Oscar Vinson spent most of his time in prison either in solitary or in the infirmary. Convicted sex abusers of children have trouble making it out alive. His minor martial arts skills were no match for the numbers and the street fighting skills of his various assailants. Somehow, he gave a good account of himself and managed to survive the beatings, torture, stabbings, and sexual assaults. He had been the temporary bitch of more men than he wanted to remember. Everything had been sucked out of his life except one thing: The need for revenge. He was an innocent man.
He was released from prison after seven years, three months and two days. But who is counting? He made it one day at a time. That sounds too easy unless you know each day seemed to last a year. Each day he woke up in prison, he wondered if today was the day they would succeed in killing him, or, worse, castrating him. Each night he went to bed, he was another day closer to revenge. That was all he had to look forward to.
Oscar was glad no one showed up outside the gate because if someone had, it probably would have been to kill him. Hhe knew his family, his ex-family, had to be notified in order to 'protect' his lying, back-stabbing, bitch of a daughter. He knew on one level of consciousness that Carol had been coerced or brainwashed to testify against him, but on another level, she was a significant part of the cause of his losing everything. And it was not just her.
Bryan Hall was the true source of his misery. His former best friend had seduced his way into Oscar's family through money, flattery, and lying about what he had seen Oscar do with Carol. He suspected Bryan had something to do with his students lying also. The fact that he married Oscar's wife as soon as the divorce was final showed what he had been after most - Jean, Oscar's wife.
Jean had refused to believe her husband's contention that he had not done what was alleged. She sat by his nemesis during the trial. Fifteen years of marriage did not earn him enough chits for her to have faith in her husband's innocence. So much for 'for better or worse.' Her betrayal rated closely behind Bryan's.
Now they knew he was out, Oscar worried for his life as much as when he was in prison. It was no secret Oscar was a threat to Bryan's well-being. He had stated the same in court, loudly. There was no doubt in Oscar's mind that Bryan was capable of killing him. The need to disappear to where Bryan could not find him was his primary motive at the moment.
No one would disagree that Life had played a series of cruel jokes on Oscar. Now it was time for Life to make up for being unfair. Repayment one was the bureaucratic mistake that had prevented Oscar's former family from being notified of his release before it happened. When Bryan found out three days after the fact, he was pissed. Bryan had indeed arranged a special 'homecoming.'
Oscar realized that the treatment he got from fellow prisoners had provided some 'blessings in disguise.' The scars on his face were covered by a beard which, along with long hair, had greatly changed his appearance. In addition, when he had kitchen duty, Oscar received a 'grilling,' which meant that several men held his hands down on a hot grill. At the time, Oscar would have traded anything to avoid that torture, but it had a current benefit in removing all fingerprints from his hands. That meant police or others would have to identify him by other means. By just keeping a shirt on, Oscar could avoid anyone seeing the 'Child Molester' carving and other scars on his chest.
Oscar's first destination was Goodwill where he bought clothes that were functional for the changing weather and would fit in well with his intended destination - Homelessland. Next came survival, invisible survival. Life again helped.
For some reason in his community, several churches and charities had gotten into a competition, although they would deny that descriptor, for which group could do the most for the homeless. As a result, homeless people from several surrounding cities made their way to where the help was. The number of homeless people grew in the same proportion in which services grew.
Food was not an initial problem. There were several options for where he could get a free meal. Oscar soon learned what agencies would have the best meal on certain days. The Salvation Army was the least predictable. Sometimes they would serve only bologna and cheese sandwiches; sometimes an upscale restaurant would send leftovers which included some of the best, most expensive meals in town. Usually the choice was in between, depending on which group or church was supplying the food.
Shelter was the biggest problem. Homeless meant just that. The Salvation Army had time limits on how long one could stay in their shelter. Oscar's time in the Army helped him build his own protection from the elements in a wooded place in a city park. He found a large Azalea bush that was open in the middle. By interlacing plastic bags among the overhanging branches, he was able to create a good barrier from the cold and rain. Good but not great.
Oscar was the intended victim of several attempted muggings, but he used his knowledge of Army and prison fighting techniques to quickly get a label of 'not-to-be-messed-with' from the local gangs. It was after one attempted mugging of someone else that gained Oscar another blessing - Harvey.
That night, Oscar heard a fight going on outside his hovel. Normally he just ignored such things as none of his business. As the fight went on and the shouting of the participants increased, Oscar went out to either end the fight or get them to quiet down.
Oscar saw under the bridge that several men were attacking a giant of a guy. Although outnumbered, the large man was holding his own. The man kept saying, "Please stop. I don't want to hurt you." After the men kept attacking and the man kept pleading, Oscar spoke up.
"Hey, big guy. It's okay for you to hurt them. They're trying to hurt you."
Turning to Oscar, the man said, "Okay." Before Oscar could move to help him, the big man proceeded to start knocking out and/or breaking parts of the gang members. Within a couple of minutes, the attackers that could get away did so. Three were on the ground, unmoving. Oscar did not have to raise a hand.
"I did the right thing, didn't I? I don't want to get sent away again. I did the right thing, didn't I?"
Oscar quickly determined his large, new friend was mentally challenged while being physically talented. "Yes, you did the right thing. My name is Carlos Mendoza (Oscar had gotten documentation to have a new name to hide under). What's your name?"
"Harvey. You're not going to call the police, are you?"
"No, Harvey. I do think we need to leave in case someone else called the police. You never know when someone is going to lie and screw your life up." Oscar paused a moment as he saw blood on Harvey's jacket that was not from brushing against one of the subdued assailants. "Harvey, we need to get treatment for that wound."
"NO! I don't want to go to no hospital." Harvey was very agitated. Oscar tried to calm him.
"Well, we need to get that treated. You could bleed to death. Why don't you want to go to the hospital?"
"They . . . . they might give me a shot. I'm scared of shots."
Oscar paused to think. "Would you go if I went with you?"
"You would go with me? You would stay with me?"
"Sure."
"Okay, but you have to stay with me."
Oscar took off his muffler and told Harvey to use it to hold against his wound. They walked the five blocks to the Emergency Room. Harvey was admitted immediately. The staff wanted Oscar to wait and answer insurance questions. After Oscar briefly explained the situation, they put away the forms and allowed Oscar to be with Harvey. Apparently, scenes like this were not uncommon in this neighborhood.
From then on Oscar and Harvey were fast friends. He found out at the hospital that his new friend's full name was Harvey Silverman. Harvey had been in an institution since he was young but was released after one of the deinstitutionalization programs sued the facility where he was a resident. Harvey had been a very late, unexpected child of a couple who were now dead. There were brothers and sisters but none of them had really known or been allowed to help care for Harvey, so, technically a legally competent adult, he was left to fend for himself.
Oscar and Harvey were a compatible couple. Oscar provided the brains and Harvey the brawn. It reminded Oscar of the characters in Of Mice and Men with, hopefully, a more agreeable ending. They scraped by together living off charity but sometimes they would work when people were willing to pay under the table. Harvey's physical abilities made it easier to find work. Harvey would not take a job if his friend Carlos was not employed also.
Although there was a considerable difference in cognitive level between the two, Oscar really enjoyed his conversations with Harvey. Matters were more black-and-white to Harvey. Oscar had to use smaller words and simpler explanations. But that was actually refreshing to Oscar. It taught him to be more succinct. His whole recent existence could be seen as simple: evil man seduces family, family abandons him, he gets punished, he gets revenge. The only part of the sequence left was the revenge.
When the divorce had occurred, Oscar had received a monetary settlement of over $50,000. Despite what his daughter had done to him, Oscar sent the money to his daughter for her college fund. His ex-wife sent it back saying that he could not make up for what he had done. So despite what good the dirty money might do their daughter, it was returned.
Since he was heading for prison labeled as a child molester, Oscar figured he would be dead soon after he was sent there. As a last gesture to his seemingly lost cause, Oscar made a deal with a Private Investigator, Ben Woods, to try and get proof that Bryan had orchestrated Oscar's downfall and give it to the police. Ben was hesitant to take such an open-ended quest but agreed. The fact that he got $50,000 in advance helped. The last time Oscar had heard from Ben, the private investigator finally had gotten a lead he was pursuing. Nothing had come from Ben in the last number of months.
Oscar had called shortly after getting out of prison. He was told that Ben had died a few months ago. They could not find a file on Oscar in their active files. Inactive cases had been archived. Oscar would have to appear in person with ID to get the case file, assuming his bill was paid up. Oscar asked how Ben had died. Killed in a mugging was the reply. A deep sense of dread hit Oscar. He was afraid Bryan had figured out what Ben was doing and had eliminated him. He needed to find a way to get the file if Bryan hadn't already destroyed it.
It was Italian night at the Salvation Army when the next phase of Oscar's life emerged. One of the Methodist churches in town would prepare spaghetti with meat sauce, salad and garlic bread. Homemade ice cream was the dessert. That was a treat not to be missed. Oscar and Harvey were enjoying the meal when a young couple started making rounds among the tables. Every so often they would stop at one of the tables and ask a man something and then move on. At second glance, Oscar knew who it was - Carol, his now grown up, beautiful ex-daughter. She looked more like her mother than he had remembered.
