fairly empty. She had been to the place many times, but today for the first time she actually stopped at the entrance and looked at it. It was a very cozy bar, not very big, but looked very friendly. She noticed one couple occupying one of the tables and she also noticed several men sitting at the bar sipping drinks. She noticed that they all turned and looked at her. She was used to men looking at her, but this time, she was looking back trying to figure out if any one of them looked like a man who would be what she thought of. She was actually hoping she would recognize him, but what would a man like that look like? Most of the patrons turned their attention to their drinks when they recognized the girl as a regular at the place, even though they had not seen her in a while. One man was looking at her more intensely, she thought, but when she looked back, he had turned around and was paying attention to his drink. As promised, she sat at the back corner table. She waited until a little past 7:00 when she decided to leave, disappointed.
Austin’s first instinct when he saw her walk into the bar was to jump up, run to her and hold her very tight and never let go. His legs, however, froze and he was glued to his bar stool. His heart started beating in a way he thought was gone forever. He could not take his eyes away from her but when she started turning her head toward him to look back, he cowered, looked down at his drink and tried to conceal himself the rest of the evening. Every now and then, he would steal a look in her direction, but every time he did that, he thought she was looking right at him.
A couple of men kept looking at her throughout the evening, but when neither of them approached her, she realized neither of them was the man she was waiting for. The man at the bar caught her attention and when he did not approach, she was genuinely disappointed. She waited a while past 7:00 before she decided to leave. Even though she had hoped that her evening would have been better and she would meet her savior, she thought that at least her problem was solved and she knew that tonight, for the first time in months, she would finally sleep.
CHAPTER THREE
This part of north central Texas, Johnson County, had been named generations ago for the very wealthy and influential Johnson family. The family fortune kept growing with each new generation. Recently Al Johnson Sr. had died, leaving his substantial estate to be run by his three sons. The oldest, Al Jr. was over six feet tall and in his late forties and ran the family factories employing nearly half the county’s working population. After his father died, he dropped the JR. part of his name. The second son, Tommy, was slightly shorter than Al. He was the district judge and ruled the county with an iron fist. The only other judge in the county aligned himself with Judge Johnson and served on the same ticket. No one would run against the Johnsons. A few unfortunate accidents happened to a couple of spirited lawyers who showed an interest in running against the judge that forced them to withdraw from the race. None of the county’s lawyers liked to deal with him, but they had no choice. It seemed he had his own set of laws. Even though most generations of the Johnsons clan were decent and tried to be fair, this particular generation had its own scruples - or lack there of. The county’s population had to endure through the good and the bad and knew that sooner or later this generation would be gone. They could hope that the next one would be better, even though it was not looking promising.
The third son, Bruce, was the shortest of the three, at about five feet five inches. He had a noticeable beer belly that hung heavily over his thick belt and oversized belt buckle. Everyone called him Butch and everyone in the county avoided having to deal with him. He was the county’s sheriff and the judge’s enforcer. No one ever ran against him either. Rumor has it that one such person, a retired Dallas police officer tried and is now buried somewhere on the Johnson ranch. There had never been any evidence of foul play, but it was common knowledge. The guy just vanished from the face of the Earth. The irony of all this is that the Johnsons were not afraid to hint to the fact, knowing that mentioning such incidents would instill fear in the population. The sad part was that they were right. The brothers seemed to have total control of the county.
The elder Johnsons, as they were called now, had one son each. Oddly, they were born just days apart, although there had been a few years between each brother’s marriage. It was as if they were waiting for all three to marry before they had any kids.
Randy, the oldest, was Al’s son. Jeffrey was Tommy’s and the youngest, David, belonged to Butch. They were good-looking boys and their family resemblance was remarkable. People attributed that to always seeing them together. When they were growing up, Randy was always the ringleader and even though he was challenged on several occasions by either one of his cousins, he always managed to come out on top, either through his own abilities or the intervention of the elders. By the time they were eighteen they were infamous in Johnson County for being spoiled hoodlums. Even with their tarnished reputations, local girls were interested in going out with the young Johnsons. Not just for their looks, but also because of their wealth and the stature of the family in this part of Texas. It was known that if a young woman marries one of the boys, they would never have to work for a living. It was understood, of course, that the boys would never treat them with respect, but for some girls, who never had much of anything, this didn’t seem very important. And of course there always is that famous statement: it will be different with me.
When the boys were young they were in trouble every time they made a move. At first it was simple pranks, minor stuff that annoyed people more than anything. Certainly no one dared press charges. Everyone turned a blind eye to their pesky activities. The boys wanted a tag, a label to unify them and signify their strength as a unit. They called themselves the “Three Musketeers“ or the “Three Amigos“. The town called them the “Three Hoodlums“ not to their face of course, not even within earshot. As the boys grew older, the pranks became more serious. Their teasing grew vicious, vindictive and destructive. During one incident, when the boys were about fourteen, they caught a little girl’s cat, tied a rope around its neck, hung it from a tree and used it as a piñata. When the cat made noise, and it made a lot of noise, it was an easy target, even with blindfolds. They took turns beating the cat until it was dead. They did this while the girl watched. When the girl would attempt to leave, one of the boys would hold her down and force her to watch some more and the more she cried, the louder the boys shouted with glee. The mindless cruelty of this act alarmed and frightened the residents of this little town. They went out of their way to avoid them. The more vicious their acts became, the prouder their fathers were of the boys.
There were decent members of the Johnson family. Such as the mothers of the brats, but as with previous generations of women in that family, they learned to keep their mouths shut. If they tried to talk to their husbands about the kids’ behavior, they would get slapped, and always right in front of the boys. To keep what was left of their dignity, they learned to live in silence. The townspeople treated them with love and respect; after all, they were their own. The elder Mrs. Johnson was still living but, heartbroken, had given up on her boys a long time ago. She lived in a modest three-bedroom house outside of town.
The first serious incident happened on Randy’s eighteenth birthday. The boys went drinking and took along two local girls, fifteen-and sixteen-year-olds. The next morning the girls were found at the local lake where they had been dumped the night before. They had been raped and badly beaten. The parents of the girls had had enough of the boys and went to court demanding justice. They had to settle with a threat issued by the judge to the three boys and for the first time, he actually issued the boys a warning that if they get caught doing anything like this again, he would personally throw them in jail. The boys did not take him seriously, though they showed concern for the benefit of the girls’ families. They knew they would go home and laugh about it. They found these incidents amusing.
They grew up watching their fathers beat their mothers. At first they would get mad at them and talk about it among themselves in private, but after a few years of this, they just got used to it and figured that’s how things were supposed to be and couldn’t figure out what all the fuss was about when they beat up the girls.
As weak as justice was, the families had to live with it. They couldn’t convince the district attorney to press charges, and when the judge heard about it, they all received warnings of employment termination. They all worked for the Johnsons. The medical bills were paid for, however.
Burleson