East Branch, NY – 1963
Red has never before felt this way about a girl. He’s always been able to find female companionship; being athletic, tall, and good-looking, girls are naturally drawn to him. There’s not a Saturday night that he can’t be found down in East Branch, sharing an ice cream soda with one girl or another. But, this one is different. She really gives the “butterflies” inside his chest, whenever he sees her. She’s the one. He’s certain.
In the beginning, he just observes the girl from a distance, imagining what it would be like to hold her in his arms. He conjures up visions of the two of them, picnicking along the Beaverkill, or, better yet, fishing. Just the thought of being that close to her causes him to become aroused. Damn girls, he thinks. They sure know how to get to a guy. Her parents probably wouldn’t approve of him, especially if they knew about his drinking. So far, he has managed to keep it a secret, just between he and his “special” buddies. Red doesn’t see it as a problem, but it will be—some day.
Young people in East Branch don’t generally stay in East Branch for long. With not much opportunity for work locally, most high school graduates tend to enter the military (if they’re male), or go away to college or nursing school (if they’re females). But, Red is different. Oh sure, he’ll most likely take a turn in the service. But, that’s where his plans go in a different direction from those of his classmates. There’s only one job in the world that Red wants, and that’s to be the Chief of Police of Roscoe. Right now, it’s old Harley Cooper who’s Chief, with his smarty-pants daughter, Nancy, as his secretary. She was three years ahead of Red in school, and the two have never cared much for one another, but Harley has always liked Red, and has promised him a job as a patrolman, if he can get some experience in the service. It’s a promise Red is counting on—almost as much as he is certain that he will marry the thirteen-year old girl he covets so very much. He lets her name roll off his tongue—“Claire Andrews.”
It’s 1965, and two years in the Army have done nothing to dull Red’s desire for Claire. If anything, his time in the service, and the separation from the girl, has only intensified his passion. Lucky for him, his tour consists of nothing more than a steady diet of “KP” and guard duty; the latter providing him with invaluable experience in the fine art of bullying men less fortunate than he. He spends the entire two years Stateside, at Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania, and returns to the Catskills relatively unscarred, except for a broken nose sustained in a drunken bar brawl with some Navy men. His mother tells him it gives him “character.”
Once back in East Branch, he joins the auxiliary police force, under the watchful tutelage of Harley Cooper, while working fulltime at the lumberyard over in Walton. One Saturday, while attending a high school football game between Delhi and Margaretville, he is formerly “introduced” to Claire Andrews by an under-aged senior who owes him a favor for a surrogate beer purchase Red has made for him.
From that day forward, it is only a matter of time until Claire is finally his. He woos her like there’s no tomorrow. Smothering her with affection, and showering her with inexpensive gifts. By the time she turns eighteen, their actual marriage is a mere formality, an exclamation point to his realized fantasy. For Claire, life will never be quite the same again. It will be a nightmare.