Doc Tompkins, A Farm At Maple Hollow Vingette - 1. Chapter 1

Like many small farming communities, Hutchinson had an annual harvest fair and always on the third Saturday in October. This year wasn’t any different than previous years. Events ranged from 4H livestock shows, greased pig chases, sheep rodeo for the younger ones to giant pumpkins, apple bobbing and the like. There were book sales, magic shows, quilting bees, pony rides, games for the children. There are all kinds of food from corn dogs to baked beans and apple pie, fried dough and pie eating contests. Along with tractor pulls, face painting and flag pole climbing, equestrian events, milking contests and barbeque. All of this followed by fireworks and a band concert.

As the fireworks concluded Effr could only smile and remember how much, just how much he had missed all of this and how much he was looking forward to being back home. Things had gone well and he had reconnected with many good friends and importantly several members of his very large family. Other than a few cuts and bruises there weren’t many demands for his or the medical center’s services.

Sitting in his apartment later that evening Effr was dozing in his easy chair when his cell phone started ringing. Realizing it was the police dispatch line he answered quickly.

“This is Doc Tompkins speaking; how can I help you”?

“Effr, dispatch here, a call just came in, Pat Szabo said while he and his wife were walking their dog, an hour or so after things were done for the night, they came across a body behind the Grandstand near the dumpsters. From what he said it would appear to be dead and we need you down there ASAP”!

“I can be there in ten; I just need to grab my bag and jacket”.

“Effr, we dispatched Elmer Perkins, he’s on duty and was up by the high school and he should be at your doorstep any minute”.

Stepping out of the house Effr noticed the night had indeed gotten much colder and as he reached the sidewalk the cruiser pulled up. Tossing his jacket and bag in the back seat he got in the front passengers’ seat.

“Thanks for picking me up Elm, it’s appreciated and long-time no see, how’s things? I hear you added another to your tribe”.

“Actually two Effr, twin boys, ya think with five under the age of fourteen we’d had enough but you know the missus…she ain’t happy unless she’s pregnant or has a kid on her hip, you best get her on some strong medication or you’re going to have do a nip on the boys down here, everything I touch in the house is either sticky or smells like poop”.

“We can do both Elm, may be best if we just remove the offending member entirely, so what do you know so far”?

“Don’t think I haven’t considered it Effr but we’ll come back to public enemy number one in a week or so. Pat Szabo called; the dog actually found the body; he was sniffing over by the dumpsters barking like holy hell. As they were getting closer Pat said his wife saw an old tan pickup truck leaving the fairgrounds, the entrance lights hadn’t been turned off. She thinks there were at least two in the cab and possibly a couple more in the back.’’

They both fell silent as they pulled into the fairgrounds, each of the dreading what the remainder of the night was to bring. As they pulled around the rear of the grandstand and approached the dumpsters, they saw the Szabo’s and the dog standing guard holding a flashlight. Pat had taken his jacket and covered the body. Gently pulling the jacket off the body Effr could see it was that of a teenage boy who at the hands of others, appeared to be sexually abused, thrown away and discarded like yesterday’s trash.

It was clearly obvious as Effr walked over, that the boy had suffered mightily, his right leg showed signs of a compound fractures just below and above the knee, bleeding from the broken skin where bones protruded. Both arms bent at impossible angles and his nose clearly had been broken. What was left of his clothing was shredded covered in blood. It was evident someone had taken time to work the boy over. It was also apparent that the boy had soiled himself and it looked as if his jeans had been hastily pulled partway back up, his belt was half undone and the zipper was down.

Looking over to Elm, Effr suggested that they take a few photos before trying to move the body and they should preserve as much of the scene as possible. While Elm and the Szabos cordoned off the immediate area and directed the car headlights on the victim, Effr began a closer inspection of the body and started to gently move the boys head to check for what he was sure he wouldn’t find…a pulse. He had no sooner started when the boy groaned what sounded like ‘’No…more…please no more” as he struggled for Effr's hand.

Stunned, Effr stopped what he started to do, and immediately called out for Elm to call in the rescue squad. Turning his attention back to the boy he began to do a more comprehensive examination while he waited for the ambulance.

It didn’t take long to realize while he needed the assistance of the Rescue Squad, the ambulance would be fruitless. If there were to be any hope for the boy, he would need a Life Flight to Boston, pausing for a second, he directed Elm to call in the request.

Turning back to the boy he began a closer inspection and quickly found himself reverting to his days as an army medic. Working with the rescue squad they did their best to stabilize the boy for his impending helicopter flight to Boston.

Twice during the flight to Boston, Effr lost his patient, the boy died three more times that night while being worked on in the hospital. Broken bones were identified along with suspected internal injuries. Once stabilized, Effr and the highly skilled trauma team went to work on the not so inconsequential injuries.

It was obvious the boy had been sexually assaulted, his anus showed signs of multiple signs of trauma and tearing, a rape kit was used to collect DNA evidence. Material collected from under the fingernails was also collected for eventual use as evidence. Cuts and abrasions were cleaned and bandaged, his nose was reset and his braces repaired when they went to reset his broken lower jaw.

Curiously, when repairing the broken teeth and braces, pubic hair and what appeared to be flesh were found enmeshed in the twisted metal. The items were collected and sent along with the other evidence for testing.

Effr stayed at the hospital for the following two days, leaving his patient’s side only for the basic necessities. Once he was sure the boy would live, he made plans to be picked up and return home. Only once that first day, had Effr met the boy’s parents, it was all he could do to keep his composure.

Years of training had ingrained within him a need for clinical detachment so that he could treat his patients without any emotional interference. To know when in the clinical sense of the word, to be able to remain detached. From his time in the service, he knew he would lose some clinical objectivity along the way. There were times when the damage was just too great. And while he would always do his damnedest whatever the situation, deep down he hated to lose. There were times when in the operating theater when all appeared hopeless that Effr found a second wind, a determination to wage a desperate battle against the inevitable, to find within himself the ability to will the outcome both he and the soldier laying on the table needed.

~~~

One September afternoon….

“Jeeze Rabbit slow down, my parents won’t be home until after seven tonight, they left money for pizza or grinders. We got time, plenty of time to have some fun”, Bax, known as better known as Baxter Mullen reminded his boyfriend, who woulda thunk that Bax thought to himself…Rabbit was his boyfriend!

Rabbit, better known as Timothy Johnson was in a rush, he needed to see Levi Foley, it seemed Levi wanted to join the winter track team and had a couple of questions for him. “I gotta see Levi Foley about joining the track team for the winter season, he had a couple of questions…I tried telling him it was all indoor stuff, but he needs to hear it again”.

Looking at Bax with suggestive eyes and a mischievous grin, “Why don’t you order us a small cheese pizza and a couple of meatball grinders and by the time you get your bed turned down, I’ll be back, sticking his hands in the beltloops of his jeans, taking what he thought was a cowboy stance, he drawled in a horrible John Wayne accent, and I promise you we’ll have some fun…a couple of times…pardners”!

Smiling at Rabbits attempt at corny humor, he watched his boyfriend run off. He never tired of his time with Rabbit. He just flat out made him smile and feel all goofy inside. Timothy Johnson was a certified…no…bonified cross country and track star. The boy could flat out run, it was how he got his nickname. Scuttlebutt had rumors of colleges scouting him, and, like himself, he was only a sophomore!

What Bax couldn’t figure out was, just what did he see in me, someone who was just ordinary plain and non-descript as possible, true he was high honor roll, but smarts couldn’t be the reason? Pushing those doubts aside as his lower parts reminded him of the events to come, he picked up the pace and beat feet to home…there was a food order and a bed to be unmade!!

Finishing up with Levi, Rabbit never noticed the tan pick-up truck with Dave Roberts and Oscar Foley drive slowly past. Turning towards Bax’s house, he looked at his watch, He had a half mile to go, his lower parts wanting to be there now!

Barely breaking a sweat, he loped up the walkway towards an already open front door, just inside was Bax, naked except for an obscenely tented dish towel, hanging from a protrusion he was gonna have to examine, to see just how it worked!

Rabbit thought he’d cum in his boxer shorts as he watched Bax run up the stairs to his bedroom yelling out…” I thought you were fast…try catching this”, as he slapped his ass. Rabbit managed to pull his tee- shirt off as he clumsily toed off his sneakers. By the time he got to Bax’s bedroom door he was stumbling out of his shorts and his boxers, the eager part of him slapping up against his abdomen.

The laws of attraction are a variable with no defined set of parameters that defy human understanding. All Rabbit knew was the sight and the smell of Bax lit a fire inside he gave up trying to understand. He had to stop for a moment, for directly in front of him was a sight the simply took his breath away, ignited…further fed the flames of an unquenchable fire only Bax could put out.

Their consummation was short, succinct, and ever so enjoyably direct and to the point. Both boys were gratified that beyond doubt, a careful physical manipulation, scientifically proved their theorem concerning fluid hydraulics. A further depleting taste test, conclusively proved the oral means and methods used, under which their scientific experiment was conducted, was delivering conclusive evidence.

About a half hour later the doorbell rang, tossing on their tee shirts and boxers they went and paid for supper. As they cleaned up from their supper, Bax noticed the time…it was 5:30PM, looking at Rabbit he asked “Do you wanna?” and got “Duh” in return.

Later that September afternoon…

“He’s a fucking faggot I tell ya, a goddammed mother fucking queer...a homo…sex...ual bastard, an ugly, enraged Bart Foley snarled, slowly drawing out that last word for effect. That fucking boy ain’t nothing but trash, today’s god forsaken garbage!! You tell me what right does that frigging piece of shit have to pollute our town”?

“Bartholomew” intoned the Reverend McCallister knowing just how much he hated the name, “Lets approach this sensibly, we don’t want to do something rash…do we? If we do what you are thinking we have the law down on us so fast it’d make your darn fool head spin”.

Bart Foley was beyond enraged, that fucking queer, faggot no good for nothin homosexual was seen talking to his youngest boy. That just had to stop before Levi was infected by god only knows. “I’m suspecting you don’t understand Reverend, “That worthless faggot was seen by Oscar talking to Levi, who knows what kind of pollution he’s fillin his head with”!!

“I can’t support what you’re asking Bartholomew, think about it, you want to lynch the son of one of our members, you given me no proof that the boy talking to Levi is gay…a homosexual other than your son Oscar saw him talking to Levi”.

“I’m telling you Reverend, the boy is queer and a sure as the sun will come up tomorrow. You’ve seen the way he dresses, how he walks and acts. He walks around all limp-wristed. Shit…he was dancing on stage wearing tights for Christsakes. He runs around in circles on a freaking track, wearing girly shorts, instead of playing a real sport. How can a High School allow that sort of perversion, I tell ya, they are training those kids to accept those faggots and worse to encourage them become one”!!

Bart Foley left the Rectory a bit chagrinned and not quite convinced, he understood what Reverend McCallister was saying, but the reverend just didn’t get it, that faggot was a cancer and the only way to cure cancer was to cut it out…eliminate it, that’s what the doctors treating his wife for breast cancer failed to see. He’d give the Reverend some time, but that queer piece of shit best makes sure he stays away from his son Levi!

~~~

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, pushing the wire framed glasses up over his forehead, it was going to take every bit of his considerable powers of persuasion to calm the irate parent down and keep him off the ledge. They had come so close, they would, if all went well, claim a majority of seats on the School Committee and possibly at least one of the two open seats for the Select Board. They should keep the two seats on the Board of Health and they just make the majority on the Planning Board.

If everything went according to plan, members of the New Covenant Church would control most of the local town government and begin to effect the changes according to The True Word of God. Over the past five to six years their outreach ministry was able to attract a considerable number of like-minded families to move to town along with a reasonably successful outreach to the existing locals.

They had the same, similar success in the other towns of the regional school district. Attendance at the church was thriving, imperceptibly he was able, on the strength of his sermons, to slowly change and plant the seeds of the true word of God!

~~~

After recharging his batteries, Effr found himself back at Boston Children’s a day and a half later after coming back home. The boy had taken a turn for the worse. Infections were stubbornly resisting medication and the right leg was decidedly worse. If he were to have any chance of surviving, it would have to go. He was called back as the consulting physician and was asked to speak once more with the boy’s parents. Other than that, first night in Boston, they immediately went back home to Hutchinson. Their lack of empathy was deeply disturbing and quite frankly troublesome. The hospital administration staffs, tried to convince the boy’s parents of the need to meet with the doctors, about the treatment plan moving forward and refused to do so in multiple conversations.

After tracking the parents down on his day off, he was left visibly shaken. If he thought they were cold and distant that first night at Boston Children’s, he was mortified when meeting them at their home. It didn’t go well. When told their son’s life depended on the amputation of his right leg, they shrugged, they were concerned about the costs for aftercare and, would it not be best to leave it in God’s hands? Was it not God’s will?

It took a reserve of willpower Effr didn’t know he had, calmly, but with an intensity that brooked no nonsense, he informed the Johnson’s what would be the consequences of their neglect, and that was what it was…neglect, if their son were to die due to the lack of an agreeable treatment plan, they would be facing a long stint in jail. If in fact their son lived, suffered as a result of this neglect, they would be facing their son, being removed from their home and jail time. The result of the conversation was the Johnson’s terminating their parental rights and assigning the care of Timothy to Effr.

On the way up to Maple Hollow he knew he had to talk to Uncles Ethan and Arik. He was never surer of anything. At first, he understood the impossibility, but he could not leave Timothy to the care of strangers. He saw his uncles sitting on the porch as he pulled down the driveway and headed up to the porch after parking his car.

“Well Ethan, he doesn’t have his doctoring bag and by the look on his face tells me something is going on or about to happen”’ Arik noted wryly…just loud enough for Effr to hear.

“No stethoscope or pill jars either, what kind of trouble do you think the boy is in Arik? I haven’t seen him look like this since the day he stole your strawberry rhubarb pie, lord that was a funny day, I think he had the shits for a week”!

A disheveled Effr looked at his uncles, “I think I may be in trouble uncles; I just may have bit off something that may be just a tad bigger than me”, Effr stated and started to tell them about the boy when Arik interrupted holding up his hand to pull him close.

“Is it about the young boy you found down at the fairgrounds”? Ethan wanted to know. Nodding his head yes, he started to cry on Arik’s shoulder. “We heard about that and wondered about the circumstances, I take it he’s in serious condition and trouble”?

Over the next fifteen minutes, Effr managed to get his uncles caught up, describing the parent’s reaction to all the issues involved and their willingness to give the boy up. Ethan wanted to know how he planned on caring for the boy in his one-bedroom apartment and before Effr could respond, Arik simply said he’d contact uncles Ernest and Ezekiel, leave the finances and legal ramifications to them, they were after all, the town banker and lawyer. Effr and Timothy would be moving up here, there were a couple of empty bedrooms. Effr protested, Arik simply told him it was done, no arguing, family does for family…case closed.