Scott Wittenburg - See Tom Run

Crash!

Donnie’s fist came down so hard on the table that the beer bottle jumped an inch or two into the air.

“Don’t tell me I ain’t got my story straight, you fuckin’ shit! Whether or not we was married at that exact time don’t make no difference-you banged her when she was my woman!”

“Donnie, listen. If you were dating Mindy at the time, she never told me, and that’s the truth! Had I known she had a boyfriend, I would never have uh, been with her. I swear!”

“You mean you would have never fucked her, that’s what you mean.”

“Donnie, I did not do that. We just played around a little.”

“Played around a little, my ass! That’s the same goddamn thing she tried to tell me at first. Then she couldn’t deny it anymore because she was knocked up!”

Tom suddenly felt lightheaded-like something buried deep in the muck and the mire for years had risen to the surface. This story was beginning to have a very unpleasant ring to it.

He had in fact gotten a call from Mindy Conkel one day. Not long after he’d moved to New York. And he had put that call so far out of his mind, it wasn’t until now that it came back to him.

Mindy Conkel had called to tell him that she was pregnant with his child.

He had blown her off, telling her that it was next to impossible that he had gotten her pregnant, given the circumstances. They had only slept together once, he had argued. The odds were totally against it.

Besides, he had thought, there was no way he was going to let this chick screw up his new life in the Big Apple!

Mindy continued to insist that the child was his and Tom had finally gotten so angry that he simply hung up on her. As it turned out, he’d never heard from her again.

So he had promptly forgotten all about it Until now.

Tom knew he had to find a way out of this situation. If he didn’t, there was little doubt that Donnie Shortridge was going to kill him.

“Are you trying to say that I got her pregnant?” he said.

“That’s right, I know ya did!”

“How could you know that, Donnie? What makes you think it wasn’t you?”

“Because, asshole, I took a paternity test. I started having my doubts about her when she got knocked up once I found out that she had fucked you, too. And even though the bitch swore up and down that you weren’t the father, I didn’t believe her.

“But the clincher was that the kid had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Mindy and I both have blue eyes and blond hair. This kid didn’t look one goddamn bit like me! So I got tested one day. And sure enough, the kid wasn’t mine.

“I got real mad and real drunk after I found out the results of that test. When Mindy got back from work that night, I beat the crap out of her. Broke her arm, a couple of ribs and smashed her face in pretty good. The cops came and I ended up getting a prison term. All because of you, motherfucker! You messed up my whole goddamn life!”

The man was so roaring angry now that the veins were popping out of his neck. Tom almost shot up and ran but the gun pointed at him made him reconsider.

“Donnie, I’m sorry. But that still doesn’t prove I was the father-it could just as easily have been someone else-”

“You stinkin’ sonofabitch-now you’re makin’ Mindy out for an even bigger whore than she is! No, she may be a bitch but I’m sure you were the only other bastard she’d screwed. So that makes you the daddy and the one that not only screwed up my family but got me sent to the southern Ohio pen for five fucking years!”

“Even if I were the father, which I really doubt, that wouldn’t make it my fault you got sent to prison, Donnie. I mean, it sounds like you could’ve used a few anger management sessions or something-”

Tom knew as soon as it came out that this had not been a wise thing to say.

Whack!

Donnie backhanded him with a beer bottle. It hurt like bloody hell.

“Fuck you, man! Don’t be telling me about needing anger management!”

Tom almost laughed out loud at the irony, but his jaw hurt too much.

It was at that moment that he spotted Erin in the living room-creeping toward the kitchen with the fire poker in her hand. Donnie’s back was toward her so he was unaware of her presence.

Ignoring Erin, Tom touched his aching jaw gingerly and said, “Look Donnie, I’m sorry about all of this-I truly am. But surely you could have just forgiven Mindy’s infidelity and raised the child as your own, right?”

Donnie guffawed heartily. “You gotta be shittin’ me! First of all there was no way I’d do that. I wasn’t gonna live with no whore and rear some other dude’s kid. Wouldn’t have made no difference any way, even if I had been foolish enough to do that. She had a restraining order on me when I got out of the joint and she’d given the little shit up for adoption. Seems she couldn’t afford to raise the kid on her own. Serves her right for pressing charges against me. Nope, screw it all. The only thing that’s gonna make me feel better is to take this out on your ass since it was your goddamn fault.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tom asked, trying not to stare at Erin who was now only a few feet from Donnie, the poker held high over her head.

“I’m gonna kill you and clean out yer beautiful home, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

A sickening thought suddenly came to mind. “Do you know where my family is right now, Donnie?”

The man smiled malevolently. “Wish I could say I do, but no-the place was empty when I got here. You expecting them anytime soon?”

Erin was directly behind him now. Tom watched in awe and relief as she came down hard with the poker and hit Donnie square in the head with the iron handle. His expression switched from rage to total shock just before he slumped over the table, out like a light.

“A direct hit!” Tom shouted, “Great going, kiddo!”

Erin dropped the poker and ran over to Tom. She stared at the unconscious man.

“Did I kill him?”

Tom arose, gave her a warm hug and walked over to Donnie to feel his pulse. “No, he’s still alive, unfortunately. But he’s going to be out of it for quite some time. How in the hell were you able to sneak into the house so quietly?”

Erin grinned. “I learned how to sneak around a long time ago, remember? Who is this man, anyway?”

“Someone from my hometown. He apparently has it out for me and came all the way up here to rob me blind and murder me.”

“What did he mean when he said it was your fault that he was sent to prison? I didn’t catch all of the story.”

Tom hesitated a moment before answering. He didn’t really want to tell Erin the details of that matter so he was careful to choose his words carefully. Like she and her own past, this wasn’t something he was particularly proud of about his.

“It’s sort of hard to explain, really. Basically, this guy is a lunatic and was accusing me of something I didn’t do. He got into some trouble and was sent to prison and decided to blame me since he couldn’t blame anybody else, I guess. Anyway, I am eternally grateful that you did what you just did. You have in fact just saved my life!”

“I almost blew it when I saw him whack you with the beer bottle! I nearly ran into the kitchen at that instant but realized that I had no weapon. That’s when I picked up the poker from the fireplace and plotted my move.”

Tom gestured toward the poker lying on the floor. “Good thing you didn’t hit him with the business end of that-he’d be dead as a doornail now.”

“I must confess that I was wanting to hit him with the poker end, but I changed my mind.”

“It wouldn’t have been any great loss but I’m glad you didn’t. That would have been hard to explain to the cops.”