Truth Behind the Lies
folder
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
32
Views:
23,630
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Category:
Original - Misc › -Slash - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
32
Views:
23,630
Reviews:
358
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
1
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.
Chapter two
Review Responses
Nekosune: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Oh yay, I love cookies. Dont know what pocky or yamyams are but I'll take those too.
madlodger: Well I'm glad it interests you. Hope you continue to read it.
bambi4real: It WAS sad, wasn't it? I agree, resorting to sex is not a good was to get comfort. However, that fact and the other happenings in the prologue were for you to get the 'truth' about the Gibson family, so when you continue to read and hear what things the townfolk are telling each other, you can say, "Hey, that not true at all! Damn you gossipers!" :)
Pickle: I cried too. I finished typing up that chapter and thought, "Wow, that was so sad."
yami990: *accepts cookie* Glad you liked it and yes I will continue.
Anon: Good! I love it, love it, love it too!
Anon: Glad you liked it.
Anon: I love Shay and Jack too. I gonna be honest with you, the idea of Jack came from little baby Wyatt from the show Charmed. Ever seen it? I remembered him and thought he was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen.
Chapter two
Tuesday morning
Shay was in the den watching tv when he heard Jack crying from upstairs. I knew I wouldn’t have much alone time before he woke up. Sighing, he got up and went up to his room. Once Jack saw his mother, his short arms immediately went into the air for him to pick him up. Shay picked him up and made his way back downstairs. The boy put his head on his shoulder. “Well if you were still sleepy, you could’ve stayed in bed for a few more hours, pookie.” Jack didn’t say a word, he kept his fingers in his mouth and closed his eyes.
Just as Shay came off the last step, the front door opened and in walked his father. He hated the run-ins he’d have with his father. They never knew what to say to each other. So they would always settle with ‘saying nothing’. Larry removed his trucker’s hat, placing it on the hanger near the door, and walked right by his son and grandson and made his way to the kitchen. Sighing and shaking his head, Shay walked back into the den to watch more tv.
***
Tuesday afternoon
“Hello, Mr. McGrady, so….you have a ummmm stomach ache.” Randy said as he flipped through the pages on the clipboard. The forty year old man nodded. “Have you eaten anything major today? Have you had dinner?”
“Yeah. I had some burritos and nachos with salsa.”
“Have you experienced any diarrhea, vomiting, discoloration of urine?”
“No.”
“Hm. Lie back on the table there and let me examine you a bit.” After Mr. McGrady stretched out on the table, Randy walked over and pressed his fingers into different areas of the man’s stomach. He pushed against his side. “Feel anything here?”
“No.”
Randy moved to the other side of his belly. “Here?”
“Not really.”
He pressed against the top. “Here?”
“No.”
His fingers moved down to the base of his stomach. “And here?”
Mr. McGrady groaned at the pain. “Yeah.”
“Okay Mr. McGrady, you can sit up now.” As the man did so, Randy continued to speak. “What it looks like to me is a bad case of acid indigestion.”
The older man frowned. “Acid indigestion?”
Randy smiled. “Lay off the Mexican food is all. You’re not as young as you used to be, so your body cant digest everything like it should.”
“So that’s it? No prescription? No recommendation on what I should take for this?”
“Yeah. Tums.”
After leaving Mr. McGrady, Randy made a beeline for his office. Removing his white medical jacket, the blonde some of the townsfolk now like to call Dr. Rand, plopped down in his chair and closed his eyes. It was only 2:15 p.m. and he was already worn out. He never knew there were so many sickly people in little Plumsfield, Virginia. That Tuesday was opening day for his clinic. Upon making his decision to move from Wisconsin to Virginia, Randy immediately started looking for a nice building to run a medical clinic in. And he found one not thirty minutes away from Roy’s Corner, which was in the same vicinity as his inherited lake house. He wasn’t opening up hearts and performing multiple hour long brain surgeries, but his work brought him good money. It also helped that he was people friendly, which put him on the good side of patients…..his cheeks had already been pinched twice that day by two elder women.
The honey blonde had just closed his eyes for a two minute rest, when his phone rang. “It never fails.” He said to himself. He grabbed the black phone from off it’s receiver. “Y’ello, Dr. Dodson.”
“Hey, cuz.”
“James? What’s going on, man?” Randy smiled. James O’Donnell was one of Randy’s cousins on his mother’s side. There were plenty of other cousins—being that his mother was one of nine children and they all have children—but it was James who Randy was the closest with.
“Nothing much, Rand. How are things? Adjusting well?”
“Yeah, not too bad. I’ve been a bit lazy though. I’ve been here for days now and I still haven’t finished unboxing my stuff at home.”
James laughed. “Always you, Rand. The biggest procrastinator I know.” They laughed. “Anyway, I figured I’d try to call ya and welcome ya to Plumsfield, by throwing you a little get-together at my place. Nothin’ big and flashy, just a few old friends, a few family members, and a whole lotta ribs and beer. What do ya say, cuz?”
Randy laughed. James was always the goofball. “Sure. Why not.” After all, it’ll be fun to see James drunk and babbling on the story about how he ‘almost’ got drafted for the NFL years ago. “What time should I be there and how much beer should I bring?”
“Next Sunday, around 4, and as much as your arms can carry.”
***
Same time, different place
Shay heard three baby sneezes back to back as he reached for a box of Kleenex from the bathroom. It was times like these, he wished his mother was healthy and could better help him. There lie his little blonde tike on the bed, not moving, barely blinking, with a red button nose, watery brown eyes, and a 102degree temperature. Bryant would’ve known how to handle this. But he couldn’t. Tuesday wasn’t turning out to be a good day, and Bryant sat downstairs nearly comatose after having to take an extra set of his meds because he tried to chase imaginary ‘people’ throughout the house with a butcher knife, talking more about ‘them’ and how they wanted to hurt their family. Larry was no use even if he wasn’t currently in bed sleeping after working long hours. Shay was on his own. But he was only 20, what could he do?
Shay wiped little Jack’s nose. He’d tried everything, baby Tylenol, a cold bathrag to his forehead, soup, nothing brought his temperature down. Shay had no choice, he had to take him to the hospital. And the nearest one was nearly an hour away and he had no clue what would happen to Bryant while he was away. But when your child is sick, you do what you’ve got to do.
It was kind of chilly that day, so Shay slipped on some jeans, sweater and jacket and put Jack in something similar. Picking the boy up, covering his head with the hoodie to keep the cold air from reaching his head, he placed him in the ’97 JEEP Cherokee and started to drive. Luckily after 30 minutes, he spotted a brand new clinic and he made a quick turn into the building’s parking lot.
After signing in, Shay sat in the waiting room, his son in his lap. He saw Jack was looking at the other little children play in the playroom the clinic had, and he knew he wanted to play. Normally, seeing toys and other children would send him into a frenzy—wiggling, and squirming trying to get over and play too—but that day was different. He didn’t feel like it, but he couldn’t stop his little arm from weakly reaching out like he wanted to though. A little girl about the age of 5 saw Jack watching them and she grabbed a blue ball, walked over, and handed it to him. Jack took it and curled up closer to his mother, a bit more content than he was before he came in.
“Thank you.” Shay said to the little girl and she smiled.
“You’re welcome.” She turned and walked away.
Shay didn’t pay much attention when he first walked in, but he soon noticed the looks of the other patients in the waiting room. The vibe towards him wasn’t exactly welcoming. They knew his story. Word traveled fast in Plumsfield. They knew it was only he and Jack. They knew there was no father in the picture. They knew he was the offspring of a mentally unstable man. Shay knew what they were thinking. He knew what the blank faces and turned up noses were for—he was 20, with a child, unmarried, was labeled a whore, and could possibly be crazy. Shay brought his jacket closer in to his body, suddenly, it became a bit more colder.
***
“Mr. Gibson?”
“Yes?”
“Follow me please.”
Shay grabbed up his son and followed the lady nurse back. She walked them into an examining room. “Please have a seat and the doctor will be right with you.” Shay nodded and the nurse left.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the door finally opened and in walked the doctor, flipping through pages on a clipboard. Shay’s eyes widened.
“Okay. Hel……..Hey.”
“Hi.” Shay chuckled. “We meet again, huh? I didn’t know you’re a doctor too.”
Randy smiled. “Yeah, medicine is my profession, but the store, I inherited. So, I’m guessing from little man’s long face, he’s the one I need to be looking at?” Shay nodded.
“I don’t know what happened. He just woke up with a 102 temperature.”
Randy pulled up a chair directly infront of Shay and Jack and flashed a light into his brown eyes. “Well, I have been getting word of a bug that’s been going around recently. No doubt, he’s probably caught it too. Can you act like a monster for me, Jack? Do what I do.” Randy opened his mouth wide and raised up both his arms ferociously, making a growling sound much like a monster. Jack raised his arms, opening his mouth wide and made a little noise. Randy took that opportunity to flash a light into the boy’s mouth to look at his throat. “Okay. Could you take off his coat. I wanna get his blood pressure.” While Randy got up to grab a child size arm strap, Shay took off Jack’s coat.
Randy sat back down, wrapping a small velcro strap around Jack’s arm, then started to pump it. Once pumping up enough, he slowly started to let the air out. The room was silent while he did this, his blue eyes gazing up occasionally towards the boy’s mother. Randy wanted to let his mind wander for a moment, but he was supposed to be counting, so……
“Alright. Blood pressure looks good.” Randy wrote out a prescription on his clipboard and gave the slip to Shay. “Give him this. It’s a liquid medicine, much like baby Tylenol, only a bit more stronger. He should be fine though. He’ll be up, running, and chattering before you know it, wont you champ?” he touched the boy’s head.
“Thank you.” Shay said as he put Jack’s coat back on.
“You’re welcome.” Shay started to make his way to the door. Ask him out. Say he looks nice. Ask him about the weather. Anything! Just don’t let him slip out from your grasp again. Ask him if he would like to have a… “Drink!”
Shay turned around with a confused look. “What?”
Randy, you are an idiot. “I mean, would you like to have a drink? Not today, cause your son’s sick and he’s a priority right now. Well, he’s always a priority, but today is different. Maybe sometime, when he’s better, we could go out and have a drink together.” Randy felt the urge to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He hardly ever rambled.
“That’s nice of you to offer, Dr. Dodson….”
“Please, just call me Randy.”
“Okay Randy. But I have no one to watch my son for me and I’m not old enough to drink.”
Randy blinked. “How old are you?”
“I’m 20. Perhaps if we wait a year, I could go with you to a bar.”
“Oh. Well that’s cool. We could do something else. We could go out for pizza, me, you, and Jack.”
Shay shifted Jack in his arms. “To be honest with you, Randy, I’ve had some bad experiences with dating in general, so I’m taking a break from the whole relationship thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be a date. We can go as friends.”
The brunette sighed. “I don’t know…”
“Look, I laid eyes on you and knew I wanted to see your face over and over again. You looking for a lover, I can do that. You looking for a friend, I can do that too. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m desperate to see you again and will take anything I can get.”
“…..okay.”
Randy smiled. “Great. Here, take this.” he handed Shay a card. “It has my home phone and cell on there. Call me.” Shay nodded and left.
***
That evening
Corrine stood outside Roy’s Corner puffing a cigarette as she watched her nephew’s blue BMW pull into the gravel parking lot. “Hey there doc, how was your first day?” they hugged.
“Long and tiring.” He plopped down on a bench that was on the store’s porch. “Plumsfield is full of sick people. What is it? Is there something in the water here? Should I move back to Wisconsin?”
Corrine laughed. “That’s why I drink, bathe, and brush my teeth with wine.” Randy laughed.
“Say Auntie, you’ve been here a while right?”
“I should say so. 50 years.”
“So then you pretty much know most of the people here.”
“Sure. What’s this about, Rand?”
“Well, there’s this guy—“
Corrine quickly jerked out her cigarette and gasped. “A guy? You met someone?”
“I’d like to think I did. I actually met him here at the store yesterday morning. Then I saw him again today. That might a sign.”
“Could be, but it’s like 12 people here in this town, so you’re bound to see everybody atleast 4 different times a week. Well, what’s he look like? Is he cute?”
“He’s a slender guy—a bit smaller than me—with curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a beautiful smile.”
“Sounds hot.”
“Anyway, I wanted to know if maybe you knew him and could tell me more about him.”
“What’s the name?” She placed the remaining cigarette in her mouth and inhaled.
“Shay.”
“Shay, what?”
“Um…..Grayson…no Gibson.” Randy frowned when he saw the cigarette drop from out of his aunt’s mouth.
“Did you say Gibson?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Does he have a little boy with him?”
“Yeah, his son.” He watched Corrine shake her head. “What’s the matter?”
“You need to leave him alone, Randy.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t come from good stock.”
“You can’t base a person’s character on his family’s income, Auntie. You taught me that.”
“Yes, I know what I taught you, Randy. But I wasn’t talking about his family income. If you mess with him, you’ll be bringin’ a heap of trouble on your hands.”
What the hell is going on here? “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Shay’s parents are Larry and Bryant Gibson. Larry is known around town as an absentee father, a failure, and a drunk. Bryant, well Bryant has issues. He’s not right in the head. Rumors have gone around that people have seen him walking the neighborhoods in the middle of the night, ranting and raving about nonsense. Sometimes, he’s naked. Over ten years ago now, there was the story of how he snatched Shay out his room when he was a boy and drove off, dead set on killing the child with an axe. Now over ten years later, it’s been said that Shay carries the same characteristics as his mother. He’s crazy too, Randy.”
Randy shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it. But if you don’t, then believe me when I tell you about how promiscuous he is. Women and deeply religious men, despise him for his knack of bed hopping and laying up with other people’s husbands, taking their money, and pretty much wringing them of all they’re worth. Word has it, he’s so loose that no one knows who that baby’s father is. He’s been stamped the town whore, Randy. Stay away from him.”
Randy sat back on the bench sighing deeply. Is all that true? What do I do?
Nekosune: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Oh yay, I love cookies. Dont know what pocky or yamyams are but I'll take those too.
madlodger: Well I'm glad it interests you. Hope you continue to read it.
bambi4real: It WAS sad, wasn't it? I agree, resorting to sex is not a good was to get comfort. However, that fact and the other happenings in the prologue were for you to get the 'truth' about the Gibson family, so when you continue to read and hear what things the townfolk are telling each other, you can say, "Hey, that not true at all! Damn you gossipers!" :)
Pickle: I cried too. I finished typing up that chapter and thought, "Wow, that was so sad."
yami990: *accepts cookie* Glad you liked it and yes I will continue.
Anon: Good! I love it, love it, love it too!
Anon: Glad you liked it.
Anon: I love Shay and Jack too. I gonna be honest with you, the idea of Jack came from little baby Wyatt from the show Charmed. Ever seen it? I remembered him and thought he was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen.
Chapter two
Tuesday morning
Shay was in the den watching tv when he heard Jack crying from upstairs. I knew I wouldn’t have much alone time before he woke up. Sighing, he got up and went up to his room. Once Jack saw his mother, his short arms immediately went into the air for him to pick him up. Shay picked him up and made his way back downstairs. The boy put his head on his shoulder. “Well if you were still sleepy, you could’ve stayed in bed for a few more hours, pookie.” Jack didn’t say a word, he kept his fingers in his mouth and closed his eyes.
Just as Shay came off the last step, the front door opened and in walked his father. He hated the run-ins he’d have with his father. They never knew what to say to each other. So they would always settle with ‘saying nothing’. Larry removed his trucker’s hat, placing it on the hanger near the door, and walked right by his son and grandson and made his way to the kitchen. Sighing and shaking his head, Shay walked back into the den to watch more tv.
Tuesday afternoon
“Hello, Mr. McGrady, so….you have a ummmm stomach ache.” Randy said as he flipped through the pages on the clipboard. The forty year old man nodded. “Have you eaten anything major today? Have you had dinner?”
“Yeah. I had some burritos and nachos with salsa.”
“Have you experienced any diarrhea, vomiting, discoloration of urine?”
“No.”
“Hm. Lie back on the table there and let me examine you a bit.” After Mr. McGrady stretched out on the table, Randy walked over and pressed his fingers into different areas of the man’s stomach. He pushed against his side. “Feel anything here?”
“No.”
Randy moved to the other side of his belly. “Here?”
“Not really.”
He pressed against the top. “Here?”
“No.”
His fingers moved down to the base of his stomach. “And here?”
Mr. McGrady groaned at the pain. “Yeah.”
“Okay Mr. McGrady, you can sit up now.” As the man did so, Randy continued to speak. “What it looks like to me is a bad case of acid indigestion.”
The older man frowned. “Acid indigestion?”
Randy smiled. “Lay off the Mexican food is all. You’re not as young as you used to be, so your body cant digest everything like it should.”
“So that’s it? No prescription? No recommendation on what I should take for this?”
“Yeah. Tums.”
After leaving Mr. McGrady, Randy made a beeline for his office. Removing his white medical jacket, the blonde some of the townsfolk now like to call Dr. Rand, plopped down in his chair and closed his eyes. It was only 2:15 p.m. and he was already worn out. He never knew there were so many sickly people in little Plumsfield, Virginia. That Tuesday was opening day for his clinic. Upon making his decision to move from Wisconsin to Virginia, Randy immediately started looking for a nice building to run a medical clinic in. And he found one not thirty minutes away from Roy’s Corner, which was in the same vicinity as his inherited lake house. He wasn’t opening up hearts and performing multiple hour long brain surgeries, but his work brought him good money. It also helped that he was people friendly, which put him on the good side of patients…..his cheeks had already been pinched twice that day by two elder women.
The honey blonde had just closed his eyes for a two minute rest, when his phone rang. “It never fails.” He said to himself. He grabbed the black phone from off it’s receiver. “Y’ello, Dr. Dodson.”
“Hey, cuz.”
“James? What’s going on, man?” Randy smiled. James O’Donnell was one of Randy’s cousins on his mother’s side. There were plenty of other cousins—being that his mother was one of nine children and they all have children—but it was James who Randy was the closest with.
“Nothing much, Rand. How are things? Adjusting well?”
“Yeah, not too bad. I’ve been a bit lazy though. I’ve been here for days now and I still haven’t finished unboxing my stuff at home.”
James laughed. “Always you, Rand. The biggest procrastinator I know.” They laughed. “Anyway, I figured I’d try to call ya and welcome ya to Plumsfield, by throwing you a little get-together at my place. Nothin’ big and flashy, just a few old friends, a few family members, and a whole lotta ribs and beer. What do ya say, cuz?”
Randy laughed. James was always the goofball. “Sure. Why not.” After all, it’ll be fun to see James drunk and babbling on the story about how he ‘almost’ got drafted for the NFL years ago. “What time should I be there and how much beer should I bring?”
“Next Sunday, around 4, and as much as your arms can carry.”
Same time, different place
Shay heard three baby sneezes back to back as he reached for a box of Kleenex from the bathroom. It was times like these, he wished his mother was healthy and could better help him. There lie his little blonde tike on the bed, not moving, barely blinking, with a red button nose, watery brown eyes, and a 102degree temperature. Bryant would’ve known how to handle this. But he couldn’t. Tuesday wasn’t turning out to be a good day, and Bryant sat downstairs nearly comatose after having to take an extra set of his meds because he tried to chase imaginary ‘people’ throughout the house with a butcher knife, talking more about ‘them’ and how they wanted to hurt their family. Larry was no use even if he wasn’t currently in bed sleeping after working long hours. Shay was on his own. But he was only 20, what could he do?
Shay wiped little Jack’s nose. He’d tried everything, baby Tylenol, a cold bathrag to his forehead, soup, nothing brought his temperature down. Shay had no choice, he had to take him to the hospital. And the nearest one was nearly an hour away and he had no clue what would happen to Bryant while he was away. But when your child is sick, you do what you’ve got to do.
It was kind of chilly that day, so Shay slipped on some jeans, sweater and jacket and put Jack in something similar. Picking the boy up, covering his head with the hoodie to keep the cold air from reaching his head, he placed him in the ’97 JEEP Cherokee and started to drive. Luckily after 30 minutes, he spotted a brand new clinic and he made a quick turn into the building’s parking lot.
After signing in, Shay sat in the waiting room, his son in his lap. He saw Jack was looking at the other little children play in the playroom the clinic had, and he knew he wanted to play. Normally, seeing toys and other children would send him into a frenzy—wiggling, and squirming trying to get over and play too—but that day was different. He didn’t feel like it, but he couldn’t stop his little arm from weakly reaching out like he wanted to though. A little girl about the age of 5 saw Jack watching them and she grabbed a blue ball, walked over, and handed it to him. Jack took it and curled up closer to his mother, a bit more content than he was before he came in.
“Thank you.” Shay said to the little girl and she smiled.
“You’re welcome.” She turned and walked away.
Shay didn’t pay much attention when he first walked in, but he soon noticed the looks of the other patients in the waiting room. The vibe towards him wasn’t exactly welcoming. They knew his story. Word traveled fast in Plumsfield. They knew it was only he and Jack. They knew there was no father in the picture. They knew he was the offspring of a mentally unstable man. Shay knew what they were thinking. He knew what the blank faces and turned up noses were for—he was 20, with a child, unmarried, was labeled a whore, and could possibly be crazy. Shay brought his jacket closer in to his body, suddenly, it became a bit more colder.
“Mr. Gibson?”
“Yes?”
“Follow me please.”
Shay grabbed up his son and followed the lady nurse back. She walked them into an examining room. “Please have a seat and the doctor will be right with you.” Shay nodded and the nurse left.
After a few more minutes of waiting, the door finally opened and in walked the doctor, flipping through pages on a clipboard. Shay’s eyes widened.
“Okay. Hel……..Hey.”
“Hi.” Shay chuckled. “We meet again, huh? I didn’t know you’re a doctor too.”
Randy smiled. “Yeah, medicine is my profession, but the store, I inherited. So, I’m guessing from little man’s long face, he’s the one I need to be looking at?” Shay nodded.
“I don’t know what happened. He just woke up with a 102 temperature.”
Randy pulled up a chair directly infront of Shay and Jack and flashed a light into his brown eyes. “Well, I have been getting word of a bug that’s been going around recently. No doubt, he’s probably caught it too. Can you act like a monster for me, Jack? Do what I do.” Randy opened his mouth wide and raised up both his arms ferociously, making a growling sound much like a monster. Jack raised his arms, opening his mouth wide and made a little noise. Randy took that opportunity to flash a light into the boy’s mouth to look at his throat. “Okay. Could you take off his coat. I wanna get his blood pressure.” While Randy got up to grab a child size arm strap, Shay took off Jack’s coat.
Randy sat back down, wrapping a small velcro strap around Jack’s arm, then started to pump it. Once pumping up enough, he slowly started to let the air out. The room was silent while he did this, his blue eyes gazing up occasionally towards the boy’s mother. Randy wanted to let his mind wander for a moment, but he was supposed to be counting, so……
“Alright. Blood pressure looks good.” Randy wrote out a prescription on his clipboard and gave the slip to Shay. “Give him this. It’s a liquid medicine, much like baby Tylenol, only a bit more stronger. He should be fine though. He’ll be up, running, and chattering before you know it, wont you champ?” he touched the boy’s head.
“Thank you.” Shay said as he put Jack’s coat back on.
“You’re welcome.” Shay started to make his way to the door. Ask him out. Say he looks nice. Ask him about the weather. Anything! Just don’t let him slip out from your grasp again. Ask him if he would like to have a… “Drink!”
Shay turned around with a confused look. “What?”
Randy, you are an idiot. “I mean, would you like to have a drink? Not today, cause your son’s sick and he’s a priority right now. Well, he’s always a priority, but today is different. Maybe sometime, when he’s better, we could go out and have a drink together.” Randy felt the urge to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He hardly ever rambled.
“That’s nice of you to offer, Dr. Dodson….”
“Please, just call me Randy.”
“Okay Randy. But I have no one to watch my son for me and I’m not old enough to drink.”
Randy blinked. “How old are you?”
“I’m 20. Perhaps if we wait a year, I could go with you to a bar.”
“Oh. Well that’s cool. We could do something else. We could go out for pizza, me, you, and Jack.”
Shay shifted Jack in his arms. “To be honest with you, Randy, I’ve had some bad experiences with dating in general, so I’m taking a break from the whole relationship thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be a date. We can go as friends.”
The brunette sighed. “I don’t know…”
“Look, I laid eyes on you and knew I wanted to see your face over and over again. You looking for a lover, I can do that. You looking for a friend, I can do that too. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m desperate to see you again and will take anything I can get.”
“…..okay.”
Randy smiled. “Great. Here, take this.” he handed Shay a card. “It has my home phone and cell on there. Call me.” Shay nodded and left.
That evening
Corrine stood outside Roy’s Corner puffing a cigarette as she watched her nephew’s blue BMW pull into the gravel parking lot. “Hey there doc, how was your first day?” they hugged.
“Long and tiring.” He plopped down on a bench that was on the store’s porch. “Plumsfield is full of sick people. What is it? Is there something in the water here? Should I move back to Wisconsin?”
Corrine laughed. “That’s why I drink, bathe, and brush my teeth with wine.” Randy laughed.
“Say Auntie, you’ve been here a while right?”
“I should say so. 50 years.”
“So then you pretty much know most of the people here.”
“Sure. What’s this about, Rand?”
“Well, there’s this guy—“
Corrine quickly jerked out her cigarette and gasped. “A guy? You met someone?”
“I’d like to think I did. I actually met him here at the store yesterday morning. Then I saw him again today. That might a sign.”
“Could be, but it’s like 12 people here in this town, so you’re bound to see everybody atleast 4 different times a week. Well, what’s he look like? Is he cute?”
“He’s a slender guy—a bit smaller than me—with curly brown hair, brown eyes, and a beautiful smile.”
“Sounds hot.”
“Anyway, I wanted to know if maybe you knew him and could tell me more about him.”
“What’s the name?” She placed the remaining cigarette in her mouth and inhaled.
“Shay.”
“Shay, what?”
“Um…..Grayson…no Gibson.” Randy frowned when he saw the cigarette drop from out of his aunt’s mouth.
“Did you say Gibson?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Does he have a little boy with him?”
“Yeah, his son.” He watched Corrine shake her head. “What’s the matter?”
“You need to leave him alone, Randy.”
“Why?”
“He doesn’t come from good stock.”
“You can’t base a person’s character on his family’s income, Auntie. You taught me that.”
“Yes, I know what I taught you, Randy. But I wasn’t talking about his family income. If you mess with him, you’ll be bringin’ a heap of trouble on your hands.”
What the hell is going on here? “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“Shay’s parents are Larry and Bryant Gibson. Larry is known around town as an absentee father, a failure, and a drunk. Bryant, well Bryant has issues. He’s not right in the head. Rumors have gone around that people have seen him walking the neighborhoods in the middle of the night, ranting and raving about nonsense. Sometimes, he’s naked. Over ten years ago now, there was the story of how he snatched Shay out his room when he was a boy and drove off, dead set on killing the child with an axe. Now over ten years later, it’s been said that Shay carries the same characteristics as his mother. He’s crazy too, Randy.”
Randy shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“Believe it. But if you don’t, then believe me when I tell you about how promiscuous he is. Women and deeply religious men, despise him for his knack of bed hopping and laying up with other people’s husbands, taking their money, and pretty much wringing them of all they’re worth. Word has it, he’s so loose that no one knows who that baby’s father is. He’s been stamped the town whore, Randy. Stay away from him.”
Randy sat back on the bench sighing deeply. Is all that true? What do I do?