April 23rd, 1977

Waverly, Iowa

Dad was yelling again.

It was bad this time. Clint heard several times when the sound of shattering glass went skittering across the walls and the floor. Mom was crying and things kept banging on the other side of Barney's bedroom door. The room was dark, lit only by the meager light of a nightlight in the corner and what was coming in the window from the moon.

Clint jumped when the bedroom door thudded on its hinges again. Desperately, he clung on to Barney, scrambling across the disheveled bed-covers and pulling them in around them both like a protective force field. Shadows moved in the crack of light beneath the door.

"Don't worry, Clint," Barney said, his arm around him, "Dad'll get tired soon."

"No, Harold, leave the boys alone!" Clint heard Mom shout from the other side of the door. Dad shouted something incoherent in response.

"He's gonna hit Mom again," Clint said to Barney, barely louder than a whisper.

"She knows that," Barney replied in kind, an odd sort of sadness and horror in his eyes.

The bedroom door thudded again and both boys jumped.

"What if he hits us, too?" Clint asked.

Barney put his hands on Clint's shoulders and pushed him away so that he could look his younger brother square in the eyes.

"Then hit him back," Barney said, a look in his eyes that scared Clint half to death. "Hard as you can, Clint, you hit him back. You got it?"

"You're smothering 'em! Move outta the way, Edith!" Dad's voice boomed from behind the bedroom door. Clint couldn't hear what Mom said in response.

"But Mom doesn't hit him back," Clint said.

"Mom's just... different," Barney said, "it's not the same. But if he hits you, just hit him back, really hard."

"He'll just keep doing it," Clint replied, tears beginning to come to his eyes.

"Then you keep doing it right back," said Barney, "no matter how many times, you give him just as good as you got. No matter what, Clint."

Before Clint could protest again, the door to Barney's bedroom burst open, spilling light from the hallway into the room, and Dad stormed in. Mom was right behind him and scrambled to place herself between Dad and the boys. Dad stumbled to a halt and weaved back and forth a little. A sharp smell filled the air, hurting Clint's nose

"Ain't gonna do 'em any good, doin' this," Dad said to Mom, "someone's gotta teach 'em."

"Harold, they didn't do anything," Mom said, holding out her hands in a placating gesture and trying to sound calm.

"S'tha point, ya stupid bitch," Dad spat out at her, "ain't nothin' about life that don't suck. Someone's gotta show 'em." He tried to take a step toward the boys, but lost his feet and fell to the floor. At length, he fumbled back up and gave a horrendous glare to Mom. "S'how it's gonna be, huh?" he spat at her. "You against me again?"

"Harold, I didn't-"

"Don't talk back ta me, little whore!" Dad pulled back a fist and sent it flying at Mom. It hit home on the side of her jaw and sent her reeling.

Clint felt Barney jump next to him. He moved to leave the bed and run towards Mom and Dad. Terrified, Clint grasped on to him harder, preventing him from going anywhere. Barney tried to move again, but Clint held on even harder. Finally, Barney gave up the battle and shifted so that he was a little more in front of Clint instead.

Dad's hand flew out again. This time, he grasped on to Mom's wrist and began to pull her toward the bedroom door.

"C'mon, Edith, we're going for a ride," Dad said.

"Harold, that's not a good idea," Mom protested, shaking her hand loose.

"You wanna go again, you little cunt?" Dad hollered back. "I'll just finish with you and then the boys'll learn. That what you want?"

"No! Harold, no!" Mom said back, panic in her voice. There was a long pause and she squared her shoulders. "All right, fine," she said, "I'll go with you."

"Mom!" Clint cried out a sudden feeling of utter dread filling him. This time it was Barney's turn to hold Clint back. He had to get to Mom, he had to stop her. Even if it meant getting hit. He had to stop this and keep Mom from leaving.

"It's all right, sweety," Mom said, looking back to the boys for a moment. It was hardly a comfort as there was terror and tears in her eyes. "Just stay right here with Barney. Everything will be fine."

"Momma, don't go with him!" Clint pleaded.

"Shut yer hole, ya little brat!" Dad shouted.

"Shh, it's all right, Clint," Mom said over her shoulder, "I know what I'm doing. It'll be fine."

Dad grasped on to Mom's hand again and he started to pull her from the room.

"Momma, please!" Clint shouted after them.

"Just stay right there, boys!" Mom shouted back to them both. A moment later, they heard the front door slam.

"Something's gonna happen!" Clint sobbed into Barney's shoulder.

"No, it's not, Clint," Barney said, "everything'll be all right. You'll see."

"Why did she leave with him?!" Clint choked out, still sobbing. "She just left us here! Why did she just leave us here!?"

Barney didn't seem to have anything more to say to that. He didn't speak for the rest of the night. Not when the neighbor, Mrs McKinley, stopped by a few minutes later to check on them. Not when the police came to the door and said a lot of stuff that Clint didn't understand.

But there was one thing that Clint did understand. His parents had left and they were not coming back.