Terror by Night Read online

  Penny met me at the library’s front door. The minute I saw her, I knew something was seriously wrong.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked.

  “Mandy showed me Charlie’s MySpace page. You need to see this.”

  We entered the library and went to the computer tables. Penny sat down at the terminal and brought up Charlie’s page. The instant I saw it, I felt my face flush.

  “How can Erin even like someone like this?” I asked.

  Penny just shook her head.

  Charlie’s page was filled with references to drinking and sex. One person had posted a message telling Charlie to bring his b---- of a girlfriend over for the weekend so they could get drunk and have sex.

  What was on that page was the exact opposite of everything we believed in, everything we had ever taught Erin. I couldn’t understand it. Erin had always been a good kid who made good choices. But it seemed that over the last six months all of that had gone out the window.

  “He’s going to take Erin down with him,” Penny said.

  “No, he’s not,” I replied. “We’re putting a stop to this today.”

  CONFRONTATION

  That evening, after supper and before church, I asked the boys to go up to their rooms for a little while.

  “Erin,” I said, “we need to talk to you.”

  She sat down on the couch, and we sat in our chairs, opposite her. “We looked at Charlie’s MySpace page today,” I said.

  Erin looked at the floor.

  “It’s filled with profanity and four-letter words. There are liquor bottles on it. They’re talking about getting drunk and having sex. Erin, you weren’t raised like that. Your mother and I have tried to give you some room to make your own decisions, but that’s over now, at least where Charlie is concerned. We know you like this boy, but what we saw on his MySpace page goes against what we believe is best for you and everything we have ever taught you. When you’re eighteen, you can make your own decisions about the guys you run around with, but for now, we’re still in charge. This relationship ends today.”

  I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I had expected. Erin had grown very disrespectful and smart-mouthed lately. But she didn’t blow up or spout off at us. Instead, tears filled Erin’s eyes, and she started to cry.

  “I’ve wanted to break up with Charlie for a while, but I just don’t know how to do it.”

  “Just tell him it’s over,” I said. “Blame it on us if you want to. You can do it tonight at church,” I said. “Just be sure that you do it in a public place, like the church parking lot. That way there will be other people around.”

  Erin nodded.

  “You’d better go up and finish getting ready for church,” I said.

  After Erin went upstairs to her bedroom, I put my arm around Penny. A sense of relief washed over both of us. It had been a rocky six months since Charlie had entered our lives, and both Penny and I were ready for it to be over. We hoped that at last our lives could get back to normal.

  PHONE CALL

  I didn’t go to church with my family that night. Between the stress of losing my dad and everything we’d gone through with Erin and Charlie, I just wanted to be alone and rest. As I sat in my recliner, watching TV and enjoying the peace and quiet, the phone rang. It was our church’s youth director.

  “Mr. Caffey, this is Sarah. Is Penny there?”

  “They haven’t gotten home yet, Sarah. Can I help you?”

  “I just wanted to check and see if they were okay. Erin just broke up with Charlie, and they both seemed to be pretty upset. Charlie spun out of the church parking lot.”

  “Thanks for letting me know, Sarah. I’ll keep an eye out for them.”

  It wasn’t long before Penny’s van pulled into the driveway. When they came into the house, Erin stormed up to her room without saying a word.

  After the boys went to their rooms to get ready for bed, I told Penny about Sarah’s call and asked what was going on.

  “Sarah told me that she heard someone pealing out of the church parking lot. She went outside to see what the commotion was and learned that it was Charlie. He was really mad. I was embarrassed by what he did.”

  “Well, I’m glad it’s over,” I said.

  I went upstairs and knocked on Erin’s door.

  “Come in,” she said.

  I opened the door and poked my head in. “You okay?”

  She looked up at me. “I’ll be fine.”

  I could see from her red eyes that she’d been crying.

  I went in and sat down beside her on her bed. “I know that was hard to do,” I said, trying to find some words of comfort for Erin. “It may not seem like it now, but it’ll all blow over in time. He’s not the only boy in the world.”

  Erin nodded.

  I kissed her good night and went back downstairs.

  “How’s she doing?” Penny asked.

  “She’s upset, but I think she’ll be okay.”

  Penny and I sat up in bed, talking for a long time about Erin and Charlie, the loss of my dad, and everything else that had been going on lately. The general consensus was that we were glad it was all over.

  “It’s been quite a storm, hasn’t it?” Penny said.

  “Yeah, but it’s over now.”

  I had no idea the storm was only beginning.

  Chapter 3

  The Last Good Times

  Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above,

  coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is

  no variation or shifting shadow. —JAMES I:I7

  WHEN I WENT to work on Thursday, I felt as if a ten-ton weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Erin had been dating Charlie for only a few months, but it had felt like years. I hadn’t realized how stressed we’d all been until that tension was removed. For the first time in months, it felt as if the clouds had lifted and the sun was shining again.

  Penny and I talked it over and decided that maybe we all needed a little getaway to help us forget the difficulties of the past few weeks, and we knew just the place. We decided to surprise the kids with the news that evening.

  We were all in our pj’s, sitting around the dining-room table and playing a game of SKIP-BO. It had been a pleasant evening.

  “Kids,” Penny said, “we’ve got a surprise for you.”

  “What is it?” asked Tyler, his blue eyes sparkling.

  “Well,” she continued, “we’re overdue for a family trip, and we thought it might be nice to get away for a few days next weekend.”

  “Where?” asked Matthew.

  Penny and I flashed each other a knowing grin.

  “Arkansas,” I said.

  The kids whooped in delight. They all knew exactly where in Arkansas I meant. Our favorite family getaway was Petit Jean State Park, northwest of Little Rock. We’d visited the park several times, and the children loved going there.

  Overlooking Cedar Creek Canyon, Petit Jean Mountain had a mystique all its own. The park took its name from the legend of Petit Jean (“Little John”), the nickname given to a young woman whose fiancé had been commissioned by the French government to explore the Louisiana Territory. Not wanting to be separated from her love, she cut her hair, disguised herself as a cabin boy, and joined the expedition. The sailors nicknamed her Petit Jean. She survived the Atlantic crossing and traveled with the explorers. Eventually, Petit Jean became gravely ill. On her deathbed, she revealed her identity to her fiancé and asked to be buried on the mountain she had come to love.

  We didn’t know whether or not the legend was true; we loved the place for its sheer beauty.

  “Can we hike down the canyon trail again?” Matthew asked.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Mama will have to be more careful this time,” Tyler added, giggling.

  One of our favorite things to do there was to hike to the bottom of Cedar Creek Canyon, where Cedar Falls comes crashing down ninety-five feet into a serene pool. It’s a tough
hike, and the last time we went down, Penny slipped on some wet rocks and fell.

  “Can we stop in Hot Springs, too?” Erin asked. She and Penny loved shopping in the little shops on the strip.

  “We can go to Hot Springs,” I said. “But we’d better make sure Matthew remembers his luggage this time.”

  The kids laughed. On a previous trip to Hot Springs, we were unloading our luggage in the motel parking lot when Matthew asked, “Where’s mine?”

  He had packed his suitcase but forgot to load it in the car. It sat at home, more than five hours away. He started to cry, but we told him it would be okay. We’d just go to Wal-Mart and get him what he needed for the trip. That was a costly vacation, but it was well worth it. We all laughed about it later.

  Our game of SKIP-BO went on, and I felt as if all of us were on the same page for the first time in months.

  A HEAVEN-SENT OPPORTUNITY

  Our family trip to Arkansas would have to wait a week because I was on emergency call that weekend. My job with Praxair often required me to cover large distances, setting up hospital beds or installing oxygen concentrators in patients’ homes. I also had to make “death calls,” which meant picking up equipment after a patient had died. I spent much of my day driving from one location to another, often lifting heavy equipment into and out of my van.

  I enjoyed my work, but it was physically demanding and tiring. And although we were able to make ends meet on my salary, we had to stay on a pretty strict budget. There wasn’t much left over for savings or extras. That’s why we felt that God was pouring out blessings when Penny called me that morning.

  “Terry, a man named Ben Draper from The Henry Group in Greenville just called. He wants to know if you’d come in for a job interview.”

  The Henry Group has a small factory just outside Greenville where they make industrial ovens. I’d put in a résumé there more than two years earlier but had never heard anything in response. I had long since forgotten about it.

  “You’re kidding,” I said.

  “No. He told me that your résumé kept popping up on his desk and he felt that God wanted him to talk to you. Do you think you could get over to see him?”

  “When does he want me to come?”

  “About three,” Penny said.

  “I can take a late lunch and see him then.”

  I could hardly believe it. This had to be from God. How or why my résumé kept showing up on this man’s desk, I didn’t know, but I was very excited. All my calls were in town that day, near The Henry Group’s factory, so that afternoon I headed down Highway 34 to interview for a new job.

  From the moment I walked into Ben Draper’s office, I felt this was a God-ordained meeting. On the wall behind his desk hung a small plaque with the words Stand Firm in bold letters. Just below those words was the Scripture verse “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12, NIV).

  “I love that plaque,” I said.

  Ben smiled. “So do I,” he said. “I told your wife that your résumé keeps turning up on my desk. Normally we throw them out after two years, but for some reason we kept this one. I figured that God must want me to talk to you.”

  Meeting with Ben felt more like a visit with an old friend than a job interview. As we talked, Ben and I discovered that we had a lot in common. He was a Christian and had decided a year ago to enter the ministry. I told him that I’d been heading in that direction for a while myself and that, in fact, my church was going to ordain me in April.

  When the interview was over, Ben told me that I could have the job if I wanted it.

  I was delighted, but I also knew this was something that Penny and I needed to discuss. “Let me go home and talk to my wife. We’ll pray about it and get back to you,” I told him.

  It was pushing four o’clock when I headed back to the office. My day was almost finished, and I was looking forward to getting home.

  LATE CALL

  Back at the Praxair office in downtown Greenville, I began to make preparations to close out my day. I was going to be on call that weekend, so I needed to make sure my van was stocked with everything I might need. I had already delivered and set up a hospital bed, done several oxygen setups, and had a death call. All of that added to the excitement of the job interview had made for an exhausting day. As five o’clock drew near, I was ready for some quiet time and rest with my family.

  I was just about to leave when the call came in. Somebody in Dallas needed an oxygen setup. I groaned. That would mean at least another four hours of work. I wasn’t happy about it, but I was on call and had no choice.

  As I pulled out of the parking lot, I called Penny to break the news. Matthew answered.

  “Hey, Matthew, how you doin’?”

  “Okay.”

  “Let me talk to Mama,” I said.

  When Penny came on the line, I said, “I just got a call for an oxygen setup in Dallas. Looks like it’s going to be a late night and a long weekend.”

  Penny was sympathetic, as always. “I’m sorry. Do you have any idea of how long you’ll be? Tommy’s over here. He and Helen would like to take us all out for dinner.”

  I smiled. Tommy and Helen Gaston were our next-door neighbors and our dearest friends. In fact, Tommy and Helen were more than friends to us. They were practically parents. We had known them for years, ever since Penny began singing and playing piano in Tommy’s southern gospel group. We weren’t literally part of The Gaston family, but we might as well have been. I even had taken to calling Helen “Mama” because she was like a mother to me. One of the reasons we had bought that particular property in Alba was that we’d be living next door to Tommy and Helen. They loved to do things for us, and an invitation to take the whole family out to eat was not unusual. I hated to say no, but I was going to be back way too late to go out to dinner.

  “I’m sorry, honey,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll be back until nine or ten. Ask him if we can take a rain check.”

  The sun was setting in the western sky as I wheeled the van southward on Highway 34, toward Terrell. I needed to stop by our office there to pick up more oxygen concentrators. I was glad to be able to call Penny on my cell phone as I drove. I wasn’t happy about having to work late that night, but at least I could have some company.

  “So, how’s Erin doing?” I asked.

  “She seems fine,” replied Penny.

  “Have you heard anything from Charlie?”

  “No, all’s quiet. Why? Do you think he’ll do something?”

  “Probably not,” I said. At first I had thought he might try some pranks or other kinds of harassment, but it looked as if that wasn’t going to be a problem.

  “What are the boys doing?” I asked.

  “Watching TV.”

  We talked for quite a while, reflecting on the events of the past few days. It was good to have all the turmoil of Charlie behind us. Things would be better now, we agreed. And Erin would be happier, too.

  I arrived at Praxair’s Terrell office a little before six. I knew it was going to be a while before I ate supper, so I grabbed a Dr. Pepper and a banana-nut muffin from the refrigerator and then loaded the oxygen concentrators into my van.

  As I had expected, it was after nine o’clock when finally I drove south on Highway 69 toward Alba. My mind raced as I thought of recent events. In just a little over a week I had lost my dad, cleaned out his apartment, held an estate sale, planned a funeral, made my daughter break up with her boyfriend, and received an offer out of the blue for a new job. It had been a rough couple of weeks, but all things considered, I felt that things were looking up.

  Our future definitely appeared bright.

  THE LAST GOOD TIME

  I pulled the van into our driveway around nine thirty and breathed a deep sigh of relief. It had been a fourteen-hour workday, but at last I was home. Penny came out to meet me, as she had eve
ry time I had come home from work for the previous nineteen years. We kissed and went inside. The kids were watching a movie, and Penny went to warm up my dinner.

  As I sat at the table eating spaghetti and garlic toast, Penny and I talked about the events of the day. We didn’t discuss my new job opportunity, though. We didn’t want to talk about it in front of the children until there was something definite to tell them.

  After a few minutes, Penny asked if I’d mind if she got ready for bed. It had been a busy day for her, too, and she was tired. She wanted to get in bed and read for a while.

  “No,” I said. “Go ahead. I won’t be far behind. I’m worn out.”

  Penny kissed the boys good night, but when she got to Erin, she asked, “Are you sure you gave back all of Charlie’s things?”

  Erin nodded. “Yes.”

  Penny pulled a pair of dog tags from her pocket and handed them to Erin. “Then why did I find Charlie’s dog tags in your room?” she asked.

  Erin flushed and grinned sheepishly.

  “See to it that you give them back,” said Penny as she kissed Erin good night.

  I tried to finish my supper, but Penny had served me way too much food. On top of that, I was exhausted. Since my on-call weekends were usually quite full, I expected a busy Saturday. I decided to scrape what was left on my plate into the trash and head to bed. What followed was one of those parent-child moments that I might have quickly forgotten but now remains etched in my memory.

  I don’t know how I managed it, but when I went to scrape my plate, I spilled the spaghetti all over the floor. To make matters worse, when I tried to clean it up, I slipped on the mess and came crashing down in a heap on top of the plastic trash can.

  That’s when I heard the laughter.

  Led by Matthew, all three kids were doubled over, whooping and laughing hysterically at the spectacle of their father sprawled in a pile of spaghetti sauce and trash.