Chapter XIV: A Crack in the Wall

Fortunately, Don’s encounter with the point of the table left him with just a very badly bruised muscle in his back, no serious damage. But their father was still furious about the injury. To get Mike out of the house, his brother-in-law invited him to join the new couple on their trip to southwestern Virginia. His father agreed, since Mike’s chores were up-to-date.

The brother-in-law was a great guy, but had a terrible sense of direction—which wasn’t really such a bad thing. They weren't in a hurry and wanted to see the countryside. Their first stop was Luray Caverns. Mike enjoyed that. That night they stayed in an ancient motel in WV and headed south early the next day. In the late-morning the three stopped in a little town for lunch—if it had a name, they didn’t know it. It was a tiny town. There was a diner, a gas station, a grocery store and a hardware store. That appeared to be it. After lunch the newly married couple headed to the grocery store to pick up a few drinks for the car. Mike wanted a few moments alone--and they probably did too, so he decided to explore the town.

The street was very quiet. There was a small girl (Mike guessed she was six) playing hopscotch in front of the hardware store. Seeing her made him smile because she was so happy and seemed to have a light in her eyes. Had he seen that in anyone before? He went into the store, but it was hot in there and he didn't have money, so he left almost immediately. When Mike came out he saw the girl being pulled around the corner of the building. It didn’t look right, so he followed and saw a man had her by the arm and was dragging her to the back of the building. It turned out there were two men. The girl was crying and trying to pull away from them—these were not men she knew. Mike had to do something.


Mike told the men he had promised his little sister an ice cream cone and needed to take her to the diner. They laughed about him claiming she was his sister. The older man said, “This VC #$%@ ain’t your sister!” and told him to leave. Why did he say she was his sister? That was crazy. Mike felt sick. Why wasn’t he angry? Where was the usual surge of anger that helped him handle confrontations? Without it, he worried he might cry or throw up. Did it show? Is this how Cal felt when he faced a confrontation. Is that why he always slinked away? For Mike that wasn’t an option. He couldn’t let them put the girl in their car.

Mike repeated that he needed to take his sister with him, but his voice sounded weak to his ears, shaky. The younger of the two men (but still "old" to Mike) tried to push him away. Mike was too quick for him. He had been active in sports, including boxing and wrestling--and fighting with his brothers. He did well, but didn’t fully engage. He blocked and danced, trying to stay near the girl. But he didn't fight back. Why not? The older man was distracted by the fight and the girl slipped away. Or did he let her go? Mike didn't know. She disappeared through a tall hedge next to the gravel parking lot. Maybe her home was in that direction. That freed the 2nd man to join the fight and Mike wasn't able to evade both of them. They beat him for getting in their way.

Afterwards, Mike found himself lying in the dirt. The men and their car were gone. Had he passed out? He didn’t know how long he’d been there. It took him a few minutes before he was able to get up and walk back to the street and his BIL’s car. His sister and her husband had been looking for him for some time, but they hadn’t seen the girl or the men. Things were a little hazy for Mike…he didn't even know if what he said to them made sense. They should have taken him to a doctor. But Mike said he was fine and they were fairly young themselves—and worried about the grief they were going to get for "letting" another son get hurt. Instead of continuing to the friend’s house, they drove straight home. They got there in the middle of the night.

Mike’s mother took him to the doctor the next morning. He had two cracked ribs, his left eye was swollen almost shut, and he hurt everywhere. But he was young and healed quickly. In what was a typical show of support from his father, he was yelled at for being too stupid to go for help. Mike didn’t care. He knew he had been where he was supposed to be and did what he was supposed to do. Almost. Why didn’t he fight back?

He spent the rest of the summer thinking about that and everything that had happened. At the time, he had been upset about hurting Don. Was he afraid to hurt someone else? Is that what robbed him of the adrenaline he'd needed that day? That almost turned him into Cal? He had experienced what he thought was fear before, but never like that. That sick feeling would have overwhelmed him if the little girl's desperation hadn't made him FEEL he had to help her. Feel, that was different. In the past, he'd helped people because he believed he was supposed to--his actions were controlled by his mind, not his heart.

It was important to Mike that he be independent. He didn't need connections to people. Did he? But somehow, he felt connected to that little girl. When she smiled at him he could see she was so happy and innocent and full of life. She saw wonder in the world around her. When was the last time he'd felt that? Or noticed it in someone? When was the last time he felt connected to someone or missed someone? It had been a long, long time. People were with him or they were not, but it didn't matter which. One was as good as the other. Wasn't it?

Mike wouldn't be dependent. But maybe he should be more open, talk to more people. Maybe if he looked, he'd find there were other people out there with that spirit he saw in the girl's eyes. The upcoming school year would be his last at the school across town and Mike came to a decision. He would be more social and see what happened. Even if it was a mistake, it would be forgotten when he changed schools.

It would turn out that while Mike had helped the girl, she had helped him too.

Note: What happened next was shared in Chapter XVII.