Thunder and Lightening
Chapter 15
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

"So how did you get here?"

Martin smiled and pointed across the parking lot to the Caddy. The 
Caddy didn't have license plates or an inspection sticker. He didn't 
even have insurance on the car. He answered, "I drove the Caddy."

"Damn, you're going to get tickets galore trying to get that car 
home."

Shrugging off the cost, Martin replied, "I'll pay them if I get 
stopped."

"No you won't. I'll go get the truck and the tow bar. We'll tow it to 
the muffler shop and then back to the house."

"Didn't think of doing that," replied Martin. He was amazed that 
Jerry thought about his problems even though the white guy was 
the one with real problems.  

"Aw, don't worry about. It's nothing. Let's head home and get 
something to eat." They'd make it back home in time to open the 
store. He'd work in the morning and take some time off in the 
afternoon to deal with child services. Hopefully, he would be 
returning home with his son. 

The drive back to where they lived was quiet as each considered 
what they had seen and heard in the hospital. Martin shook his 
head and said, "Man, a mother shouldn't ever do that to her own 
kid."

"No one should ever do that to a kid," replied Jerry. Even when his 
rage had burst loose of its bounds, he had managed enough control 
over it not to harm anyone. Sure he had broken things like fences, 
walls, chairs, and doors, but things didn't feel pain like people. 

"Damn right," replied Martin. He knew that a lot of kids in his 
neighborhood had mothers that weren't afraid to hit their kids, but 
they very seldom actually hurt their kids. 

They stopped at a chain restaurant and had a quick breakfast of 
eggs. As they ate, Jerry said, "I'm going to be busy most of the day. 
We really need to get another person to work in the store. Right 
now, if someone takes a day of vacation we're left short handed."

Surprised, Martin looked at Jerry unable to believe what he was 
saying. He asked, "You are actually going into the store today?"

"Sure, I've got responsibilities there. I'm opening the store this 
morning. Mike and Karen will be in a little later."

Martin didn't know what to say about that. If this had happened to 
him, he'd have taken off work to deal with everything. It wouldn't 
have mattered to him if the store had to remain closed for half an 
hour. He shoveled some more of his breakfast into his mouth, 
chewing thoughtfully. It was easy to wonder what differences it 
would have made to his beliefs if he had a man like Jerry in his life 
when growing up. Finally, he said, "I'll open the store this 
morning."

Jerry laughed and said, "You forget. You are supposed to open the 
store this morning with me. There's a reason why we have two 
people scheduled to open the store."

"Shit, I never really thought about it," replied Martin.

Looking over at the young man sitting across from him, Jerry 
decided it was time to share some of his philosophy about running 
a business. There was no telling what was going to happen in the 
future and the young man should be prepared to accept more 
responsibility. He said, "The sign over the counter says that the 
customer comes first. I take that very seriously. The store opens on 
time. The store closes after closing time. Orders are pulled quickly. 
The phone only rings once before it is answered. Each of those 
things require that we do things a certain way."

Taking a sip of his coffee, Martin nodded and said, "I never really 
thought about that."

Jerry said, "We went from the third largest auto parts dealer to the 
largest in this town over five years. I'm afraid that I was the 
weakest link in the growth of the store."

"Why?"

"I took things too seriously and reacted to any limitations of the 
staff with anger. I realize now that was bad. It made people more 
afraid of screwing up. They'd make more mistakes and then would 
try to cover them up." 

It was clear to Martin that the big guy was harsher on himself now 
than on others. He said, "I like working for you. It seems to me that 
you are very fair."

Smiling, Jerry said, "Oh, I always treated everyone equally. The 
problem was that it was equally horrible. I've worked hard to keep 
from getting angry and to treat everyone a little better."

"You've done a pretty good job of that as far as I can tell."

After a quick trip to the house where each man changed into their 
work clothes, they made it to the office to open the doors on time. 
Jerry said, "Why don't you take the counter? I need to move around 
a bit this morning."

Considering that Martin had slept in a chair and didn't get that 
much sleep, he was more than willing to take the counter. It was a 
slow morning, probably a result of the storm the night before. It 
was likely that people were taking care of storm damage that 
couldn't wait over auto repairs that could be postponed. 

Mike and Karen came in a half an hour after the store had been 
open. They noticed the tired expression on Martin's face and the 
tension in Jerry. It was obvious that something had happened and 
they both assumed that it was because of the storm. Mike asked, 
"Did you guys get hit with that storm last night?"

"We had lots of wind and water, but no real damage. Jerry's roof 
leaks, but ours actually stood up to the storm pretty well," 
answered Martin with a yawn. He apologized, "Sorry, I didn't get 
much sleep with all of the excitement last night."

"Yeah, that was quite a storm."

Martin gestured towards the back where Jerry was pulling parts. In 
a low voice, he said, "His ex-wife hit his son with a baseball bat 
last night. The kid showed up on the porch in the middle of the 
storm. We spent the night at the hospital."

Carrying the box of parts, Jerry came out of the back. Seeing that 
Mike and Karen were here, he said, "Martin, why don't you take a 
nap on the couch? You look beat and won't be any good to us later 
when we'll really need you."

About to argue, Martin reconsidered and said, "Sure."

Turning to Mike and Karen, Jerry said, "I have some personal 
issues to take care of today, so that means we are going to be 
running a little short handed. I have to leave before the lunch 
breaks, so that means short lunches for everyone."

Mike nodded as Karen said, "Sorry about your son."

Jerry shrugged his shoulders, uncomfortable with receiving 
sympathy. He grunted, "He's a good kid and will get through this."

Recognizing that Jerry felt uncomfortable about the topic, Mike 
asked, "So what are your plans for today?"

"I've got to get in touch with my lawyer to get custody of Bill and 
make sure that the bitch is charged with assault with a deadly 
weapon. Then I've got to get him out of the hospital and take him 
home."

Karen asked, "What about your daughter?"

Shocked that he hadn't even thought about his daughter, he knew 
that she would never live with him. All attempts to talk to her in 
the past had failed. Shaking his head, he said, "I'll have to see if her 
Grandmother will take care of her."

The comment caused Mike and Karen to exchange a glance, 
shocked that Jerry wouldn't try to take care of the girl. Did he hate 
her that much? Unsure of himself, Mike asked, "Why don't you 
take care of her?"

"She won't even talk to me. It's pretty clear to me that she hates me 
as much as her mother does," answered Jerry saddened at having to 
admit that aloud. He noticed the look that crossed Karen's face, 
unable to believe that a daughter could possibly hate her father that 
much. 

Jerry said, "I always thought that little girls were supposed to love 
their fathers, but that never happened in our house. My wife grew 
up thinking of her father as a low life that brought home the 
money. My daughter is the same way."

The couple didn't know how to respond. Shaking his head, Jerry 
headed to the back office to make the necessary telephone calls. 
The first call was to the hospital to find out when they would be 
discharging his son. That would determine everything else that he 
did that day. The result of the call was that his son would be 
released around noon, but that he should show up a half an hour 
early to take care of all the details that hadn't been handled the 
night before. They wanted him to talk to a counselor about the 
injuries to his son.

After hanging up from the hospital, he called his lawyer realizing 
that this call was going to cost him a fortune. He was racking up 
lawyer hours almost as fast as he racked up work hours for 
himself. When the lawyer answered, Jerry said, "Hello Tony. This 
is Jerry Smith."

As if anyone could mistake that deep gravely voice, Tony replied, 
"What can I do for you?"

"My ex-wife hit my son with a baseball bat last night after 
returning home from the hearing. He rode his scooter to my house 
through the storm and I took him to the hospital. He's got two 
broken ribs and a broken arm."

"My God! How did he manage to make it all the way to your 
house?" asked the lawyer incredulous at the feat. 

"He's incredibly strong for his age," answered Jerry. There was a 
pregnant pause and then he said, "I want to make sure that my wife 
goes to jail over this. I need to protect my son from her. My 
daughter should go live with her grandmother."

The lawyer took notes and then said, "I'll make some calls and see 
what I can do. You can expect to be in court this afternoon. Is there 
a number where I can reach you?"

"I don't have a telephone."

"You had better pick up a cell phone and call me back," replied the 
lawyer. If he could get a judge to listen to the case, then they 
would have to act fast. 

Jerry added getting a cell phone to his mental checklist of things to 
do that day. He had no idea how long it would take to get one, but 
he knew that it would have to be after ten when the stores opened. 
He replied, "Okay. I'll do that when the stores open."

"Good. Call me when you get it. Until then, I've got some phone 
calls to make," replied the lawyer.

Jerry sat back and considered his options. He picked up the phone 
and called his boss to make his weekly report. He was tempted to 
ask for a temporary replacement, but didn't know if it would be a 
good idea. His boss answered, "Hello, this is Al Sinclair."

"Hello, Mr. Sinclair. This is Jerry Smith," replied Jerry.

"You're calling early today."

"Well, some personal issues came up and I have to take care of 
them later today," answered Jerry.

"Oh, what happened?" asked his boss wondering if Jerry had lost 
his temper. The reports he was getting were positive and he didn't 
like the idea that Jerry would blow it. 

"My ex-wife took a baseball bat to my son last night. I have to 
arrange things so that I can take custody of him today."

The simple factual manner in which Jerry related his story was 
striking in that there was no anger or rage expressed by the man. 
Al said, "Well, you better take care of your problems."

"I called to tell you that Karen was going to purchase a computer 
and install it here at the store. We'll be seeing what we can do after 
we get some of the bugs worked out." This whole process scared 
Jerry more than he would be willing to admit. Computers were a 
complete mystery to him, but he recognized the need for them in 
business.

"Sounds good," replied Al, surprised at how together Jerry 
sounded considering the circumstances. He asked, "So what do you 
know about computers?"

"Nothing and this whole thing scares me to death," replied Jerry 
honest about his feelings about the entire process.

Al laughed at the honest appraisal as he jotted down a note to call 
the therapist to find out about the progress of Jerry's treatment. So 
far Jerry had done everything that he said he would do and that had 
impressed Al. It made him wonder how much of the rage was due 
to the ex-wife. He said, "Stick with it and let me know how it 
works out."

"Sure thing," answered Jerry. He went to the next item on his list 
and said, "Sales are up five percent over the past month compared 
to the same time period last year."

"Five percent?"

"Yes. I'm rather concerned with that figure," replied Jerry as he 
went over his notes. He had done a little investigation into the sales 
figures now that he was spending more time at the store. 

"Concerned? Why?" Al was surprised at the assessment.

Jerry leaned forward to read some figures off his sheet. He 
answered, "The population in this area has increased by about six 
percent and that accounts for most of our growth. However, we've 
seen a trend where people are leasing more cars in this area. That 
means that the dealers are performing the repairs and we don't have 
distribution within the dealer network. I'm beginning to think that 
we may have reached a maximum in our business growth."

The analysis stunned Al and he sat back to think about it. He jotted 
down another note and said, "I'm going to forward your 
observations to the headquarters. You're the first one that has 
looked at the issue of leasing and the impact on our sales."

"Well, it's just an observation and I'm not sure how accurate it is. 
As I mentioned, the figures concern me."

"You're right to be concerned. I'll investigate it," replied Al. He 
asked, "Is there anything else?"

"I'm still looking for a full time person," answered Jerry. 

"We are having the problem in a couple of the stores. Quite 
frankly, we don't understand why that is the case," replied Al.

"Kids are looking at computers rather than cars," commented Jerry. 
When he had been a kid, every boy was interested in cars. Today, 
they talked about computers with the same passions as people used 
to talk about cars. 

"You could be right."

The call ended and Jerry checked the clock. It was approaching ten 
and he needed to get to a phone store. There was one more call that 
he had to make before leaving the office, but he realized that once 
he got a cell phone that he could make the call then. After a minute 
of internal debate, he decided that it was time to get a phone.

Standing up, he headed out of the office to the front of the store. 
Reaching there, he said, "I'm leaving now. I'll try to be back before 
closing time, but I'm not sure if I'll make it."

Mike nodded and said, "I'll take care of things here."

"Thanks," replied Jerry as he headed towards the back. On the 
way, he stopped by Martin and said, "If you give me your car keys, 
I'll tow your Caddy to a paint shop."

Martin said, "Leave it until Monday. You've got enough on your 
mind."

"The parking fee will be staggering," replied Jerry. 

"Don't worry. Go pick up your kid and get him settled at home."

"Alright," replied Jerry with relief that he wouldn't have to take 
care of that little item.

With a new cell phone in hand, Jerry arrived at the hospital while 
talking to his lawyer. His wife was already in jail and a quick 
hearing concerning the welfare of the children had been arranged 
for three in the afternoon. His mother-in-law had been contacted to 
attend the hearing and she was more than happy to take care of his 
daughter. It was interesting that she had no desire to take care of 
his son. Until then, he had temporary custody of the children and 
was going to have to swing by his daughter's school to pick her up 
for the hearing.

At the hospital, he met with an individual from social services 
concerning the welfare of his son. This had led to another 
conference call with his attorney and a supervisor of the social 
worker. As a result of that discussion, social services had agreed to 
support his bid to get custody of the boy. Life had suddenly 
become very complicated for Jerry. 

When Jerry entered the room, Bill was sitting up in his bed 
watching television looking bored. A smile came across his face 
when he saw his father come in the room. He said, "Hey Dad!"

"Hi Bill. How are you feeling?"

"It hurts to breathe, but other than that I'm okay."

"Your arm?"

"The pain killers have stopped that pain. It is just that my ribs hurt 
every time I move, laugh, or talk." 

Jerry sat down in the visitor's chair and said, "Well, I guess you 
might want to know what is going to happen today."

Looking worried, Bill replied, "Yeah. I do."

"Your mother has been arrested for assault and is currently in jail. 
According to the separation papers, she has custody of you and 
your sister. We are going to court today so that I can get custody of 
you and so that your grandmother can get custody of your sister." 
Jerry watched his son for his reaction. When he heard that his 
mother had custody of him, the boy had paled. When he heard that 
his father was going to court to get custody of him, the look of 
relief was obvious. The news that his sister was going with his 
grandmother had lifted his spirits.

"That's great news," replied Bill with a sigh of relief. He hadn't 
looked forward to being injured around his older sister. He had no 
doubt that his sister would hurt him on the first available chance. 

"You don't seem upset that your sister is not moving in with us," 
remarked Jerry wanting to get a little more of the story about what 
was happening in the house. 

"She hates men and has become a real bitch lately. I don't know if 
you've seen my scooter, but she took a hammer to it out of 
jealousy. When you left mom, that was the end of her dreams of a 
new sports car."

The news struck him like a fist to the stomach. If he had stayed at 
home, his daughter would have gotten a better car than he had. The 
thought irritated him more than he could express. That she took a 
hammer to his son's scooter only proved that she was just as ugly 
as her mother was. He said, "Don't worry. She's going to get child 
support and that is all we'll do for her. Your mother is going to jail 
and you won't have to deal with her. I'm sorry that things reached 
this level. I really didn't know."

"Well, I never told you," answered Bill.

"The nurse is coming in a few minutes and we'll leave here. We 
have to pick up your sister at school. Do you want to stop by your 
school and get your books? I'm afraid that you are going to be 
pretty bored for the next few days."

"That sounds good. Report cards come out today," said Bill with a 
smile. He knew that he had two A's and possibly another. 

The nurse came into the room pushing a wheelchair. Going over to 
the bed, she said, "You'll have to stand up and walk over to the 
wheelchair. I'll help you, but you've got to take care not to move 
too sharply."

With the kind of skill that came from lots of practice with other 
patients, she helped Bill get into the wheelchair. He grimaced as he 
sat down, but didn't seem the worse for wear. Jerry watched him 
move feeling more pain than his son. He put his jacket around his 
son's shoulders to help keep him warm.

The nurse pushed the wheelchair to the hospital entrance while 
Jerry went to get the Camaro. Pulling up in front of the building, 
Jerry got out and opened the door for his son. Bill stood up and 
climbed into the Camaro on his own although the effort did cause 
him some pain. Once in the car, Bill said, "You should have 
brought the truck. I think it would be a little easier to get into."

"I know, I thought about that," replied Jerry. He said, "Not enough 
room for you, your stuff, and your sister."

"I didn't think about that."

They pulled away from the hospital and headed towards the junior 
high school. Jerry was sure that the principal didn't know about the 
events of the previous evening. It didn't take long to arrive at the 
school. After pulling into a visitor's parking spot, Jerry helped Bill 
out of the car. The poor kid was moving slow, but could walk 
without much difficulty. 

They made their way to the front entrance of the school building. It 
was lunchtime and a few of the braver kids were outside eating 
sack lunches despite the chill in the air. One of the kids spotted Bill 
and came over in a quick step. Eyes wide, the kid asked, "What 
happened to you?"

"I got hit by a baseball bat," answered Bill without boasting.

"Jesus, when did that happen?" 

"When I got home from your house last night," answered Bill. He'd 
had a fun evening playing video games with his friend and had 
come home to find his mother smashing everything in his room. 

The kid glanced at Jerry and then asked, "Was it your mother or 
your sister?"

"My mother," replied Bill looking down at the ground. 

"We were worried when you didn't show up to school this 
morning. I was sure that you had a wreck on your scooter."

Seeing that Bill had friends at school that worried about him really 
struck Jerry far more than he could have imagined. That was 
something he had never experienced going through school. He 
noticed Larry coming out of the building. When Larry saw Bill, he 
headed directly over to the boy. 

Jerry bent down and said, "Bill, why don't you stay here and talk to 
your friends? I'll go inside and talk to your principal."

"Thanks, Dad."

As Jerry walked away, he heard Larry say, "Wow, your dad is 
pretty nice."

The comment brought a smile to his face as he navigated the halls 
of the school. Entering the principal's office, Jerry told the 
receptionist, "I need to talk to Principal Haroldson."

The woman knew exactly who Jerry was from his previous visit. 
The absence of Bill had caused a lot of excitement in the office. 
The presence of his father probably meant that big trouble was on 
the horizon. She went to the microphone and paged the principal 
who was currently walking through the halls of the school making 
sure that nothing bad happened during the lunch break.

It was five minutes before the principal showed up in the reception 
area. He frowned on seeing Jerry standing at the receptionist's desk 
and, with a gesture of his head, indicated that Jerry should follow 
him into his office. Once there, he pointed to a chair for Jerry and 
sat down. Shaking his head, he started the conversation, "I assume 
you are here because I called social services about your son?"

The question took Jerry by surprise and he answered, "No. I didn't 
know that you did that. I talked to social services this morning at 
the hospital about the situation with my son and they didn't 
mention that."

"Oh." The principal didn't know what to say in response to the 
information. 

"I came here to let you know that my ex-wife is in jail for 
assaulting Bill with a baseball bat. She is not to be allowed contact 
with him."

"Where is he now?"

"He's outside talking to his friends, Larry and Woody. I thought it 
would be good for him to get a little moral support from them," 
replied Jerry knowing that he would have sold his soul as a 
teenager to have anyone with whom he could share his problems.

"They are good kids. Larry had a rough start, but he's found his 
niche in school and is happy here. I must say that your son seems 
to have undergone major changes this year. His grades are good, 
he hasn't been in a fight, and he's participating in some school 
events," replied the principal. Bill had been a real trouble student 
and many of his teachers had started the year disliking the kid. 
When he had started submitting outstanding homework, many of 
them felt that he was cheating. The first month of school had been 
tough for everyone, but Bill had come through it well.

"I'm glad to hear that. It's going to be tough next week as I figure 
out how to get him here on time and pick him up from school."

"I'll let his teachers know and we'll give him a little extra leeway," 
remarked the principal. It pleased him that the father was taking his 
parental duties with far more seriousness than the mother did. He 
had called social services after learning that Bill was missing from 
home and she hadn't bothered to find him. 

Jerry said, "I want to pick up his assignments. We may need to 
replace his textbooks."

"That's a problem."

"I'll know more by Monday," replied Jerry as he wondered how 
difficult it would be to replace textbooks. 

"I'll send the secretary around to get his assignments," said the 
principal as he went through a stack of report cards. Pulling out 
one, he handed it over to Jerry and said, "You might want to show 
him this."

Jerry looked at the envelope containing the report card and said, 
"You may have just cost me a fortune."

At the puzzled look from the principal, Jerry explained, "He's been 
keeping a log of how much he's been studying. I have to pay him 
per hour for his grades."

"Now that's a way to motivate a kid to study," replied the principal 
with a chuckle. 

"Well, I couldn't stand over him and make him study. The whole 
effort that he put into getting those grades came from him," replied 
Jerry.

From the principal's perspective, it was a pleasure to deal with a 
parent that took real interest in their child. It wasn't that Jerry had 
done much, but he had done the right things. He had supported his 
son when he needed it and provided positive motivation. He left 
the room and took care of getting the homework assignments from 
the teachers. The receptionist would be back in half an hour.

When the principal returned, Jerry asked, "Would it be okay if we 
ate lunch here while we are waiting for the homework?"

"Sure," replied the principal. He added, "Not many parents come 
and have lunch here, so expect to get lots of stares."

"I'm used to getting stared at," replied Jerry thinking about the 
effect that his large size had on others.  

Jerry went outside and found Bill talking to Larry, Woody, and a 
young lady that he assumed was Sandy. She was at the age where 
her body was maturing faster than the bodies of the boys around 
her. It was hard to tell how developed she was since she wore 
baggy clothes that hid her body. Joining them, he said, "I got 
permission for us to eat in the cafeteria. Would your friends like to 
join us?"

The young girl turned and looked at Jerry through half-lidded eyes 
as if she were assessing him. It was the most adult examination 
that Jerry had ever received from a person her age. She said, "Our 
classes start in five minutes."

"Then I imagine that you might want to walk to the cafeteria with 
us. Bill is moving a little slowly and painfully. I'm sure that he 
would appreciate talking to his friends to take his mind off his 
problems," replied Jerry.

Sandy stepped back and stared at Jerry for a minute as the other 
three boys were waiting for her to say something. It was clear in 
this group who was in charge and Jerry wondered if that was good. 
She smiled and said, "That would be great."

As they moved into the building, the kids talked while Jerry 
followed behind them. He was a little concerned about Bill 
hooking up with a manipulative woman, but refrained from making 
a judgment about Sandy for the time being. One of the kids in the 
hall called out, "Hey big boy! I see someone finally kicked your 
ass."

Jerry was surprised by the reaction from the four kids. Woody spun 
around and pointed his finger at the kid that had made the 
comment as he shouted, "You shut your mouth, Jimmy! I know 
things about you that you'd hate to have spread around school."

As the kid burned a bright red in anger, Larry stepped forward and, 
in a threatening tone of voice, said, "You better think twice about 
what you do next."

Sandy had moved over to Bill and said, "Hey, don't let that asshole 
get you down."

Jerry was shocked to see all three kids come to his son's side in 
such a unified show of support. Woody dealt with the verbal 
insults, Larry backed him physically, and Sandy supported him 
emotionally. Jerry wondered how his life would have been 
different if he'd had that kind of support in school. It was almost 
enough to bring tears to his eyes.

At the door to the cafeteria, Woody said, "We had better get to 
class. It's good to see that you're up and about."

As the three kids started to leave, Jerry said, "Hey kids. Thanks for 
watching over him."

As Woody and Larry went on their way, Sandy turned and looked 
at Jerry for a minute. Shaking her head in disbelief, she went on 
her way. 




