As an "author" my one goal is to entertain, so all comments are welcome in making better stories.
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Emerson high has a way turning the tables around on its students, which is no different from any other aspect of Emerson Lake. The smartest and most promising of students could turn out to be the town drunk before his or her time has expired, and the drop out could be one of the few who actually escape the deadly clutches of the town and lives the life of a king. That's just the way life goes in Emerson Lake.
That's the story with Corey and Kathleen.
Corey had a sports scholarship to any college of his choice, which for him, Purdue was where he would go. For football, and baseball, but all that changed in one game. The last baseball game of his senior career, and his life.
It was a sunny May day. Emerson high was ahead four runs. The opposing team had two outs, and Corey was pitching his best game. The batter up was a Junior and already had two strikes against him.
Corey got the signal from the catcher and nodded. He wound up for the pitch. Corey released what would surely be the final strike out of the game. The ball left his fingers and time slowed down for a moment. Corey watched the ball sail beautifully toward the catcher's mitt.
Corey smiled wide.
Crack.
The Junior never did hit the ball. Instead, the bat slipped from his grip and tumbled end over end along the same path the ball had just taken. The CRACK heard across town was the crack of the bat connecting with Corey's left knee cap.
The bat shattered Corey's knee cap and his dreams of a sports career.
In the aftermath of the accident, Corey took to drinking. Hoping to drown the pain and the self pity. And there was the fleeting hope that he would forget all about what he lost that day. Instead, it only angered him more.
Kathleen was the valedictorian that year and Corey's biggest support, on top of his high school sweetheart. After the accident, Kathleen gave everything up so she could stay with Corey and be his biggest supporter through his time of woe. But she soon found that even becoming his bride didn't help him out of his drunken self pity.
The town did everything they could to help them out. Kathleen's father ran the local hotel and offered Corey a job, which he turned down. The church provided them a cheap trailer in Lake View Park in exchange for their patronage at the church. Kathleen was the one who held up that end of the bargain.
Kathleen also was the one who got the job to support them. She got a waitress job at the local diner. The money wasn't great, and Corey was getting disability, but they eked by. If Corey wasn't drinking so much, they would have plenty. But Kathleen never complained. She loved Corey and the town loved Corey.
The junior who let the bat slip from his grip was found three days later in his father's study. The boy had taken a bottle of sleeping pills and put a bullet through the top of his head. A note was found with three words written on it.
I am sorry.
The town felt so sorry for Corey that no one even noticed when Kathleen started wearing long sleeve shirts and dark sunglasses.
It was June 17 at 8:54 p.m. when the beatings started.
Kathleen had worked late that night. Her car had a loud knocking coming from the engine and black smoke pouring out of the exhaust pipe and she needed the money to get it fixed. The church helped out with everything, except what Kathleen needed. After all, she wasn't really the pride of Emerson Lake.
When Kathleen had called to let Corey know that she was working over, he had already been drunk. And now, as she pulled up in front of the trailer, she knew he would be even drunker.
Kathleen opened the front door and stepped into something that she had gotten used too over the years of "wedded bliss" with Corey.
The floor of the trailer was littered with empty beer cans. Even half empty beer cans that Corey was too drunk to remember opening. There were also dishes with crusted and moldy food, glasses with a film of dried alcohol, and clothes, some of which was urine stained underwear that Corey had stripped of and just tossed to the floor.
Which leaves only the King of the home? Corey was slouching in a ratty recliner as he usually was at this time of night, a plate of spaghetti resting on his start of a beer belly, and a beer in his left hand. Strands of tomato sauce-covered noodles lay on his chest and hung from the corners of his mouth.
A baseball game blared from the television.
As soon as Kathleen opened the door, Corey's attention was diverted from the television to the door.
"Where the Hell have you been," Corey slurred.
Kathleen slowly shut the door behind her. "I worked late," she said softly. Although she had put up with a lot from Corey, she never lost her composure over the years. She was just as soft spoken as the day they had met. And as beautiful. "I called you to let you know."
"Yeah right," Corey said, turning back the game and his spaghetti.
Kathleen slowly set her purse and keys on the table by the door.
Corey took a long drink from the silver can. "Yeah right. I bet you were whoring around."
"What?" Kathleen asked in disbelief. Corey had never said anything like this before. Even when drunker then he was now.
"You heard me," Corey said sitting up. He set his hand on the cane leaning against the arm of the recliner. He didn't need the cane, but it brought on more sympathy from the townsfolk. "I can see the disgust in your eyes every time you look at me. You can't stand that I'm crippled."
"If that was the case Corey," She said. Her voice finally raised and shaky. "I never would have married you."
"Whatever you say." Corey said turning back the television.
Kathleen shook her head and bent over to pick up some of the beer cans. When her arms were loaded, she stood and looked to Corey. His attention was still on the game. Kathleen turned and walked to the kitchen.
"Don't turn your back on me whore," Corey growled. Corey picked the remote off the arm of the recliner and through it at his wife's back. The remote tumbled end over end until it hit Kathleen in the center of the back, between the shoulder blades.
Kathleen screamed and arched her back as white hot pain exploded up and down her spine. The back of the remote popped off and the batteries slammed into the wall to Kathleen's left. Kathleen fell forward onto the linoleum of the kitchen floor, sending beer cans to every corner of the kitchen.
Corey used his cane to stand from the recliner, then limped across the littered living room to Kathleen. When Corey reached her, she was starting to slowly get up from the floor. Corey stuck the end of the cane in her back where the remote just hit her.
"Did I give you permission to get up?"
"No," Kathleen answered through gritted teeth.
"Then why did you?"
Kathleen didn't answer, she only relaxed back to the floor.
"You like that don't your whore," Corey said as an evil smile cut across his face. "What a surprise, the whore likes pain."
Corey pressed harder into her back. Kathleen closed her eyes tight and gritted her teeth against the pain and the ensuing darkness that threatened to overtake her.
"Answer me," Corey said. When Kathleen didn't say anything, Corey lifted his good leg and stomped on the side of her face as hard as he could. Corey took the cane off her back and Kathleen quickly crawled across the kitchen and huddled into a corner.
Corey followed her and knelt as close as his "Bum leg" would allow him. He grabbed a handful of her long blond hair and lifted her head as close to his face as he could.
"Are you going to listen to me?"
Kathleen nodded. The left side of her face was already starting to swell.
"Clean this house. And I mean every inch."
Kathleen nodded. She was fighting back the tears as hard as she could.
