn't at first, but after you asked, yeah, I guess, that's possible. Although, he tries to make it plain to everyone that he isn't gay."

"Being a sexual predator doesn't necessarily make him gay. More often it's simply about power. You said, he is larger now. Is that a factor in thinking, he may try again?"

"I don't think so. I take Karate lessons, and I kind of beat him up on the first day of school. Unless he sneaks up on me, I believe I can handle him."

"So, then vengeance is a likely motivator for him to accost you in some manner?"

"Yeah, I'd say so."

Rocky and the doctor spoke for a while longer before he asked if he could have a word alone with Rocky. Manny stepped back out to the waiting area.

"This may be difficult to answer, Rocky, but I have to ask it because we're dealing with sexual assault. Has anyone else ever tried to touch you in an inappropriate way?”

“Like, touching my penis?”

“That, or making you touch theirs.”

"A tennis coach once touched my butt a little much, but nobody did anything with their or my penis other than Bruce."

"Thank you. Please wait while I bring Manny back in."

Rocky mumbled, "Okay."

"Manny, you may come back in now."

Manny returned and sat back down.

"So, aside from counseling, what other follow-up are you expecting to happen?"

"That's all I want. Manny and Bass thought we should go to the police, or the school, or Bruce's parents. I don't want that to happen. I don't want other people to know."

"Who is Bass?"

"He's like the house manager, I told him the same time I told Manny last night."

"I see."

"Do you believe, Bruce may try this again, to you or to another boy, or girl?"

"I don't know. Maybe? Maybe he's changed."

"I'm sorry, Rocky. Don’t get your hopes up too much. I don’t say that this is impossible, but usually, people need an incentive for change. From what you told me, he didn’t seem to have had any reason for such a U-turn, yet. But that doesn’t mean this opportunity doesn’t arise. You actually could trigger such a change."

"But he'll know who told on him! Other people might find out about it."

"Do you think, there's a chance that you're not the only boy, he's done this to?"

"I guess, there could be others."

"You haven't done anything wrong. And who knows: Maybe, you haven’t been the only one. You would do these other ones a favor and they might come forth. Assuming there are more than just you, Bruce might not even know who reported him. I know, that’s a big if, but if it helps you …"

"I guess, that makes sense. So, what should we do?"

"Exactly what Manny and Bass said: go to the police. Confronting his parents will not accomplish anything, and telling the school may present other problems. So, it is best for the police to handle it. If they find a reason to, they should inform the school."

"Okay, I guess."

"Excellent. Manny, can you bring him back in a week? I'd like to check his progress at that point. If things are going well, we can extend the interval between visits."

"Sure, we can do that. What about school? He doesn't want to have to confront this other boy."

"I cannot recommend keeping him out of school. It could be days, or weeks after you complete a police report before the police have enough information to follow up. He'd have to see this other boy in that case. It sounds feeble, but he should try to avoid him whenever possible. You didn't recognize him at first, perhaps he's not aware, you are one of his victims."

Manny and Rocky agreed. Manny made another appointment for the following Tuesday before they left the office.

Manny found Bass when they got home, "We need to hit the study, Bass."

"Okay. Sounds serious."

"Yeah."

Once inside the study, Manny shared Rocky's unintentional slip.

"When Rocky explained why it took two years for the memory to appear, he indicated, he'd been home-schooled by his—and I quote—'st… mother.' He had to be starting to say ‘stepmother’."

"That means, he knows. If that's true, he's never said anything. Do we let on that we know, or keep things status quo?"

"I don't know, Bass. I'm sure there are pluses and minuses. But my biggest question is, 'what does him knowing change?' Sure, we may have to deal with it sometime, but why confront him?"

"I guess, you're right. For now, we'll let sleeping dogs lie."

They also respected Rocky’s wishes and did not go to the police immediately but would bring it up again with Rocky again in the future.

Next up - "Return to School, and a Confrontation or Two"