Welcome to the Neighborhood #1

  Chapter 4

  The sound of pizza being chewed, throat-clearing coughs, and beverages being politely sipped filled the air in the dining room as Andrew, Ellen, and Garrett ate their dinner. Ellen had offered to make something different, but Garrett insisted she stick with what she’d planned. He said he did not wish to be a burden. So, frozen pizza it was. They’d had to shut Billiam in the bedroom as he had continued to growl and bark at Garrett. Even now Andrew could hear the little guy pawing at the door and growling. Weird, he never gets that angry at strangers.

  Garrett took the last bite of his tenth piece of pizza and leaned back in his seat, patting his belly. Andrew couldn’t believe the guy’s appetite. Luckily Ellen had made two pizzas. She always did that so that Andrew could have some for lunch the next day. Not this time. Garrett had polished off Andrew’s lunch for tomorrow too. The guy could eat with the best of them, better than Andrew that was for sure. He easily had fifty pounds on Garrett and had only eaten six pieces before feeling stuffed. Garrett broke the silence as Andrew mourned the loss of his Tombstone Meat Trio with Seasoned-Crust.

  “Fantastic dinner. I’m glad I came over. My compliments to the cook. Ellen, you make the best frozen pizza I’ve ever had.” Ellen forced a smile, obviously still feeling uncomfortable having the man that had blown a gasket at her husband earlier in the day now inside her house.

  “Thanks Garrett, it’s not too tough. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes and voila, there you go.” Garrett just smiled and looked down, then across the table at Andrew.

  “Well, big guy, what do you say we clean up these dishes for the lady?” Before Andrew could answer, his wife piped in.

  “It’s okay, I can do that.” Ellen stood up and reached for Garrett’s plate. As her fingers touched the plate, their guest grabbed her arm so quickly Andrew didn’t notice until he heard his wife let out a small cry. Garrett looked at Ellen with brooding eyes.

  “No, Ellen, I insist. It is the least I can do.” Ellen tried to tug her arm free, and when Andrew saw she couldn’t, he tried to keep calm as he addressed her captor.

  “Garrett, uh…do you mind letting go of my wife there buddy?” Garrett let go and turned white, clasping his hands and looking down as Ellen pulled her arm away and looked at Andrew with pleading eyes. Garrett was visibly upset.

  “I did it again, I’m so sorry. Here you invite me into your home and prepare dinner for me and I lose my temper and put my hands on your wife. I just can’t control my temper. I came over here to try and patch things up, to make things right…and I screwed them up worse. I just wish…I wish you could understand that it’s not me…I’m not that person, I mean this person…there’s this other part of me, inside that…this thing that takes over, that isn’t me…I…I should go, I’m so sorry.” Garrett stood up and started for the door, with his head down and a look of shame on his face. Something about that look, and what Garrett had said, tugged at Andrew’s heartstrings. He stood up to go after him and felt Ellen’s hands on his chest, stopping him.

  “Honey, let him go…he’s dangerous.” Andrew looked into his wife’s face and smiled.

  “Everyone needs a friend, my darling.” He grabbed her hands and lifted them to his face, kissing them before giving them back to her. Then he rushed after Garrett, opening the door and noticing his dejected, slumped form already halfway back across the street. Jogging after him, Andrew shouted for Garrett to hold up. The smaller man turned just as Andrew reached him.

  “Hey Garrett, listen…that was pretty bogus what you did in there grabbing my wife’s arm like that, but-” Garrett shook his head, looking at the ground as he cut Andrew off.

  “No buts Andrew, what I did was inexcusable and unacceptable. I don’t deserve you or your wife’s forgiveness…but for what it’s worth, I am extremely sorry. Have a good night, and don’t worry, you guys won’t have to worry about me bothering you ever again.” Garrett turned to leave again but Andrew’s words stopped him.

  “My dad used to beat the shit out of me.” Garrett turned back around and looked at Andrew with a look of puzzlement and sadness. Sighing, Andrew continued. “Pretty much on a daily basis. Good ol’ dad, you see, he…uh, well…just like you, he had a temper. That temper was made worse by alcohol. He used to just slap my mom around, and she would always tell people she could handle it, that she’d just made him mad, but if he ever touched me she was gone. Well, when I was five years old, he broke my nose with his fist. My mom left him then, but went back…and my pops started beating on both of us again. Every single time he hit us, afterwards, as me and my mom held each other, crying and nursing our wounds, my dad would look at us with this sad look, then slowly walk out of the room with his head down. That went on for years, until I got older, and I hit him back.

  I remember I was eleven or so, and he was in the kitchen screaming at my mom about something stupid. I went in the room right as he slapped her, and I just walked up to him, spun him around and hit him so hard he fell to the ground…and I didn’t stop. I got on top of him and hit him over and over and over and over. He was in such rough shape he ended up in the hospital for a few days, and when I finally got up the nerve to go see him, I broke down in his room. I thought for sure he was going to scream and curse at me, to try and strangle me, but he didn’t. Two things happened that day for the first time in my life, I saw my dad cry and I heard him say I love you son. He said I had nothing to be sorry for and that he deserved what I did to him. He said he wasn’t the person he’d become, that he had a monster in him that had taken over, that he didn’t want to be that person anymore. From that day on, he was a changed man, and now he is a great father to me, a great husband to my mom, and a great man.

  He never was a bad guy, he just couldn’t control his temper. When you said what you said over at my house, the look you had on your face when you left, I saw that same thing…a good man who just needs to beat the monster inside him. Now, I’m not going to beat the shit out of you like I did my dad, but I will be your friend and together maybe we can help you win.” Garrett just stared at him, soaking in what he’d just heard before responding.

  “You…you would be my friend even after what I did?”

  “Of course.” Garrett nodded slowly.

  “I’m sorry for what your father put you through and I’m glad he beat his inner demon…but mine isn’t exactly the same…kind.” Now it was Andrew’s turn to be puzzled.

  “I don’t understand what you mean…temper is temper, right?” Garrett put his hands in his pockets and looked around.

  “It’s really hard to explain, I can’t tell you exactly what it is…it’s very…complicated.” Andrew put both hands up.

  “Hey, it’s alright man, no worries. We can just hang out and have some fun times, I don’t have to be your shrink, but I am always here to listen if you need me to. So, what do you say, baseball game tomorrow night on your big TV, I will pay for some pizza from Gio’s and we can drink some Code Red and man it up. Sound good?” Garrett smiled as he looked down at Andrew’s outstretched hand. Grasping it tightly, he shook it and looked up into his new friend’s eyes.

  “Yeah, sounds great. You aren’t going to get into trouble with Ellen for hanging out with me, are you?”

  “Nah, she just needs some time to chill and see that you are a good guy. We’ll just stay on your side of the street for a while.”

  “Good plan. Well, have a good night and thank you so much for everything. You are a good man, and I am honored to be your friend. I haven’t had many good friends, so I really appreciate this man, truly. Tell your wife how sorry I am and to enjoy her evening as well.”

  “I will buddy, I will. Good night, and see you tomorrow night!” Garrett turned and walked back to his house. Walking back to his own, Andrew stopped at the door. He turned and sat down on his porch, looking out at the neighborhood and thinking about the night. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cel
l phone and dialed number 2 on the speed dial. After two rings, a gruff voice picked up.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey pops, it’s Andrew. Just wanted to call to say hi, and to say I love you.”