Later that night several cars were turning right off of Sunset Blvd into a three-acre, gated estate in Beverly Hills. It was a twenty thousand square feet house that cost Michael Massey over thirty-five million dollars. He had just bought it and moved there only a couple of weeks ago from Westminster. Mr. Massey had been rich for a long time, but he lived in a middleclass neighborhood until now. As the head of a large and powerful trucking union, and more importantly, the manager of its pension assets, he made over ten million a year. Some thought he was selling out when he moved to such a rich neighborhood, but he only spent the weekends there. He still lived like a common man during the week.
It was eleven pm and the party at the Massey residence was just getting started. Inside the mansion, a young boy was listening to Elvis records when he heard the doorbell ring.
“I’ll get it,” a boy, Jay Massey yelled as he ran towards the door.
His father, Michael Massey yelled back, “I’ll race you,” and he barely beat him.
A beautiful, pregnant lady was standing there.
The older man was glowing with self confidence after downing a shot, and he confidently walked around the girl.
“You’ve been screwed.”
She laughed skeptically.
“You better watch out, or I’ll stick him on you,” he said as he pointed at his son.
She laughed suspiciously and doubtfully.
“So, Sarah, who was the lucky guy?” asked Michael Massey.
“Dad, she’s just pregnant,” said Jay Massey, Michael Massey’s son,
“Come in. Go inside and have fun,” Michael Massey said, and gestured for her to go inside where people were hanging out. Michael picked up a football on the porch and told Jay to go for a pass. After he caught the ball, he ran back to the porch. Jay started talking about his favorite football player.
At that time Melanie walked up. “Hi Michael. Hi Jay.”
“Hi Melanie,” Jay said.
Halle Massey, Jay’s older sister walked out. “Hi,” said Halle. “I wasn’t sure if Donny would let you get away.
“He did. I still can’t believe the way he asked me.”
“It was very exciting. Your man sure has some body on him.”
“Do you think so?”
“I do. I don’t think you’ll ever have to worry about drowning either. Come on in. You know most of the people but there are a couple new faces I want you to meet.”
Melanie said hello to everybody. A few of them had been at Donny’s surprise proposal for her and they all congratulated her again.
Later. after she made several rounds, she ended back where Halle was.
“Your little brother is so cute. I love his hair cut.”
“Doesn’t he look like Elvis,” she asked? His hair was combed straight back like Elvis’s was in the 1950’s.
“I’m gonna be a rock star!”
“And you’ll make tons of money,” his father said. He loved the green stuff.
Little Jay proceeded to sing one of Elvis’ songs and even shook his hips. Everyone applauded
when he was done.
“Alright. That is enough time for you with the grown ups young man. It’s time for you to back into the den and play.”
“Do I have to?” he asked with a whine. His father gave him one of those looks and he knew not to question him anymore. He ran into the back of the house where he started to play Elvis records over and over.
By 11:30 everybody was having a good time. Halle walked up to Melanie again. “I’ve been called into work.”
“It’s tough being a nurse.”
“Yeah, you are welcome to stay as long as you like. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” Melanie said. She had to pee, so she went looking for the bathroom. As she was looking for the bathroom, she passed the den where Jay was listening to his records. She stopped to talk.
“I want to ask you a question. Why do you play the same song over and over?”
“I am writing the words down. This way I can try and figure out how songs are written. Plus, sometimes I don’t know what they are singing, but if I write down the words before and after I can figure it out.”
“You sure are a smart boy. I bet you get good grades in school.”
He nodded his head in agreement.
“Are you smart Melanie?”
“I don’t know if I am as smart as you?”
“You sure are pretty.”
“Aren’t you a little young to think of girls as pretty?”
“No. My dad has lots of pictures of naked girls in his office. I think they are really pretty.”
Melanie just smiled. She didn’t think a young boy should be seeing pictures of naked girls.
“Melanie, can I ask you a question?”
“Yes.”
“Can I see you naked?”
“Excuse me?” she asked in shock.
“That’s my boy!” Mr. Massey yelled out.
Everyone at the party started laughing. They were making their way towards the swimming pool when they passed by the den where Jay and Melanie were. It seemed acceptably cute and harmless when everyone was tipsy.
“Are you coming for a swim?” Mr. Massey asked Melanie.
“I’ll be there in a moment.”
“It’s time to put you in bed young man.”
“I don’t want to go to bed!” Mr. Massey picked him up and took him down the hall to his bedroom and tucked him in.
After tucking Jay in, Michael was making his way toward the backyard when he saw Melanie still in the den.
“This sure is some party,” Melanie said.
“Yeah, I like partying with you young people. It makes me feel young again.”
“Can I ask you a question Mr. Massey?”
“Call me Michael. Shoot.”
“Don’t you think Jay is too young to be looking at nude pictures and to know about female body parts? You heard him ask if he could see me naked.”
“You need to mind your own business and not tell me how to raise my kid.”
“I’m not telling you how to raise him. I am simply asking you a question.”
“He came to my office one day and there were pictures on the wall. I didn’t think to take them down beforehand. He should not have seen them in the first place, but I had to be truthful once he did see them.”
“You have them on display at your office? Isn’t the public offended by them?”
“I’m in the trucking business. I deal with drivers every day. We make sailors look like saints and we are not going to let out lives be dictated to us.”
“Alright, I understand your lives, but I have to admit I think you are raising your child in a bad way.”
Mr. Massey turned his head to look at her. He was very offended by her remark.
“Let’s be fair here Melanie. You asked me a question so can I ask you one?”
Melanie nodded that he could.
“Can I see you naked?” he said sarcastically, as he snickered at her.
She made a pissed off sound and picked up her purse. As she strutted past Mr. Massey, she didn’t even look at him.
“Ha-Ha, you’re not the only one who asks questions around here.”
“I should turn you into the police,” she yelled as she slammed the door.
Michael walked over to the bar. It had every kind of alcohol you could want, and it was surrounded by mirrors. He had to have a drink. As he took a sip he stared at pictures of his deceased wife. She had already been dead a couple years. It was hard to believe she had died in her early thirties, or that Jay was only four years old when it happened. Mr. Massey had cried when she died even though……???
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The next morning Michael was back in the den smoking a cigarette and looking at his phone. “Hi dad.” Jay walked into the room.
“Hi there young man,” Mr. Massey said as he scooped him into his arms.
“Dad are you smoking? You shouldn’t do that.”
“I know.”
“Is that how mom died? Did she smoke too much?”
“They think that could have been one of the reasons she got cancer.”
“I miss her. I wish she was still alive today so I could play Elvis records for her.”
“I miss her too.” Even though he hated her he still loved her. “You know what? In some ways you look like her and she still lives on through you.”
“I look like a girl?”
“No, but you do have her eyes,” he said as he was tickling him until he was laughing hysterically. “Besides, we still have each other. We don’t need women around all the time. Women aren’t completely good. It was Eve that caused Adam to sin a long time ago and that is why there is so much trouble in the world today.”
“Isn’t that in the Bible?”
“It sure is and it wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t true.”
“I love you daddy.”
“I love you too. Now go get ready for school.”
Michael just sat there. He had a cup of coffee on the table. The television was blaring out the morning news, but he didn’t hear a thing. He just wondered if had told Melanie too much. When she first brought it up, he could have denied having any pictures in the office or he could have blamed the naked pictures on a child’s active imagination. Now she knew and he wondered what she might do. If she went to the police with this information, what would they do? No one was going to take his boy away from him, especially not a woman.
“I’m ready daddy.”
“Alright. Let’s go then.”
They headed out the door to school. When they arrived, Jay said goodbye.
“Have a good day.”
“I will,” said the child as he rushed towards the stairs of the private school he attended.
He ran up the stairs and down the hall to room 212, where his sister-in-law, Kay, a teacher, was chatting with another teacher.
“Hi Jay,” Kay said in her southern drawl.
“Jay, how are you?” asked another teacher who Kay was talking to. Her name was Mrs. Baker. He had been in her class last semester.
“Fine, thanks. I just came by to say hello before class.”
“Have a good day.”
“Bye.”
Kay had married Jay’s older, half brother Roger, and they had moved to California from Virginia last summer.
“You know Kay, he was in my class last semester, and something very strange happened. While he was doing some work, I came up behind him and told him what a good job he was doing. All I did was put my hand on his shoulder as a supportive gesture, and he tensed up. He said, “Don’t touch me. My dad said no woman is allowed to touch me!”
“What?” Kay said appalled. She was afraid of Mr. Massey even though he was her husband’s father.
“I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell his father he said this.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t have either.”
“Although he was mostly a sweet boy, he was also a bully once in awhile. There have been many kids in my classroom I would call a bully, but I have never heard a child so vehemently call women evil. There were times when I thought about this, and I was really frightened but what could I do. I would just try to encourage him as much as I could while never touching him again."
“I think it’s because of his mother. The rumor had it that she had cheated on his father with some Ivy League attorney who never lost a case.”
Kay didn’t mention that it was with Peter Sorenstein, Mr. Massey’s own attorney, and that Mr. Sorenstein later wound up dead.
The bell rang for classes to begin, “I’ll talk to you later,” Mrs. Baker said, and she walked out the door.
It was the first period and Kay didn’t have to teach. She tried to grade papers, but her mind kept going back to her conversation with Mrs. Baker. She really believed that Michael Massey, her husband’s father, had Mr. Sorenstein killed. She had no reason to believe it except he had a motive since he found out his wife was having sex with him. With this new information from Mrs. Baker, she felt like she had even more reason to believe that Michael obviously hated women and it was probably because of his wife’s affair with his attorney, Mr. Sorenstein. Children speak innocently what their parents say in grave pain and Mr. Massey has spoken through his son. Then there were the feelings she had when she was around him. He just looks like there is pain all through him, and you can see the hatred in his eyes.
She picked up her phone and dialed her husband’s work number.
“Hello,” Mr. Massey answered abruptly. She hung up. Although her husband works for his father, he had never answered the phone before. According to her husband he was hardly ever there. His office was less than two minutes from Jay’s school though so he must have stopped there after dropping Jay off. When he answered the phone today however, he sounded, “extra,” mean. Kay thought about it for a second, and finally concluded it was more than mean. He definitely sounded like he wanted to kill somebody. She knew he would call back because of caller ID. When he did, she apologized and told him she was trying her husband’s number. He hung up on her. Kay looked at her phone, swallowed slowly, and shivered at the thought of that man.