Chapter 1
Dick Savage, full name Richard Fabian Savage, was orphaned at the age of twelve when his parents and sister drowned in a boating accident. Both lots of grandparents lived far away and didn't hold out an adoptive hand to him because all four were aware of his unruly behavior already had resulted in his four appearances in the Juvenile Court.
So much for the saying blood is thicker than water. With his grandparents shedding no tears over his bleak future, skinny fair-headed Richard Fabian Savage was dispatched to the county's Welfare Home for Wayward Boys in the absence of a home for orphans in the county because the authorities had always refused to issue a permit for the establishment of an orphanage. It also was one of the few counties in the country without its own penitentiary or lower level of confinement facility. The county's unofficial name for itself was 'The Family County' and it boasted an exceptionally low crime rate and, although officials kept this fact secret, it's natural increase in birth rate was the lowest in the country because casual sex was severely discouraged.
One had to struggle to find a good reason for living in that county.
Dick could have easily been sent into the quick-sands of the river flats, never to be seen again, by the superintendent of the wayward boys' home for leading a break-out of the thirty-nine boys in Dormitory E, all being rounded up by bloodhounds with handlers armed with shotguns loaded with birdshot. A fortnight in 'The Pit' turned Dick from being a happy-go-lucky kid into a lean guy who now knew what loneliness really meant and he'd have to toughen up to survive.
Keeping his nose clean, Dick bided his time to get even with the 'super' who personally had kicked Dick by the butt to send him headfirst into the pit. One day just after he'd turned eighteen and remained a frequent inhabitant of The Pit Dick noticed the super's wife bent over the laundry basket at the clothes line so charged her, knocked her over and felt her breasts and then, because of his confinement had kept him away from experimentation during adolescence, he found he'd run out of ideas.
Big Mrs Johns slapped him silly and then growled, "Are you a virgin?"
Dick saw no advantage in lying so said yes. Grinning like a successful hunter, Mrs Johns dragged the half senseless Dick over to the privacy of the laundry room and had her fill. Thereafter they met in the laundry every Tuesday until Mrs Johns became pregnant. She confessed to her husband and early next morning the livid superintendent beat Dick unconscious and waited on the county line for the young punk to come around. Once he'd focused, Dick was handed papers to sign under duress, allowing for his voluntary release, available anytime to him after he turned eighteen.
Eyeing Dick malevolently the super said, "Kid, this is the county line. If you ever cross it again, you're dead. Understand?"
Sore but unafraid Dick answered respectfully, "Yes sir. Could you show me exactly where the line is so I'm not responsible for my own death?"
"Sure kid," said the burly and balding super grinned, drawing a line in the dust with his rubber baton.
Dick crossed the line and they both stepped closer and looked down at the symbolic mark.
The superintendent grinned evilly. "Make my day and step over the line punk."
"If I swing one leg over that line I'm a goner?"
"Yep."
Dick was in gray fatigues and heavy work boots, swung a leg powerfully, aimed directly at the bully's groin. The super screamed and bit the dust. Later he'd be on an operating theatre table having a pulverized testicle removed and no doubt thinking he'd murder the punk when he tracked him down.
Celebrating the biggest kick so far in his young life, Dick had turned away from his fallen and groaning persecutor and clutched his nuts protectively for no reason known to him, yelled to the skies, celebrating his freedom. He walked through arid country with no plan in mind, gradually relaxing and then worked out he'd have to hitch a ride for at least a day to get clear of his persecutor.
An hour or two later -- Dick had no sense of time or even where he was -- he reached a highway that bisected the desolate land. He quickly learned that no one stops to pick up a scruffy youth in gray shirt and cheap jeans attempting to thumb them down and looking surly to boot. It was just like being back in The Pit, no one interested in him and nothing to think about. He closed his eyes and closed down his mind as if in meditation although that word would not be in Dick's vocabulary.
The squeal of brakes of a big rig brought Dick into the present. He got off his ass and went up to the drivers' door.
Dick said to the driver, "Need some help?"
"You're a cheeky asshole. It's against company regs for me to take a passenger."
"Okay -- having wasted your time stopping, on your way. Try not to bury me in dust," Dick turning and began walking back to the rock he'd been sitting on.
"Come back here kid," said the driver, who looked to be no more than thirty. "Are you thirsty?"
"Yeah?"
"Hungry?"
"Yeah."
"When did you last eat or drink?"
"Around dawn."
"Are you running away?"
"Yeah, that's a brainy guess."
"What were you doing time for?"
"Being an orphan."
"Jesus." The driver sighed. "If that's the truth you better hop in."
"Nah, don't want to get you into trouble."
"I said hop in. Now if I have to climb down to you..."
"Keep your hat on. Don't run me over when I pass in front of you."
The driver waited and then revved the motor and blew his air horns, watching Rick jump almost up to his level.
Dick climbed in and grinned. "Asshole."
"Grab some food and drink from that bag at your feet kid."
"Thanks."
"Where should I let you off?"
"Somewhere nice to die."
The driver shook his head, his chest shaking in suppressed laughter. "You're coming home with me. It's about a day and a bit to go. You can sleep in the sleeping bay but you're not sleeping with me -- wrong sex."
"Oh yeah, what do you know about sex?"
The driver named Rex McDermott was eager for company so thought that was a good conversation to start with and so kept the kid an almost perfect listener for most of the journey. Rex surprised himself in rambling of the number of leg-opening women he'd been through in his time, had used so many variations, some of which he'd almost forgotten and he noticed the kid's eyes really lit up when Rex sounded off about what women really liked when being poked. Poked of course being Rex's man-to-man word for it.
In the sleeping cab for four hours' shut-eye before they had to stop for the driver's compulsory rest break, Dick felt tempted to ask Rex to turn back and take him where he'd picked him up so Dick could visit Joy the super's wife to try out all these new moves. Dumb idea, he yawned, wondering if Rex would like to be his father.
They halted at an unoccupied truck stop an hour before dark and Rex and the refreshed Dick had a pee, Dick thinking he'd won the distance arch until Rex turned red-faced with effort and pumped out the release from his bladder another two yards.
"It's the difference between a man and a youth," Rex said, cuffing his passenger on the head, almost affectionately, Dick deciding not to hit back.
Rex stood on the top step to the cab and reached behind the seats to pull out a short barrel varmint rifle. "Know how to use one of these?"
"Sort of. The older guys taught us using brooms."
Rex chuckled and said, "If it's small, shoot it. If it's big just run because out here it will be a wild bull or mad cow."
Dick squinted against the low sun. "You don't know me. Aren't you scared I'll come back, shoot you and steal your truck?"
"You're dreaming kid. If you did that I'd have to kill you."
It was a joke but the kid turned Rex's heart when he said, "No, you take the gun back. I don't want you thinking I'm bad, not after you've been so good to me."
Rex, caught a little emotionally by the frankness of the kid, asked, "Can you read?"
"The law said we must attend proper schooling at the institution. The super said it was a waste of time on us losers. Yeah, I can read easy."
"I have a couple of paperbacks but there're porn. Know what that is?"
"Nah."
"It means really hot sex."
