Good Guys Finish Last

Once again this is not the story of my life. Just a tale of someone else's travails I've observed from the sidelines. A few details are changed for concealment and plausible deniability. Seems some did not like my last tale. Too bad. I'm not writing these for you. I'm writing for me. I've found an outlet for my anger, my rage, my betrayal. These tales are a catharsis for my soul. If you don't like them, tough shit. One more thing, no one at no time ever has sex before the age of majority in this story.

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Good guys finish last.

This is the story of a guy raised to be a boy scout. Mind you he was never in the scouts, just raised to live his life being a good guy doing good deeds.

Carl was 16 when he met Sue. She was a pretty little thing. Petite, brunette, big brown doe eyes and the olive complexion of her Italian heritage. Sue was 15 at the time. Carl made things for Sue. A jewelry box with hidden hinges that looked like a foot square cube when closed but opened along the corners to reveal 3 trays on one side and necklace hooks on the other. The top opened to reveal ring storage. He fixed her family's cars, mowed their grass, shoveled their snow. He was accepted as a future son-in-law and was considered a catch.

Carl deliberately failed senior English and Math so he'd have to be a "super senior" and graduate with Sue. He tutored her in algebra, wrote her papers. Basically did everything he could to be a "nice guy". He paid for her cell phone with his part-time after school job. Paid for her formal dresses for both the winter ball and prom. He was invested in this relationship. (No sex)

About ten days before prom, Sue asked Carl to meet her after school at the Burger King across from their high school. When Carl showed up Sue was sitting on the same side of the both as Charlene. Charlene was an avowed lesbian. She was into flannel shirts, men's hair styles, and black leather biker jackets. Now, this wasn't too unusual because Carl and Sue often socialized in the same circles as Charlene. She wasn't nearly as friendly with Carl as she was with Sue but way more friendly than virtually any other man or male in her life. Part of that might of been due to her dad tossing her out of the house when she came out of the closet to her folks. Regardless, Charlene had a serious case of gender bias and hatred for all things male.

As Carl approached Sue motioned for him to sit across the table from her. Carl had barely said hi when Sue dumped a load on him.

"Carl, I'm not going to the prom with you." Now mind you this event had been planned for months at this point, tux ordered and rent paid, limo lined up, dress found, tailored and paid for, flowers on order, the whole 9 yards. Now as Sue said this Charlene draped her arm over Sue's shoulders possessively as she started to smirk at Carl.

Carl was in a kind of shock. He said "why? What did I do? What's going on here? Why are you doing this Sue?

Sue replied "It's nothing you've done. No one could ask for a better boyfriend but I've been attracted to Charlene for a long time. I want to explore what she has to offer. I'm not saying it's forever, it's just something I need to do. Please understand and say you'll give me time to explore, please?"

Charlene just had to rub it in, "guess she likes what I do for her more than what you do ay bud? I wouldn't worry about her coming back, I'm never gonna let her go."

Carl said "Fine, fuck you both!" He then got up and left. The next couple of weeks till graduation were difficult, to say the least. Carl was being openly laughed at in school and the "gay" clique was getting in every dig they could the whole time. Carl had several very good close friends and he spent a lot of time with them and his guitar. Not that he had any great talent with it, but he could at least follow a song.

On the night of the prom, Sue showed up with Charlene in Charlene's rust bucket truck. Charlene had managed to get Sue a carnation corsage but the violet color didn't match the off-white satin gown Carl had bought her. Charlene was wearing a man's tux. The two of them went in, got the pictures taken and headed for a table. Now while Carl was being laughed at, these two were being shunned by everyone except the gay clique. Carl was popular, he did things for people all the time. Like I said he's a good guy.

The second time the loving couple got up to dance someone used a squirt bottle of ketchup to squirt ketchup all over the back of Charlene's jacket. No one saw who did it or wouldn't say who but Charlene was sure it was Jacob, (Carl's best bud) or Dede, Jacobs date. Charlene was in a rage. She spotted Jacob and Dede across the room and came at them swearing. Mind you Charlene was all of 5'4" and maybe 125. Charlene went straight at Jacob, who was admittedly laughing and tried to punch him in the nose while he was still seated. Jacob expected as much and blocked the punch and pushed Charlene away from him. Dede wasn't having it. Dede is just shy of 6' and was a very athletic cross-country skier, maybe 170 ish. Any how she hit Charlene so hard in the face that it looked like Charlene's nose exploded and it sat her on her ass with a shocked look on her face.

Charlene starts screaming "He hit me, he hit me" to which a chorus of voices said no he didn't, she did, and they pointed at Dede.

As always a fight draws a crowd. The gay clique had been following at a distance and words were being exchanged between the two groups. Now the gay clique was outnumbered and outsized by Jacob and Dede's bunch but they had come to expect special treatment. Their school had bent over backward to accommodate their group. Any hint of a slur or physical confrontation resulted in the non-gay person being suspended if not expelled. Zero tolerance for bullying and what have you. As a result, they felt untouchable. They were wrong. The faculty monitors had observed Charlene's charge, her attempted assault, Dede's response and the aggresiveness of the clique. They broke it up before it got physical and informed Charlene and most of the clique that their prom was over. Time to leave.

Now during the fracas, there was a lot of jostling going on. Seems a number of people got clumsy by Sue. No less than three glasses of punch got spilled on her. She was a mess.

Of course, there were repercussions. Dede was suspended for three days, Charlene for one. No one would admit to the ketchup, but knowing Jacob I wouldn't put it past him.

Carl had a long quiet summer. He spent it with his friends and working. He didn't date and he made sure Sue's family were aware of it. Sue's mother told him many times she thought Sue had lost her mind and that she had told Sue that she'd regret letting Carl get away. Sue always replied she was sure Carl would wait

Carl did wait for almost a year. He still paid Sue's cell bill, still was available to fix stuff when needed. But his patience only went so far. After 10 months, Carl met and started seeing Wendy. Where Sue was dark and moody, Wendy was like springtime sunshine on steroids. You'd swear it was fake but after being around her for ten minutes you'd realize she wasn't bright enough to pull that off.

Once again Carl did everything he could for Wendy and her family. When Wendy's cell contract ended Carl informed Sue she was on her own to pay for her cell, he then added Wendy to his plan. These two were a couple for almost 4 years. Carl liked it so much he put a ring on it. She wanted him to get some vocational training, so he did. She wanted a house, so they bought one, she wanted a car so he got one for her. Things weren't all that great tho. It was her money was her money and his money was their money relationship. As a result, she had money to go and do things, Carl had bills to pay, didn't eat lunch cause he couldn't afford it, and had no money to go anywhere.

It was on a night out with her friends from work without Carl that she met Mike. Mike was acquainted with Carl. Knew who he was and felt he had an axe to grind with him. See at the time Carl did maintenance for a local convenience store chain. The chains biggest competitors were a string run by a finish couple. Mike was the grandson of the owner. He was 17 and feeling privileged when his grandfather gave him a job, to help Carl freshen up the exteriors of the stores. Carl and Mike worked together for nearly a month. I should say Carl worked, Mike goofed off, flirted with girls and generally was as useless as he could be. Carl was approached one day by the owner, who asked him how Mike was working out. Carl was reluctant to bad mouth Mike to his grandpa but did say he was late all the time and goofed off too much. Keith, the owner, laughed and said "I know he's been screwing off. I was just wondering if you'd cover for him or tell me the truth. Because you were honest and tried to be nice about it I'm going to offer you the assistant manager position in the woodland store starting in September ."

"To be honest boss, Mike didn't show up again this morning."

Keith laughed and said "That's because I fired his lazy ass this morning for not helping you. Pretty good your own grandpa fires you for being a goof-off."

Anyhow it was just "chance" that Wendy ran into Mike at the bar. Mike pulled out a thick bankroll, paid for bar food, paid for drinks, played the big spender. The whole time he was getting Wendy drunk he was digging for information, getting flirty and charming her. He charmed her enough to set up a date the following week, a date she told Carl was another night out with friends. Wendy went out with her new "friend" for almost 6 weeks before Mike told her he wanted to marry her and she should dump Carl. The following morning they had the "honey we need to talk" conversation. She gave Carl 4 days to move his stuff out, 4 days because on Friday that week Mike was coming to spend the weekend in her house and in her bed.

About a year later Wendy and Mike got married and moved to Vegas. Mike had a job lined up there. Grandpa wouldn't even consider giving him one in the family business. Wendy never did get what was meant by Dede's wedding gift. A brass plaque on knotty pine with the wedding date and a brass plated mini shovel mounted on it. (Golddigger)

Carl figured something was up. Wendy had changed in her attitude and affections for him. He kinda saw it coming and had talked to Jacob about it. Jacob offered him the basement of his and Dede's house. At least Carl had someplace to go.

Wendy had given Carl back his ring but hadn't taken him off the notes for any of the loans they had taken to buy her things. It took Carl nearly 3 years to work off the debts, thank god he wasn't on the mortgage. Carl had stayed with Jacob for almost a year when his maternal grandfather passed away. The rest of the family was pissed but he left Carl the old farm. Now no one had lived there for nearly a decade. The wiring was iffy, the walls had mold in places, the plumbing had frozen and was totally shot. But it was Carl's.

It took Carl most of the rest of the time it took to pay off his debts to fix the place up to be a decent place to live. To celebrate paying off the last note and the completed updating and renovation of his house, Carl threw a party. Bunch of mid to late twenty somethings drinking around the fire pit. It was at that party that he met Joann.

Joann was damaged, both physically and mentally from the bullying, she got in school. As a toddler, Joann grabbed the handle of a pot of boiling pasta and spilled boiling water all down her right hand, arm and the right side of her upper torso. There was extensive scarring. This made her shy and reserved and once the other kids found out about her scars she was called "Freddie's girlfriend". Junior high and high school sucked for this kid. In an effort to be liked and accepted she became somewhat promiscuous in high school. She was a junior when she became pregnant, a senior when she became a mom. Her daughter was being raised by her mother because Joann was not emotionally equipped nor mature enough to raise a baby at the time of the birth. The little girl, named Hope, was a darling thing. Joann was finally trying to take over as her parent but her mother was resisting big time.

Joann worked as a receptionist in a law office. She was going to school to become a paralegal. At the time she met Carl she was looking for a place to live again. Her last argument with her mom found her tossed out of mom's place and cut off from Hope. It wasn't a surprise to anyone that it took her less than three weeks to be invited to move in with Carl.

Carl's vocational schooling was in auto mechanics, which was a good thing. Joann drove a BMW that looked good but was a mechanical nightmare. Carl would spend hours nearly every weekend working on it and hundreds of dollars out of pocket for parts just to keep the heap on the road.

Shortly after Joann moved in Carl had a visit at work from Sue. Seems Charlene got a thrill out of stealing Sue away from Carl but the thrill faded once she had her. It wasn't long and Charlene was devoting her time to breaking up a different hetero couple. Sue wasn't happy with this and took up with Linda for a time. Linda was ten years older, 8 inches taller and a hundred pounds heavier than Sue. Linda never wore anything but flannel shirts given the choice. Linda was also very jealous and had a history of physical violence. Sue had just healed up from the last beating Linda had delivered and had had an OFP served on Linda while Linda was in jail pending court on felony domestic charges.

Carl was doing paperwork, checking a delivery invoice against what was actually delivered when Sue approached him.

"Carl, can I talk to you?

"Sue! How are you doing? I haven't seen you in nearly two years. What do you want to talk about? Last time you said something like that I didn't end up liking where the conversation leads. Here let's go to my office, I'll get you a cup of joe."

They went to the oversized closet Carl used as an office space and sat down to coffee.

"Carl do remember when I asked if you could wait for me? Well, I'm not seeing anyone now and I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me, say for old times sake?"

"Sue, I'm not really sorry to say I've moved on. I'm living with a gal named Joann. You probably remember her as "Freddie's girlfriend", at least that's what you and your friends called her in school."

"You've got to be kidding me, Carl. Are you living with Joann "Kruger"? That skank? I thought you had higher standards than that Carl."

Sue, if you're going to insult the woman I'm involved with we're done here. She's a better person on the inside than you can ever hope to be. See yourself out and don't bother me at work ever again."

Sue left at that point. Carl did hear from her again about 5 months later. He received an invitation to Sue's wedding to Charlie, the former high school football star. These days Charlie worked on a roofing crew who made good use of his strong back and fairly weak mind.

By that time things between Carl and Joann were cooling fast. Joann had made nice with mommy enough to get Hope for most weekends. She had moved in with Carl in September and by March she was making plans. Unfortunately, those plans didn't include Carl.

The farm Carl lived on was a goodly distance from the town Joann worked in. If the weather was bad or going to be bad she stayed at mom's. It wasn't long and she was at mom's all week. Then about two weeks before she graduated from school she stopped coming out to the farm at all. She and Carl dated twice after that. Then Carl found out that she really wasn't staying at mom's most nights at all. Seems her boss Dean was lining her up to be his next wife. Dean's third marriage cratered because he got caught cheating, with guess who, Joann.

Sue got married on the second Saturday that June. Carl did not attend. He was home that night with a handle jug of Wiser's whiskey, Jacob and the dogs for company. That was almost two years ago. These days he goes to work and depending on the season, hunts or fishes in his spare time. Carl loads his own ammo, makes his own lures, traps his own minnows from the pond he dug with a borrowed backhoe, ties his own flies for fly fishing. So far he's shot down half a dozen attempts by Dede to set him up with some friend or another. He's told her he just doesn't trust women not to rip his heart again.

He's a good guy is Carl. Problem is it seems gals don't want a good guy, at least not until some asshat has abused them, left them with a couple kids, damaged them. Just like the old saying, good guys finish last...

Postscript

Carl never had a chance to be anything but an overgrown Boy Scout. Carl's paternal grandpa was a Chosun frozen Marine. His dad spent most of 67 and part of 68 in the Quang Nam province in South Vietnam, sorta his high school trip cause he was drafted before the end of August 66. Carl was, shall we say, discouraged about joining the Marines. Both his dad and his grandpa told him if he wanted to get his ass shot off they'd be glad to do it for him without the Marine's involvement. Carl believed them. Marines have a rep of being hell-raisers themselves and raising saints for kids.

I've never met a Marine in uniform or out of it for 50 years who still wasn't a Marine. Good people to know when things get "interesting". Cpl. Jasper passed two years ago. He'd been the Pacific middleweight boxing champion for the Pacific theater in 1950. He didn't have to go to Korea, he insisted. He was Carl's paternal grandpa. Easily one of the best men this old army puke ever met. Semper fi Cpl. Rest in peace Marine.