Leaving Asterville by Ben Hahn

Mr. Harolds stands in front of his ten year-old sons. His pants sag from his distended stomach, revealing a hairy navel, a belly covered with purple stretch marks and a tattoo of a heart around Celine’s name. Seeing his midriff reminds him of better times, days when his torso was hairless, he had a six-pack, and Celine was comatose, not dead. Harolds sighs and looks from his belly to his sons. Both stare at him dumbly. He cracks the belt in his hands, but neither flinches at the sound. Harolds sighs again and looks from one son to the other. He can’t tell the difference.

This is a problem, because if Harolds whips the deaf-mute, Mrs. Jacobson next door is going to call the police and they’ll get social services to put him put in a foster home. He can’t have that. The first time she called the cops on him Harolds was dumbfounded. How the hell did she know he was whipping the deaf-mute if he wasn’t making no noise? When the cop came over that night with Mrs. Jacobson he asked her just that.

“Your belt makes the most recognizable noise in Asterville, Harolds, and when you’re using it, the whole block knows. But when nobody’s screaming after a crack of the belt, I know you ain’t whipping Jimmy here, you goin’ after the dumb one. And it ain’t right to whip a boy like that. And that’s why I called this here cop over.”

The officer made Geoffrey and Jimmy strip down and show him their backs. Jimmy’s welts looked a few days old, but Geoffrey’s were red and raw. When the officer touched them he flinched but made no noise. Satisfied, the officer rose and addressed Harolds and Mrs. Jacobson.

“Yep, that’s the deaf-mute all right what just got whupped. Harolds, you know you can’t be whipping a boy like this. Town won’t stand for it. Look, I understand that a man’s gotta discipline his boys, but when the feller don’t even understand what he’s doin’ it ain’t right to whup him for it.

“I’m just givin’ you a warning this time, but look here, Harolds, you keep your belt on your pants or Jimmy every now and then if necessary, but keep it off Geoffrey or social services is gonna be takin’ that deaf-mute away from you for good, I will see to that myself.”

It was a serious threat with potentially dire consequences. If the deaf-mute goes into foster care, he takes with him all the disability money the government keeps sending each month. Harolds wishes there were some safe way out of this mess, but knows there isn’t. For generations the Harolds have been teaching with the belt, and he is not about to go against tradition. He learned plenty from a belt in his own youth, and his sons need to experience the same. He won’t stand for insolence; he expects to be acknowledged by his own sons in his own house.

He cracks his belt again. No reaction from either boy. He’s just going to have to choose one and go for it. Why a man doesn’t have the right to raise his sons as he pleases is almost beyond Harolds. But if you can’t hear and you can’t speak, obviously something’s a little wrong with your head, and there’s not much justification for beating a mildly retarded kid, even if he is your own son and refuses to pass you the salt at your own dinner table. They both deserve a good whipping, but the deaf-mute’s got the law on his side. Neither one is talking tonight, so no way to tell who’s who till the belt starts cracking.

Harolds looks from son to son. They’re perfectly identical, are even wearing the same clothes. Which is Jimmy and which is Geoffrey? The one on the right looks like he’s smiling just a little bit. Harolds figures he’d be smiling, too, if he knew the cops wouldn’t let his dad lay a belt on him. He turns to the son on the left.

Jimmy stands looking at his dad and smiling. He’s thinking about Petunia. He’s not talking. Geoffrey and him are playing the quiet game. Geoffrey always wins. But Jimmy is doing really good tonight. Geoffrey said if Jimmy could stay quiet for three hours he’d play marbles with him. Jimmy hasn’t made a sound all evening. Thinking about Petunia helps. Petunia’s cute. She goes to Asterville Community School with Jimmy. All the teachers think Jimmy’s a very responsible young man, what with having to look after his twin and all. Petunia thinks it’s cute how he always helps Geoffrey on his homework. Jimmy lets Petunia think what she wants. He likes people to think he’s smart. He likes people to see him helping his twin, and he likes it when the other kids mistake him for Geoffrey. It’s funny when they make pretend sign language. They say, “Hey retard! Can you read my lips? How about my hands?” When Jimmy laughs, they realize that Jimmy is not Geoffrey. Jimmy is not the retard. They all laugh together. The kids try the same joke on Geoffrey. He doesn’t laugh. Jimmy explains that it’s funny. Geoffrey doesn’t get it.

Jimmy’s dad has put Geoffrey up against the wall and Jimmy hears him using the belt on Geoffrey. Jimmy thinks maybe he should say something, but then his dad would probably use the belt on him. Jimmy keeps his mouth shut. He thinks about dinner, and how his dad kept asking Geoffrey to pass the salt. The salt was right in front of Jimmy, but his dad wasn’t asking him. He was asking Geoffrey. Geoffrey was looking down at his soup. Geoffrey didn’t see his dad’s lips till he looked up after Dad banged on the table. But by then dad was too angry to care about the salt. He took off his belt. Jimmy didn’t say anything.

Jimmy’s dad is really angry. “Apologize, goddammit!” he yells at Geoffrey. The phone rings. Jimmy’s dad doesn’t notice it. It rings again. Someone should answer the phone. Jimmy has been so quiet for so long. It rings again. Maybe Jimmy should answer it. He takes the phone off the hook.

“Hello?” he says. Jimmy’s dad hears this and stops whipping Geoffrey. Geoffrey is on the floor. Mrs. Jacobson is on the phone. She is yelling.

“I know you’re beating that retarded boy again, and I want you to know the cops are coming over right now—”

“You sneaky son of a bitch!” yells Jimmy’s dad at Jimmy. He throws the phone to the floor, then Jimmy.

Geoffrey lies on the floor, his back on fire. He sees his dad bent over Jimmy, belting him for all he’s worth. From what Jimmy told him about the last time this happened, the cops should be showing up soon to take him away from his dad for good. The thought almost makes him smile.

His dad will have to find himself a job, something he hasn’t had to do for a long time. Before he used Geoffrey’s disability payments (to fund an alternative education that Geoffrey never received), he lived off the compensation from Celine’s company after her accident on the job. He kept the brain-dead Celine on life support for years, until the company finally said enough was enough, they would no longer pay to support a vegetable’s family. Geoffrey cried the day they unplugged his mom. He was only two when the accident happened, so he couldn’t really remember her, but he had always felt an attachment with her immobile body. She was the only other person he ever met who couldn’t hear or speak. Jimmy always emulates Geoffrey, but he can start talking again whenever he feels like it. Jimmy acting like a deaf-mute doesn’t always provide the best companionship, but tonight it has finally provided change.

Geoffrey worries about what will happen to Jimmy once he’s gone. People have always assumed that Jimmy is the smart brother. Geoffrey has long since stopped complaining about teachers confusing his homework for his brother’s, and started accepting the low grades his brother earned. He responds to both “Geoffrey” and “Jimmy,” although he has learned that people generally refer to him as “the dumb one.” The designation has only held one meaning for most people for a long time, but as much as it hurt to be labeled a retard his whole life, he has finally found the perk to living in a town where that’s only thing you can’t lay a belt to. He’ll soon be leaving.

Geoffrey sees lights flashing on the ceiling, and seconds later feels a rush of cold air as a police officer bursts through the front door. The officer’s head is turned towards his dad, who has stopped belting Jimmy, so Geoffrey can’t see what he’s saying. Another officer enters and approaches Geoffrey. He helps Geoffrey to his feet, and has him to stand next to Jimmy in the kitchen. Mrs. Jacobson stands in the doorway surveying the situation, gesticulating wildly and yelling about something. Tears are running down Jimmy’s face, and Geoffrey feels a pang of guilt about leaving him. Things will be rough at school for Jimmy without Geoffrey to be favorably compared to, and Dad will no longer have to think twice about whether he’s beating the retard or the smart son.

Harolds is led out the door in handcuffs. He nearly trips on his pants, which sag around his ankles. Mrs. Jacobson takes Geoffrey by the hand and leads him out the door towards her house. Jimmy is left alone in his house with three police officers. One officer stands in front of him, and moves his mouth very slowly, exaggerating its movements.

“You’re going to live in a different home from now on, okay? We’re taking you away from your dad. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Geoffrey nods.

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