Wild Child

Chapter 3

"Mom, what the fuck are you doing in my room?" Gus yelled as he came down the hall. "And what the fuck is he doing here?"

Gus had just crossed the threshold into his room. For the first time in many years he stood face to face with his father. Brian tried to smile but the look of hatred on Gus' face made him stop short. Was this really his son?

"I asked what you were doing in my room. You know I hate it when you invade my privacy," Gus said glaring at his mother.

"Aren't you going to say hello to your father, Gus?" Lindsay said wrapping her arms around her waist in what could only be described as a defensive manner.

Brian wondered for a fleeting moment if there were other bruises that he couldn't see. Could his son be hurting his mother, more than once? The idea didn't bear thinking, but Brian couldn't help wondering.

"I have no father," Gus stated. "Get out of my room … both of you!"

Brian couldn't believe the arrogance of this twelve year old boy, his son. "Gus, I know we haven't seen each other for a long time, but…"

"I'm not listening to anything you say. You have no rights where I'm concerned. You can't tell me what to do."

"I don't want to tell you what to do," Brian said. "I want to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you!" Gus shouted.

"Gus, be reasonable," Brian tried again.

"I want you gone … back to wherever you came from. I'll be back later and you better not be here." Gus stormed from the room.

"Please," Lindsay called. "Gus, please."

"Don't beg him, Lindsay."

"Now you see what we're dealing with. He's totally out of control. There's no way to get him to change. I should never have asked you to come here. I'm so sorry," Lindsay cried as the tears began to flow in earnest.

Brian went over and held her frail body against his own while she cried it all out. "I had no idea what you were putting up with. How could Gus have become this animal?"

Lindsay let out a halting sob. "He's grown so tall, and he's strong."

"But doesn't he understand that violence is wrong?"

"We tried to instill that in him, but obviously we failed. We failed miserably," Lindsay said almost collapsing against Brian.

"Come on; you're going to lie down for a bit. I'll make you some tea."

Brian guided Lindsay into her bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He threw an afghan from the bottom of the bed across her body and went down to the kitchen to make some fresh tea, and to think about what he had just witnessed. The sight of Gus so grown and so angry and so hurtful had left him breathless. What the fuck was he supposed to do to fix this situation?

Having made some tea following what he had seen Lindsay do earlier, he carried it up to his son's mother. As he pushed the door open he saw that she was sleeping. He decided that she could use sleep more than his fucking tea. He was carrying the mug of tea back downstairs when he saw the front door open. It was Melanie and a little girl.

"Brian!" Melanie reacted. "I thought you'd be long gone by now."

"You can't get rid of me that easily."

"JR, this is Brian. He's Gus' father," Melanie said to her daughter.

"Are you going to take Gus away?" JR asked without an instant of hesitation.

"Why would you ask that?" Brian said with a frown.

"Because I don't like him."

"And why don't you like Gus?" Brian asked dreading the answer he felt would come.

"He's mean to me."

"Does he hurt you?" Brian asked gently.

JR nodded and looked at the floor. Brian had a sinking feeling deep inside. This was his son that Jenny Rebecca was talking about, a son that he didn't know at all.

"Honey, go upstairs and put your pajamas on. It's already past your bedtime," Melanie directed her daughter.

JR started up the stairs and then turned back. "Please take Gus with you, Mr. Brian," she said before she disappeared up the stairs.

"I'll be up in a few minutes to tuck you in," Mel said. "Did you make tea?" she asked Brian, seeing the cup in his hand.

"I made it for Lindsay but she's asleep."

"That's good. She needs the rest. Let's go in the kitchen and have some of your tea."

Melanie poured them each a cup of the tea Brian had made. "When did you learn to make tea?" she asked staring at Brian.

"About an hour ago when Lindsay made some. Look, Mel, let's not pussyfoot around this. What the fuck are we going to do about Gus?"

"I thought you'd fight us all the way on this," Mel said looking at him over the edge of her mug as she sipped the tea.

"Gus found us in his room a little while ago. He was like an animal, cursing and yelling at us. He finally left, telling me I better not be here when he got back. That was when Lindsay kind of fell apart. I put her to bed. I can't believe that person is my son."

"Shit! Gus was here?" Brian nodded. "I was kind of hoping Lindsay would work this all out with you before Gus knew you were here."

"And what? I'd grab him by the scruff of the neck and hold him hostage all the way back to Pittsburgh?"

"Something like that."

"Fuck, Melanie! I don't have a magic wand. He needs big time help."

"Have you tried to talk to him?" Mel asked ignoring that statement.

"He didn't give me a chance to say anything. He sure as fuck hates me though. That came across strong and clear."

"He hates me too. He hates Lindz and JR most of the time. He hates school. He hates his life. He hates every fucking thing."

"What happened, Mel?"

"It … it's hard to explain. It kind of happened gradually. We could see that things were not right. When … when we asked you to stay away, we thought that might help. That it might settle things down. And it seemed to … for a while. But it didn't really change anything. Gus just got quieter, more secretive. If we asked about anything he was doing, school or friends, he got silent and sullen. So we stopped asking. Somehow he has turned away from everything that we ever taught him. And then he found these new friends. At first we were happy about it, glad that he had friends. But then he started staying out past the time we told him to be home. He would defy us, so we bumped the time up thinking that would get him home on time, and we wouldn't have to fight about it. He just stayed out longer."

"What about all the electronics in his room? They must cost a fucking fortune."

"We think he's selling pot. He hangs out at a park a couple of blocks down the street. We've seen the kind of things that go on there. We've never been able to catch him, but he is getting money from somewhere."

"Fuck! My son the drug dealer!"

"Brian," Melanie said sadly, feeling the same pain Brian did at those words.

Brian shook his head. "I just don't get how this could have happened."

"We didn't get it either. At least not for a long time. We were fooling ourselves for so long," Melanie said with a little hitch to her voice. Brian could tell she was upset by this too. "We didn't want what we suspected to be true, so we tried to ignore all the signs, made excuses for Gus, made excuses for ourselves. And then when he got into real trouble it was too late. It may be too late altogether," she added with a sigh of despondency.

"Don't say that! This is our son, a human being. How can you write him off like that?"

"I … I'm not writing him off, Brian. I'm just at my wit's end about what to do with him. So is Lindsay. And I think that's the first time you've ever called Gus 'our son' when you were talking to me."

"Maybe that's a big part of this problem."

"What do you mean?"

"If we could have worked together instead of sniping as Michael calls it…" Brian let his words hang in the air.

"I should have known you'd blame this all on me," Melanie said angrily.

"I'm not. I did just as much sniping as you did."

"Thank you for that … at least."

"I don't know how the fuck we're going to deal with this, but I do know we'll have to have a united front if we're going to accomplish anything."

"I couldn't agree more," Melanie said sincerely.

"Did you ever think you'd hear yourself say that?" Brian chuckled.

Melanie had to laugh too. "No, asshole," she joked but Brian could hear affection not anger in her voice. That was a relief. Gus had enough anger for all of them.

"So what are we going to do about Gus?" Brian asked.

"Didn't Lindsay tell you that we want you to take him back to Pittsburgh?"

"She told me, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with him there? I don't know anything about kids."

Melanie sighed. "He needs a strong male influence."

"And that's supposed to be me? You've got to be kidding. You've always thought that I was the worst kind of influence."

"I know what I thought, but maybe I've … re-evaluated the situation."

"Or maybe you just want to get rid of the problem."

"Brutally honest as ever, I see," Mel said but she knew there was truth in Brian's words. "I'm going to be honest too. There is certainly an element of getting Gus out of this house to what we've asked you to do. Frankly, I'm worried about the safety of JR and Lindsay."

"I got the feeling that Gus has been pushing them around."

"He's been more than pushing."

"I saw the bruise on Lindsay's wrist."

"That's not the only one," Mel whispered.

"Fuck!" Brian's worst fears were true. "Let's say I am willing to take Gus to Pittsburgh, how are we going to get him on a plane?"

"I have a trump card."

"What's that?"

"When Gus was expelled from school…"

"I thought he was suspended."

"That was a deal with the principal so we could get him into another public school. Technically he should have been expelled."

"So you've been making deals all over the place to get him out of trouble." Brian shook his head. He couldn't believe that two intelligent women could be so stupid.

"I know it was wrong … now, but at the time…"

"Okay, okay," Brian said rubbing his temples. This whole situation was making his head throb. "What's this trump card?"

"If Gus won't go with you, I'll have him arrested."

"Arrested?"

Mel nodded. "We have the switchblade incident and I'm prepared to have the police go after him for selling drugs."

"You always were a heartless bitch."

"Thanks," Melanie said although the words hurt. "I'm only doing it for the good of my son. He goes with you or he goes to juvey."

"You actually think he'll choose me?"

"I'm pretty sure he will. He's only twelve and he has seen some of his older drug friends get put away. He doesn't want the same thing to happen to him."

"You're sure about that?"

"As sure as I can be. Nothing's absolute."

"You better be right."

"Then, you're going to go along with this?" Melanie said hopefully.

Brian nodded. He didn't know what the hell he was thinking, but he had to give it a try for Gus' sake. He didn't want to see his son in juvenile detention and that seemed to be where he was headed, if something drastic didn't happen.

"I … thank you, Brian. You don't know what this means to Lindz and me."

"I'm doing it for my son," Brian stated.

"I know … and that's the way it should be. But thank you anyway."

"When do you think Gus will come back?" Brian asked looking at the time.

"There's no telling. I should go tuck JR in."

"Yeah, you should. I should find a hotel, but I would like to be here when Gus comes back. I don't want him thinking he drove me away."

"That's probably a good idea. Listen, you might find him in the park down the street … if you want to look for him."

"Is there a hotel around here?"

"Not nearby. You could sleep on the couch if you want to be here for Gus."

"Thanks. Maybe I will," Brian said thoughtfully. "I'll take a walk down the street and see if there's any sign of him."

"Here's a key to the front door," Melanie said. "I'll probably be up, but sometimes I fall asleep in JR's bed. She feels safer with me there."

Brian winced … safe from Gus no doubt. He didn't want to believe any of this was true, but the proof was right in front of him. He took the key and headed out as Melanie went upstairs.

Walking along the street in the direction Melanie had indicated, Brian had time to think. He immediately started blaming himself. He should never have stayed away. Maybe he could have nipped some of this in the bud if he had been around to see what was happening. He could only imagine how Gus was feeling. Brian may have had a shitty childhood but at least his parents had left him to his own devices. He had never resorted to the things Gus was doing. He wondered if he would ever be able to connect with his son again.

He remembered the little boy sitting in the backseat of the car that last day in Pittsburgh. That had been the day when everything important had been ripped away from him. Gus had been taken to Toronto by his parents and Justin had headed for New York to make his mark on the art world. Nothing had been the same since.

To all outward appearances Brian fucking Kinney was still the same asshole he had always been. He danced at Babylon, he did recreational drugs with the best of them, he was the consummate businessman, and he still fucked in the backrooms. But what was that old ad campaign? "Smoking more and enjoying it less." That so described his life. He did all the old stuff and none of it gave him real enjoyment.

Sucking in a deep breath, Brian put those thoughts away as he approached the park. He could see some kids hanging around the playground equipment. Now that it was dark the little kids were gone and the big kids could sit on the slide or swings and gas with each other. Or sell drugs? Brian watched as money changed hands. He had just witnessed a drug deal, he was sure of it. At least it wasn't Gus selling … this time.

Brian approached the group of teenagers. Some were not even old enough to be classified as teenagers, he noted as he got closer. He wondered if their parents knew where they were. "Do any of you know Gus Marcus-Peterson?" Brian asked the group.

A cocky looking kid with dirty blond hair demanded, "Who wants to know?" He was ensconced at the end of the slide and was the one who had taken the money from a kid who had now disappeared.

"I'm his father."

A black kid standing over at the side snorted. "He has no father. He has two mothers."

"I'm his father," Brian repeated.

"Then you must be the fag that abandoned him," the first kid said.

Brian shuddered internally. Obviously that was what Gus had told them. "I'm the fag and I'm his father and I didn't abandon him."

"What would you call it?" the black kid wanted to know. "Gus hasn't seen you in years."

"That may be true, but I did not abandon my son." Brian wondered why he was trying to defend himself to these kids. Maybe it was because he would have to make the same arguments to Gus once he found him.

"Gus isn't here, as you can clearly see," the first kid pointed out.

"Do you know where I might find him?"

"He's somewhere in the neighborhood. He won't be found unless he wants to be."

"Thanks for your help," Brian said sarcastically as he turned away.

"Gus doesn't want anything to do with you, you know," the black kid had to add.

Brian turned around to make some kind of sarcastic retort. He knew suddenly that it would be useless, so he simply walked away. Just like he had walked away from Gus all those years ago, he was thinking to himself, as he headed back towards the Munchers' house. This was not going well at all.

Brian let himself into the house using the key that Melanie had given him. He quietly made his way upstairs and checked that Lindsay was still sleeping. She was.

He saw that the door to JR's room was open a crack and he peeked inside seeing Melanie asleep curled up against her daughter on the narrow single bed.

He left the door open a crack as he had found it, and made his way across to Gus' room. He looked around the room hoping for some clue in there to jump out at him. He had to start to understand what was going on with Gus. He had to figure out how to talk to his son. Somehow he had to get through to him.

He sat down on the side of the bed and saw that the controls for the X-Box were on the nightstand. He picked them up and pushed play wondering what game Gus had been playing. It was "Grand Theft Auto". Gus had already worked his way through a lot of it. He must be pretty good at the game. Brian started to play where Gus had left off. He quickly got caught. He restarted the game and tried again. He played over and over again wondering if this game was prophetic of what the future held for Gus.

Some time later he fell asleep exhausted from the sleepless night he had spent in Pittsburgh, the sudden trip to Toronto and all the disturbing things he had found out about his son.