Almost Brothers

Two days later, Scott was at home, watching TV when the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Scott, is Coop there yet?" Rusty asked from the other end of the connection.

"Nope."

"Good because I'm running late. He should be there soon, so tell him I'll be there in about an hour."

"No prob. Are you guys going out?" Scott asked.

"I dont know what we are going to do. What about you?"

"I'm chillin' here, watching baseball on TV."

"Oh, well, I'll be there as soon as I can. Laters."

"Later." Scott said and hung up the phone. It was then there was a knock on the door. That must be Coop, Scott thought to himself. He walked to the front door, unlocked the dead bolt and opened the door.

"Hi, Son."

Scott was shocked to see his Dad standing just outside the door. He froze for a split second and then tried, quickly, to shut the door. Randall Barber caught the door with his arm just before it closed completely. He forced it open and pushed himself inside as Scott backed away from him.

"You...you...you can't be here!" Scott stammered. He was shaking all over, with fear and anger, but mostly, fear. All the old feelings he used to have when he was around his Dad came flooding back. "I don't want you here!"

"Is that so?" Mr. Barber asked. "I'm surprised at you, Son. No hug for your Dad?"

"Get the fuck out of here! NOW!"

He ignored Scott. "This is a nice place," Mr. Barber said, looking around but not really seeing anything. He had business to finish, oh yes indeed, unfinished business.

"I'm going to call the police. I have a restraining order on you. You can't be here."

"Now, Scottie. Don't get all pissy. You're just like your mother. She used to get pissy, too. I just want to talk to you. Besides, I haven't seen you in what, fifteen years? You remember, you sent me to PRISON! Remember!" Mr. Barber slowly approached Scott who backed away from him until he was against a wall. Scott looked at the cordless phone lying nearby. He went for it. Mr. Barber quickly jumped in front of Scott, blocking his path. "Wait, Son...."

"Don't call me that! I'm not your son! Not anymore!"

Mr. Barber snapped his fingers as if remembering something. "That's right. You went to live with THOSE PEOPLE!" He yelled the last two words. "Don't worry Scottie, I'm going to pay those nice people a visit and thank them. Thank them in my own way for taking my son AWAY FROM ME! No one takes my son away without me letting them know how much I want to fucking KILL them!"

"Dad, please, just go! Just go and I won't call the police."

"And I want to thank, what's his name? The faggot you live with. Yeah, I'm going to thank him, TOO!"

"Please, Dad, please, just go."

"Which reminds me, I want to ask you something, Scottie, are you a faggot, too? You live with a faggot, so you must BE a faggot!"

"Don't call me Scottie. I ALWAYS HATED when you called me that! And don't call Rusty a faggot!"

"Rusty! Rusty is the faggot's name? Sure sounds like a faggot name to me."

"Dad...." Tears welled up in Scott's eyes. He didn't want to cry, not in front of his Dad. However, he felt like he was twelve years old again and about to get beaten for no reason. It was exactly the same.

Mr. Barber walked directly up to Scott who again backed into the wall. He stood inches away from Scott. Scott could smell alcohol on his breath. "What? Are you crying?" Mr. Barber said the word sarcastically. "MEN ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO CRY!" He pulled his arm back and rammed his fist into the wall, an inche from Scott's face. He stared into Scott's eyes. "It looks like I failed turning you into a man. I tried so hard to make you into a man! Instead, you turned out to be a fucking PUSSY! I'm soooo proud of you." Mr. Barber turned around with disgust on his face.

Scott looked at the floor. Then, he felt his hands balling into fists. His breathing became faster and deeper. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Scott yelled and lunged for his Dad, throwing all his weight against him. The two men went down to the floor. Scott began punching his Dad in the back, in the ribs, in the kidneys. Mr. Barber turned over, throwing Scott off of him. He dove for Scott, trying to pin him under his body. Scott, adrenaline and fury fueling his hate, was able to scramble out from under his Dad and then punched him in the gut. Mr. Barber doubled over momentarily and then responded by punching Scott in the knee. As Scott reached down, Mr. Barber hit him again, just over his left eye. Blood spurted from the separated flesh.

They stood apart, breathing hard and staring at each other. Then Scott saw movement behind his Dad and it distracted him. Another punch from his Dad, this time, in the jaw; Scott saw stars as he fell to the floor.

"What the fuck!" Cooper exclaimed from behind them.

Mr. Barber turned around and looked at Cooper. Then he looked to Scott who was getting up from the floor, shaking his head to get the blood out of his eyes.

"Who is that? Your faggot lover?" He jumped at Scott who grabbed his Dad and used his own momentum to toss him into a wall. He crashed and fell but quickly turned over and stared at Scott again.

Scott quickly looked at the door. Coop was gone. Where the fuck did he go? His Dad came for him then, and the two men grappled. They fell to the floor, knocking over a table. They traded punches about the face and stomach. Scott could not believe this was actually happening. Mr. Barber pummeled Scott about his stomach and chest. Scott reacted by trying to protect his body. Then he lunged at his Dad, taking him down underneath him. They rolled on the floor, punching each other.

"Seems there's some man in you after all, Scottie!" Mr. Barber said to Scott.

"I fucking HATE you! I hate you for killing Mom!" Then Scott spat in his Dad's face.

Mr. Barber grabbed onto Scott's shirt and pulled him within inches of his own face. "Did that bitch tell you she was fucking around on me? Did she tell you that? DID SHE!?"

Scott yelled into his Dad's face. "Mom would never do that!"

"She was fucking around on me!"

"YOU LIE!"

"NO! NO! No. I swear. She was going to leave me, Scottie. She was going to leave you, too!"

Scott looked at his Dad. "You're a fucking LIAR!" Scott screamed at him. "Mom would never have left me! Never!"

"She was, Scottie! She was!"

"NO!" Scott yelled. "NO! NO! She told me she was going to leave you. And she promised to take me with her!"

"You knew she was going to leave?" Mr. Barber asked. This seemed like a revelation to him.

"Fuck yes I knew! She was going to take me with her! She promised me!"

"She was going to leave us, Scottie."

"NO! She was going to leave YOU, because you beat her!"

"I beat her because she was fucking another man."

"NO!" Scott shook his head from side to side.

"YES!"

"Mom wouldn't do that. If she was fucking around its because you beat the fuck out of her and ME all the time! Why did you have to kill her?" Tears ran down Scott's face.

"I didn't mean to kill her, Scottie."

"BULLSHIT! You're a lying sack of shit! I know you lie. Mom would not have left me. She promised!" Scott eased off his dad and sat next to him on the floor. "She was going to take me with her," Scott said between breaths. "She promised."

"There was no way I would EVER let her take you." Randall Barber replied.

"So, you killed her?" Scott's anger returned. He grabbed his Dad by his shirt. He tightened his hand into a fist and reared back his arm. A split second before the release, there was a loud thunderclap. Scott's arm froze in mid-air, cocked. They both turned in unison to look where the noise came from.

Cooper stood just inside the house. He was standing with his feet planted a foot and a half apart, his arms were raised over his head and had a pistol clasped in both hands. With a determined look on his face, Coop lowered the gun until it was aimed at Mr. Barber.

"Get away from him, NOW! Or I'll put one between your fucking eyes! And believe me, I can DO it!"

Mr. Barber held up a hand. "Now just hold on just one fucking minute..."

Cooper shook his head once, "SHUT UP! I said to get away from him and I meant DO IT NOW!" Mr. Barber, panting loudly and bleeding from various cuts on his face, slowly climbed to his feet.

"You didn't have to kill her," Scott said, sadly.

"Scottie..." Mr. Barber began.

"Scott, get over here, behind me, NOW!" Cooper demanded. Scott slowly crept to his feet and went to Coop while wiping blood from his face. From the opened door, they heard police sirens down the street. Cooper kept the gun aimed at Scott's Dad. Squad cars screeched to a stop in front of the house. Officers crotched behind opened car doors.

"I'll get them," Scott told Cooper. Cooper glanced at Scott and Mr. Barber took the opportunity to head for the back door. He bolted for the patio door and Cooper almost fired the pistol but he knew he'd miss anyway. Instead he relaxed his finger off of the trigger and lowered the gun as Mr. Barber flung the door open and fled.

From just outside the house, Cooper heard, "THIS IS THE POLICE! PUT THE GUN DOWN! DO IT! PUT THE GUN DOWN AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! NOW!"

Cooper slowly lowered his pistol and clicked the safety on before stepping outside the house. "He went out the patio door!" Cooper yelled to the officers, "He's in the backyard!" He approached two officers with both hands high in the air. "He's getting away!"

*****

Scott sat in the back of an ambulance and a paramedic attended to his injuries. Rusty was with Scott as Cooper talked to the police. Soon, an officer approached them. "Mr. Barber, we caught your Dad. They are going to bring him here in a squad car so you can identify him, just so we know we have the right guy. Ok?" Scott nodded to him.

Rusty asked the paramedic, "Is he going to need stitches?"

"Yes," the paramedic said. Then to Scott, "You have a deep cut over your left eye. A few stitches will close it. The other cuts are minor, they won't need stitches. I don't think you have any broken ribs or anything but we'll take you to the hospital and have them check you out."

"No," Scott said, shaking his head slowly. "No hospitals."

"Mr. Barber, you really should," the paramedic told him.

Rusty nodded to Scott, "You ARE going to the hospital so shut up about it."

"Fine," Scott whispered, too depressed to argue.

Then an officer said, "Mr. Barber, the squad car is here." The officer looked questionably at the paramedic who nodded. They helped Scott out of the ambulance and escorted him to a squad car. His dad was in the back seat. "Is that the man who attacked you?" the officer asked.

Scott looked at his dad. He raised his right fist with the middle finger extended. "FUCK YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Then to the officer, "Get him out of my sight!"

*****

Hours later, the three men returned to the house. They walked in and Rusty sighed to himself. There was blood everywhere.

"I guess I should clean this," Scott said. Rusty stopped him. He looked at Scott's bandaged left eyebrow. Eight stitches it took to close the wound. Like the paramedic said, Scott did not have any broken ribs but his stomach was badly bruised in several places.

"No, Scott. I'll do it. You need some rest. You're going to be sore in the morning. Go lie down."

"I'm sorry for the mess, Rusty."

"Its not your fault, Scott. No need to apologize. Go get some rest, Bro."

Scott turned to Cooper. "Coop, I haven't thanked you for what you did." He held out his right hand. Cooper shook it. "You probably saved my life. Thank you." Scott approached Cooper and hugged him. Coop hugged Scott gently so as not to hurt him.

"No need to thank me, Scott. Besides," Coop continued, "it gave me a chance to use my pistol for the first time since I got it last Christmas. I took lessons and shot it on the shooting range and now I keep it in my car, just in case. But I never thought I'd really have an opportunity like this to use it. I have to admit, it felt kind of cool."

Scott turned to Rusty, "You should have seen him. He looked like fuckin' Dirty Harry! 'I'll put one between your fucking eyes!' It was great!" Scott chuckled but then winced as his ribs reminded him of the bruises. Rusty laughed and so did Cooper. "One question, Coop?" Scott asked.

"What's that, man?"

"Could you really have hit him right between the eyes, like, can you really shoot that well?"

Cooper blushed. "Truthfully? No. But he didn't know that." The three of them chuckled.

Then Rusty said to Cooper, "Remind me never to piss you off!"

"Oh, Rusty, I have a *special* gun just for you." Cooper grabbed his crotch.

Rusty's raised his eyebrows and grinned, "Mmmmmm, yeah!" Rusty went to Cooper and put his arms over Coop's shoulders. They kissed.

Then Scott, looking sad and depressed, thanked Cooper and Rusty once more before heading to his room. The door closed. Cooper turned to Rusty, "Tonight really did a head job on him, huh?"

Rusty sighed. "Yes. I guess its kinda like finding out your dad is Darth Vader." Coop nodded in agreement. "But he'll get over it. Deep down inside, Scott's strong. It'll take some time, but he'll get over it. Just like before." Then Rusty pulled from Cooper. "Help me clean this shit up? I dont want Scott to see any of this when he gets up later. Then you can use your special gun on me."

Cooper grinned a sly grin and quoted from the movie, "Do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?"

"Yeah, I feel lucky!" Rusty said and kissed Cooper passionately.

After they cleaned the blood, Rusty led Cooper to his bedroom. He stopped at Scott's door. Quietly, Rusty opened Scott's bedroom door and they peeked in the room. Scott was in bed, laying on his side facing away from them. He seemed asleep.

"Everything ok?" Cooper whispered.

"Yes, I think so." Rusty started to close the door then Scott rolled over to face him.

"Rusty?"

"Yeah?" Rusty looked back at Scott who had sat up on his bed.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Scott asked.

"Sure." Rusty turned to Cooper. "Go ahead. I'll be there in a minute."

"Ok," Cooper said. Then he went into Rusty's room.

Rusty entered Scott's room. "Close the door." Scott said.

Rusty closed the door and then walked to Scott who was now sitting on the edge of his bed, naked, except for a pair of boxer shorts. Rusty sat down next to him. He put his arm around Scott. Scott looked at Rusty with big, sad eyes.

"Rusty....." Scott leaned to Rusty who pulled Scott to him.

"Its ok Scott. Its ok, man. Its over now."

"Fuck! Oh fuck, Rusty!" Scott began to sob against Rusty's chest. Rusty held Scott tightly. While wiping tears from his face, Scott looked at Rusty. "Tonight, Dad told me Mom had been fooling around on him and he knew she was going to leave him. That's why he killed her. He told me Mom was going to leave me, too. Do you think she was? Do you think she'd leave me with him?"

"Oh Jesus, Scott!" Rusty looked surprised. "I doubt she would have left you."

"Me, too." Scott sniffled. "I can't imagine her taking off and leaving me to deal with him."

"He had to have been lying, Scott." Rusty put a hand on Scott's broad shoulder.

"Rusty, I don't know why but I've never told you this. The night before it all happened, Mom came into my bedroom. Dad was out drinking, of course. Mom told me she was going to leave Dad and she promised to take me. She had me sit up on my bed. She looked right in my eyes and told me we would be leaving soon. She said she had it all planned out and for me to not to worry."

"Do you think she WAS fooling around with another man?" Rusty asked.

"I don't know, Rusty. I don't remember anything about another man, but I guess it could be true." Scott shrugged. "All I know is, she told me we would be leaving and that I was going with her. I asked where we were going and she said she couldn't tell me but that it would be ok and that we would be free of him." Scott looked at Rusty with red, swollen eyes.

"Scott, I only met your Mom a few times but I remember she was very nice to me. I liked her. Remember that one time, we'd just came home from school and she had baked chocolate chip cookies? Remember how they were warm and gooey and we gobbled them up and your Mom gave us cold milk to wash 'em down?"

"I remember that! Those were good chocolate chip cookies, Rusty!" Scott, with tears in his eyes, smiled at the memory.

"Oh man, those were the best! I don't think a mom who bakes chocolate cookies for her son would just up and leave him, right?"

"No, Rusty. She wouldn't. I sure miss Mom's cookies, Rusty! I wish she could be here to bake some for me now." Scott's broad, muscular shoulders heaved up and down as he began to cry, again. Rusty held Scott to his chest. He ran his hands over Scott's back and consoled him.

"He was lying to you, Scott. He was lying to try to get you on his side. He was trying to get you to emphasize with him. He's a lying sack of shit, and you know it."

"You're right, Bro. You're so right."

Rusty lay back on the bed, pulling Scott with him who continued to cry. "Its ok, Scott," Rusty said. "Its ok. Its all over, now." Scott's sobs continued for a few minutes then began to diminish. He rolled from Rusty's embrace and sat up with his legs over the side of the bed. Rusty sat up next to him. Scott took in a deep breath and sighed heavily.

"That's just it, Rusty. Its not over. He'll be back. Someday, he'll get out again and he'll be back." Scott looked at Rusty with his eyes shrink wrapped in tears.

"Yeah you're probably right, Scott," Rusty said.

"So what do I do then? What do WE do then?" Scott asked.

"Well, we'll have to be prepared," Rusty said. "I've been thinking about this. We can take self-defense classes and we can do like Coop did. We can buy some pistols and take shooting lessons. Just to be prepared, for the next time. However, and I know its a cliché, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Scott looked away and sighed again. "Fuck." Scott's broad shoulders slumped. Then he looked at Rusty. "I didn't know what I was gonna do? If Coop...." His voice began to waver. "....if Coop hadn't had been there. If he'd gotten here just a few minutes later....I might..."

Rusty interrupted him, "Scott, don't! You can't keep thinking if..if..if! You'll go nuts."

Scott sighed again. "You're right, Rusty." He looked away, again.

Rusty sat up and hugged Scott to him. "Look, man, get some sleep. I'll call in sick tomorrow and we'll spend the day together. We'll do something fun and you'll feel better. OK?"

"Ok." Scott rolled into his bed, wincing at the pain from his bruises. He pulled the blankets over himself. "Tell Dirty Harry I said thanks, again." Scott hugged the blankets next to his chin.

Rusty chuckled once. "I will. Good night, Bro. Get some sleep." Rusty went toward the bedroom door.

"Good night, Bro." Scott said.

Rusty gently closed the door behind him. Scott rolled over and tried to sleep. It was hours before he did.

Rusty went to his room and found Coop in the bathroon. He stood next to the toilet, pissing.

"Hey," Rusty said.

"Is he ok?" Cooper asked as he shook the remaining drops from his dick and then flushed the toilet. Rusty put his arm around Cooper as they walked to the bed.

"Yeah, he's ok. Just worried about next time," Rusty replied.

"Ah, yeah. This isn't the end, is it?"

"Nope," Rusty said, shaking his head.

Cooper sighed.

"By the way, Scott says thanks again, Dirty Harry." Rusty was grinning as he said this.

Cooper grinned also and then put his hands together with the forefingers mimicking a gun barrel. He blew imaginary smoke from the "barrel". "All in a days work for Sheriff Coop in Rustyville! Them darn varmits doan know who they be messin' wit!" Cooper said with a comical western drawl. "I be the law 'round 'ere!"