Stew

By Geoffrey Trubow

"Stew" is a coming of age story centering on two high school freshmen in the early nineties, Jake Greeley and Kevin McCluskey, and the fictional western Chicago suburb in which they live, Forge. Jake is an only child living with his divorced mother, while Kevin is the middle child between two brothers. Kevin's family is representative of Forge itself, very charming and attractive on the surface, but disturbed and troubled inside.

It is told by observing Jake and Kevin separately as they develop and as they fatefully come together at the conclusion. Kevin and Jake meet in junior high shortly after the latter and his mother move to Forge. They become fast friends instantly, although they are very different. Kevin is a budding athlete. Jake is more interested in music, primarily punk, and literature. He has hardly any contact with his father who lives out of state, but enjoys a warm relationship with his free spirited mother. This is quite the opposite of Kevin's home life, which is tense and often unfeeling.

For different reasons, Jake and Kevins lives spiral downward to the point where they plan to exact violent actions against their classmates.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504927253

Geoffrey Trubow

Geoffrey Trubow lives in Chicago. This is his first novel.

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© 2015 A Novel by Geoffrey Trubow . All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 8/05/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-2727-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-2725-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

KEVIN

JAKE

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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Very special thanks, love and gratitude to Sue Trubow.

Thanks to Helen Thatcher, Florence Ford,

Professor James Scotton, Dana Lipari,

Daniel (The King of Poets) Harmon,

The Larry Kucera, Matthew Brady,

Anthony Jrolf and Julie Caron.

This novel is dedicated to the memories of Trudy and John Hartin and George Trubow.

KEVIN

Kevin was in the locked stall of his designated bathroom at Lincoln High School. He thought he would feel more panicked as the time for him to act drew nearer, yet he did not. The strange feeling that overcame him when he realized that what he and Jake were actually going to do began to feel almost normal. Two boys were chattering at the sink. Kevin did not recognize their voices. As they laughingly exited the bathroom, he wondered if they would be a part of his plan, were it to come off as arranged. His breathing seemed so loud within his head, it was as though somebody else were next to him exhaling rapidly. Checking his watch, he saw that the final bell would be ringing soon. He felt his cold weapon and thought about Jake a floor underneath him.

JAKE

Jake was completely motionless, his feet propped up against the locked bathroom stall door. There seemed to be three or four boys right outside, smoking, talking about their plans for the upcoming break. He was fairly certain he knew at least one of them, but couldn’t be sure. As they made their way out of the bathroom, Jake quietly let out a breath. He was concentrating not so much on his part of the plan, but the events that led him here. What he had lost, what he hoped to gain. The person he was before he and Kevin began to seriously devise this plan was just a memory. It was as though he aged a few years mentally in the space of a month. As he waited for the final bell, he thought about the artwork on The Clash’s Combat Rock album: The Future Is Unwritten

1

You knew Kevin pretty well, huh Tim? How about Jacob? Were the two of you good friends as well?

The police chief leaned back in his chair, facing the young man and his mother across the cluttered desk. His office door was closed and he was doing all he could to put the boy at ease.

Tim Marten and his mother had been in Chief Oscar Baird’s office for only the past twenty minutes, but it felt more like three hours to the shaken fourteen year old. He had not touched the can of Coke that the Chief had given him, he just kept staring at his fingers wrestling in his lap. The office was cramped and warm. Tim was sweating and felt as though he was being accused of doing something, although he had done nothing wrong. From some of the information Baird had gathered, it was determined that Tim was Kevin’s best friend other than Jake. He simply wanted to talk to the boy as a means of gaining some insight into what had happened.

Let’s see here. Chief Baird said in a pleasant tone as he put on his glasses and looked over some papers in front of him. You and Kevin have been friends since what? First Grade? Kindergarten? You must have been close. Did you guys talk a lot?

Tim finally looked up, at Baird and then his mother who was seated next to him. He noticed that she was forcing a smile. She looked that way six years ago when she was telling Tim that his grandfather had died. She reached out and touched her son’s shoulder.

It’s okay, honey. You can answer Chief Baird’s questions. You should answer them. This is his job.

Tim jerked his shoulder from her touch and she pulled her hand back as though she had been burned touching a hot stove. He studied the Chief who had a kind, if not worn down face. The Chief took off his glasses and locked his hands underneath his chin. The boy looked as though he wanted to say something and Chief Baird searched his eyes for an entrance.

Baird had a good deal of experience extracting information from people. However, it had been quite a while since he was engaged in a situation like this. He was a patient man and rarely heavy handed. In college, at the University of Ohio, he majored in psychology and usually attempted to work the defenses of a person against them. In the case of Tim Marten, he just wanted to talk. He began stroking his thin beard which was beginning to show flecks of gray.

Take your time, Tim. He said kindly. We’re just talking here and I want you to take as much or as little time as you want. Do you want to maybe tell me how you met Kevin and Jacob?

Me and Kevin used to live on the same block, since we were born. He said after a long pause.

Tim’s mother could not conceal her surprise and gasped. These were the first words that she heard her son speak in days. He would not speak to his father, his younger sister, his friends or even his grandmother with whom he was very close. Ginny and Bob Marten had an appointment with a psychiatrist for their son in two days. Tim didn’t know why he started speaking to Chief Baird. He did not know why he had stopped speaking.

Tim Marten and Kevin McCluskey had known one another almost since birth. Tim’s parents moved next door to Nathan and Lydia McCluskey when his mother was pregnant with their second child, his sister, Elizabeth. Tim was almost eighteen months old. The McCluskey’s second child, Kevin, was only three weeks older than Tim. The Martens and the McCluskeys became fast friends as did Tim and Kevin. When the boys were seven, the McCluskeys moved a few miles away. Nathan McCluskey had been promoted to Senior Vice-President of Cranston Pharmaceuticals. With the addition of their third child, Brian, Nathan felt they should move to a larger dwelling. Nathan was a fanatical organizer and planner. He consulted his wife on every major decision, but had already mapped out the plan from beginning to end before they ever discussed any particular project. The move was not far, but for two seven year old best friends who had lived next door to one another practically their whole lives, it was as though Kevin was moving out of the country. The only person who wanted the family to remain where they were more than Tim was Kevin, yet neither boy would admit their feelings.

Kevin and his two brothers were being sent to their grandparents’ home in Wisconsin while their present home was being evacuated and their new one was being prepared. It was early August. Kevin and Tim spent their last day together and would not see each other again until they started the Second Grade that fall.

The boys were up and out of their houses before nine that morning. They rode their bikes, their skateboards and shot basketball in Kevin’s driveway as they would have on any other summer day. Although they didn’t yet realize that they would not be seeing one another again until they were sitting in the same row in Ms. Cramer’s class, they felt it. It was unusual and unpleasant.

Their home in Forge was usual and pleasant, if that was the desired impression one wanted to procure from the century and a half old town. The President of the United States, during a campaign stop, remarked that Forge was overflowing with old fashioned American idealism and possessed an incisive eye that looked towards the future of this great state and this great country. There was frenzied applause and a feature in a national newsmagazine a week later.

Tim and Kevin weren’t that knowledgeable about all that separation could entail. Separation, in the true sense of the word, rings harsher and crueler for a seven year old. Their world was being demolished, but they didn’t know how to convey their stance in any other way than through violence. They knew it hurt as they struck each other, but didn’t necessarily know that it was wrong.

Love was something they didn’t understand. It was just a word tossed around by their parents and relatives, usually during the holidays. They loved and needed one another, but they could not address that. They had an excuse, being only seven years old, but that never entered their minds. Blame was falling like snow that evaporated right as it touched the ground.

Tim staggered home and went to the downstairs hall bathroom. His forehead was bleeding and so was his lip. He was hoping that he had knocked out a few of Kevin’s teeth, but knew that he had not. Kevin was a much better fighter and he could have really damaged Tim, but he held back.

The fight started over a shot Kevin had missed during one of their games of HORSE. It was the first time they had physically fought and it would be the last. There was no doubt in their minds that their friendship was over at the time of their dispute. Yet, it was not over and they drifted together again like clouds. No mention of their altercation was ever raised. Neither was the topic of who had won the game that day. They also never discussed how rotten the rest of their summers had been and how much they missed each other.

When did Jacob come into the picture, Tim? the Chief asked as he set down the pen with which he was sporadically taking notes. How did you meet him?

Tim thought about the first day he met Jake Greeley. It was not a gratifying remembrance. They met on the first day attending their new school, Stevenson Junior High. Kevin introduced them in Social Studies, third period. Junior High required the new routine of changing classes and third period was the only class that Tim and Kevin shared.

Hey, man. Kevin said, approaching Tim from the back. How’s it going? Looks like we’ve got this class together, huh?

Tim immediately spun around and stared vacuously at Kevin. He had hardly seen his friend for most of the summer and Kevin presented himself as though they had been hanging out the day before.

Tim was struggling to say something when Kevin began laughing hysterically at a remark made by somebody that was standing behind him. Tim had never seen him before. He had light brown hair that was spiked upwards. As he stepped from behind Kevin, Tim saw that he was wearing a sleeveless red flannel shirt over a black T-shirt which read ‘The Clash’. There was a faded picture in the middle of the shirt and the words ‘White Riot’ at the bottom. Placing his left forearm on Kevin’s shoulder, the kid extended his right hand to Tim.

What’s up? My name’s Jake Greeley.

Tim shook Jake’s hand, but he kept staring at Kevin who whispered something in Jake’s ear. Jake muffled a laugh just before the shrill bell rang. Tim, Kevin and Jake assumed their seats, with Kevin and Jake sitting next to one another and Tim behind Kevin. Kevin didn’t speak to Tim during the entire period and when class ended, Kevin and Jake rushed out. Tim recalled that he did not see Kevin for the rest of that first day of school. Asking around about Jake, a few of Tim’s friends told him they had heard that some punk rocker had just moved to town and had been hanging around with Kevin McCluskey.

Jake and his mother, Carolyn, had moved to Forge the summer before he began junior high. They came from the Fox Valley and Carolyn wanted to be closer to Chicago where she worked as an accountant for a law firm. She also liked the impeccable reputation that the school system in Forge had, especially Lincoln High School, which was considered to be one of the finest public schools in the state. Jake’s father, Pete Harrison, left his wife and only child before Jake was seven years old. He was remarried and living in Alabama. They rarely heard from him.

Carolyn Greeley was a liberal thinker which she found would sometimes clash with her new neighbors in Forge. That did not trouble her much as she had a great many friends in and around Chicago. It used to worry her that her ex-husband’s departure did not seem to bother her son. Carolyn encouraged him to talk about it if it did trouble him and he always said that he would,

It’s not that big a deal, ma. He told her. I got all his records, right? It’s worth it he left just for that!

Carolyn tried to pretend to be mad, but couldn’t help laughing. She and Pete had been married for seven years and when they divorced, she welcomed the chance to raise her son on her own. Jake, like both his parents, loved music and his father left him a collection of hundreds of records that Jake began adding to immediately. Jake was an outgoing child who enjoyed people and loved observing and speaking to them at length. He became friends with Kevin McCluskey only a few days after he and his mother moved into their modest three bedroom house only blocks away from Kevin’s home. They met at Magellan’s bike shop. Kevin was spending some of his savings on a new front rim and tire that he had mangled jumping off a ramp. He finally had enough money for the repairs from his allowance and mowing lawns and was more than ready to be mobile again. Jake spotted the place as he was biking around his new town and decided to take a look. He asked Kevin if he knew of any good trails around. Kevin was cocky and sarcastic, but he was taken in with Jake’s friendliness and good nature.

Kevin showed Jake around town and became the first friend he made in Forge. It was because of Jake Greeley that Tim Marten didn’t see his best friend very often that summer. He would also be the reason that he didn’t hang out with Kevin as much in junior high. After they reunited in the Second Grade, Tim was always conscious of how Kevin felt about things and would usually go along with his suggestions. Kevin was not domineering, but before he reached high school, he possessed a wry charm that could end up making his peers feel foolish if they did not agree with him.

Kevin had talked Tim into shoplifting some football cards with him from a local drug store when they were in the Fifth Grade. Tim was terrified but even more afraid of looking weak in Kevin’s eyes. They were never caught in that venture. Nor were they ever caught egging houses and cars or stealing cigarettes from Tim’s father. It was Kevin’s idea for Tim to grab some of the smokes from his dad’s pack that was halfheartedly concealed beneath some papers in the drawer of a small desk by his easy chair. They were ten years old when they did that. Tim hacked so much on the Parliament that he thought he was going to throw up. Kevin reacted in about the same way, but managed to keep a smile on his coughing and reddening face.

A year later, Jake Greeley would enter Kevin McCluskey’s life and they would bond like steel, shaping one another’s destiny. It would turn out that Jake and Tim were very similar which may have accounted for their personal differences. They were most similar in one aspect. They would both try to be Kevin’s best friend.

That was your first meeting with Jake, then? Chief Baird asked, rising from his desk to answer the knock on his closed door. Cracking it open, he took a manila folder from the hand of someone in the hall. He glanced at the papers inside the folder and placed it on top of some other files near his computer. You met Jake when you all started over at Stevenson, is that right?

Tim glimpsed at his mother who was staring into space. Chief Baird asked him another question, but he was tired of talking and done listening. The police chief was friendly enough, but talking about Kevin and Jake was beginning to wear him out. Knowing that he would be talking about them in abundance over the next few weeks just made him want to stop talking all the more in this present company.

I really wanta go home. Tim said with a weary sigh as he went back to staring at his lap and finger wrestling. I just wanna go home.

Chief Baird escorted Tim and his mother out of his office and down the hallway which led to the parking lot door behind the police station. He thanked them for coming in and said it was very nice meeting them. Giving Ginny Marten his card, he said if they ever had any questions or problems, they should feel free to contact him. Both Mrs. Marten and Chief Baird knew that it was just a polite gesture, that there was little chance of them ever meeting again. Returning to his office, the request that he speak to Tim Marten proved to be mostly a waste of time. Judging by his behavior, Baird doubted that he knew anything beforehand. Even if he did, it couldn’t be helped now.

It was nearly eight and Baird was supposed to be at Principal Roberts’ home by eight-thirty. He had some time as it wasn’t a far drive. He called his wife, Lilly and told her he would be home soon. Some files he needed were placed into his briefcase and a slip of paper with Principal Roberts’ address and phone number was placed in his breast pocket. He had spoken to the principal last week, but it was brief. Their meeting tonight was largely meaningless, just like his conversation with Tim Marten, but it was a follow up and needed to be done. He had some words with some of the officers that were still at the station and then exited to his car. Double checking the address, he pulled out of the lot and proceeded through downtown Forge. There was no snow on the ground and the town was adorned to the hilt with Christmas decorations.

2

Baird had been thinking about Cincinnati. It was there that he spent seventeen years, after he received his Master’s Degree in Psychology, as a homicide detective. During a routine check concerning a fatal hit and run, he and his partner were ambushed in the hallway of an apartment building. His partner, Detective Kinsley, was killed and he was shot four times. After three months in the hospital, he made a full recovery, save for a slight limp that he would always have as a result of one of the gunshot wounds above his left knee. The fact that he came through the attack was not good enough for his wife. Most of their friends with the Cincinnati Police Department had hardly ever drawn their guns. Lilly Baird’s mind was definitely made up after her husband’s friend and partner died the day after the shooting.

Chief Morse was retiring after twenty-eight years with the Forge Police Department. The police department in Forge wasn’t much more than a collection of security guards and not taken very seriously. After Chief Morse had announced his plans to retire, the nineteen year old son of a council member had an incident involving a controlled substance and a call girl that could have turned ugly if the proper amount of ruse was not applied. The Council decided that the police department should be tightened up and whipped into shape by an outside, experienced party.

Lilly Baird’s family was from Ohio, but her sister and brother-in-law had lived near Forge with their four children for the past three years. The opening for the Chief of Police came up the following year after Detective Oscar Baird’s recovery was coming to an end. It seemed to be arranged by a higher power so Baird applied for the job after Lilly’s brother-in-law alerted him about it.

The council felt that a more perfect candidate could not have applied. Not only was this man an experienced, decorated homicide detective in a major urban area, he was also black. This could only do wonders for the town’s image and their thinking was that he would be able to sniff out any dope source in no time at all. After a second interview in person, Detective Oscar Baird was offered the position. He accepted it, making history in the process by becoming the first black Chief of Police in Forge.

While turning down the street where Principal Roberts lived, Chief Baird was thinking about his last days in Cincinnati as a cop. He was born and raised in Fairfield, Ohio, attended college and graduate school at the University of Ohio, where he met his wife and then went on to the Cincinnati Police Department.

Lilly’s worries were obviously a sense of worry for him and the shooting did leave him shaken and not as energetic as he once was on the street. His feelings about the move were mixed. Forge was a calm little town with very little to detect. He and Lilly had been in Forge for less than a year. Their two daughters never moved with them. Their oldest, Tanya, had already started college in Boston by the time they left. Denise would be attending her parents’ alma mater the following year, so she moved in with a friend’s family so she could graduate from her own high school.

The move worked out fairly well. Reasonable hours, very good salary. The Bairds never felt too uncomfortable about being one of the few black families living in Forge, or that there was only one other black officer with the department. Occasionally Baird just felt, ineffective. In Cincinnati, he had closed nearly ninety percent of his homicide cases. That was what he focused on, not whether or not the crime rate rose, just what he was responsible for and it secretly made him proud. Sharing the extolled feelings was not something that he did with anyone, not even Lilly. He did not need to; he was a quiet and humble man.

The only time things were somewhat shaken up around the department was when Mayor Grassle came to believe there was a drug problem at Lincoln High School. This coincided with his wife discovering a small amount of cocaine in their daughter Lee Ann’s desk. Lee Ann was a senior at Lincoln. Mayor Grassle became very aggressive in his dealings with the police to come up with some results that would halt the flow of narcotics into town. He never explained why he was suddenly concerned with drug use amongst teenagers. There did not seem to be a drug problem in Forge and he wanted it kept that way. He also wanted any investigations kept quiet.

Arnold Grassle was a wealthy investor who had been the mayor of Forge for close to ten years. It was primarily an honorary position and he used it mainly for business connections and hiding moneys. After the President made his