AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TOMMY “HOBO” CLARK
The rough land of McMurdoValley kept me alive when my parents refused to see past their madness. If I was hungry, the Valley offered food. When I was wet, the Valley sheltered me. When I was dying, the Valley swaddled me in its power and kept me sane.
No, I think I’m remembering wrong. My survival came down to more than the swells and valleys of this land. I also got lucky with friends who fed me. They offered my sister and me shelter when the cold burned us to the bone or the heat boiled us alive.
Those friends were the lifeline leading me from an unflinchingly cruel childhood to the freedom I found as an adult.
Before I got old enough to take care of myself, I was the property of Laurie and Zeke Clark. She was the shy daughter of a violent preacher. He was the excitable son of a family of thirteen. Zeke had many fanciful ideas about a magical world with no pain or fear. He believed there was a doorway hidden in the Valley to this other place. He claimed the god of that magical realm spoke to him through animals and particular trees. Craving a world less drab than the one her parents embraced, Laurie encouraged Zeke’s wild thinking. Over time, they convinced more unhappy morons to join their tribe in the woods.
Like a gift from the other realm, I was birthed in a puddle near Turtle Cove. My mother claimed I spoke to her on day one.
“I will lead you home,” she would tell me. “Those were your first words.”
By Kourtney’s birth, my parents had gained the following of ten morons, each named after the order they joined with my parents being One and Two. Their cult fed off each other’s insanity.Hunger was good. Pain was a blessing. Shelter was for the weak.And one day, I would act as a key to the other world, leading them to a place with no hunger, pain, or fear.
I don’t know how Kourtney and I survived long enough to fend for ourselves. Little kids are resilient, I guess.
I can't recall a time in my early childhood when I wasn’t in some kind of pain. I rarely felt satisfied. I was always cold or hot. I never felt comfortable. None of that seemed weird until I got to school.
I don’t know why my parents even sent us. They claimed everything we learned was a lie. Maybe they feared the government would hunt them down if they didn’t put Kourtney and me in school.
The cult was happy out there starving in the woods. Together in their madness, they laughed and fucked and sang and rolled around in the mud. I’d watch those people and know on some level how they weren’t right in the head. What could I do as a kid, though?
Eventually, I realized not everyone is always hungry, cold, or in pain. Some kids got to sleep in warm beds with full stomachs.
Despite the free breakfasts and lunches, school wasn’t a picnic. Kourtney and I got hassled for our stinky skin and dirty clothes. Teachers could be cruel, though some were helpful. One principal had us clean up before class. The next one just didn’t care. I learned early on how important the right kind of people were to my survival.
That’s why I stuck close to the kids who were nice to Kourtney and me. Rich kids like Hoyt and Nash would bring us snacks for dinner. A big fucker named Silas would swipe blankets and jackets from his house. Having a saner kind of fundie parents, Martin regularly stole his family’s first aid kits, so I could keep my wounds clean. During bad weather, Rhett let Kourtney and me hide in the basement where his shithead stepdad stuck him.
I didn’t feel so bad about being the poor one in the group. Wade and his sister, Lisa, had it rough, too. Their dad liked to lay into them. My parents rarely beat Kourtney and me. I felt lucky back then.
I’ve always seen myself as the fortunate one. Since the moment she was born during a thunderstorm, Kourtney had things worse. Her heart also hurts easier than mine. She seemed to miss eating more. I remember telling her how all her crying was only making her thirstier. Kourtney lowered her head and cried harder. That was one of the few times I remember crying as a kid. Making my sister sad when she was already low is a regret I can’t forgive.
Not long after high school, Hoyt Macready got himself a job working for the local crime family. Soon, he had his friends doing jobs for the Jordans. I suddenly had cash for food and a little trailer for Kourtney and me.
One day, Hoyt got the big idea in his pretty-boy head to take down the Jordan family. He talked about it with his friends for months. I didn’t see the point in rocking the boat. The Jordans were bad people, but so were many locals. I just knew they paid me enough to let my sister have a roof over her head and clean clothes.
But that’s the thing about a man like Hoyt. He got everything growing up. His parents loved him rotten. His little sister adores him. He never suffered any, so he can’t help having big dreams.
Like many people before and after him, Hoyt Macready wanted to run McMurdo Valley.
I thought his dream was madness. Hoyt was going to ruin a good thing for my sister and me. Same for Wade and Lisa. We came from nothing. Working those jobs for the Jordan family allowed us to escape the filth.
Even disagreeing with Hoyt, I still backed him up when he went berserk on Lil Danny and started a war with the Jordans. My friends always watched out for me. I couldn’t let them bleed alone.
