Sweet Dreams, Irene

He moved behind me, pressed the gun to my head, and flattened me to the ground by placing a knee into my back. My left arm was pi

“Uncle,” I said, wincing.

He pulled it harder.

“What do you want?” I asked.

Without saying anything, he eased the pressure off it, moved it around so that my hand was to the side of my head. He held tightly to my wrist, pressing it to the ground. He kept the gun up against the back of my ear. I couldn’t figure out what he wanted me to do.

My shoulder was on fire, having been stretched as far as it would go. Or so I thought. He proved me wrong by suddenly yanking my wrist up into the air with all his might. I felt a burning, tearing sensation. My shoulder, leaving its socket. Tears came to my eyes unbidden, but my teeth remained clenched, so I managed not to scream. He laughed and laughed.

“When Frank Harriman finds you, lady, you are going to be broken into so many pieces it will take all day to count them. Think about that.”

What I thought of was a string of obscenities. I was drenched in sweat. I felt close to passing out. I longed to. I didn’t.

He grabbed my right hand, never moving the gun from my head. He bent my right thumb part way back. My shoulder hurt so much, it was amazing to me that I could feel him pull at my thumb.

“You know what’s coming, don’t you?”

I did, but I didn’t answer him.

When he broke the thumb, I broke my rule about crying out. The scream was something that seemed to happen on its own.

It was as that scream died that I heard the sound of a motor. Someone coming up the drive.

He heard it too. “Raney’s back. Now I’ll have to share some of this fun with him. If I can keep him from killing you outright.”

But I knew he was wrong. I had learned the sound of the truck, and this was not the truck. Hope rose up against my pain. The sound stopped before the vehicle had reached the crest of the drive, and we heard doors closing. Two doors. Now Paul knew as well as I did that this wasn’t Raney.

“Come out where I can see you or she dies,” Paul shouted.

No reply. He pulled on the arm. I didn’t want to, but I screamed again.

“Let her go, Paul.” Frank. Sweet God in heaven, Frank had found me. In the next instant, I wanted him not to be there, not to see me like this. That passed.

“I’ve got a gun pointed right at her head. If you and whoever you’ve got with you don’t show yourselves, she gets a bullet.”

“Let her go, son. It’s too late. The sheriff will be here any minute.” Jack Fremont was walking into the clearing. He came to a halt when he saw us.

“Don’t call me your son, you asshole.”

“Paul, please,” Jack pleaded. “Please don’t do this.”

“Where’s Harriman? Get the fuck out here or I’ll do her right now. Take a good look at her if you think I give a damn!” There was a rising hysteria in his voice. Frank came into the clearing. He had his gun in his hand.

“Drop it, Frank, or I’ll kill her right now.”

He hesitated, but let it drop at his feet.

“Raney’s dead, Paul,” Jack said, moving closer. “The truck went over a cliff.”

“Liar. Stay back. Don’t come anywhere near me. I wish you were dead. I hope you go through hell.”

“Is that why, Paul? You did all of this because I told you I was sick?”

“Not sick, dying. You told me you were dying. And I couldn’t wait around for that old bitch to die. Not when I could make everybody think it was you. Killed her, then all I had to do was wait for you to die.”

“She gave you so much,” Jack said. “And you killed her?”

“She gave all right. Oh yeah. She gave me and Ma everything we could ask for. But she let us know it. Every damn dime, she wanted something back for it. We had to listen to her go on and on. We had to let her know where every pe

“Let Irene go,” Frank said. “She’s never done anything to you.”

“Oh no? Well, go on in and take a look at Devon. This bitch killed Devon and she’s going to die for it.”

He grabbed me by the hair and cocked the gun.

“No!” There was so much anguish in Frank’s voice, I could hardly bear it.

Paul laughed.

It infuriated me. “Fuck you. I hope he cuts your heart out.”

“Just for that, bitch, I think I’ll kill him first.”

What happened next happened fast. Paul raised up off me a little to turn and point the gun at Frank. I rolled over against Paul’s legs, trying to throw off his aim. Frank dove to the ground and Paul fired the gun. He missed, and as Frank picked his own gun up, Paul turned and aimed right at me. There was no doubt in my mind that he was about to kill me, but in the next second I heard a whistling noise and a strange thunk. There was a knife in Paul Fremont’s chest.

“Dad?” he said in amazement.

“I couldn’t, Paul,” Jack said, his voice full of misery. “I couldn’t just stand here and watch you do it.”

Paul looked at me then, the gun still in his hand, a bright red stain spreading over his chest. For a moment I thought he was still going to pull the trigger, but suddenly he fell over.

Jack and Frank were ru

“Irene,” he choked out. I lifted my left hand, the only part of my body that wasn’t in an uproar of pain, and touched his face. He took it in his and kissed it. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked haggard – as if he’d had less sleep than I. I’ve never been so glad to see anybody.

“You look awful,” I said, managing a lopsided smile. It was good to hear him laugh.

THE SHERIFF ARRIVED not long after that. He seemed to know Frank. He didn’t need to be convinced that I needed medical attention, and left a deputy behind at the cabins to ride with us to a nearby clinic. Jack drove while Frank gently held on to me in the backseat.

Frank and Jack explained what they could to the sheriff, while I repeated one thought over and over to myself: I’m alive.

The doctor at the clinic was on her way to another emergency when we arrived. By then I was thinking only of the process required to keep my molars together, knowing that if I opened my mouth, I was going to scream. Conversations being held by those around me were difficult to follow. I know explanations were made, and I recall the sense if not the exact words of Frank’s protest and pleas. They brought me inside the clinic and Frank set me on an examination table. The doctor took time to quickly check over my injuries and give me an injection to make the ride down to the hospital bearable.

She watched me for a minute, and seemed to know when the injection started to do its work. She nodded to Frank, and he lifted me again. It still hurt, but there was a growing fog between me and the pain. The sheriff decided to stay and help her, and somewhere in the fog he told Frank he would be in touch and people said thank you.

Jack looked worried about me when he helped us into the car.

Frank held me again, softly stroking my hair away from my forehead.

I felt tears welling up. “Ruined my hair.”

“Your hair is wonderful. Don’t worry about anything. If you don’t like it, you can let it grow back. Or I’ll buy you a wig.”

I felt myself grin at that, a silly numb-faced grin. My emotions were yo-yoing like crazy.

There was something important to tell Frank, I thought, as the pain slipped farther away. What was it? Something important, just sliding out of my mind’s reach. Then I remembered it, but my speech was growing thick when I called out to him, and it seemed as if he were getting farther away as well.