My mom and Paul were in AA. They would go to meetings and be gone anywhere from a couple hours to 6. On one of these nights we had artichokes for dinner and my mom asked if I could heat one up for my younger brother Alex. I put the butter in a pan and put it on the stove to melt for dipping. I want to say I was 10 at the time, I could have been 11. We both had a bowl of cereal while we waited for everything to heat up. Alex and I sat in the living room watching M.A.S.H. When I was done with my cereal I asked Alex to take my bowl out to the kitchen. We sat and watched the rest of the episode. After the show I went to the bathroom and while I was in there Paul and my mom got home. Paul went into the kitchen where there was a pan boiling with a bowl sitting on top of it. Alex had set the bowl on top of the butter pan. When Paul lifted the bowl off the pan it combusted. Paul being the genius he was took the pan to the sink and turned the water on full blast. My mom saw what he was doing and she grabbed the fire extinguisher and sprayed the pan just as the water went on. I was in the living room. I saw the flames rolling across the ceiling. The front door was still open from them walking in. The flames traveled from the sink up along the ceiling through the dining room across the living room and out the front door. It was just a 5 second flash but it left lines all along the ceiling. My mom probably saved Paul's life. The butter splattered from the water and got his hand really bad. There were also some burns on his neck and face. I was sure I was going to get it pretty bad for this. I was worried if he was ok and I wanted to tell what happened but I needed to get away.
I went to bed that night while Paul was still at the hospital. When I woke up the next morning I got dressed and left the house as fast as I could. I rode my bike up to the park. I played for a few hours mostly on the swings. The swing had a hard blue plastic seat. It was fun to stand on the seat and swing standing up. I would jump out of the seat when I was sitting down trying to see how much distance I could get. There were a few trails around that had jumps. I would ride in circles around the neighborhood or I would ride to the school looking for someone to play with. I had gotten good at staying away from the house. I tried to avoid the main roads. I wanted to give Paul some time to calm down. I avoided him for a few days. When I saw him at the house I made sure to stay in whatever room my mom was in or I stayed away from him. I had a fear of being alone with him.
He and my mom were going to a meeting and told me to be home at 6. I took off on my bike and went to the park to keep an eye out for them. Around 6:30 I saw our baby blue Ford LTD drive past and mom wasn't in the car. It was not too uncommon for mom to stay out with friends from AA. I stayed a block from the house and Paul came back out of the house. He was looking for me. I turned and headed down the road but he saw me. He jumped in the car and came flying down the road after me. All I could think of was Gus. I thought he was going to hit me with the car the way he did my dog. He pulled up ahead of me and jumped out of the car and stopped me. The way he came rushing up made me tense up in preparation of getting hit. He saw how afraid I was and stopped about a foot away. His demeanor changed. He told me my mom wanted him to pick me up, we were going to go out to dinner. His left hand, nose and forehead were bandaged with gauze. He told me to leave my bike there we would pick it up when we got back so I put it on the other side of the ditch in the bushes. When I was crossing back across the ditch he asked me why I set the fire. I told him I was heating up the butter and Alex put the bowl on top of it. I was opening the door to the car as I answered. Paul punched me in the back of my head with his good hand and I fell against the car. Paul started yelling at me not to try and put the blame on Alex. He started kicking me and stomping on my legs. I started crying and he stopped. He had been steadying himself with his right hand on the open door as he kicked me, when he stopped he slammed the door on me. He went and got in the car and headed back to the house. I got my bike and headed home.
When I got home I got ready for dinner and went and sat in the car. Paul didn't say another word to me that night. The next day my elbow was swollen and had some bruising. I told my mom I fell skateboarding in the garage. It was something we all did, we all lied about things and covered them up so mom could be happy. We remember how bad she got when my dad left. She took me to the hospital and at the hospital when the doctor asked how it had happened I told him. My mom just looked at me. The doctor had me lift my shirt and there were bruises all across my back and on my legs. The doctor turned to look at my mom and she kind of shrugged, after an awkward pause she said "Oh... Leonard, I am so sorry I had no idea." The doctor shook his head and walked out of the room. My mom followed him and stopped him in the hall to talk. He laid into her pretty good. I heard him ask how she could not know. She convinced the doctor this was the first time and that she was going to leave Paul. The doctor let us all go home but he did report it to the police. After that the state was much more involved in our lives. We had been to foster homes a couple times but now there were monthly check ups. It seems like that should have been a good thing that helped... It wasn't.
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