Dog in a Cage

They called him dangerous. And wild. And said watch out, you don't know when he's liable to turn on you. He wasn't wild. Or dangerous. And he only ever turned on anyone that one time, and he paid for it, and he learned his lesson. He had been like a dog in a cage poked with sticks until he exploded. Poke anyone with sticks long enough, and they'll blow up. Turn into something else. Just a matter of how long you poked, and did you use the right sticks?

For Jimmy it was his big brother Will. That was the only stick his stepdad had needed. Will ran away five years ago, and all they'd heard from him since was one phone call to his old girlfriend. He called her on Christmas the year after he left. Said Merry Christmas and he still loved her. Jimmy's stepdad hated Will. For leaving. For being unbendable. For working out from under his thumb. Will was an iron bar Mr. Stepdad couldn't break, bend, or budge. He drove him away. Everyone knew it. But he kept at Jimmy about it. Your brother this. Your brother that. Your brother, probably queer. Your brother, couldn't take living with you. This is all your fault. Day and night. He never let up with that stuff. When he drank, which was most of the time, it was worse. His eyes would light up like tail lights, red and brittle.

Jimmy's mom was no help to anyone. She was gone to two different jobs, and probably two different men, too. If she knew what was happening at home, she didn't say anything about it. So it was Jimmy and the stepdad. Jimmy more alone than if he'd been by himself. Always thinking about Will. Worrying about him too. Will was a good kid, but not the toughest nut on the tree. Jimmy neither.

He cracked, his shell split down the middle, and he attacked old stepdad with a chair. Bought himself three years in juvie, and when he came out just last month, everyone started up with the dangerous and wild talk. History's written by the survivor. And Mr. Stepdad had survived the chair with nothing more than two teeth out and a scar on his forehead in the shape of a fish hook.