Angels & Imperfections Read online

  Chapter 1

   

  When I finally stumbled home at midnight, my next door neighbour, Molly McGovern’s lights were on. After the day I had just lived through, I was in no mood to put up with a lot of loud music, raucous laughter or any other form of inconsiderate behaviour.

  Like all people everywhere, Molly, was a flawed human being. That was no reason to abuse her. She was a drunk, sure, but that didn’t mean her boyfriend had a license to use her as a punching bag.

  As I climbed into bed I was only vaguely aware of my neighbors. I was awakened from a sound sleep by the noise of the beating. Through the wall of my apartment, I could hear the violence escalating.

  I pulled on some pants and a T-shirt, and went out on the landing, barefooted.

  I hesitated a moment before knocking.

  Maybe I should just call the police again. They would show up in ten or twenty minutes. They might arrest Alphonsio Patterson again, but Molly probably wouldn’t press charges, and he’d just go free…again. We’d all play the same scenario out again and again, just like we’d been doing for the last seven and a half months. Eventually, he would either kill her, leave her for another punching bag, or maybe Molly would kill him in his sleep. The restraining order wasn’t doing anybody any good.

  I pounded on the door.            

  A moment later, Alphonsio jerked it open. From the surprised look on his face I could tell he had been expecting the cops. When he recognized me, he went from startled to belligerent.

  “What the F*** you want?”

  “I was just wondering if I could borrow a cup of sugar.”

  “What? Hey, get the F*** outta here,” he said, as I brushed past him into the living room.

  “Can Molly come out and play?” I asked.

  “You one crazy mothaf*****! I’m gonna **** you up.”

  I was aware Alphonsio had limited communication skills. Evidently this was due to a language barrier, based on his inability to express himself in words he had learned in school.

  I ignored him and went into the bedroom. The door was open.

   

  Molly was slumped in the corner, behind the bed. She was wearing green plaid pajama bottoms and a white tank top. The white tank top was slowly turning crimson, from the blood flowing out of Molly’s broken nose and split lips. I went to her and found her semi-conscious and breathing. The once beautiful blonde woman was drunk and badly beaten.

  “Get the f*** away from my girlfriend, mothaf*****!”

  I stood up. “No, Al, my name is Tucker. I’m John Wesley Tucker.”

  Alphonsio was about my size, maybe a little taller. He was very fit, I could tell because he had no shirt on. He had several tattoos. Judging by the subject matter, poor quality of most of the artwork and my familiarity with his history, some of them were undoubtedly prison tats. He was wearing oversized blue jean cargo pants that were sagging down, exposing his boxer shorts. He had on a ball cap, sideways-one of those with a flat brim. I knew he was in his late twenties. Molly was thirty two. They were both a bit younger than me, but then again, almost everyone is a bit younger than me.

  I walked back into Molly’s living room, in the apartment she paid the rent on.

  “Alphonsio, I guess I’m going to have to call the police and an ambulance…again. Let me use your cell phone.”

  “What you say? Hell no. Get the F*** outta here.”

  I hit him, very hard and very fast. I hit him with the open heel of my right hand. I don’t like to use my knuckles. The strike shattered his nose. I kicked him in the crotch, and followed it up with a left elbow strike, knocking him to the floor. He started to collect himself immediately, so I kicked him again. His head bounced off the corner of the breakfast bar and laid him out, stone cold. He looked to still be alive, and since he was lying face down, I knew he wouldn’t drown in his own blood, from the broken nose.

  I went over to a lamp that was lying on the floor, where it had been knocked over in his previous assault on Molly, and stripped the cord off. I used the cord to tie his hands behind his back.

  Now I had a little time to think about what I should do next.

  Molly needed medical attention. I would call for an ambulance, shortly.

  First, I had to determine what to do with old Al.

  The only thing I knew for sure was I didn’t want him to ever touch Molly again.

  It was nearly two in the morning, and nobody was moving outside. My apartment was second to the last, on the second story of the building. Molly’s apartment was the last one, on the end, at the top of a staircase. I wanted to throw Alphonsio over the railing, and see if he survived the landing in the parking lot.

  Maybe he would bounce.

  I reminded myself he was some mother’s little boy, her pride and joy. He was probably somebody’s father. Maybe there was more than one child who could call him daddy. Above any other consideration, he was made in the image of God.

  It only took me a couple of minutes of searching to find his dope stash. I knew he would have hidden it pretty quickly, when he thought the cops were at the door. I put it in his back pants pocket, sort of hanging out, where it could be seen, like his underwear. Then, I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911.

  I had just given the address to the dispatcher, when Alphonsio woke up, so I hung up the phone. He and I needed to chat before the police and the ambulance arrived on the scene.

  I ducked into the kitchen and procured Molly’s biggest cast iron frying pan.

  Alphonsio had managed to sit up with his back against the breakfast bar, his legs bent in front of him.

  He started to strain against the lamp cord, and tried to get up.

  “Stop it,” I said, brandishing the frying pan.

  He quit squirming and glared at me. He looked kind of foolish, with the lower half of his face all bloody, like Molly’s. I picked his cap off the floor, and put it back on his head, sideways, the way he liked to wear it.

  “Alphonsio, I want you to listen to me for a second. The police are on the way here. I want you to promise me you will never come back to this apartment, and you will never see Molly again. OK?”

  “F*** you,” He responded.

  I hit him in the right knee with the frying pan. I hit him about as hard as I could. He nearly fainted, and crumpled over. I untied the lamp cord from around his wrists, and threw it back over in the corner, with the broken lamp. He was writhing on the floor, whimpering.

  “Let’s try this again, Alphonsio. I want you to promise me neither Molly, nor I, will ever see you again. OK?”

  “You broke my knee, you motha…”

  I broke his other knee.

  He screamed this time, and then resumed writhing and whimpering in pain. I waited until he seemed to regain his wits.

  “Well then, Al, since you appear to be unable to express yourself, utilizing a normal vocabulary, let me put it to you another way. If I ever see you again, anytime, anywhere, I’ll end you and send you, to your final judgment. Nod your head if you understand.”

  He nodded vigorously, his whimpers punctuating the motion.

  I carried the frying pan into the bedroom, where I handed it to Molly. She needed a little help getting a good grip on it. She was pretty much unaware she was holding it.

  On my way out of the apartment, I checked on Alphonsio. He was still whimpering. He appeared somewhat paled and disheartened by the tribulation he had suffered.

  I could hear sirens coming.

  I left the apartment door open.

  Yeah… I’m flawed, too.