Last night, I had laid in the cool bathtub for over an hour, soaking my throbbing balls and cursing the day the parents of that kid had the audacity to give birth to a childlike Damien. What made it worse was, they hadn’t smothered him in his crib as a baby when they could have done so and no one would have been the wiser.
I know I should feel guilty for thinking such a horrible thing as murdering a baby, but at the time, I was angry, sore and tired. When I woke up the next morning, I didn’t feel so bad and even gave the kid some slack. I mean, he isn’t the way he is all on his own. Since I know that Bill and Gladys are good people and I must assume that Damien takes after one or maybe both of his parents. Or maybe something they did or didn’t do while raising him made him so… well made him the way he is now.
One thing that I hadn’t given any thought to last night was what Damien might tell his grandparents. I know the little brat is fairly smart, so I wouldn’t put it past him to conjure up some outlandish tale to get me into trouble. That started to worry me more and more as the day went on. Thankfully, Damien either hadn’t thought about doing such a thing or he had his own reason for not doing it. Either way, I was glad he hadn’t.
It was around 1:30 p.m. when the doorbell rang and mom called me from my room. “Max you’ve got a visitor!” she sang out.
Thinking it was Sean or Mark, I quickly jumped into a pair of pants since I’d been sitting on my bed in my underwear and t-shirt, reading a car magazine when she called for me. I was disappointed to find that it wasn’t Sean or Mark that came to see me, it was the devil… I mean Damien.
I was surprised and speechless for all of about three seconds, “What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Max, be nice!” mom verbally chastised me as she was leaving the room.
“Sorry mom!” I said, pushing Damien back out the door, stepping out with him and closing the door behind me.
“Listen, you little…” I caught myself before I cussed, “I should beat the crap out of you right here and now! You’re nothing but an evil little brat. Someday, you’re going to pull some of your crap on the wrong person and they are going to stomp you into the ground.” Yeah, I was being mean, but just seeing that little kid brought out the worst in me.
Damien stood motionless, looking down at the ground and didn’t speak. In fact, he didn’t do anything but stand there. I was fully on my guard, he wasn’t going to get another chance to hit me, kick me or do anything else to me. If he so much as breathed on me, I don’t think I could have, or even would have restrained myself any longer.
“What do you want; you little worm?” I growled with frustration.
My right hand twitched. It wanted to wrap it around his throat and squeeze until his head popped off. It was taking all my willpower not to smack him around, even just a little bit.
“I don’t have anyone to play with,” Damien sniveled.
“That’s because, you smell like pee!” Oh my god, I can’t believe I really just said that.
Still staring down at his feet, Damien sniffled and wiped his nose with the sleeve of his jacket. He left a streak of glistening snot on his sleeve.
“I’m sorry for hitting and kicking you,” he said softly.
“No you’re not! You’re a brat and you will always be a brat! Now go away! Don’t ever come around here again or I might just decide to hurt you for the fun of it!” I snarled and then went back inside, leaving Damien alone.
About twenty minutes later, my mom came into my bedroom, “That little boy is still outside, is he waiting for you?”
“He’s not a little boy, he’s Bill and Gladys’s grandson and he’s evil.” I said without looking up from the book I was reading.
“Max,” mom said in that tone mothers use to make you feel bad or guilty about something.
I lowered my book, “Want proof? Get a glass of water, bless it and toss it on him. I’ll bet you two weeks allowance that he’ll burst into flames!”
Mom changed her tone slightly, “He’s just a little boy and he looks lonely. Why don’t you go out and toss the ball with him or something.”
“I’m telling you mom; that kid isn’t right in the head! I don’t want anything to do with him, and if he needs someone to baby sit him again, don’t come looking for me because I won’t go.”
I could tell that I had crossed the line with my mom, but I think I got my point across. At least I thought I did, until she said, “That’s too bad you feel that way, because your sister wants to go to a concert tonight and she was supposed to sit for Bill and Gladys all night. She was willing to give up the $50 that they were going to pay her too.”
Mom tried to look innocent as she said, “Maybe I should just invite him to stay over here and keep the money for myself.”
“MOM! That’s not fair!” I whined, “I’m the one that would end up having to watch him and put up with him.”
“So you’re saying that, since you’ll be spending the evening with him anyway, that you want the money too?” mom said coyly.
“Fine! I’ll go, but if I come home possessed by demons, don’t blame me!”
Mom walked away knowing she’d just talked me into it. “Ok, I’ll call and let them know you’re coming then.”
I stood up from my desk chair, walked over to my bed and fell face first onto my mattress. “Someone up there really hates me!” I said to myself.
And then, an idea jumped into my head. It was the most awful, most outrageously horrible idea I had ever formulated… “I’ll do it!” I announced with a Grinch-like grin.
I learned from mom that Bill and Gladys were going to a square dancing competition in the next state over and wouldn’t be home until after 10:00 a.m. the following morning. I was expected to watch Damien from 4:00 p.m. until his grandparents returned the following morning. That meant I’d be alone with Damien for eighteen hours. I rubbed my hands together and basked in my own brilliance, “Oh this is going to be too good!”
$37.78 was the sum total of my entire life savings, including the money I’d more than earned last night from baby-sitting. To exact my plan, I was going to have to spend that money and I didn’t have very much time to do it.
I had talked to Mark earlier that morning and told him all about Damien and the evening I’d had to endure with him. Mark laughed and teased me about being beat-up and bested by a kid that was a third my size.
When I decided to go through with my idea, I first called Mark and told him what I had planned. At first, Mark sounded apprehensive, but soon enough he jumped on-board. I thought about calling Sean too but given his age, I figured it was probably better that I kept him out of it. I asked Mark if I could have a couple of his diapers, which he was happy to let me have. I got my backpack from my room, pocketed my money, got my bike out of the garage and rode over to Marks.
