*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
Disclaimers: This story has been edited by me, using Microsoft spell-check. You have been forewarned.
*****
Danny O'Neil strolled the halls of Connelly Community College, leisurely making his way to his World History 201 class. It was May, the sun outside was blistering the Oakleaf, Texas college campus. Inside, the air conditioning was blasting cold air, bringing out goosebumps.
"Damn, it sure is nice," he couldn't help but smile.
It was nice, not having to stress over maintaining a 3.0 GPA to continue receiving his Hardship Scholarship. It was nice, not having to work the grueling early morning shift at the Sonic Drive-Thru restaurant. It was nice to not have to pinch pennies. It was nice not having to worry about where he would sleep when the dormitories closed down for semester breaks.
Final exams were next week; Danny had been maintaining a GPA of 3.89 and planned to continue to do so. But it still was quite nice, not having to stress and worry and sweat and panic.
He entered his class and looked around. Even as he leisurely strolled, he still managed to be ten minutes early. He almost slapped his forehead. Normally, he'd have been scrambling because he'd just be getting off his morning shift, still wearing his uniform.
The class did fill up quickly. Just as Professor Darwin was about to stride into the classroom 'Hitler' Eischenbach scurried into the room. Danny didn't know what the young man's name was; everyone called him Hitler.
He motioned to the young man, indicating the vacant desk next to his. The young man pushed his unfashionable glasses up his nose, smiled and flopped down into the desk.
Professor Darwin droned on and on in his nasally whine. Finally, the class was over.
"Hey, I'm Danny," Danny said, holding out his hand.
"Huh? Oh, I'm Daniel," the young man said and took Danny's offered hand.
"Daniel? Not Danny?" Danny smiled.
"No, and not Hitler, either," Daniel smiled.
"Yeah, why they call you that?" Danny asked as they ambled out of the classroom.
"Oh, some assholes found out I'm fascinated by World War Two," Daniel grimaced. "See, my great great grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz; they managed to smuggle my great grandfather out of there so I try to find out all I can about it."
Makes sense," Danny shrugged. "Well, got to run to my Calculus class."
He pushed his shoulder length blond hair back out of his eyes and did actually run to his next class. Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose then walked toward the library.
The next few times they ran into each other, Danny and Daniel chatted. They went to the cafeteria and ate lunch. Danny looked at Daniel's ham and Swiss sandwich, then at Daniel.
"Yeah, I eat ham," Daniel smiled. "Only thing Jewish about me is my name and my cock."
"Dude, huh?" Danny laughed. "Don't need know that."
Daniel did disclose that he was worried about the end of the semester. His hometown was Paulton, Louisiana, and barely had enough money for the bus ticket home.
"Almost nineteen hours, nothing to eat but bus station food, if I can afford it," Daniel said. "Then what? My mom doesn't have the money send me back. I'm here on a Hardship."
"Dude! I was too!" Danny said.
"Was? Win the lottery?" Daniel asked.
"Kind of," Danny shrugged. "Grandfather died."
"Dude, sorry," Daniel gasped.
"Shit, don't be," Danny shrugged. "Last time I saw him I was like two or three, you know?"
Daniel Arthur Franks had been brought up in an overly religious home. His father believed in the adage 'spare the rod, spoil the child' and beat Daniel black and blue for even the mildest of infractions. In 1971, Daniel enlisted and was shipped off to Vietnam.
Upon his return, after two tours of duty, he was a hardened man, with a thousand yard stare.
Arthur made a move to strike Daniel for a smart mouth comment he'd made at the dinner table. The only thing that saved Arthur's life was Betty, Daniel's mother grabbed the heavy saucepan from the stove and brought it down on Daniel's head.
"You're not welcome in my house no more, boy," Arthur grunted through his wired jaws.
"Uh huh, big man, took a woman save your sorry ass," Daniel sneered. "Next time I see you, you might not be so lucky."
The next time Daniel saw his father was at his father's funeral. Daniel had married, had fathered one daughter by the time of his father's death, but neither Arthur nor Betty had ever met Daniel's wife or daughter.
Betty was quick to follow her husband. Daniel brought his wife and two daughters to that funeral. Then he moved his wife and two daughters into 2122 Browner Street in Oakleaf, Texas. It was the home he'd grown up in, the home he'd suffered years of physical and mental abuse in.
And he continued the cycle. His wife and his three daughters learned to keep their mouths shut, learned to keep quiet, learned to have supper on the table the moment Daniel came home, learned to have their rooms clean, their clothes clean.
Millicent, the oldest daughter complained to her mother about her father's inappropriate, unwanted touches. Gwen slapped her daughter across the face for telling such a blatant lie. Millicent quietly went into the back yard and hung herself from the oak tree Daniel had climbed as a child.
Jennifer did not tell her mother about the unwanted touches. She stole some money from her mother's purse and her father's wallet, walked to the Greyhound bus station and was never seen again.
Betty, named after Daniel's mother, met and married Gary O'Neil. Daniel made no secret about the fact that he did not like Gary, thought Gary was not good enough for his baby, the apple of his eye.
A few months after their marriage, a few weeks after telling Gwen and Daniel that Betty was expecting their first child, Gary was struck by a hit and run driver. He died of his injuries a few days later. The hit and run driver was never identified.
Betty did notice her father's satisfied little smirk as they lay her husband to rest next to Gary's grandparents. Thankfully, Gary had a life insurance policy and it paid double. Betty was very careful with the forty thousand dollars and told her father, even though she was now a widow, she would not be returning to live under his roof.
In an effort to curry favor with Daniel, though, Betty did name the child Daniel Gary O'Neil.
Gwen died of a massive heart attack when Danny was two, and that was the last time he ever saw his grandfather. At her mother's funeral, Daniel Franks grabbed Betty's breasts and told her it was time for her to come home and take her mother's place.