Beavers Creek Chapter 4 : September 1977

I

September 1977

It’s fall in Rayville, Virginia. The trees are shedding their rich red gold leaves and the evergreens have a darker look. This fall is the prelude to what is going to be a severe winter.

Frank Walker and Vivian Walker have just driven in, in their Mercedes. Franks colleagues from when he was in Norfolk would kid him about driving a German car. Franky, they would say, be American, get yourself a Ford. Frank enjoys the quiet luxury and the handling of the Mercedes, a car he had got to like when he was driving through Europe on his honeymoon with Vivian, through Spain, France, Switzerland, Italy and Germany. He had planned the trip himself and had hired the Mercedes from Hertz. The trip had been memorable, the scenery varying from the vineyards in Spain to the Majestic grandeur of the Swiss Alps and the mysterious Black Forest of Bavaria.

On the 21st of September 1977, Frank Walker pulls into Cedar Avenue.

In Beavers Creek , Carl Hines (U.S. Post) has just discovered the Rev. Richard Preston hanging out, in his house in the church compound and is now puking out his lunch of a hamburger and now rancid coffee into the dahlia bed.

Vivian looks around, taking in the neighborhood which is going to be their new home, mentally cataloguing the different houses that stand on either side. The houses seem to be looking on at the new arrivals, gauging them. Mark Frank Walker seven years old is fast asleep in the back but firmly strapped in.

Earlier, Vivian and Frank have been to Rayville to choose a house, check out the place and they have found a two storey house in contemporary architecture to their liking. Vivian has been to an interior decorator earlier and gone over the proposed changes and alterations and chosen the color schemes. Their stuff has been moved from Norfolk to Rayville and the house is ready.

The house is waiting for them.

Frank is a successful insurance claims lawyer with the firm of Firth and Krantz, Norfolk, who have transferred him on promotion to Rayville to head the branch office there. Frank enjoys his work but is sad that he cannot spend more time with his family and the promotion means he will have even less time to devote to Vivian whom he loves very much and to Mark, their only child. He hopes to make partner in another four to five years (Firth, Krantz and Walker the board would read) after which he promises himself he will take it easy .However, in the back of his mind he knows that he’ll just have to work harder when he makes partner.

It is evening now and the sun has gone down and the sky is a strange gray-purple and the first stars are appearing. Frank turns into his drive way at 4/1 Cedar Drive . Vivian’s Volvo is already parked there, having been driven up earlier by a friend. The lights are on in the house - Franks younger sister Celia is there to welcome them home - she has taken time off to help Frank and Vivian shift in. The light in the porch comes on and the doors open and Celia walks out to welcome them. Mark is awake now but still groggy, the change in speed, gear and the general sound of the engine having somehow awoken him to a sense of anticipation in having reached his destination.

Frank unbuckles his seat belt and Vivian does the same, both leaving the car at the same time. The sun has already set and the red gold leaves crunch underfoot and are scattered by a errant, playful breeze. Frank stands on his toes and then rocks back on his heels and stretches his arms above his head to ease the stiffness. Mark is scrambling out the back with the energy only a kid could have, a flurry of blue jeans and a bright red sweater and a baseball cap, now turned around and is running into Aunt Celia’s arms. There is a general sense of homeliness and Vivian and Celia walk in, arms around each other's waist, while Mark tornadoes in to the house. Frank is busy with the luggage.

The heating has been turned up as there is a chill in the night air. Mark explores the house and his bedroom especially, where all his toys have already been unpacked. His set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, his GI Joe set and his Batman set are all out and ready to welcome him.

Frank and Vivian go up to the master bedroom and have a shower together but are too tired to make love. Mark is dumped into the bath tub by an unrelenting Celia who also has a roast in the oven with baked potatoes and Russian salad. There is a bottle of red wine and there are canned mangoes with vanilla ice-cream for dessert.

Dinner is served and the family is together. Frank, Celia and Vivian are very close. There is talk of old memories and things that have been happening in the short time that they have been away from each other. Vivian is content and feels a deep sense of satisfaction and a sense of being home, in her new house. Mark is now asleep on the sofa, having been transferred there from Aunt Celia’s lap. Celia always enjoys being with her brother and sister-in- law and is absolutely crazy about Mark who dotes on her.

They talk about the future and joke about getting Celia married off soon before she becomes an old maid. The truth is Celia is 27 and recovering from a broken affair that lasted for four years which had came to an abrupt end two years before when Terry married the only daughter of his employer. Goes to show you can’t trust any body.

Frank talks enthusiastically of his new office and his ambitions and plans and the possibility of taking a whole two weeks off next summer. He and Vivian could visit maybe the Bahamas or Hawaii for a second honeymoon while Mark stayed with Celia. They plan for a trip in May and Vivian can already picture herself and Frank on a sun soaked beach with clear aquamarine water and palm trees waving in the breeze.

They do not know it yet, but by next May Frank will be dead.

II

It’s April in Rayville and the temperatures are going up. Frank Walker arises every morning at 5:30 and is in his office by seven. He returns late in the night, sometimes after midnight. Celia Walker is now engaged to Harold Green, a nice young man who is a marketing executive for a chain of bookstores. They will be married on the 12th of June in a quiet but small ceremony in Rayville Methodist Church. Preparations are already on for the wedding and Vivian keeps herself busy with this. Both Frank and Vivian know they are neglecting each other and their marriage but they brush it off by saying it can’t be helped.

Mark is in Rayville Elementary school and enjoying it. He has made friends, Richard Barnes is his best friend in the whole world and the son of Rev. Arthur Barnes who is the priest in charge of the Rayville Evangelical Lutheran church and is very much respected. Mark often asks his mother why kids at school tease Richard , often cruelly, about the color of his skin. Last week Mark has had a fight with Hank Borden, three years his senior when Hank called Richie a little black shitty nigger. Both of them start off on the baseball field and end up in the principals office. Both are given detention for a week.

Mark also has a crush on his class teacher, Alice Drew whom he decides he will marry when he grows up.

Frank is busy in his new (now rather old) position at the Rayville branch of Firth and Krantz. His relations with Vivian which have always been strong are at an all time low. The summer vacation in Hawaii is off now and the tickets have been canceled and the atmosphere at home is strained. To top it all Frank is attracted towards his secretary, Nancy Rhodes who is in the job for the experience and for some money. She is very attractive and believes in power dressing (which includes dressing to exert a kind of power over men). She is ambitious and would very much like to go to bed with Frank Walker and indicates so with her eyes also subtly by her body language. Frank is about to take a fall.

III

FRANK TAKES A FALL

The 18th of May is a fun day for Mark at Rayville Elementary. 18th May is term ending and there are no classes today. It is the day he has been waiting for anxiously (much to the annoyance and chagrin of Mom) as he will be taking part in the school play.

Miss Drew is nervous, hoping things will go well. She has spent a lot of time and effort with the kids (God knows they can be so difficult!) and has managed to get all of them to learn their lines without faltering. She thinks they are as well prepared as they are ever going to be. Mary Clark looks absolutely angelic with her straight raven black hair and blue eyes which are so startling when she wears her cute red outfit (This outfit has been specially stitched by Mrs. Berry the school matron , hood and all, for the play). Mark Walker makes a cute woodsman with his silver foil ax and symbolically, Hank Borden will be the Big Bad Wolf, complete with a rubber wolf mask which he absolutely loves (he terrorizes his younger sister with it regularly). There is an uneasy truce between Hank and Mark. The play will be a musical and Mr. Berry has composed the music for the play.

18th May is sunny and bright and the red brick building of Rayville elementary is adorned with a colorful banner which says ‘Welcome to Term Day at Rayville Elementary School! - 18th May 1977’. The green lawn in front of the school is filled with parents and children and the poplars provide shade. Mark is driven to school by Vivian in her Volvo and she arrives early and finds a parking place with no problem.

The 18th of May passes with no hitch, the report cards are given out and the parents discuss the performance of their children with their respective teachers. Alice is pleased with Mark’s progress and tells Vivian that she has a very bright son and Vivian knows this but is pleased to hear it from someone else. There is a lunch for the teachers, kids and their parents. Frank Walker is not there. He says he will be along later in time to catch Mark’s play as he has some work to catch up with in the office (However Frank Walker is actually busy balling Nancy Rhodes during their lunch hour, at her apartment). It has happened very naturally and this will be the first and last time he will get a piece of Nancy’s tail. They spend a frenzied hour of wild lovemaking. Frank will feel guilty later for a short time and try and explain it off to work related stress but will secretly worry about Vivian finding out. As it happens he has nothing to worry about.

THE PLAY

The parents and the children who are not in the play sit in the auditorium and there is a quiet buzz of anticipation. Mr. Berry is playing an interlude on the piano which has been composed by him. Miss Drew is in the wings on stage and so far everything has gone smoothly.

On the stage, the curtains are closed before the last act of the play.

The curtain rises.

The backdrop has been changed to Grandmas cottage which has a wooden interior and in the centre is a large bed. A false window shows a forest outside. There is a table at the bedside. Grandma lies trussed up with a rope in a corner of the room.

Sitting in the bed propped up by a pillow is Hank Borden, complete with wolfs mask and all and a pair of gold rimmed spectacles have been fitted somehow onto his snout. He is dressed in a night gown and has a bonnet upon his head. Mr. Berry hammers the piano keys with the music for the Wolf.

The children sing:

‘Big Bad Wolf,
Lying in Grandmas bed,
He waits for little,
Riding Hood Red! ‘



The wolf’s music : Hank Borden

‘Ho! Ho! Ho!,
I’m the Big Bad Wolf !
I’m Hungry, and I’m Hungry
and I’m going to gobble
Little Red Riding Hood !’

The wolf’s music ends and a light jumpy, playful kind of music begins.

Enter Little Red Riding Hood (music ends) : Mary Clark looks absolutely beautiful in her red outfit which consists of a red mini skirt and a red jacket with a hood. There is a quiet ripple of applause.

Grandma, Grandma!

Hank Borden coughs and answers in a gruff voice:

Little Red Riding Hood dear!
Your voice is not so clear.
Come, come closer to my bed
So I may lay my hand upon your head!

Little Red Riding Hood draws closer to the bedside and sits down.

Granny, why, you don’t look so swell!
But Mommy’s baked a pie to make you well!

Music ends

Little Red Riding Hood:

Granny what big eyes you have!

Wolf:

All the better to see you with dear

Little Red Riding Hood:

Granny dear, what big ears you have

Wolf:

All the better to hear you with dear!

(The music is pianissimo and alternates between the deep striking notes of the Wolf and the playful jilt of Red Riding Hood.)

Red Riding Hood:

Granny, Granny what big hands you have!

Wolf:

All the better to hold you with honey!

Hank Borden puts his hands around Mary Clark and secretly is enjoying this.

However Mary Clark is not too happy and though she knows its Hank behind the mask, the mask is so life like that her pulse rises just a bit (this is the part of the play she doesn’t like but she wouldn’t have given up her part for anything)


Mary Clark: (with a hint of fear)

Granny, what big teeth you have!

Hank Borden:

All the better to eat you up with!

Hank Borden leaps out of bed with a roar giving a sudden start to the audience who have been very engrossed with what has been happening. Mary Clark shrills a high artificial scream and backs away. The music of the Wolf reaches a crescendo and then with a flourish of trumpets Mark Walker charges into the bedroom. Mark is dressed in tights, a green velvet jacket with cute fringes and a pointed cap and wears a broad belt and brandishes his silver foil ax with a wooden handle.

Brave Woodsman:

I am the handsome woodsman
And I will dare
To rescue from the wolf,
This maiden fair!

(Vivian sits a little straighter but Frank seems distraught.)

Vivian says to Frank, ‘What’s the matter Honey ?’ and this makes Frank feel worse and he avoids eye contact with Vivian and mutters a reply to the effect that he’s not feeling too well.

Mark charges at Hank, his ax held high and Hank who is game, leaves terrorizing Little Red Riding Hood and roars mightily and leaps towards Mark, his lips frozen in an eternal rubber snarl. For a moment Mark’s heart misses a beat and he stands still, frozen and panicking and breaks into a cold sweat and as Hank is upon him he stumbles back and now both of them are rolling together on the stage. Mr. Berry is quick to compromise his score and plays an inspired piece purely by instinct which suits the fight very well. Mark catches Miss Drew’s eyes who is waving to him frantically from the wings and remembers his part.

Brave Woodsman now stands over Big Bad Wolf who also remembers this is the school play and says his lines

Fear not maiden fair!
I have rescued you from the Wolfs lair!
The Big Bad Wolf is now dead
And this is how our story ends!

Little Red Riding Hood rushes into the arms of the Brave Woodsman and they both untie Granny who is in the corner of the room.

The children’s chorus sings:

Little Red Riding Hood fair
is saved by the woodsman brave
Oh what a happy ending this is
FOR... US.... ALL........ !

(The last line is sung with gusto and ends with a drawn out ending)

The parents and children give the players a standing ovation and all of the actors come onto stage with Alice, Mr. Berry and Mrs. Berry and the children who have sung and played the instruments and they all give a bow.

Mark and Hank and Mary are holding hands as they bow and though they do not know it yet, a strong bond of friendship is being formed.

Frank drives his family home and tonight they will be having a barbecue grill outside in the backyard.

The sun is low in the sky and Frank and Mark are in the backyard. There is a weird yellow light pervading and the lawn is tinted a different shade of green. The garden has been neatly kept and Frank has installed a slightly raised concrete platform around three feet by three feet to provide a stable base for his barbecue grill. Roses are blooming on the bushes nest to the white picket fence. Near the kitchen entrance, Vivian has managed to start a small vegetable garden. You can see the dining room from the back yard and Celia is arranging flowers on the table. Frank calls to Celia to bring out the meat as he is almost ready.

Mark has refused to take off his woodsman dress and is running round the yard with his ax. Frank has taken out the barbecue grill and is placing the charcoal. Frank finds that his hand operated spray gun that he uses to apply lighter fluid to the charcoal is almost empty and mutters a curse. He sprays the charcoal and empties the last of the fluid from the gun by tilting the open spray gun on to the coals, and then he lights up the charcoal and stands back waiting for the charcoal to burn and then subside into glowing embers so the heat will be just right. Mark runs around the yard with his ax and the sun sinks lower and lower. The blaze does not catch to Franks liking and he is irritated.

The sex he has had with Nancy is troubling him and yet he feels turned on at the memory of Nancy’s firm body beneath him.

He calls Celia for a can of lighter fluid which he uses generally to light up his grill. Frank moves away from the grill to refill his spray gun with the lighter fluid.

Mark is now running towards Dad crying ‘Dadeee, Dadeee’ his ax is in his left hand and in his right hand he holds a screwdriver which Frank has been looking for all over for the whole of last month.

Vivian looks down from Mark’s bedroom window and calls to Frank to ask him if he needs any help and Frank looks up, spray gun and lighter fluid can in hand. Through the corner of his eye he can see Celia, his darling sister bringing out the hamburgers which are to be grilled.

As if in slow motion, Mark rushes past the grill with a whoop

Frank blows a kiss to Vivian and winks lasciviously at her and immediately remembers Nancy and squeezes the spray gun absent mindedly and immediately feels guilty.

The handle of Mark’s ax trips him up and he falls and strikes one leg of the tripod and the grill lazily topples over.

Frank tries to scramble away.

Black charcoal and some glowing embers are thrown out as the grill falls and bounces off the lawn.

Some glowing briquettes embers are caressed by a passing breeze and the fumes from the open can ignite.

Frank spontaneously combusts as the can of lighter fluid explodes with a huge ‘WHOOMP!’. His whole upper body is on fire. Frank is screaming. His eyeballs burst with the intense heat and his whole skin bubbles and then chars.



Vivian screams from the bedroom window and cannot stop.

Celia drops the raw red meat and runs towards Frank. No sound issues from her throat which keeps working.

Mark is up now and screaming too.

Frank screams the most and keeps screaming till he loses consciousness as the searing pain burns into his flesh and he blanks out.

Celia does her best and throws a bucket of water which has been kept nearby for emergencies (and boy! is this an emergency!) at Frank.

She whips up the table cloth from the picnic table, the wine glasses fall and shatter into shards and the salad, mustard and ketchup are all over the grass now. She tries to smother the remaining flames. She knows in her heart that things are hopeless and she can feel a sliding sensation on Frank’s skin as she wraps the cloth around him.

Vivian has fainted and as she falls back her head strikes the bed post and she blacks out.

Mark is jumping up and down now and his throat is stuck and nothing but a keening sound emerges from his throat as he falls onto the lawn and continues to kick his legs weakly.

Celia has no time for Mark. The flames are out and she runs unsteadily into the house screaming Viv’s name. She stops near the phone and counts to three to calm herself down and dials 911.

The ambulance arrive sirens screaming and the medics run out with a stretcher into the back yard and carefully lift up Frank who is still unconscious (dead maybe) with a hurried efficiency.

Minutes later the ambulance is laying rubber to the Rayville Medical Emergency Hospital.

Frank suffers fourth degree burns all over his upper body and is declared DOA.