JUSTICE?
Chapter one:
Caleb drove to the truck stop to pick up his brother Joey who had just come back
from a long haul. Joey wanted to come home for the night to unwind a little before
taking the truck back for another load.
Joey was five years older then Caleb, and the two shared an apartment.Joey had
promised that he would look out for his little brother, although it seemed to be
the opposite at times.
Joey climbed into the car wearily. He suggested to his brother that they go to
Mom and Dad’s to visit and see if Mom had any good left-overs from supper. He
really appreciated one of Mom’s homecooked meals on occasion. It happened that
Mom had made one of his favorite meals, Stuffed chicken breasts! They visited
for awhile, filled their bellies, and headed home to their apartment. On the
way they stopped at Joe’s tavern to get a six pack to take home.
After they got home they listened to some new music cds and relaxed. About 1:30 a.m. Joey suggested they go to bed, because he had to be up at 5:00 a.m. to go
get his truck and hit the road again.
Caleb went to his bedroom while Joey sacked out on the couch with the t.v. on.
He liked to watch t.v. until he fell asleep. Suddenly he was awakened by some
loud roaring and squealing of wheels. He got up and opened the door. There
were three pick-up trucks racing up and down the road, laying heavy strips
of rubber on the road, blowing horns and screaming. Joey yelled at them to
knock it off, that people were trying to sleep.
When they saw Joey on the porch, they turned their trucks into the parking lot
and screeched to a stop. “Hey dude, we want to party!” “There’s no party here
Joey yelled back!” As the intruders walked closer to the building, Joey got
a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He closed the door and told Caleb
“Man, we are dead! That’s Billy Bob Wyett out there. Man, he’s gonna beat us
down into mush. Call the state police!” Caleb picked up his cell phone and
dialed the police. Meanwhile the three were on the porch, yelling that they
wanted to party. “Let us in! We want to party!”
All Joey could think of was that he must protect his little brother. He
grabbed his shot gun that was lying on the table. He loaded it with the “bird
shot” that they used to shoot pesky birds. The three on the porch were pounding
on the wall, the glass window and the door. “Come on man! Let us in! We wanna
party!” Joey yelled that he had a gun and if they come through that door, he
would shoot. Still they yelled and pounded. Again Joey warned them, “The first
one through that door is gettin’ shot!” They still pounded and yelled, threatening
what they would do if they weren’t let in to party. Again, Joey warned them not
to come in or he would shoot. His finger trembled on the trigger. He had never
shot at a person before. But this guy was the terror of the county. He had
beat people within an inch of their life with his bare hands and walked away
like nothing happened. Joey knew he had to protect Caleb, who was still on
the phone with the state police. The officer on the phone heard every word
of what was going down.He told Caleb to try to hold them off, that an officer
would be there momentarily.When the door came crashing open, hitting Caleb on the
shoulder, he shut the phone. In a flash the gun went off once, then again.
Billy Bob flew back out the door landing on his back on the porch after bits of
his insides were blown against the railing. His side kick, who was right beside
him started to turn to get out of the range of fire. As he started to turn, the
second shot hit him in the back of his shoulder. He fell over the railing and
bled to death. The third guy stepped over Billy Bob’s bleeding body to enter the
apartment. Joey reloaded and put the barrel of the gun up to that guys throat
and started to count. One…two…Before he got to three, that mooran decided
to get out of there.
Joey laid the gun on the table. It went off again, blowing a hole in the wall
into the next apartment. Thankfully it didn’t hit anyone. Joey walked over
to Billy Bob who looked up at him and said, “Hey man, why’d you do that?” Joey
said he was sorry and stepped over him to go down into the yard. He collapsed
in the grass and sat there rocking back and forth, mumbling, “Now what do I do?”
Caleb followed his brother out of the house. When he got down in the yard, he
made a call to their parents. It was 2:30 a.m. when the phone rang in Dad and
Mom’s bedroom. Caleb had called his Dad’s cell phone so he would be sure to
answer instead of Mom. Dad screamed into the phone, “What? I’ll be right there!”
When he put the phone down and jumped out of bed, Mom demanded to know what was
going on. Dad told her, “That was Caleb. Joey shot two guys and one of them is
dead.” She jumped up to get dressed. “I’m going with you!” “No you’re not, he
yelled. You don’t need to see that!” He left her there alone, with no car. So
she called their daughter, who lived a few miles up the road. The daughter was
there in a few minutes and they headed out to the scene. By the time they got
there, the police had already put up the yellow crime scene tape. They wouldn’t
let anyone in. “But I’m his mother. I need to see him!” The police officer
assured her that Joey was with his father and he would be fine. So Caleb and
Joey’s Mom and sister had to stand down the road and wonder what was going
on. Finally Caleb walked down and talked to them a little, until the officer
made him go back up the road to the scene.
It was about three hours later until the coroner came and took the body away.
The ambulance had already taken Billy Bob away. What ever was going on, it was
torture to Mom and sister. Finally a state police car came down the road. In the
back seat was Joey, in handcuffs. His face was red from crying and the look
that he gave his mother tore her heart to shredds. He looked like a scared
animal, and at the same time, like a scared little boy who wanted Mommy to
forgive him for doing wrong.
They took him to the local magistrate’s office to be arraigned. The family and
a car load of their friends followed. When Joey got out of the police car, he
cried to his dad again, “I didn’t want to hurt anyone! But they broke open the door! They would have killed me and Caleb!”