| |
Seventeen-year-old Jeff awoke to the sound of thuds in the bedroom along the corridor. He frowned and remembered that as a little fellow he would burst into tears at the sound, roll over and try to go to sleep again. The following morning his mother would appear with bruised arms, it was always bruised arms though he suspected other parts of her body were also affected. She would say nothing but prepare the usual cooked breakfast and place it on the table before him.
David Sutton, his stern father would arrive, dressed in a modern suit including jacket and tie, sit down and read the New Zealand Herald morning newspaper that was sitting there awaiting him. After these episodes he would say little but be polite to them both before sipping his coffee and leaving half of it in the mug. He would stand, kiss his wife, Jeff's mother, on the cheek and depart a half an hour earlier than usual.
Chloe Sutton would glance at Jeff, suck on her lip as if she wanted to say something but just tell him that his lunch was packed and that he'd better get off to school. At lunchtime, he would open his lunchbox and find something extra inside. His mother always made delicious sandwiches for him and there was always a muffin or piece of cake that were the envy of his friends. However, on these occasions there was a chocolate bar, a bag of peanuts or money to buy an ice cream at the dairy on the way home.
It was always the same. As far back as he could remember it was always the same! The only difference was that it now happened more frequently and was now almost on a weekly basis though not necessarily on any particular day.
Jeff looked at the clock, saw that it was a little before three and his lips quivered. It was at this time when everything was worse. He turned on the bed lamp, flung the blankets aside and stood up. Rage, boiled up after all the years of harsh beatings from his father and the treatment of his mother, rose inside him. He gritted his teeth and, unlike previous times decided it was up to him for nobody else would help. He hadn't been afraid of his father for several months now but still made sure he didn't cross him.
Not any more!
He swallowed bile, gritted his teeth and stepped out into hallway. Seven steps later he was outside the other bedroom door. It was shut but he was sure he could hear muffled sobbing inside. He grabbed the door handle and pushed it so hard the door flung right back.
The light was on so Jeff took in the view in a second. The blankets were piled on the floor and his mother cowered in a corner. Her nightgown appeared ripped and she had her hands up in a defensive position as she kicked out with her legs.
"No David," she sobbed. "Not again!"
His father was bent over her with his arm bent back as if he was about to hit her again with a clenched fist.
Perhaps it was this that triggered Jeff's already angry emotion.
"Bastard!" he screamed and tore across the room.
He grabbed his father by the shoulders, wrenched him around so the man sort of staggered and ploughed his own fist into the astonished looking face.
At a metre eighty, the seventeen year old was taller than his father but at least ten kilograms lighter. He was though, fit whereas the older man had had too many years of social drinking to be no more than a typical middle-aged businessman with an enlarged belly already beginning to show.
The attack sent the man flying across the room; he toppled on the bed, fell sideways and landed on his knees. Blood poured from his nose that, even in that brief moment, Jeff noted had bent to a strange angle.
He didn't care.
He grabbed his father's arm hauled him to his feet and belted him in the ribs beneath his right arm. The man screamed in agony and ended up on the bed again from where Jeff hauled him back. The third punch was under the jaw and sent the victim spinning sideways across the room. He careered into the open door and a gash appeared in his forehead that opened. More blood streamed out and ran down the man's face.
Jeff wasn't finished. He stepped forward and had his fist raised ready for an almighty punch when soft hands grabbed his arms.
"Thank you Sweetheart but he's had enough," his mother sobbed.
Jeff calmed down after his mother's plead but gave his father a kick in the ribs. "You cowardly pervert," he snapped and placed an arm around his mother's shoulders.
"Get out!" hissed the elder Sutton who sat on the floor bleeding and trembling. Could it be in fear?
"No, Old Man, you get out," Jeff whispered and stepped forward.
David Sutton slid back with his hands held up as if trying to protect himself.
"No Jeff," his mother said and held his fighting arm. "He's not worth it."
Jeff was still shaking with emotion but he did stop the attack. Instead he stood over his cowering father with his fist tight. "You will never hit my mother again, you bastard. Never again! For years I have had to tolerate your cowardly attacks but no more. No more!"
He stood back and kicked his victim in the ribs again "Get dressed and get out. Right out!" He gritted his teeth and lowered his arms. "In the morning you will leave this house and not come back. Don't even think of getting your fancy lady lawyer friend to help you." He laughed sarcastically. "Oh I know about your latest mistress, you slimy little bastard and the one before her and the one before that; you know the one who brought that assault case up against you but you bought her off."
"I can explain..."
"No Old Man, you will not explain. Go and live in your uptown apartment." He glowered. "Oh yeah. I know about that too and I suspect Mum also does..."
"I do," whispered Chloe.
"Good," Jeff said. "I'll give you until noon to move your personal belongings and if you ever come near Mum again I'll kill you."
Chloe stepped back and slipped into a dressing gown before she faced her husband.
"You had better do what your son says, David," she said in a calm voice that Jeff could hardly hear. "I know about your affair and shall be visiting my lawyer tomorrow to draw up a separation writ." She looked grim. "If you lay one complaint against Jeff, I shall also be filing a counter-charge against you for violence and sexual assault over the last ten years."
David Sutton hauled himself up, grabbed his pyjama pants that had slipped off, pulled them on and stared at Chloe then Jeff. He spat out blood onto the carpet, took two steps and collapsed onto the carpet.
"I'd better call an ambulance, Sweetheart," Chloe whispered. "I think you're far stronger than you realise."
*
LOUISE GREENWOOD GLANCED up from her desk in the Reid and Smith, Lawyers and Barristers office where it overlooked the front foyer and reception lounge. The office was on the seventeenth floor of a building in downtown Takapuna, on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand's largest city.
This was a mere cursory glance but something inside her froze and she stared out with intense interest. She knew the pair who were talking to Ella, their receptionist. It was David's wife and his son, Jeff. A moment later her intercom light flashed blue and Ella's voice came through.
A blue light meant that there could be a problem and should the customer be told that she was absent. The glass of her office was one way so anyone out in the foyer could not see into it.
"Ms Greenwood, David's wife and son wish to meet with you on a personal matter. Are you in your office or available?"
Louise could respond by speaking directly through Ella's headphone that no client could hear and almost told her that she was unavailable. However, she studied the pair and noted that Chloe had a bruised eye and cut lip. Oh hell, David had assaulted her hadn't he? But why was her son with her? Moral support, she guessed.
She pressed the intercom key that could be heard by anyone in the outer office.
"I am available, Ella and have time to see them before my next appointment. They can come straight in."
Ella glanced up with a surprised expression on her face and gave a slight nod as if to say, 'Well, I did warn you.' She turned and told the pair to go through.
*
AFTER THE USUAL INVITATION to sit, Chloe did so but Jeff remained standing with his hands on his hips and a dour look on his face. She also noticed his wrapped up right hand.
It was Chloe who spoke first as she stretched forward and placed a key on Louise's desk. "The key to David's apartment. Ms Greenwood," she said and stared at her. "But, no doubt you already have one, being his mistress for the last year."
"You have a point to make Chloe?" Louise purposely used the visitor's forename.
Jeff replied with anger in his voice. "My father has been told he is not welcome in our family home and his personal belongings have been shifted to his apartment. We noticed your clothes there so he won't be lonely, will he?"
"Jeff," Chloe whispered. "Let me explain."
"Why?" the boy retorted. He turned to Louse. "He was beating my mother up and I finally had enough. I beat the shit out of him and he's now in the North Shore Hospital."
"What?" the lawyer gasped.
"You heard," the boy actually sounded like his father with that determined streak in his voice.
"Sit down Jeff and you can both tell me exactly what happened." Louise tried to keep the neutral stance of a lawyer.
Jeff sat down but continued to stare into her eyes. She looked away and at Chloe. "Perhaps you could start, Chloe?" she said.
It took a little professional encouragement and confirmation of client confidentiality but the story came out.
"I will be filing for a legal separation against my husband and am considering a charge of attempted rape. I know rape within a marriage is an offence in New Zealand and will consider this as well if David charges my son with assault." Chloe grimaced. "This, of course will be made through a different law firm to avoid a conflict of interest."
Louise inwardly sighed but maintained an outward expressionless professional look. "That may not be necessary." She stood up, slipped out of her summer jersey and held her arms out. Both forearms were swollen and bruised a faded purple. "I am not the person whose clothes are in David's apartment. I shifted out two months ago after he assaulted me, Chloe."
"Oh hell," Chloe whispered. "I never knew. So that was why he became more violent, lately?"
"Possibly," Louise said. "If you wish we can handle any legal work for you but, again because of a conflict of interest you will need a different solicitor than myself." She turned to Jeff. "And your father's condition?"
Jeff grimaced. "He's being released from hospital today. The doctor said that the gash he received when he cut his head on the door caused the concussion but he'll be okay."
"Would you like our services, Chloe?" Louise said. "If so I can introduce you to Layla who could handle your case." She smiled. "You may remember her from last month's Christmas breakup. She's that tall brunette woman."
*
IT WAS TWO WEEKS LATER and close to the end of the school summer holidays that January day. In New Zealand the summer holidays were almost over and schools commenced the new school year at the beginning of February. Jeff had received his Level 2 NCEA results, the government high school exams and was reasonably pleased with his results though Chloe said she was proud of him.
"I'll need to buy you a new jacket for your Year 13 at Boys' High," she said. "Your old one is so shabby and also tight on you."
"No Mum," Jeff said. "I'm not going back there."
"But..." his mother whispered. "It would be a pity if you dropped out of school after doing so well."
"I don't want to drop out of school, Mum only Boy's High." He held the New Zealand Herald out to a classified adds page and pointed to a quarter page add. "They're taking late enrolments at Joseph Ward Senior High School. I checked and we're in their zone."
"It's a coeducational school, Jeff."
"So?"
"Your father was an old boy at Boys' High and..." She hesitated. "You never really liked it there did you?"
"Oh it was okay but last year I never enjoyed it. Too upper crust and traditional. At Ward, the Year 13s don't even wear a uniform. It's run almost like being at university."
"You aren't just doing this to spite your father?"
"No Mum. Mind you it'll bloody serve him right, he being on the Board of Trustees at Boys' High."
"Well, okay then but you'll still need decent clothes, no jeans with holes in them and a black singlet."
"They do have a standard of dress code, Mum," Jeff said with a laugh.
*
ON THE FIRST TUESDAY in February, Jeff joined the Year 13 students in the Joseph Ward Senior High School gymnasium as the younger pupils were meeting in the main auditorium. He glanced around at the hundreds of fellow students and grinned. Well over half were girls and everyone was dressed in a variety of clothes from somewhat casual shorts to girls in formal summer frocks and boys in grey trousers and some even wore ties. His own clothes fitted in well with a modern pair of shorts and top that his mother insisted would be just right.
He grinned for this was true.
After the usual preamble by the Year 13 woman dean and a brief talk by the principal, who was a man, another teacher read out names in alphabetical order and told them their assigned home rooms. Having his surname closer to the end of the alphabet he had to wait quite a while before his name was called and told he was in Homeroom 13BR and the room number.
"That's Beth Richmond's room," said Ryan the guy he'd teamed up with who lived near his home. "The letters stand for the teachers initials. You'll like her but she's no dumb blonde. She'll probably be taking your English class, too."
"And the room number?" Jeff asked.
Ryan pointed at a school map on his iPhone. "Room 336 is on Floor 3. Go up two flights of stairs in the corridor outside and just follow the crowd."
Jeff nodded and began following other students out.
Moments later he walked into a room filled with strangers with a reasonably young blonde woman standing at the front. There were about thirty in the room and over half were girls. He grinned and almost forgot about being nervous. It was certainly going to be different than if he had returned to Boys' High.
*
AVA KNIGHT FELT STRANGE on the first day of the school term. As a Year 13, she didn't have to wear a school uniform but as a customer at the Joseph Ward Junior High School cafeteria at eight that Tuesday morning, she had been mistaken three times by the ten year olds in Year 7 as a teacher and asked directions around the school. She could help them, of course, but grinned as she glanced at her younger brother. He was a new Year 7 student at the school. With Dad at work, she had accompanied him here.
Several other senior high students were also there, for the cafeteria was run by a private company and out of school hours, sold coffee and meals to the general public as well as the junior high students. The senior high was on the other side of the shared school fields so was only a five minute walk away.
"Oh hello Ava," said a woman and sat down beside her. It was Karla Spicer the junior high principal. "How are your family and yourself coping?"
"Not too bad, Karla but Dad still finds it hard." Ava glanced across at her brother who looked embarrassed as he squiggled in the opposite seat. "This is Logan, my little brother who is starting here this year. Logan this is Mrs. Spicer, your principal."
"Hello Logan," Karla said. "Welcome to Joseph Ward Junior High. I'm sure you'll like it here." The principal chattered away for a few moments, commented on Ava's summer dress and excused herself.
"You called her by her first name!" Logan gasped.
Ava grinned. "Well, she's not my principal and many of us do it. She doesn't mind."
"Oh hell," Logan bit into his scrambled eggs on toast and changed the topic. "The school's huge. How will I know where to go?"
Ava laughed. "Don't worry, there are close to three hundred Year 7s including just about all the kids from your last school coming here. I told you that the assembly hall is where all the Year 7 students will meet. Teachers will guide you."
"Yeah," Logan said. "Like those three who thought you were a teacher." He grinned. "Mind you do look pretty flash in that summer dress and no uniform. Haven't seen you in one all summer."
"Oh hush up, Logan. It was only because Dad insisted."
Logan glanced up and grinned. "A couple of kids from my old school just walked in." He stood up, waved and shouted. "Hi guys, over here. You know Sis don't you?"
"Oh Logan," Ava flushed in embarrassment. "Keep your voice down. You are at school, you know."
*
AT THE SENIOR HIGH a little over an hour later Ava was a little disappointed as most of her friends were in a different homeroom and not 13BR, the one selected for her. Apparently her quite high English NCEA 2 mark was part of the reason for the choice but other subjects she chose for her final year also made a difference. It didn't really matter she guessed for she'd see them in the various classes during the day.
Her name was called out reasonably early but she had to wait until more students were selected before heading along to Miss Richmond's room. She glanced around and recognised most of the others. There was one obvious new student, though. He was quite tall and appeared somewhat shy.
The girl next to her dug her in the ribs. "Came across from Boys' High, I heard. Name's Jeff something or other. Just your sort."
"Oh shut up, Deanne. You're the one who flutters your eyes at every guy around."
Deanne glowered. "And why not? At least I enjoy a social life and don't spend every lunch hour in the library."
Ava shrugged. She quite liked Deanne but she flitted after the boys too much for her liking. "So you chat him up, " she suggested.
"I just might do that," Deanne replied and walked away.
*