Chapter 47 Extra, Extra Read All About It!
On all of the news stands within a twenty mile radius of Ville Platte front page headlines shouted “JC Kellar is rocked by fraud allegations.”
It was a rather cold but sunny Saturday morning as Rebecca and Jerome emerged together out onto the sunlit sidewalk. They held the Ville Platte Gazette between them while they read its front page story as they walked along slowly in the sunlight. Jerome was so engrossed that it took three firm tugs on his sleeve to get him to sit down on the bench next to where Rebecca had just seated herself. She knew the story inside out and back to front but still read it as if it was new to her. Jerome had seemed distant for the last couple of days and the normal sparkle in his eyes was gone, replaced by dark, lost looking eyes. He had seemed unusually agitated to her, not the happy, boisterous gentle giant that she knew as her friend but a distracted and distant remnant of his former self. His happiness at seeing her when he picked her up from her home late the night before had quickly vanished on their drive back to his home and every smile that had traced its way across his face the night before and that morning had obviously been forced. Now however he was lost in the detail of Rebecca’s article, as revelation after revelation leapt off of the page his face was relaxed and the broad natural smile had returned.
Rebecca still could not get used to seeing her name in plain black and white at the bottom of such a large article. She had seen it below her first few successful publications but they had been articles that only ran to a few hundred words, at the most her largest article published to date had been seven hundred and seventy two words. This front page splash was five thousand five hundred and eighty seven words in length to be exact which was one hundred and eighty six column inches that wrapped around the front page picture of JC Kellar and went half way down the second page. She waited patiently while Jerome finished reading the front page before turning to page two. As she sat quietly next to Jerome a group of three people came out of the store and walked towards where they sat. As they neared she heard their exclamations of shock and surprise as they too walked along the sidewalk engrossed in her story.
“God darned high and mighty lawyers… they think they’s special or sumpin.”
One exclaimed.
“Wouldn’t trust that man as far as Auh could throw him.”
The second added.
“Bullshit, they’ze all full’a bullshit speshully that Kellar, never did mind him, anyhow in my o-pinyun if he had a second brain he’d only make a half-wit.”
The other two laughed as they passed by Rebecca and Jerome.
“Yeah the ways Auh’s heard it is that his mind wandered off one day an never came back.”
Their conversation and laughter got harder for Rebecca to hear as they walked off down the sidewalk and she returned her attention to page two which Jerome was a quarter of the way down.
“This is real dynamite……, and written so well Rebecca.”
Jerome said as he put his right hand gently on her knee and squeezed it softly. Rebecca blushed and giggled slightly.
“Thanks Jerome.”
She replied looking down and kicking her feet back and forth in the dust.
“Don’t be so shy Bec’s, youze gonna need to be gettin used to compliments an all.”
Jerome said as he returned his gaze to the newsprint and continued to read. Once he had finished he turned to her and said.
“Auh think Auh have the up an coming journalist of the year sitting besides me….Would you believe it?”
Rebecca blushed and giggled again, she thanked Jerome for the compliment and took the paper from his hands and put it into her bag.
“I will treasure this copy for the rest of my life.”
She said as she tapped her bag with her right hand.
“What d’ya want to do Jerome? Shall we get some breakfast?”
“That sounds like a great idea, Auh’m starving.”
Jerome replied, rubbing his stomach. They got up from the bench together and walked down the sidewalk to where Jerome had parked, they were just about to get in when Jerome spoke.
“Becks d’ya mind if we buy some groceries and cook us up a breakfast at my place…..Don’t really fancy sitting in a crowded dinner this mornin.”
“Fine with me”
She replied.
“Well Auh’ll just pop back to the store and buy some stuff……How’s sausage, bacon, eggs, hash browns with pancakes, maple syrup, fruit juice and cawfee sound?”
“Great.”
She replied as she jumped into Jerome’s pickup. Jerome closed his door and headed off back down the sidewalk towards the store. As Rebecca sat watching the early Saturday morning bustle in town she though about Jerome. She was still a little perturbed about Jerome’s manner. When he had picked her up the previous night he had been reasonably smiley and chatty for the first few minutes but on the drive back to his house he remained silent. There was something different about the way he was acting, something that she could not quite put her finger on. Even back at his house the conversation between them seemed forced. The Jerome that she had got to know and fancy slightly was a funny, talkative, enthusiastic ball of energy that always looked on the bright side of life, but what she had seen of him since midnight last night seemed like a different person. He seemed distracted by something or withdrawn and as far as she knew he hated cooking and ate almost every meal he had out at a diner, bar or fast food outlet so why now offer to cook breakfast, didn’t he want to be seen out with her? She made a mental note to ask him later if she got the opportunity.
It suddenly dawned on her that he might have a girlfriend, she has never asked and just assumed he was a bachelor. Agreeing to put her up and keep her safe from the press for a few days may have been a good idea at the time but maybe there was an angry girlfriend somewhere in the background and that why Jerome was behaving strangely. She decided that she would ask him immediately he returned with the groceries, and if that was the case she would ask to meet up with the girlfriend and put her mind at rest that she was not trying to jump into Jerome’s bed. He had never mentioned a girlfriend before but it was a possibility. A little of her good mood evaporated at the thought of a girlfriend somewhere around because over the summer she had gone from liking Jerome as a friend to being fond they very fond of him and now for the first time it hit her that she was really quite attracted to him. In her side mirror Rebecca saw Jerome jogging back along the sidewalk towards the car with a large brown bag under one arm. He jumped in and handed her the bag to hold.
“You wouldn’t believe it Bec’s you’re all over the KALB news, it ‘s on in the store now an Kathleen Witte was reporting live from outside Kellar’s place in Baton Rouge waiting to get a comment.”
“Already?”
Rebecca replied a little shocked.
“Yeah an that ain’t all, there was reporters from FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC and their camera men all milling around in the background with their vans an satellite dishes all parked up.”
“Oh shit, it’s started.”
Rebecca replied, her smiley demeanor of ten minutes earlier had disappeared to be replaced by a rather nervous, thin smile. She completely forgot about asking Jerome what was wrong as her mind went into a spin. As Jerome pulled away from the curb Rebecca’s cell phone rang.
“Good morning Rebecca, its William have you brought a copy of the Gazette yet?”
“Yes I have we just sat and read it.”
“What do you think? Looks good, reads well and jumps right out of the paper…., I’m really proud of you.”
“I must admit as we sat reading it all I could do was smile, Jerome thought it was great and couldn’t believe some of the things he was reading.”
“Well I’ll say one thing Rebecca, our phones have been ringing almost non stop since seven this morning…., you name them and they’ve been calling…., all the national TV news anchors, the national press and we’ve been getting untold approaches from all of the largest dot com news outlets…..Have you seen the TV news this morning?”
“Yeah….I mean no I haven’t yet but Jerome did just now at the store and he said he saw KALB, FOX, CBS, NBC, ABC, the lot…., and they’re all outside Kellar’s home in Baton Rouge.”
“Not just there Rebecca we’ve got just as many reporters outside the office here and from watching FOX and NBC earlier they’re outside the Latham Kellar and Bond offices inBaton Rougeand some reporters are reporting from outside Town Hall in Ville Platte.”
“Oh my god.”
Rebecca gasped, she bit her lip and nodded her head in disbelief, Jerome glanced over and mouthed.
“Everything alright.”
Rebecca smiled and nodded, mouthing back.
“Yeah.”
Now Rebecca we are receiving request upon request to interview you but for the moment I have said that you will release a statement on Monday…. Are you available later?…..I’ll call and we’ll agree the wording
“Yep sounds good.”
She replied.
“How are you getting on with Sunday morning’s follow up story we discussed?”
“It’ll be ready for later….. I’m right on top of this William, I wrote the majority of it alongside the main article and as you suggested it reveals the detail of the evidence we have and it explains how all of these people are connected and what they have all been up to.”
“Good Job Rebecca, a true professional in the making, can you mail it to me by seven tonight?”
“It’ll be ready for five….and I’m going to start the articles you wanted for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving room for our reactions to any events that unfold.”
“Well done…..Oh I nearly forgot, your parents have had loads of calls and been door stepped a couple of times but your father has handled it brilliantly and directed them all to me.”
“Are they ok?”
Rebecca asked with an obvious taint of concern to her voice.
“Yes Rebecca the are fine, I spoke with them about fifteen minutes ago, It sounds like all of your family are glued to the TV at the moment.”
“I better call them in a minute.”
She replied still trying to get to grips with the situation, she thought she had prepared herself but it was becoming evident to her that she was not as prepared as she thought.
“We’ll speak later, bye.”
“William said brining the call to an end.
“Thanks for the call William., speak later.”
Rebecca confirmed before pressing end on her cell phone and dialing home. He mother answered and proceeded to talk at one hundred miles an hour, initially Rebecca couldn’t get a word in edgeways so she sat patiently listening until her mother talked herself to a standstill. She assured her mother that she was ok and said that she hadn’t seen the news yet, she then told her that Mr. Ashlock was going to prepare a statement with her over the phone later to be released on Monday. The phone was the handed to her father who she had to assure countless times that she was alright and that she would call them each evening. She then told her father that she loved him and that in a few days the storm would blow over and she would be back home, she said her goodbye’s and hung up just as Jerome pulled up outside his home.
They raced in together and turned on the TV in the kitchen. While Jerome cooked, Rebecca sat glued to the TV, channel surfing. CBS said that Mr. J.C. Kellar would be releasing a statement shortly and also that the Ville Platte Gazette had confirmed that the journalist who broke the story a Miss Rebecca Valon was currently unavailable for comment or interview but would be releasing a statement on Monday and would be available later in the week. When she heard her name announced for the first time on the TV Rebecca squealed, it was something that she would have to get used to over the coming hours, days, weeks and months as her story ignited the nations’ interest in the web of corruption that she revealed to the world. As soon as they had both eaten Rebecca sat herself down in front of her laptop and added the finishing touches to Sunday morning’s article, started Monday’s and planned the structure of Tuesday and Wednesday’s.
While Rebecca had sat watching the events unfold on the Saturday morning news Bootsie sat in his sumptuous lounge with his wife, Quentin and Dilip. They sat watching the morning TV news intently as reporters delivered their reports from outside Kellar’s home, Latham Kellar and Bond offices inBaton Rougeand Town Hall in Ville Platte. Bootsie let out a long laugh when the reporter said that initial reports had clamed that Mr. J.C Kellar’s spokesperson was denying any and all allegations
“I bet he’s as angry as a mule with a mouth full of bumblebees.”
He said spitting a mouthful of coffee out as he laughed. His wife looked disapprovingly at him and scolded him.
“Samuel, really!”
She exclaimed before getting up from the sofa and walking briskly from the room, after a moment or two she returned with a cloth which she used to wipe the coffee spattered floor with.
“Sorry hun.”
Came his reply before returning his gaze to the TV.
“We’ve received numerous calls already this morning for our comment”
Dilip said.
“Well what did you tell them…, what we agreed?
Bootsie enquired with a raised eyebrow
“Yes of course as we agreed……I said that you were sure that these allegations would be proved to be pure fiction and a man of Mr. Kellar’s caliber would not engage in such practices.”
Dilip replied a little surprised by the question; of course he would have said what they agreed.
“Good job…………, good job……, give it a week and Kellar will be no threat at all…. He’ll be too busy with his own team of lawyers trying to stop himself ending up in jail.”
Bootsie continued before switching to CBS to see what angle they had on the story. After another five minutes watching the news he picked up his phone and dialed a number. The phone was answered after one ring.
“Good morning.”
“A soft female voice said.”
“Good morning, all I have to say is good job……., you have surpassed yourself…, I’ve been watching the news all morning and we’ve got Kellar just where we want him…………….., I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Those are very kind words Bootsie and yes I agree, we have Kellar just where we want him……, over the course of the next few weeks we will witness the demise of Mr. Kellar’s personal, social and professional standing……, just watch what will happen on Monday.”
What’s that?”
Bootsie asked in an excited voice.
“No you wait and see Bootsie; It will be the coup de gras…, goodbye Bootsie and thank you for the call.”
With a chuckle the female at the other end of the line hung up her phone and turned to her husband who was sitting besides her on their sofa reading the morning papers.
“Well he’s a happy man.”
“I’m not surprised Lottie, I’m not surprised…….., you are a brilliant operator the best, the very best.”
At the offices of the Ville Platte Gazette William Ashlock had called all of his office team in for the morning to answer the phones and reply to an enormous amount of e-mail request for further information that they were receiving from all over the country. The office reverberated with the continual sound of desk and cell phones ringing and a babble of people talking. They all gave out the same line, the story was as published and there would be another article in Sunday’s edition with another update after the weekend, Rebecca Valon was not currently available for comment but would be releasing a statement on Monday.
Hiding behind the walls of their own homes in Evangeline four men watched the TV news coverage with differing levels of horror, panic, confusion and dread. None of them had been door stepped as yet but that would come for all of them over the course of the next few hours or days.
Jeb Clarke had awoken late; the storm that raged through the night had woken him a couple of times and unusually he had slept in until nine thirty which was late for him. He got up and went downstairs to where his wife was in the kitchen preparing breakfast, bright rays from the morning sun shone into their kitchen, outside the air was considerably cooler and less humid than it had been for ages, ‘all in all it looked like it would be a pleasant day’, Jeb thought as he opened the kitchen door.
“I was just going to wake you.”
Mrs. Clarke said as Jeb walked into the kitchen and sat down at their kitchen table, he yawned and stretched trying rid himself of the sleepy hangover that shrouded his mind.
His wife set down a steaming mug of coffee in front of him with a folded copy of the Saturday morning paper. He picked up his mug in one hand and took a sip while he unfolded the paper with his other hand. His sleepy mind didn’t really take in the headline or the face on the front page and his eyes just scanned down through the article. As his eyes settled upon his own name the those of some of his colleagues then moved quickly forward linking these with the words fraud, corruption and scandal his mouth erupted in a fountain of hot brown coffee that sprayed all over the table and the back of his wife’s dress. He jumped back from the table dropping the paper as if it were covered in some painful corrosive acid.
“Oh Shit….Fuck…Fuck, fuck!”
He screamed, grasping his hair in both hands and scrunching it up in between talon like fingers. His wife jumped as the hot coffee burned her shoulders and back, dropping the frying pan and four fried eggs onto the floor with a loud clattering crash.
“Ow!..Jeb what the hell.”
She shouted, turning to see her husband standing staring down at the newspaper on the table in front of him.
“What’s wrong Jeb?”
She asked of her husband who stood with eyes wide open, staring down, with a look of horror on his face. He said nothing just turned and dashed out of the kitchen.
“Where’s my cell phone?”
He shouted as he ran panic stricken down his hallway.
Herbert Mouton sat with his feet up on a box of bait, watching intently as his float bobbed and waggled slightly in the gentle ripples that moved across Lake Cavelier. He had arrived at dawn and set up for what he expected to be a thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing Saturday morning of fishing. He had discovered that after heavy rains, if he fished just off of the edge of a thick mixed bed of long brown Maiden cane and Cattail that grew along a certain small bay on the southern shore of Lake Cavelier, the fish would be feeding in great numbers. And for some strange reason that he had never quite fathomed out he would normally be able to catch an unusually high number of very large specimens.
Sitting in the refreshingly cool air bathed in the early morning sunlight that sparkled and glinted off of the rippling water Herbert delighted in the beautiful scene. The breeze was gentle, cool, clean and fresh and it carried on it the sounds of early morning in the central Louisianan wetlands. The raucous sounds of a squabble erupting in a large Rookery that lay high in the tree canopy behind where Herbert sat drifted on the breeze, interspersed with the occasional burst of the hollow drumming of a woodpecker as it chiseled away rapidly with its beak searching for insect larvae under the bark of nearby tree. He was just about to reach down to pick up his rod and re-cast his bait when his cell phone rang. He cursed its intrusion into his serene world as he retrieved his phone from an inner pocket of his hunting jacket. Before he could even answer he heard the almost hysterical voice of Jeb Clarke who assaulted his eardrum with and almost unintelligible outburst.
At first all Herbert could make out was something about a scandal in the local paper about Latham Kellar and Bond and allegations of local government corruption. He calmed Jeb down sufficiently to be able to understand what he was saying. At first he didn’t understand Jeb’s panic and obvious agitation. After just over forty years serving in local government Herbert had seen all manner of accusations and allegations of local government corruption and fraud published in their local papers. None of these stories had ever come to anything, all petering out after a couple of days. In the main they had either been driven by local politicians trying to make a name for themselves during an election campaign or based on second hand stories or gossip that had been picked up by a local journalist and splashed across front pages to try and increase sales. Scandal always seemed to make headlines and sell news print especially if it involved allegations of corrupt local officials. Herbert only took notice when Jeb said in a very slow, hollow voice,
“We are all named, you, me, Kendrick, Benjamin, Clive, Aaron……………. , in what the paper called an ‘incestuous’ web of corrupt zoning approvals and land deals.”
The color drained out of Herbert’s face and his usual nut brown skin took on the appearance of grey limestone.
“What else did it say about us?”
Herbert enquired with a hint of apprehensions coloring his voice.
“Not much really, there are some details about all of us being tied up in or intimately connected with corrupt deals involving Latham, Kellar and Bond………. Town Hall in Ville Platte and the satellite offices in Spicebridge are described as a cesspool, apparently Kendrick has been skimming millions of dollars annually from multiple oil lease contracts owned by a local of Evangeline.”
“Ok Jeb I’m gonna pack in fishing for the day and head home, I’ll call later.”
“What do we do though?”
The normally calm and controlled Jeb asked.
“Just stay calm…. , we all need to stand together so I suggest that you completely and utterly deny any of the allegations put to you if you are contacted…. , it is important to seem calm and brush these allegations off as ridiculous gossip that have no basis at all….., got that?”
Herbert said as he stood up from the comfort of his reclining fishing chair to pack up his fishing gear and head home.
“Yes Herb, good point…, we all must remain calm and unconcerned and deny all allegations….., I’ll call the others and speak to you later when you are home.”
With that Jeb hung up and immediately dialed another number. Clive’s cell phone rang and rang without answer, Jeb cursed him, and he was never available to talk to when needed. He hung up and dialed another number again it rang and rang.
“Dam you Gant.”
Jeb cursed under his breath as he hung up his phone again. Before he could dial the next person he wanted top speak to his phone rang, he picked up the phone tentatively and answered
“Jeb Clark.”
He let out an audible sigh of relief when he heard Benjamin’s voice.
“Jeb you seen this morning’s news on TV?”
“No but I‘ve read the Gazette this morning”
Jeb replied.
“Well I’ve just turned the news on and we are all over it…. “
“What news?”
Jeb asked with panic rising within him once more.
“Every station I flick through is airing the story…., and not as a small local story but as the main morning headline………….., we’ve had it Jeb, we’re well and truly fucked……….., I tried calling Aaron just before you but got no reply.”
“Yes I’ve just tried him myself and Clive but got no reply from either….I’ll try Kendrick in a moment….., now calm yourself Benjamin.”
Jeb said to Benjamin hearing the alarm in Benjamin’s voice and remembering what Herbert had just said to him he continued in a soothing but authoritative tone.”
“Come on now stay calm……….., I’ve just talked briefly with Herbert and told him what’s in the paper this morning…….., now we need to stand firm on this, deny everything, put it down to unfounded gossip or trouble making and above all if you are called by the media or they turn up at your house stay calm.”
“Good thinking Jeb,………, yes that’s it, we must all stay calm and all deny everything……., d’you think they’ve got anything on us?”
“Hell no, just a trouble making journalist trying to make a name for themselves.”
Jeb lied, before telling Benjamin that he would call him later once he had got hold of Aaron, Clive and Kendrick. Before he could make another call Jeb’s wife came storming into their lounge.
“For God’s sake Jeb what is going on?…..What have you done?.”
“For fuck sake…..Nothing’s going on and I haven’t done a thing .”
“But you’re all over the TV news.”
“Don’t you think I don’t know that!”
Jeb shouted, he jumped to his feet and stormed off out of the room, he strode back down his hallway and turned left into his study, slamming the door behind him with a resounding bang. He sat down at his desk and picked up the phone and dialed Kendrick’s number, it rang and rang and rang. He hung up the phone and picked it up again and dialed Clive’s cell phone, again his call went unanswered, so he hung up and dialed his home, this too rang and rang, it clicked over to voice mail so Jeb left a quick message asking Clive to call immediately. He tried Aaron’s number again and as with the three previous calls it went unanswered, this time he left a message asking Aaron to call immediately. He hung up and turned his computer on, while it whirred into life Jeb leaned forward, he put his elbows on the soft leather of his desk and cradled his face in his hands. All kinds of dead, panic and forebodings were flowing through Jeb’s mind, dark terrifying specters arose igniting imagined scenes of crowds of reporters, the police, handcuffs, courtrooms and worst of all jail. He jumped up from his desk and tore back through the house to the kitchen, he snatched the paper from off of the table and hurried back to his study, again slamming the door behind him. In his lounge Jeb’s wife sat silently glued to the morning news on TV, tears rolled down her face as she sobbed.
Jeb sat back down at his desk and re-read the article, the panic that he had momentarily brought under control significantly increased when he realised that the journalist had identified that they held a significant amount of hard evidence to support all of their allegations. Also the journalist stated that this evidence would be identified and analyzed in detail in the follow up article in Sunday morning’s paper and would be further discussed in articles over the course of the coming week. He glance down to the bottom of the article and read the name Rebecca Valon, ‘never heard of her’, he thought to himself before folding the paper and surfing the net for the latest news stories. He was watching an ABC TV news anchor deliver the news of the scandal from outside the Latham Kellar and Bond offices in Baton Rouge when his phone rang. He answered with a timid and slightly nervous,
“Hello.”
“Jeb its Aaron, I have just received your message.”
“Have you seen the news this morning or read the paper?.”
“Unfortunately both Jeb and I’ve already had Fox and CBS on the phone”
“What did you say?”
“Not much ….I just flatly denied having any connection with any corrupt dealings of any kind and said that I could not comment for others.”
“Good….What else?”
“That’s it really…..although I have just spent twenty minutes on the phone with my lawyer and she has told me to direct any enquiries towards her, we agreed a short statement for her to use on my behalf and that is about all presently….., oh and I am not answering any calls here that was why I did not answer your calls until I got the message….., I intend to go about my business as usual come Monday………, what about you and the others Jeb? Have you heard from them?”
“Well same here I’m gonna go about my business as usual and deny everything, although I haven’t contacted my lawyer yet.”
“Might be a good idea to do that right now Jeb….., you know just in case.”
“Yes good thinking, I will…., I’ve spoken with Herbert and Benjamin and they are going to keep as calm as they can and also deny any allegations made against them….., couldn’t get hold of Kendrick or Clive though.”
“Ummmm……….I hope we don’t have a rat in our midst.”
Aaron suggested
“I wouldn’t trust Meek as far as I could throw him, a completely uncouth, self absorbed man and lazy too.”
He continued.
“No I doubt that Aaron, anyway I’ll keep trying them and we’ll speak later if anything else comes up today, I’ll call leave a message and you can call me back.”
“Good, we’ll speak later if we have to.”
With that Jeb hung up his phone and returned to watching the ABC TV news on his PC. Aaron put down the receiver of his phone and in the dim shaded light of his lounge behind the tightly drawn curtains poured himself his third scotch of the morning.
Chapter 48 Serves Them Right
For over forty hours Samuel had been lost within his own world of dark despair and torment, deep within the depths of the void of the unconscious realm. Unable to escape its clutches and tortured by its loneliness he endured until la switch somewhere within the circuitry of his brain turned to on and energized his conscious mind, allowing him to grapple his way back to the world of normality. He had been unconscious throughout the first then the second nights of violent thunderstorms and torrential driving rain that had lashed Lokchapi. He had briefly roused from his unconscious state a couple of times to visit the rest room or have a sip from his glass of water on his bedside cabinet before succumbing to the all enveloping darkness, anxiety, fear and dread that shrouded his mind. Pooh and Moo came and went and each night they lay one on each side of their master curled up in tight balls. SJ had stuck her head into the gloom of Samuel’s bedroom last thing at night and first thing in the morning over the course of the forty hours but got no response. She didn’t expect any and knew from painful experience that Samuel would stay like that until at some point or other Samuel would surface to face the world again. It did sadden, and frustrate her though when Samuel took to his bed, deep down she understood but she still found it difficult to deal with. Especially when she got up every day, worked hard, did the housework, walked the dogs and cleared up after Jason and all Samuel did was lay in his bed. This built resentment, she hated the fact that during these times he just retreated from the world and from her, not washing, shaving or eating. ‘It was similar to mini hibernations each time he retreated into his mind’, SJ often thought, but there was nothing that she or anyone could do to stop these events, when they came along they came along and took Samuel away and that was all there was to it.
As Samuel’s eyes opened and adjusted to the dim light of his bedroom Pooh lifted his head off of Samuel’s chest and gently licked his face, Moo’s tail pounded the bedspread with a slow rhythmic beat as he lifted his head to watch his master awakening. Samuel lay still for a few minutes gently stroking Pooh’s soft velvety head, staring up at the ceiling above him. He could feel the dark dread and foreboding slowly shrinking back into the deepest recesses of his mind as his conscious mind started to win the fight for domination. Slowly he propped himself up on one elbow and looked about the room. The dogs wagged their tails faster as Samuel moved again, this time sitting up in bed with his head leaning back against the top of the headboard. This movement sent them both dogs into a flurry of excited greetings as they both leaped down from the bead to hunt for a gift for Samuel. Moo immediately jumped back onto the bed with a smelly work sock in his mouth and moments later, after taking a measured run up Pooh appeared back on the bed with a toy bone held proudly in his mouth. Both the dogs then proceeded to stomp and wag their tails around in circles and over Samuel’s legs until after numerous pats and tickles Samuel got them both to lay back down. He reached across to his right and picked up the TV remote control from the small bedside chest of drawers, lay his head back against the headboard, pointed the remote control toward the TV and pressed on. The red standby light turned green and a picture flashed up onto the screen, it was CBS news and a reporter was talking directly to camera. Samuel was not really listening, his mind was still battling itself back to the present, his eyes watched the pictures but for the moment his ears heard the sound but this sound was not registered in his mind. After a few minutes of staring blankly towards his TV words began to be recognized by his mind and then started to assemble themselves into sentences. The first words that pricked Samuel’s conscious thoughts were ‘Ville Platte zoning officers’ then ‘statewide scandal’ then ‘Latham Kellar and Bond’. Samuel’s foggy mind fought to listen. As he consciously focused upon concentrating on what was being said his mind tried to make sense of what he was hearing and join all of this information together. He picked up the remote control again and turned the volume up.
The CBS news crew that Samuel was watching stood outside the home of J.C.Kellar, the anchor was describing the details of the scandal to the viewers. Suddenly there was a flurry of activity as different news crews jostled for position, they had seen J.C. Kellar accompanied by two women and a man walk out of the main house. They turned and headed down the long sweeping drive to where the news crews waited outside the tall wrought iron gates. The CBS reporter announced directly to camera
“Looks like we are going to get a statement from Mr. Kellar himself.”
Then the camera panned around and watched the four figures approach. They stopped some six feet on the other side of the gates. The man who accompanied J.C Kellar stepped slightly forward and began to speak.
“Mr. Kellar will be giving you his personal statement regarding these unfounded allegations which were printed in the Ville Platte Gazette this morning….. There will be no questions answered at this moment but Mr. Kellar intends to hold a press conference tomorrow evening a six pm.”
He then stepped back in line with the other three and J.C. Kellar stepped forward and started to speak.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, firstly thank you for waiting patiently this morning for my comment……, at least the storms of last night have cooled the air somewhat and you haven’t all been stood out here melting in the morning sun.”
There was a slight murmur of acknowledgement from the attending TV news crews and press pack before J.C Kellar continued.
“I must say that I was completely astonished and dumbfounded by the allegations made by a certain Rebecca Valon in this morning’s Ville Platte Gazette…., I completely and utterly refute all of the allegations made against myself, Latham Kellar and Bond and any of our employees……., these allegations are completely unfounded, with no basis in fact and are nothing more than spurious troublemaking……., I cannot comment on behalf of any other organization or person mentioned within this second rate garbage of an article… , for that you will need to speak to those individuals themselves…………, now once again thank you for patiently waiting…, I’m now off for my usual Saturday round of golf and a late lunch at my club… .Thank you.”
With those closing words to his statement J.C Kellar smiled broadly towards the assembled media pack on the other side of his gates, turned and flanked by his three colleagues walked back towards his home.
“What do you know of Amin Masih and his links to Hamas?”
One reporter called out.
“What do you know about Kendrick Toup’s skimming of oil lease contacts?”
Another shouted.
“How much have you overcharged the Akendo Project?”
Called another.
“How are you connected with corrupt Zoning applications in Evangeline?”
Came another shouted question.
“Why would you personally pay a land owner for a strip of land right through the middle of the proposed Akendo project development site when they are your client?”
Called yet another.
“Mr. Kellar you need to answer these allegations in detail.”
Came another called request.
As J.C Kellar and his three colleagues continued walking back towards the main house without responding, the TV camera operators turned their cameras back onto their own reporters who delivered spontaneous on the spot analysis of the situation.
The CBS reporter didn’t pull any punches.
“Mr. J.C Kellar has just delivered a complete denial of all of the allegations made in this morning’s Ville Platte Gazette against him personally, his company Latham Kellar and Bond and any of its employees …., I must say that it was a very week denial, and he didn’t tackle any of the main allegations head and did not want to answer any questions…. This is obviously just the start of the story and I have the feeling as a seasoned journalist that this story has a long, long way to run as yet………It is quite interesting that Mr. Kellar did not suggest or indicate that he would be legally pursuing the Ville Platte Gazette for defamation as these allegations will clearly damage both Mr. Kellar himself and Latham Kellar and Bond and surely if there was no basis for these allegations this would be the first move he would make….. As the saying goes ‘there’s no smoke without fire’.”
Samuel flicked through the news stations, all of which seemed to be reporting from outside the gates of Kellar’s home until he landed on the local KALB TV news channel which was reporting from outside Town Hall in Ville Platte. The reporter was interviewing a rather dejected looking spokeswoman from the mayor’s office.
“Yes I can confirm that the named government officials work out of our Spicebridge office but report to us here in Ville Platte and yes the mayor has issued the strongest denial of any corrupt practices within local government in Evangeline especially within the zoning and highways departments….. All of our departments are staffed with professionals of the highest caliber.”
“Fuckin bullshit!”
Samuel shouted at the TV screen making both Pooh and Moo jump.
“And what about the link between your officials, Latham Kellar and Bond and the private zoning consultant, a Mr. Gant?
“No comment.”
The spokeswoman said before continuing
“That is all for now thank you.”
She then turned sharply on her heals and walked back up the steps to the Ville Platte Town Halland disappeared inside.
“What a load of bullshitting assholes.”
Samuel said to himself through clenched teeth before pressing the channel search button on his remote control and moving from KALB TV news. He eventually settled on a discovery channel documentary which was covering the evolution of the universe since the big bang, this was a subject that sparked his imagination. He plumped his pillows up behind his back before settling himself back down into their softness. His stomach rumbled and gurgled as its emptiness demanded food, but these demands went unanswered as Samuel slipped back into a deep sleep.
Samuel awoke late in the afternoon, his mind battling again to escape the clutches of the dark spiral of dread, fear and loneliness for the second time that day. He got slowly up from his bed and unsteadily made his way downstairs. SJ was sitting watching TV in the lounge, Pooh and Moo both jumped up from where they both lay on the floor and ran with tails wagging to greet Samuel as he entered the room.
”Hi Samuel, how you feeling?”
SJ asked, as Samuel stood by the door looking like a scare crow. His hair was sticking out at all angles, he was unshaven, wore a stained crumpled T-shirt and old grey sweat pants that had holes in and were frayed at the bottom. Samuel slowly raised his hands to his face, rubbed his eyes and let out a long sigh
“Yeah…, ok.., thanks…….., how are you?”
He said as he shuffled across the room and sat down next to SJ.
“Good thanks, I’ve had a really good day, the gym was busy this morning but the class was good fun and at last the weather has broken and it is lovely and fresh outside……., didn’t you hear the storms?”
“Storms?………. No……………, what’s Jason up to?”
“He’s gone out with Jenny early this morning, she might have a full time job at the dog rescue center in Spicebridge where she’s been doing some part time work and she wanted to show Jason around…, they’ve got an open day or something.”
“Oh…….”
Samuel replied as he tickled behind the ears of both Pooh and Moo who sat on the floor in front of the sofa, both leaning back against it, one on either side of his knees.
“I’m just going to fix myself a coffee and make a sandwich…………, why don’t you get yourself a nice shower…., you know freshen up a bit and I’ll go and make us both coffee and sandwiches.”
SJ said diplomatically to Samuel who sat in total and complete ignorance of the poor state of his personal hygiene.
“Umm…., yeah……Good idea.”
He replied, SJ got up and left the room with Pooh and Moo in hot pursuit, their instincts told them that food was on offer and being Labradors and wise ones at that they never missed out on a chance of a tidbit.
Samuel stood up slowly with a groan, stretched, shuffled off out of the lounge and made his way slowly upstairs to the bathroom. Once inside he took off his T-shirt, sweat pants and boxers and stepped into the shower, he selected medium warm and turned the faucet on full. As the warm waters from the extra wide sixteen inch rain shower head cascaded down over his head and shoulders, running in thick warm rivulets down his fatigued body, his foggy mind started to clear. Slowly the sluggish thoughts emerged from below a sea of treacley confusion, breaking free into the conscious world where they started to crackle and fizz within his mind as his synapses fired off. Falteringly at first, like an old engine being stated for the first time in years his mind cleared and with this gradual improvement in his mental performance his fatigue and lethargy seemed to ebb and flow away with the refreshing waters of the shower. He held his head back and let the water flow directly into his face for a few moments before feeling for the faucet, he turned it off, stood blinking the water out of his eyes before stepping out of the shower and toweling himself dry. He had a quick shave, straightened his hair out with his hands, dabbed his face with a little aftershave then returned to his bedroom in search of some clean clothes.
“Coffee’s ready.”
SJ called up the stairs.
“Be right down.”
Samuel replied., in no time Samuel dressed himself in a clean pair of jeans, T shirt and socks and jogged downstairs.
“You look better.”
SJ said as Samuel bounced into the lounge full of energy and life, looking bright, clean and smelling fresh. They sat down on the sofa together chatting, eating their sandwiches and drinking their coffee while the TV played quietly in the background.
“Oh you need to watch this Samuel it’s been on the news all day.”
SJ said as she picked up the remote control and turned the volume up
“What’s been on?”
“They’ re reporting about some corruption story that was a front page spread in this mornings’ Gazette…Apparently it involves that law firm we used when we moved here and those zoning officials that you battled against all summer….., they even named the actual lawyer we used…., it was Toup’s wasn’t it and didn’t you mention a Mr. Clarke at the local zoning office…..He’s tied up in it as well”
“You’re kidding.”
Samuel said, suddenly giving the TV his full attention as a reporter spoke directly to camera.
“We have just been speaking to Mr. William Ashlock the owner of the Ville Platte Gazette and he has confirmed that in tomorrow morning’s edition of the paper they will be publishing some of their evidence, naming more names and identifying how all of these names are linked up in a web of local government corruption, conspiracy to defraud, money laundering and financing of terrorism.”
“Well I’ll be……………, I thought I had dreamed all of this, this morning.”
Samuel said nodding his head from side to side.
“It’s been on all day Samuel…., on every channel its coming up as the main headline news….., they’ve had reporters outside Town Hall in Spicebridge, Ville Platte, Kellar’s home in Batton Rouge, the head offices of Latham, Kellar and Bond in Baton rouge, They even knocked on the door of one of the local government officials who’s caught up in all this…I can’t remember his name but no one answered.”
“Serves the fuckers right.”
Samuel barked.
“ Awkk…Aarrg… Aarrg ….Kushh…. Samuel!…You made me jump!… , and I swallowed my coffee down the wrong way.”
SJ gasped as she coughed out her annoyance, Samuel ignored SJ’s reprimand and slight distress, launching himself into a full blown rant
“It does serves them right………, it was that lawyer Toup who tried overcharging us with our fees when we moved…. And held onto our money for two extra days…., In my opinion that lot in the zoning and highways departments are all corrupt……….., in it up to their assholes with the land agents and all the other private advisors…… You should have read all of the lies in their reports for the alligator farm…. , and seen how they all lied during the committee meetings……………..I knew something wasn’t right…Fuckers!…, and as for that Kellar I’ve always thought he was a bit of a slippery character when I saw him on TV……….,always too nice…,to good to be true, always publicizing his donations to charity while all of the time he has been screwing his clients………..I hope they hang him out to dry.., fuckin jerk off!”
“Samuel…, calm down….., come on…, you don’t have to shout and cuss so much, do you?”
“I wasn’t shouting.”
Samuel protested indignantly before winding himself up like a clockwork toy for his next spasm of abuse which seconds later he verbally hurled towards the TV.
“If I had my way.”
“Which you don’t.”
Interrupted SJ.
“If I had my way I’d confiscate all of the hundreds of millions or even billions that Latham Kellar and Bond are worth and split it between all of the people they’ve screwed….I’d then give the remainder to charities for the poor and disadvantages children of Louisiana…Then I’d put them all in a pillory for the day, you know like they did in the old days when the Brits ruled….., I’d put the pillory in the center of town……… here, or in Spicebridge….., or Ville Platte…., doesn’t matter where…….. Then I’d get people to pelt them with shit and piss on them, give them a good whipping, throw them in jail and throw away the key! That’s what I’d do…………Fuckers!…The lot of them!”
“Well I’m glad you don’t have you’re way Samuel…That’s why we have our Bill of Rights, so justice is served in a way that means that even criminals are protected from any cruel or unusual punishments.”
SJ said in an exasperated voice.
“Bill of Rights…, more like Bill of Bullshit these days…, what about all that water boarding and torture that we as a nation have allowed to be carried out in our name……….., and what about how those ‘Occupy’ people were treated.., pepper sprayed, beaten, humiliated.., and they’re not even criminals, just protesters that’s all…………. What was it the First Amendment if I remember correctly from our schooling ……….It said ‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble’…which as I remember is meant to be one of our rights as American citizens…………The country is going to shit if you ask me and its people like Kellar with all of their money and huge political donations that keep the faceless people in power…., big business, the bankers………. . And what about all of these new laws brought in under the Patriot Act…, all to repress us……..Fuckin Bullshit!…., they’re all as bad as each other!”
“Do you really have to go on like that Samuel….what are you getting so up tight about…with all your hard work you got the alligator farm application refused…., that’s good isn’t it.”
“Bunch of cunts!”
Samuel spat.
“Samuel you don’t need to use that sort of language!”
SJ shouted.
Samuel leaped up from the sofa and stormed out of the room, dark storm clouds had been gathering in his mind over the last few minutes as his pent up anger and frustration at the world grew before spewing out as his foul mouthed tirade. All the way along the hallway Samuel cursed the faceless bureaucrats and officials who seemed to him always to be conspiring in some way against Joe Blow, making things unnecessarily difficult for the average American in any way they chose.
He banged his way through the kitchen cupboards opening and slamming doors until he found a big bag of chips, he then opened the refrigerator and took out a cold six-pack of beer before slamming that shut and striding back out into the hall. Both Pooh and Moo sensed Samuels’ mood change and stood together in the doorway of the lounge, ears held back as they watched him blow past like a mini tornado in a swirl of muttered swear words that punctuated his diatribe. As he climbed the stairs he called out goodnight to SJ, stomped noisily along the landing and with a loud bang slammed his bedroom door shut behind him.
SJ sat silently on the sofa shaking her head from side to side; she let out a long heavy sigh and stood up.
“Big Daddy’s not well boys…He’s not well.”
She said to Pooh and Moo who both responded with large sweeping wags from their energetic tails, they then followed her as she walked out of the lounge along the hallway and into the kitchen.
Samuel’s fleeting burst of energy and temporary normalization of mood and character was quickly engulfed as his mind descended back down into the depths of nothingness. These fleeting pulses of normality were common when Samuel was either entering or coming out of one of his dark episodes. They could last for a few minutes a few hours or a few days but the inexorable onslaught of the oppressive void always won over. During these periods when opposing forces deep within his psyche struggled for supremacy his outward normality was fuelled by a deep explosive force of pure cerebral energy, creativity and imagination. Ideas would form and flourish as his neurons created an abundance of new synapse connections within a brain bathed in a flood of neurotransmitters.
For Samuel, SJ and Jason these were the most difficult times because Samuel’s mood and character was so unpredictable. SJ and Jason could handle the situation when Samuel was deep within a dark episode, when he took to his bed and slept for days or occasionally weeks.
They had learned to cope with his lethargy, irritability and general grumpiness which framed his character when he did emerge from his room from time to time during these periods, because deep down they both knew it was not Samuel.
On the flip side they could cope with the much shorter periods of hyper activity, energy, fun, laughter, mischief and creativity that lit up their household when Samuel was flying high. It was the interim periods that were so difficult for them both because of the difficulty in judging Samuel’s mood at any given time. It was hard for them to know how he would react to certain situations or maybe just a simple comment and it made them feel at such times that they lived their lives walking on egg shells.
For Samuel during these periods he was surrounded by a veil of dread, frustration, anger, pain and guilt which was punctuated by brilliant burst of pure thought, energy, fun and a love for life and it was these two opposing forces that tore him apart mentally. He consciously knew what was happening to him and he knew how it would evolve, live its life then after a time fade and allow him to return to normal, but the anger and frustration he felt at not being able to overcome the onslaught was only matched by the gut churning guilt at knowing the effects these episodes had on his dear SJ and Jason.
At ten in the evening SJ made her way up to bed, she let Pooh and Moo into Samuel’s room for the night, Samuel didn’t stir he was in another world. She then knocked on Jason’s door and poked her head into the room. Jason and Jenny were both playing some noisy Xbox game, they looked up quickly in unison and said ‘Hi’ before returning their gaze back to the large projections screen Jason had on the far wall of his bedroom where explosions and fast cars flashed across the screen.
“Night Jason…Night Jenny.”
“Night Mom, Night SJ”
Came their combined response. SJ closed the door and walked down the landing to her room, her sanctuary, she sat on the edge of her bed, her mind deep in thought. She often wondered where Samuel went to in his mind when he was taken away from them, what went on and what he saw in his mind’s eye, that is if he saw anything at all. Was it a dream like state that he just never remembered or was it as he had told her before just dark and lonely? She was just as intrigued by his flashes of inspiration, creativity and how he viewed the world at times, having ideas and making connections that surprised her because she could never fathom out where they came from or what might have made him have such thoughts or ideas, they just came from left field, completely out of the blue.
With that final thought she stood up got undressed, made a quick visit to the bathroom then went to bed. It only took a moment or so and she had drifted off into a deep restful sleep.
I hope you enjoy your reading. It is available on Kindle and a free copy can be borrowed for download at https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blue-Heron-Howard-Moore-ebook/dp/B00KK6BWLK..
Howard Moore
