Roman Halloween

In this episode of The Roman Files we'll join Roman in 1975 as Rev Rob is about to turn Roman's world upside down in the hopes of saving his son from the sugar high and a television wasteland...  Rev Rob goes from the church to the university as he trades in his collar for a position as professor... while helping a disadvantaged young mentally handicapped man find a place in society turns into a night of terror for poor Roman when a Halloween storm knocks out the power to the Bailey's pre-civil war home...

Transcript

ROMAN HALLOWEEN 

OCTOBER 1975

         The afternoon sun was already low enough in the living room window to cast a blinding shaft of light into Roman’s eyes, obscuring Barbara Eden’s voluptuous body as re-runs of “I dream of Jeanie” played on the Bayley family’s one TV, a Magnavox Panavision color television that was the focal point of the living room. 

      Roman, like many pre-teen boys, watched the program mainly due to the leading lady, Miss Eden, who Roman had a boyhood crush on. In his mind there wasn’t a woman on TV that could compete with her sex appeal… just ask the ten million pre-teen boys that tuned in every week on NBC.

      He was lounging on the sofa, his feet hanging off the arm, eating a Payday candy bar, his favorite afternoon snack. It was a perfect combination of peanuts and nugget. He reached around to grab the cold Coca-Cola bottle on the coffee table and washed the candy bar down… life is good, candy makes it better. 

      “Hey! Surprise, surprise… look who’s here” Roman said to his dad in his best Gomer Pyle voice, as Robert Bailey walked into the living room and strolled right over to the very TV that Roman was watching and unplugged it. Then Rob rolled up the cord and proceeded to pick the TV up and walk out of the living room with it.

      “What the hell!” Roman exclaimed as he bolted upright in indignation. “I’m watching that… as if you didn’t notice!” Roman started caterwauling as Rob walked away saying nothing.

      Roman jumped to his feet and followed Rob down the hall… “Just what in the world do you think you’re doing?!” Roman demanded. He was waving his arms up and down, trying to get his father’s attention… “You can’t just walk in and yank the TV out without so much as an explanation you know?” Roman was getting angrier by the second… “This isn’t right! It’s not fair! I haven’t done anything wrong to deserve this!” Roman cried foul.

Still Rob hadn’t uttered a word, he walked down the hallway to the stairs leading up to the second floor… and started going up the staircase. “What are you going do? Put it in Erin Rose’s room?! She doesn’t even hardly ever watch TV! That’s crazy! I just don’t get it… Why are you doing this to me?!” Roman wailed at his father’s back as he followed him up the stairs.

      As they reached the second floor and the door to his sister’s room, Roman yelled for her to get out here and tell dad to put the TV back in the living room. Erin Rose probably heard all the commotion going on outside her door but remained silent, and hidden away in her sanctuary listening to John Denver’s “Sunshine on the water, looks so lovely…” Roman couldn’t stand his sister’s taste in music, come on… John fucking Denver, seriously? David the faggot Cassidy? She was getting weirder every day. Roman jammed out with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Elton John… the only music worth listening to in his humble opinion.

      Oddly enough Rob wasn’t going into ER’s room. He walked right past and opened the door that lead up to the attic. “What in the world have I done for you to be doing this to me?!” Roman pleaded. “I don’t understand… I just don’t understand…” he said over and over as Rob walked up the remaining steps and sat the TV down.

      Rob remained silent as he closed the door to the attic and then locked it with the master key. CLICK. The lock fell into place with a finality that sent Roman into a fevered state. “This… Boop-tube… is rotting your mind… here on out - you can read books or listen to music, write or draw… but no more TV in this house… it’ll stay in the attic until I decide otherwise!” Rob’s voiced boomed with the authority of a man who had long ago made his decision. 

      “That’s crazy! That’s insane! What are you trying to do to me?! I don’t understand what I’ve done! You’re acting like a crazy person!” Roman cried begging his father to change his mind. “Oh… and another change around here… NO MORE SUGAR!” Rob added as the final coup de gras. This was the fuse that sent Roman into outer orbit… he started jumping up and down, arms flapping like a bird unable to take flight… it was as if Roman had grabbed a hold of a live wire and was dancing in the hallway with electricity shooting through his body. 

Nooooo…. Noooooo…. Nooooo! You can’t do that! What are you saying?! There’s no way you can do that! I have to have sugar! I need it! What’s wrong with you?!” Roman wailed in protest. Rob folded his arms over his chest and looked down at his son with an expression of great concern… “Just look at you, you’re acting like a junkie… who needs a fix. Jumping up and down, carrying on like a madman… I mean, seriously Roman… look what sugar is doing to your brain? It’s got you all hopped up like you’re on drugs… you’re not being yourself right now… after all the sugar is out of your system, you’ll see the difference.” Rob spoke coolly and calmly to roman, who was by this point foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog, his eyes bulging out of his head like a crazed lunatic ready to go on a killing spree.

      “YOU CAN’T STOP ME FROM EATING SUGAR!” Roman screamed. “I’ll go to my friend’s homes and eat there! I’ll go to the store and eat it there! I’ll eat it whenever I want! As much as I want! YOU CAN’T STOP ME!” He was bouncing up and down just like… just like a junkie desperate for his next fix.

      Professor Bailey, or Professor Rob as his  students referred to him, having turned in his reverend title for professor.... [deleted]  At the age of thirty-seven he had hoped this job would lead him to salvation… or tenure, as the other adjunct professors referred to it.

      After finishing a lecture on the effects of sugar on the brains of children… akin to that of a junkie joneses for their next fix, he felt that it was time to make some changes. He hated that Roman was so upset with him, but knew in his heart that it was for the kids’ best interest to curb his growing addiction to sugar… not to mention the countless hours he was spending watching all that crap on TV… hadn’t they just finally pulled him out of the weeds of dyslexia? Only to see Roman’s grades begin to slip once more… no, no… he had to do something and in the end he knew Roman would benefit whether he liked it or not.

      Not only was Rob teaching, but he also moonlighted as a counselor down at the regional mental health center… teaching salaries seemed to be shrinking every time the state re-worked their budget while the legislation’s pay just kept going up. One of his pet projects was a program that helped to integrate the mentally disabled into society as functioning, tax paying, responsible citizens. 

      Clint was Rob’s current subject, a twenty year old male who had been in and out of programs his entire life. Clint lived in a halfway house for people who suffered from a mental disability, they tried to find them jobs where they could earn a living wage and slowly insert them into taking care of themselves… not only were the state funded schools hurting for funds, but the mental health centers around the country were feeling the financial belt beginning to tighten as well. 

      Far better for people like Clint to learn how to make it on their own, than be institutionalized for the rest of their lives, or until they were dumped out into the streets to fend for themselves. Rob had a keen interest for people who suffered mental illness… his wife, Mora was a diagnosed schizophrenic with substance abuse tendencies and it caused a certain strain on their marriage, as did his other issues he constantly struggled with such as his own sexuality, the juggling act he performed on a daily basis between being married to a woman like Mora… and being sexually attracted to men. 

      Rob was doing the best he could keeping all of the plates he had going… spinning… so far. Next week he would check with Clint’s case worker if it would be alright for him to stay with them for a while as Clint was starting a new job not far from where they lived. It would be a big step for Clint if he was able to successfully integrate himself into a family unit… then perhaps he might be able to live on his own. Only time would tell. 

      Roman was munching on a Payday candy bar that he had squirreled away in his bedroom when his father, Rob came home with a guest for dinner. Roman was still not speaking to his dad since the whole No Sugar – No TV debacle last week. 

He was still in the throes of his withdrawals… the no sugar law laid down was a nuisance at home, but he still found several ways to get around it. The no TV law was much harder to manage. Already he felt like a social piranha not having a context to discuss TV shows… to talk about with his friends… when he told them what his father had done, he might as well admitted to being a Pentecostal, the way his friends looked at him. 

      “You… don’t… have… a TV??” Followed by a look of total disbelief. His grip on what was going on in the world had let go… the common thread that he and his friends bonded over was broken… What happened on “Welcome back Kotter” last night? Did you see that triple play between the Orioles and the Oakland A’s? Did anyone notice that fox dancing on American Bandstand? Man, she was smoking hot… on and on. All Roman could do was nod his head. Nope, not me… because my dad is insane and won’t stop until I’m crazy too. 

At dinner, Rob introduced the mystery guest as Clint, who had been living in the group home for the mentally disabled. The mental health center where my father worked as a counselor had invited him to dine with us this evening… little did Roman know, that Rob was laying the groundwork for Clint to move in with them on a semi-permanent basis. By the time dinner was over and Erin Rose and Roman had helped clear the table… Rob had finished outlining his plan for Clint to Mora and the kids.

       As father so eloquently put it, “To help his transition into mainstream world as a productive member of society".

“That’s just fucking perfect… great, no really… thanks for ruining my life! Roman screamed at Rob and Mora… On top of everything else, now we’re gonna have a retard living with us??

“ Just shoot me in the head right now, cause my life as I know it will be over as soon as this gets out” Roman was ranting

Roman! Rob yelled back… stop that this instance his father roared, what has gotten into you?? Go to your room and don’t think about coming out until you’re ready to apologize!I’m tellin you mora… it’s the fucki’ sugar, that boy is addicted to it like some heroin junkie.

normally he wasn’t so narrow-minded and selfish when it came to helping others in need, but it had been an exceptionally rough week for him and, well… he just wanted… no craved… some normalcy around him for the moment. 

A week later… Clint moved into the guest bedroom next to Roman’s room. He had been born mentally handicapped, he wasn’t obviously different than a lot of other folks walking around, but if you happened to see him standing at a bus stop you might wonder about his hair style, this was 1975, not many young men wore their hair cut in the old Mayberry style that Clint was sporting… you might wonder what’s up with his clothes, he looked more like a seven year old dressed for Sunday school with his plaid shirt tucked into those high water straight - legged khaki pants.

It was his eyes though, if you looked into them, he almost seemed to be paying attention to what you were saying, but not maybe comprehending? It was almost like he was really listening to something else… and you were just a distraction.

      It had been a week and everybody was getting along fine, even Roman and ER hadn’t tangled over anything… which was rare in itself. Getting along fine, considering that Roman had been on “lock down” status since his latest outburst at Rob-Dad and Mora… his withdrawal from his two biggest addictions, TV and sugar were playing havoc on Roman. He was angry, defiant, verbally abusive… the list goes on and on. One night he had a headache so severe that Mora had decided to give him a sedative to help him sleep. She empathized with her son, after all, she knew all too well how difficult overcoming something you had relied on so heavily could be.

      Roman was having a vivid dream… he was deep in REM and the sedative had taken him twenty-thousand leagues under the sea. He dreamed that was out in the desert somewhere, on a caprock that jutted high up several hundred feet like a giant saucer… out of nowhere there came a thunderous sound, the ground below him started shaking like a earthquake and this huge machine strated rolling towards him, Roman tried to outrun it, but the harder he tried to run the slower it felt like he was going… as if he was moving through molasses… no matter what direction he turned the machine was right behind him coming closer and closer… threatening to run him right over and then Roman jumped off the cliff… and woke up.

      Roman dressed and sat on the side of his bed thinking about last nights dream… man that was pretty crazy… his stomach was nauseous just remembering the details. He wondered what it might mean… did dreams mean anything anyways? Maybe he thought it represented his feeling of wanting to get away… to run away again like he had in the 3rd grade… or maybe he was just running from his own screwed up life…

Yeah… that sounded plausible. Especially since in light of recent events where he’s been found guilty of lying (No, I didn’t take any money out of your purse!), stealing (five dollars out of Mora’s purse) and cussing out the parental units (You can’t make me do a fucking thing!) 

He opened his door and walked into the kitchen where everyone was sitting around the table eating lunch. “Hey, there’s my sleeping beauty…” Mora said. “How’d you sleep last night? Do you want some OJ?” Rob-Dad was reading the Sunday paper, and Erin Rose was hunched over the comic section… “How are you feeling Champ? Feel like collecting some compost later on?” Rob-Dad said over his paper. Clint was sitting on a stool over by the countertop bar eating a bowl of ‘Life’ cereal and looking at Roman. His face expressionless. He reminded Roman of a reptile, black, lifeless eyes staring straight through you…

 Roman ignored him, and hugged Mora. “I’d love some juice thanks…” and sat down at the table just like it was any other day in his life.

A week later…

Rob-Dad and Mora were planning on going out to a Halloween party that night and Roman was on house arrest for getting detention… again. Erin Rose was supposed to be staying home looking after the boys, but as soon as Mora and Rob left, she grabbed her stuff and said she was going over to a friends. “Try not to burn the house down, ok boys”, ER said over her shoulder as she went out the door. An obvious reference to when Roman chased her around the house with his homemade flame-thrower… who knew Aqua Net hairspray was so damn flammable?

The weather outside was nasty, weather forecast called for lightning and thunder storms were predicted, it had already started to rain.  

      The telephone rang and it was Tate, a kid who lived a few house down from Roman…

“You ready? The voice on the other end of the line said… referring to tonight's escapades of throwing eggs and stealing candy from the younger kids out trick or treating… they were too old to dress up as their favorite super heroes but for the love of god, Roman sure could use some candy… maybe he was just like a junkie… jonesen for his next fix like Dad said…

Sorry Tate, no can do… I’m grounded babysitting… roman quickly came up with another lie to avoid the uncomfortable truth of the situation… my cousin’s here and I have to stay inside… I know it blows the big one.

Roman stayed in his room listening to Zeppelin’s, “When the levee breaks” on his turntable  Clint was probably already in bed 

It hadn’t been an hour since Rob and Mora had left when the power went out… and the house was plunged into darkness. The walls were momentarily lit by the reflection of lightening crackling across the sky. Roman wasn’t afraid of the dark and this wasn’t the first time they had lost power, it was an old house built back before the Civil War, electrical problems plagued the house quite frequently… 

      As Roman placed the candles in strategic locations throughout the house, he heard something knocking on the window… he pressed his face against the glass and saw Tate, Frankie and Art staring back at him… Tate flipped Roman off and then all three threw an egg at Roman’s face… the eggs breaking on the window and startled roman as he jumped back. You son of a bitches roman yelled through the window half smiling. Half angry… he was jealous… wished he was going out to terrorize the neighborhood with them… go fuck yerselves he hollered at their backs as they trotted off into the night.

Clint starting to move around… obviously he had heard roman yelling at his friends… great roman thought… he’ll probably rat him out for cursing at what he thought was him, not knowing Romans friends had just paid them a visit

Clint yelled out calling out for someone. Roman yelled back for him to calm down and stay in his bedroom. Roman knew he wouldn’t listen and come looking for him…

      Roman heard him crashing around the room, something smashed loudly to the floor. Again he yelled up to Clint just stay put and everything would be ok. Roman went to his bedroom window and looked out into the dark rainy night as lightening crackled across the sky… throwing eerie shadows on the walls  

      Here we go, Roman though. Showtime! 

Clint was definitely starting to get out of control and by the sounds coming through the walls, he was beginning to go into a full-fledge freak out mode.

      Their house was rectangular in shape - with a hallway dividing the house in half and connecting both the front and back door on either end of it. All the rooms had a doorway that opened up into the great hall, and with doors connecting each room as well, one could literally walk through the front door look straight down the hundred foot hallway to the back door, turn right and open a door to the master bedroom, walk through it and open the door on the far side... walk into another bedroom (used as Father's study) or a spare bedroom and through that room open the door to Roman’s bedroom... walk careful to avoid the mess - you know boys! 

      Then open the door that leads back into the hallway… the back door just to the right. Straight ahead and through the kitchen then make a left you'll pass through the butler's pantry (sans the butler of course!) and then through another door to the formal dining room around the big table that they never sat at for meals because A.) They never ate together and B.) It was always covered with Father's paperwork. Through another door that lead into the living room - follow the L - shaped traffic flow layout and open the door that brings you back to the hallway, with the front door on your right. 

      Erin Rose’s room was upstairs on the way to the attic and there was the guest room up there as well, just one bathroom off the hallway - so if you counted all the doors connected to the hallway and every room it would be thirteen in all. 

Roman could hear the hail coming down now… the ratta tat tat of the small frozen balls of ice as they richochat off the house…like machine gun fire from a ww II movie…

Clint started knocking over things, breaking glasses in the kitchen, a lamp crashed to the floor... Clint’s voice was pitched a little higher now, he sounded panicky, straining, and urgent… scared.

Roman yelled at him, "Just stay in your room… it’ll be over soon.

Clint kept on yelling out Roman’s name over and over… No way was Roman in any type of a position to try and control Clint, he was almost as big as Rob-Dad, maybe even stronger. He’d heard stories of how some people with mental disabilities had superhuman strength. Roman heard him stumbling down the hallway, slamming into the wall, knocking a framed picture to the floor with a resounding, crash! "Help me, I...I! I! Come here… to me!" Clint was yelling over and over.

      Roman’s head was spinning with visions of Clint bursting through the door and grabbing him and then... Roman thought of what it would be like to get … Clint could snap him in two like a dry twig! "Shit!. The guy wasn’t all there… 

He ran into his bedroom, his refuge, he shut the door and fumbled with the lock... "Shit! Shit!" ... they were all of the old skeleton key variety and there was only one key, hidden somewhere in Rob-Dad’s study. Roman sat on the bed, his mind racing... "what was I going to do?"

It was thundering and lightening outside, the rain was coming down in sheets... "Run outside?" Then what? Get struck by lightening ??

Roman could hear Clint in the hallway now... going into the kitchen.

"Where are you?" Clint yells.

      Roman froze, not knowing what to do... he just couldn't take the chance that by showing himself to Clint, that it would have the calming effect he hoped for, what if it didn't? It would be too late... Roman would be at his mercy.

       He bolted like a rabbit across his bedroom into the study, slamming the door behind him as Clint crashed through the door to Roman’s bedroom, screaming for him to stop. Roman was now in Mora and Rob-Dad’s bedroom shutting the door, cursing his father... "no locks on any of the doors? Who lives like this?"

Again another door slams, more stumbling, Clint continued to scream out first, Rob's name, then, “Roman! Roman!!” Over and over. He can hear glass breaking as Clint's arms thrash out wildly knocking glass knickknacks off the top of counters and dressers.  Roman runs out into the hallway briefly stopping to look down it as the candles he had lit earlier cast an eerie light upon the walls throwing shadows like a B- rated horror movie. Do NOT think about horror movies now!

      Roman dashed into the living room, finally a piece of furniture he can move! He pushes the coffee table and chair up against the door... there won't be any getting pass that! Clint is now on the other side banging the door with his fist.

"I know you're in there! I know you don’t like me… that you don’t want me here… I’m sorry ok…. 

Clint pleads with him. Roman opens the door only to find clint lunging at him, roman quickly back-peddles and side steps clint as he tries to grab him…

Holy shit, roman thinks… so much for brotherly love and thinks he has just made a fatal mistake. Roman turns and runs… It was too late now to make friends… as he ran through the dining room and crashed into Mora’s serving cart going head over heels. He crashes to the floor grabbing at his leg... Christ! That hurts! Now what am I going to do? 

      Roman remembered that the pantry has a hidden door with shelves on it that led down to the basement...I know what you're thinking...don't go down in the basement - that's where all the bad things happen in the movies... now he understands why they do.... there was no place else to run!

       When the house was built pre-civil war, there was a hidden door in the pantry that was made for the slaves to come and go unseen in the main house. It led down into a dark, musty basement filled with spider webs and God knows what else... but it was Roman’s only safe haven at this point. He hobbled to the door groping around for the latch hidden partially behind some canned goods, there he found it!

      He carefully slid behind it… and took extra caution not to make anything on the shelves fall alerting Clint of his hiding spot. It had been a long time since he'd been down in the basement, he didn't relish the thought of running through it blind with a crazed man chasing him! 

      He tried not to dwell on that thought, instead he focused on being very, very quiet. He sat down on the step and leaned back on the damp, musty brick wall holding his injured leg, not caring about the spider webs for the moment. Roman could hear Clint stumbling across the dining room… now right outside the pantry door... Roman’s nostrils flared, his fear was now straining like a race horse against its bit, barely able to constrain it. 

      Roman pushed back into the bricks… breathing in the fear of a hundred slaves that might have passed along this very same wall… his stomach somersaulted, he thought he was going to throw up. Roman choked back the vile taste, he could hear Clint now, only inches away, on the other side of the thin frail door, his breathing was heavy and labored... tiny sounds were coming from his throat like a wounded animal. 

      Roman felt sorry for him, for the state he must be in, but he was more afraid of what Clint might do if he tried to help. No this was the best plan… No, this was his best course of action he told himself. Fight or flight, Rob- Dad had once said that was the most basic human instinct, well, Roman had decided today… this little bird was going to fly. 

      Roman heard Clint move away from the pantry door, and into the kitchen, the house literally shook when he slammed his fists on the wall... he cried out in sheer terror, his voice dripped with agony... Roman held his hands over his ears trying to block out the terrible sounds... what felt like hours passed as Roman waited for Rob-Dad and Mora to come home. 

      When they finally walked in the front door and found the house lit with candle light, Rob-Dad found Clint huddled in the hall closet, rocking back and forth, mumbling over and over to himself something unintelligible. When Roman heard his Father calling out to him and Erin Rose… He knew this was going to take the best acting job he’d ever performed to pull this off. “Goddamn it”, Rob yelled. Where’s Roman? Where’s Erin Rose? She was supposed to stay and look after you two… for once it looked like the blame would be on his sister this time and not on him.

Roman opened the pantry door… and emerges from his hiding spot. He slowly walked into the kitchen… until Mora and Rob see him, then he runs for the arms of his mother and starts sobbing like a baby, the crocodile tears came hot and wet. “I was so afraid…  I couldn’t find ER… so I ran and hid… I thought he was going to hurt me… it was terrible.” Roman probably could have won an Academy Award for his performance that night… 

     That night Rob had Clint admitted into the psych unit for seventy-two observation, he’d be heading back into the program Rob said, that Clint wasn’t ready for the outside world.  All Roman wanted was for life to go back to the way it used to be. Just a regular kid in a normal family living in a boring neighborhood where nobody noticed him.