The Freak Pt. 04 of 05

Earlier, when we had just entered her office, Mrs. Kline had asked if we could handle a mortgage with all of the other expenses we would have. "I think we'll stop off at Narragansett on the drive back so I can win enough for the year." Barbara laughed at the expression on Mrs. Kline's face so I briefly described my personal history, proving my point by moving her coffee mug across the table. I left a $100 deposit on the house before we left at 2:25 that afternoon. We opted for pie and ice cream rather than have a big late lunch then we returned to the motel so we could phone home.

We wanted to share our excitement and my family was totally thrilled for both of us. I told them we would drive home tomorrow—Thursday—but might not be there until Friday because we were going to make a stop in Rhode Island. When I shared our plans with Dad he asked if I could make a few bets for him. Of course, I agreed.

Once again, I drove into Boston, but this time to a famous seafood restaurant on the harbor. Barbara had told me that she had never tried lobster. "It was always too expensive and we couldn't afford it. In fact, we rarely ate out." I was determined to change that. Mr. Atkins had told us that he planned to take his wife to a fabulous seafood restaurant on the harbor so that was where we were going now. Once there we settled into comfortable leather chairs at a table overlooking the harbor. We were early, arriving at five o'clock so we could be assured of getting a good table. Barbara asked me to order for her. "We'll have the clam chowder, tossed salad with vinaigrette, and the two-pound lobster—steamed--with baked potato and ear of corn."

The meal was fantastic and I was extremely pleased when Barbara showed her enjoyment of her first bite of the tender steamed lobster. Barbara was elated on the drive home. "I hope we can do this again, Jack. I loved the meal...really loved it. The soup was yummy and I liked the salad, too, but the lobster was out of this world. I think it's the best thing I've ever eaten." I promised her we'd do it many times in the future, especially while we lived in New England. I already envisioned driving up to Maine for a romantic weekend.

The following morning, we drove first to the Lesley bookstore where we bought tees and sweatshirts then we stopped at the Harvard Coop where we repeated the purchases with Harvard gear. Of course, we remembered my sisters and parents, including them in our purchases. Our arms laden with bags we stopped off at the Admissions Office to thank Mrs. Atkins for her help. Once we had everything stowed in the trunk, we headed south starting at eleven, driving this time on the New England Thruway—I-95--which I knew went very close to Narragansett Race Track.

Of course, we had to show ID to bet, but I had my passport, mostly because it had my photo so there would be no question that I was who I claimed to be. I hadn't bought a newspaper, but that wouldn't be necessary. I got the same results from the racing form we bought once we had walked into the track's restaurant. I didn't get anything on the first race, but I did on the second, betting on a horse that went off at odds of 12 to 1. I bet ten for us and ten for dad. We had a return of $132.60 on each ticket. I kept Dad's money in my left pocket and ours in my right.

I took the third race off, but bet on the fourth and fifth even though I didn't get any flashes. I always bet and lost at least twice to avoid suspicious officials at the track. I bet twenty in the sixth race for us and for dad, receiving a decent payback of $392.20 on each bet. We made our real money on the ninth race, betting the exacta—twenty for us and ten for dad at more than 1900 to 1. I had to go into the pari-mutual offices to collect, taking two certified checks in lieu of cash, which would have been bulky and possibly dangerous. All the same, I requested and received a security escort to our car. We left the track just after five, arriving home three hours later—in plenty of time to distribute our gifts to my sisters and cash to my appreciative parents. We learned then that both Lt. Flanagan and Mr. Silverman wanted us to phone them tomorrow morning even though it would be Saturday.

Barbara and I had showered and climbed into bed when she pulled me to her. "I love you, Jack and if I've learned anything over the past week it's that life with you will never be boring." Then she showed me one of the biggest reasons why. I fell immediately to sleep once she was done with me. My love had worn me out.

* * * * *

I phoned Lt. Flanagan at 9:30 the following morning, realizing that the number he had given Mom was different from either of the ones I had used to contact him at police headquarters. Thus, I wasn't at all surprised when the phone was answered by a young child. "Hi," I began. "My name is Jack French. Your dad asked me to phone him at this number."

I had barely finished speaking when I heard the young boy scream, "DAD! IT'S THAT GUY YOU TOLD US ABOUT!"

"Hello, Jack...sorry about that."

"No need to apologize, sir. I have three younger sisters and if the youngest, Carole, had answered the phone you would have heard just about the same thing."

"I phoned you about your appearance at the grand jury. How is Wednesday morning for you and Barbara?"

"It's fine Lieutenant. Barbara will register for school Monday morning and I'm sure the teachers will be very accommodating. Where do we have to go? Will you be there to meet with us?"

"I think it would be best if you meet me at headquarters and then I'll drive you to the courthouse where the grand jury meets. It's an old one and we no longer use it for criminal cases because the jail cells aren't all that secure. How is 9:00 for you?"

"That will be fine. I'll take Barbara into the office around 7:45 and give the secretary our note. If we leave by 8:15 we should be a bit early, but you never know with rush hour traffic."

"Okay, Jack...see you then." He rung off and I dialed Mr. Silverman. I knew that his children were older so I wasn't at all surprised when he answered the phone himself. After the usual preliminaries he got right down to business.

"I found you a house to rent through the end of the school year. The owner will be in Little Rock on business for four months. He does want to meet you and Barbara. He's heard of you, but I think he wants to be reassured." He gave me the number and the address. I recognized it as being only about a half mile from school.

I took a few minutes to bring Barbara up to speed then dialed Mr. Grover's number. I introduced myself and we spoke for a few minutes before he asked if we could stop by later that morning. We agreed on eleven and I rung off. "We're going to meet the home owner at eleven. He lives close by the high school so I think we'll be okay if we leave around 10:40."

"I'm a little nervous, Jack. What if he doesn't like us?"

"Then my family will be stuck with us." Carole laughed while my parents gave a performance with fake grimaces that would never win an Oscar. Then Barbara did what she always did—she kissed me.

I knocked on the door to Mr. Grover's house at 11:00 on the dot. He opened the door and invited us in. "I've heard a lot about you, John, but I'd like you to describe yourself and why you want to rent my home."

"Okay, I'm sure you know that I'm a senior at the High School. In addition to playing football, basketball, and baseball I am also a very serious student. I'll be valedictorian easily and I've been accepted at Harvard. That's where Barbara and I were most of the week—looking for a place for us to live and, hopefully, get Barbara pointed in the right direction finding a college she can attend."

"How did you make out?"

"Very well, sir; a woman in the admissions office pointed us to Lesley University which is very close by Harvard and her husband who works in the Lesley admissions office recommended a real estate agent to us. She found us a house that I'm prepared to buy in nearby Somerville."

"You're buying a house? Where is all this money coming from?"

"Money has never been a problem for me. I need to tell you a bit about my history. My brain changed dramatically when I was struck by lightning at age eight. That gave me some interesting abilities. For one thing my IQ increased by 76 points even though it was high beforehand. I can also do silly things like this." I held my hand out and his fireplace poker flew into it. He looked on amazed. "I came into some money when I was eight and I've done well investing it. I bought IBM when it was about $5.00 a share. Since then, it has split three times and now it's almost fifty. I also have several other investments that have done equally well. I can pay you in advance, if you wish, rather than monthly."

"What about parties? I would think a young man like you would enjoy an active social life."

"Barbara and I have dated for months and in that time, we went to one party—New Year's Eve. We might entertain, but it would be a small crowd, more than likely just my basketball teammates and their girlfriends for dinner and TV later, but not a party and never anyone else. Barbara and I are both eighteen, but we don't drink. We did have one glass of champagne at a Broadway play back in December, but that's all."

"I'd need to have you out of the house by July first."

"Not a problem; I anticipate that we'll go to Massachusetts once school is out. We have to buy a bed, furniture, desks, and I think we'll need some new carpets, too. We need to have all of that done before school starts in September."

"One final concern—you and your wife...I understand that you had to get married."

"I don't know where you got that idea, Mr. Grover, but you're wrong. I offered to marry Barbara because she was badly beaten...whipped would be a better description by one of the nuns at her school. There was a disturbance when the other girls saw her engagement ring. The nun took it from Barbara and around noon Barbara asked to have it returned. Instead, the nun grabbed her, pulled her into the classroom, and whipped her mercilessly until she was able to break away. There was no way I would allow her to return to that school so I stepped in and married her. Now she'll be able to attend the high school with me where I'll be able to protect her."

"Okay, you can stay here, but I'll expect a $1,000 deposit as insurance."

"That's fine. I'll have my attorney draw up a contract. You'll have it by Monday afternoon." We shook hands and I led Barbara out to the car.

"The house looks nice, Jack."

"I'm sure it is, but I doubt we'll live there. He doesn't want to do it. He was looking for an excuse not to. He also thinks he can cheat us out of a thousand dollars. Once he gets his hands on that money, we'll never get it back."

"Can he do that?"

"He'll come up with some phantom problem and we'll have to go to court to get it back. It's a good location, but I'm sure Mr. Silverman will advise us not to get involved."

Sure enough, that's exactly what he told me. "Stay away from that jerk, Jack. We'll find something else." And he did. By Wednesday the real estate agent he was using had found us a house to share with a widow. She was pleasant and offered to cook our meals for a small fee if I would agree to maintain the yard and her flower beds. It was a winning proposition for both of us. She—Mrs. Mazzone—had a bedroom and bathroom on the first floor along with the kitchen and living room that she was willing to share while Barbara and I had a good-sized bedroom, bath, and a smaller room where we could study on the second.

* * * * *

Barbara and I walked into the high school main office at 7:45 Monday morning where we were greeted by Mrs. Cecil. "Morning, Jack...and you must be Barbara. I know that Mr. Wickers isn't too happy, but I think what you did was wonderful."

"Thanks, Mrs. Cecil. Here are Barbara's records and here's a note in regard to Wednesday."

"You're appearing before the grand jury? Oh, my! I guess that really will be a legal excuse, won't it?" Then she laughed and her laugh brought our asshole principal out from his office.

"I'm not very happy with you, Mr. French!"

"I really don't care, Mr. Wickers. I want Barbara to be here and she is. I'm taking her down to see Mrs. Costello now. You'll find out soon enough what kind of person she is." I took Barbara by the arm and led her away.

"Oh, Jack—I'm so sorry. I'm nothing but trouble for you."

I pulled her into the lobby where there were several large pillars. Standing behind one I told her, "I don't ever want to hear you say that again. I love you, Barbara, and I'm thrilled to be married to you. Wickers is a pretty good principal most of the time, but he's also a real asshole sometimes and this is one of those times. Mr. Silverman saw the superintendent last week and he passed the word down to Wickers. His reaction is exactly what I thought it would be." I leaned down for a quick kiss that, fortunately, was unobserved and walked Barbara down the hall to see Mrs. Costello, the guidance counselor.

Unlike Mr. Wickers she was warm and welcoming. She spent a few minutes asking Barbara what she was studying at St. Claudia's. Then she created a schedule for Barbara. She would be in my homeroom and my English and history classes, but while I was taking calculus, she was taking advanced algebra and she was also taking chemistry instead of physics. Spanish 3 and physical education rounded out her schedule.

We were walking to the lockers when she asked me, "What is physical education?"

"It's a chance to get good and sweaty in the gym. I'll have to ask Mom where to get a gym suit for you. Maybe Angela has one that will fit you. Let's find your locker. I think it'll be right across the hall from mine." It was, and it took me a minute or two to show her how it worked. In that time several of my classmates came over to say hello and welcome Barbara to the school. We were only a minute late to homeroom and we were all amused when Mrs. Snyder asked Barbara if she was related to me.

"We're not blood relatives, Ma'am. We have the same name because we're married." Mrs. Snyder was shocked and everyone chuckled, remembering that all-out laughing wasn't appropriate in school.

I made a brief explanation, telling her that all would become clear within the next month or so then Barbara took a seat near the rear of the room where there was an empty seat. This was a big room—big enough to hold every senior in the school. That came in handy when we had to make announcements to the class or discuss some class activity.

I was headed to physics first period while Barbara had Spanish. Marlene offered to help her find the classroom. We parted with a quick hug and the next time I saw her was fourth period in English with Mrs. Wohl. By then she knew all about Barbara's presence. She added Barbara to her roll book and told her to take a seat wherever she could find one. Marlene was sitting next to me and got up to allow Barbara to sit there while she found another seat a few rows back.

You'd be disappointed if you thought there would be any shenanigans between us. We had plenty of that at home and our situation with Mrs. Mazzone was better than we had anticipated. "I know you were married only two weeks ago and, believe it or not, I was young once too so don't worry about making a bit of noise at night. I'm sure you get my meaning." We did and we still made love every night and many mornings, too. In return we always received a beaming smile from our landlady.

We actually attended one class Wednesday morning before leaving school for our drive to the Yonkers P.D. Lt. Flanagan was waiting for us and whisked us into his sedan only a minute later. He was all business as he described what would happen. "I'll have to testify first. Basically, the district attorney handling the case will ask a simple question and it will be our responsibility to flesh out the answer. Don't embellish and be honest in what you say and all will go well. Relax and don't be nervous. There is no cross examination at the grand jury. Did I explain that to you?"

"Yes," I said with a little chuckle. "I think you're even more nervous than we are."

"If I am it's for Barbara. I'm sure she doesn't like reliving that horrible experience."

"You're right, Lieutenant, but if it will help stop those atrocities, I'll tell the story a thousand times."

"You're a brave young woman, Barbara. I'll try to get Jack to testify first so he can be with you while you testify."

I hadn't realized that we had to go all the way to White Plains, the county seat, so it was almost 10:00 by the time we had arrived. Lt. Flanagan led us inside until we were stopped by several court officers who wanted to see our ID. Flanagan flashed his badge and ID card and Barbara and I pulled our wallets to show our driver's licenses. Only after emptying our pockets and Barbara's purse, were we allowed to pass. I was somewhat concerned until Lt. Flanagan assured us that it was to insure privacy and confidentiality of the grand jury's proceedings.

We were about halfway down the hall when a door opened and we saw a woman I guessed was in her mid-thirties approach us. She greeted Lt. Flanagan who introduced her as ADA Linda Koslowsky. We shook hands and she reviewed what would happen even though Lt. Flanagan had just done that in the car. She agreed to the order he had suggested, telling us not to become anxious due to the delay. "The grand jury is always deliberate," she said with a chuckle. "By deliberate I really mean slow. Not only do I ask questions, but they sometimes do, too and their questions can really go far afield of the issues. But this is the process we use and it's been in existence for hundreds of years so it must work." With that she led Lt. Flanagan away.

Barbara and I sat in the uncomfortable seats for more than an hour until she reappeared to bring me into the room. I kissed Barbara and walked in, showing my surprise when the door locked behind me. There were a lot of people seated in rows that rose in four tiers. I thought that there were at least forty, but that was just a guess. A clerk approached and I was sworn in. That was when I first noticed the judge off to the left of the jury. Once seated, the ADA asked for my name, address, age, and a few facts about my high school experiences.

I described both my academic and athletic achievements; I was a bit taken aback when one of the jurors asked if I was the one who had made All-American. "Yes, sir; that was me. I was named All-American the past two seasons." Then Mrs. Kozlowski questioned me about my involvement in the case at hand. I explained how and why I had proposed to Barbara and I described the ring in detail—size and color of the stone, its quality, and the type of setting and band. Lt. Flanagan had already produced the receipt and I stated clearly that it was the one I had received from Harry Winston in Manhattan. I couldn't testify about what had occurred in the school. Barbara had to do that, but I did tell them about volunteering to go to the school office wearing the wire that could record the conversation.

We listened to the tape in the school office and I swore that it was an honest and complete record of what had transpired. I answered several questions from the ADA and several more from some jurors. Then I repeated with the same set of questions about my visit to Monsignor Moran. I was about to step down when one elderly woman asked why I had married Barbara. "First of all, I love her very much and have almost from the moment we met. She's an incredible person. Secondly, I felt that I had to protect her. Her foster parents are very caring people, but they are blind to any wrongs that may be committed by the leaders of their church. They still have difficulty believing that Barbara was whipped by this nun even after viewing the photographs you have seen this morning. They would have forced her to return to that school where she might have been further tortured. Would you have allowed someone you loved to endure that kind of treatment? I knew that I wouldn't and couldn't." I was excused from the stand, but was not required to leave the room. Instead, I stood just inside the door where I hugged Barbara as soon as she stepped in. I could see that she was frightened and that nothing I could do would calm her.