Life shouldn’t be so complicated when you’re a teenager.  Tommy was thinking of Lydia.  He felt over stuffed after eating a healthy portion of spaghetti and meat balls, and several slices of homemade Italian bread.  He could easily see why Lydia loved spending so much time at the Miltonelli’s with Animal, and his family.  They were friendly and out going.  And, although his father was a strong head of household, it was obvious he loved his wife, and all of their children.  Tom hadn’t been by his house, or even given his parents a call to let them know he was back in town.  There was something that needed to be done, and he wasn’t going home until the matter was taken care of satisfactorily. 

            Tom and Animal went to the Burger Barn looking for the disgusting trio that had hurt Lydia the night before.  Only Jack was there.  As soon as he saw Tom, he tried to escape out the back.  Animal stood with his big arms crossed in front of his chest leaning against his 1957 Harley Davidson XL Sportster, waiting.  Jack turned back around figuring he’d rather face off with Tom Ericsen.

            “Get out in the parking lot Chevalier, NOW!”  Tom ordered.  Jack complied.

            “Get in my car, and act like we’re the best of buddies.”  Tom was smiling.  He learned well from Lydia.

            Jack was about to make a run for it, when Animal on his bike, roared up from behind.  It was obvious by the look in his eye, if Jack had run, Animal would have mowed him down.  Jack smiled and waved at him, and peacefully got in Tom’s car.  They drove around for a while, as Tom talked.  “What you guys did to Lydia Brownstone was unacceptable behavior.  I could expect that from Jeremy or Donnie, but you Jack?  I thought you were better than that.  Everyone knows Lydia and I have been going steady for a month or so now.  Just because we had a spat and broke up didn’t make her fair game for you lousy bastards to rape her.  What do you think your punishment should be Jack?”

            “Punishment for what?  I didn’t do it!”

            “Don’t lie to me Jack.  Lydia told me who did what, and how many times.  You all are going to suffer in one form, or another.  How much depends on how bad you fight it, and how badly you treated her.”

            “I didn’t treat her bad Ericsen.  Honest.  I know I shouldn’t have done it to her, but damn it, when I saw Donnie on her I, I, I just wanted a piece of the action, too. Know what I mean, man?  I just got swept up in the moment.  Like my dick was doing the thinking.”

            “So swept up that you had to stick your dick to a girl that was laying there bleeding?  How do you think it feels to bleed, and then have your jack rabbit ass humping it?  Ya know, that’s a good name for you, ‘Jacques Rabbit’. It’s gonna stick too, buddy, you can count on that.”  Tom stopped the car next to a vacant warehouse on the north side of town.  “Get out!”

            Again Jack looked around for a way to escape, then as he realized that there was no way out, Animal rode up on his Harley.  Tom was out of the car, and delivered an upper cut to Jack’s chin, followed by a one two punch to his stomach.  “Fight back, you yellow bellied sap sucking son of a bitch!”  Tommy ordered.  “Don’t make me go home without a scratch.  Come on pansy ass!   Swing at me, you bastard!”

            Jack did just that, and clipped Tom in the eye.  It didn’t take long before they were rolling in the dust.  Tom received some good blows, but they were nothing compared to the beating Jack took. Jacque finally yelled he’d had enough, he’d accept whatever, but begged for Tom to please stop beating on him.  Tom backed off.

        Jacque figured it was over.  But then, Animal stepped forward.

            Jack pee’d his pants.

            “Ricsen, get in your car, and leave.  Ain’t none of your concern what’s gonna happen next.  The less you know the better.”  Animal never took his eyes off of Jack.

            Tom left.

          Animal pushed, backing Jacque up against the building.  “You hurt my baby.  Yeah, I know, Ricsen’s  been going steady with her, but that’s only so her rich ass parents wouldn’t know she’s been seein’ me.  You ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about that to anyone though, are you Jack Rabbit?  Are you?”  Animal pulled a switch blade, and held it close to Jacque’s face.

            “Nope, not a word.  P-p-promise.  You’ve g-g-got my w-w-word.”  Jacque stammered.

            “I’m gonna have more than this if word of what happened gets out...  I’m gonna have your tongue.  I heard you put your jack rabbit dick in my baby’s mouth.  How about I cut your tongue out for that? I’m really pissed.” The blade was dangerously close to Jacque’s mouth.

            “N-n-no!  Please, I won’t ever s-s-say a word. I’ll never t-t-touch her again- p-p-promise!”  Jacques carefully answered.

            “Yer goddam right you won’t!  You won’t talk about it either.  If I ever hear of you talking about what happened here tonight, what you did to her, or of you getting anywhere near Lydia, I’ll make good my promise. She walks into a place, you walk out! Got it?”

            “Y-y-yes! I, I, I got it.”  Jacques tried to slip away to the side. “I, I, I’m sorry for what I did to Lydia.”

            “Wait just a minute... I’m not done with you yet!”  Animal grabbed him by the shirt, and wrestled Jack with one arm down to the ground.  He jammed his knee in his gut pinning him down.  One by one, Animal cut the buttons off Jack’s shirt, then sliced it into ribbons, and tossed the remnants in a pile.  He sliced the t-shirt off of him in much the same manner, careful not to cut his skin. 

            Terrified Jack didn’t make a move.  Animal cut his Ivy League pants and boxer shorts off the same way, tossing the hunks of fabric on to the same pile.  Buck naked, Jacques’s eyes were as big as saucers, wondering what was going to happen to him next.

            “How do you think Lydia felt when she realized what was going to happen to her?  Do you think she was scared?  I’m willing to bet her eyes were as big with fear as yours are now!  If I was a queer, I’d roll you over, and give it to you right up your ass so you could feel her pain.  But, I’m not going to.  And, just to show you what a nice guy I really am, I’ll let you keep your shoes and socks on to walk home.”  Animal wasn’t done yet.

            Jack tried to get up, but Animal dug his knee in deeper.  He reached for a cigarette, lit it, then tossed the match on the pile of what was left of Jack’s clothing.  He stayed there until the fire was completely burned out, then slowly stood up, but quickly slammed his foot into Jack’s belly.  Animal then whipped it out, and wizzed all over Jack from his waist up, mainly concentrating on his face.  He tucked and zipped.  “Remember your promise Jack Rabbit?  You gave your word.  If you want that tongue for the rest of your life, you will keep your mouth shut. And, don’t forget, there are no witnesses.”

            Animal got on his bike and rode.

              “What happened to you?”  Tom’s dad asked before he even said hello.
            “I kinda got into a fight.”
                        “Well that’s fairly obvious.  What’s the other guy look like?”  Ralph reserved judgment until he heard Tommy’s answer.
            “A heluva lot worse than me.”
            “After the game?”
            “Nope.  After I got home.”
            “Where’ve you been?  You smell like garlic.”
            “Oh, I ate some Italian food, then I found out this guy was getting fresh with Lydia while I was away, so I went out looking for him.  When I found him, we ummm, kinda got into a rumble.”
           “Who was the guy?”
           “Jacques  Chevalier.”
           Ralph smirked.  “Well, I’m glad he looks worse than you.  I’d have to take you down, if that punk got the upper hand on you.”  Ralph walked away laughing, “Way to go, boy...  whooping ass on Chevalier’s kid defending Lydia’s honor!  Go get some ice on that eye.  You’ve got quite a shiner going there.”

          Sunday morning Tom went to pick up Lydia for church. They went to get Renée.  She was startled to see Tom’s black eye. Then, horrified to learn what had happened to Lydia.  They went to Miltonelli’s and walked to church from there.  When church was over, they went to Bogie’s Hoagies and got sandwiches, potato chips and colas.  They all went to the park by Renée’s, and sat under a tree eating and discussing that what had happened to Lydia would go no further than the four of them. Lydia cried for hours in Animal’s arms. He assured her he loved her, and nothing had changed between them.

            Tommy and Renée left them alone, and played on the swings.  Before long, they joined some grade school boys that brought a basketball, and shot some hoops with them.  Mrs. Hansen came by walking Lumpy on his leash.  She sat and rested on a park bench while Renée and Tommy played chase around the trees with the frisky dachshund. Playing happily together like children in the park, it was hard to believe they’d spent so much time in a hotel alone together playing like adults just the previous day.