The Meat Grinder Incident

Jeff was on another angry streak. It was the worst one since the month following Dad’s departure. It had been 7 years without him now and even though it hurt us all, Jeff was the only one still making a fuss about it. He was 17 for god sake, throwing tantrums like a constipated kid. It was really a sight. He yelled and screamed and cried and licked the snot off of his upper lip. I always wanted to film him freaking out, but our family 8mm took off with Dad and my part-time job mowing lawns only paid enough for mower maintenance and gas. How sweet it would have been though to project all 6’2 of Jeff onto the auditorium walls for all the kids he bullied to enjoy. With or without embarrassment, Jeff would eventually learn his lesson, but for now he was just one angry son of a bitch.

It was a particularly bad day for Jeff. The night before, he wrecked his car going head to head with some greasers in a Century after they revved on him. The confrontation began while out cruising Van Nuys and ended when Jeff lost it on the take off and whipped it into the curb. He broke the front axle and bent the frame; front corner panel was toast too. The next morning he had to catch the bus to school. He missed the 7:50 pick-up and was late to first period P.E. As punishment Coach Gunny made him come back during lunch and run laps. He quit after two and a half and walked up the bleachers towards the shade. He reached the top and rounded the announcer’s booth only to see Mandy Romero, the girl he’d been crushing on since September, making out with some guy who he swore was queer. To top off the day, he got chewed out by Mr. Copley, the new vice dean of students who had just moved here from the outback’s of Australia, or so we joked, for smoking in the locker-room.

I saw him walking up to the house. Mom was outside gardening and I was washing my grandma's car, a butter cream yellow 1950 Merc. "Jeffrey, Mr. Copley called today", Mom said with a cigarette dangling from the side of her mouth. "Yeah, and? You can't make me quit, you'd be a hypocrite." "Quit? Why would I make you quit? You need to be in school. Mr. Copley informed me you’re in danger of flunking the 11th grade. He recommended you stay for some of the after school study sessions in the library. It sounded like he was really concerned." Jeff scoffed. "Are you kidding me? Why would I willingly go to detention? Fuck Mom, are you that stupid?" Mom cussed more than any of us, but always acted surprised when we let it slip in front of her. "Jeffrey!" She shook her head. " Mom! God, Mr. Copley doesn't give two shits about me. He chewed me out once today and now he's calling my house, trying to bother me here too? Why can’t he just leave me alone?" Jeff was in many ways the man of the house since dad left and always called it "his house", in the way a homeowner would. "Jeffrey, I think you should give it a chance." "Oh so you’re on his side, huh Mom? You're gunna just believe that kangaroo fucker over your own son? Is that it Ma? Is that it?" All the while I had been laying low behind the Merc, enjoying the show from a safe distance. Jeff was so predicable. His hands for instance; they were balled into fists. Whenever he got tense he'd clinch his fists and start hitting anything with in arms reach. Usually it was the wall or the desk in our bedroom, but the more spectacular times included the front porch windows, all three of them, the particleboard door in the pantry, he left a big ol’ hole in that, and the finale the neighbors dog. Yup, he punched the neighbors dog straight in the mouth after it pissed on his catchers glove. I egged him on most of the time, but paid the price for it too. More often than not he'd catch me and lump me up pretty good. The Charlie-horses and monkey bumps wouldn’t loosen up for days. I couldn’t help myself though. I thought his little tantrums were hilarious, I still do.

Mom and Jeff were still going at it and creating quite a scene. I saw him move closer to mom, towering over her by nearly a foot. "Jeffery, calm down. The neighbors are staring." She smiled and waved to Fran, the nosey fat lady who lived across the driveway from our small bungalow. "God I hate you. You're the worst fucking mother in this entire city. No wonder dad left you." I had heard enough and started to cross the grass towards them. The running hose had made it soppy and muddy and I hated that feeling. "Yeah well he left you too Jeff. Must not have impressed him that much either." "Ah go fuck yourself." He knew he had gone too far, but when Jeff freaked out, he couldn't control his words or actions. You could see in his eyes that he was conscious of his irrationality, but being aware didn't stop him. Mom stared at him. "What Mom, WHAT? ... SAY SOMETH.." She slapped him. She slapped him good and hard and slapped him like he had never been slapped before. Fran ran inside to call the cops. Jeff clinched his jaw. He panted like an running asthmatic and held his eyes open so wide that even from a distance I could see the veins that held them inside their sockets. It had never happened before, but I knew it was going to happen now. Jeff cocked back and hit mom, square on the chin with a left hook. She fell, spinning on her way down, sending her pearl necklace and golden heart hairpin flying through the air, staining the lace around the neck of her blouse as she hit the soggy grass and curled up in agony. I ran, and Jeff was waiting for me with his fists up. I avoided him, ducked under two of his wide swings and headed straight for mom. The rage had taken Jeff at this point. I saw the coward in him come out through his glare, but his hubris was in control now and no matter how cowardly he felt in his core, a flow of prideful magma had hardened around it, suffocating any chance of decency arising. I tried to reason with this rock, "Jeff its over. Just get away from her, Just fucking get away." He lurked closer, still under the influence. "Jeff the cops are coming. I fucking hear their sirens man. If you're here when they show up you can bet you'll be spending the night in Van Nuys." He grinned and said, "Ain't nothing new to me." He was within arms reach now and I knew he'd hit either me or Mom, so I stood up and prepared to take the blow. I put my fists up and so did Jeff. He came straight for me and I jumped to the right. He came at me again and I jumped to the left. He came at me a third time and before I could jump Mom hit him across the head with a shovel. I locked eye’s with him as he collapsed, and in his descent I saw remorse. Mom saw it too and even though her cheek was red and her lips were fat and bloody, she forgave him and blamed the real monster, Dad. The cops ended up stopping by, but Jeff's antics were nothing new. When they saw him out cold on the front lawn they winked at us and kept on driving. Mom went inside and started dinner and I turned off the hose and put away the shovel. I finished up with Grammies Merc and helped Jeff off the grass before calling it a night.