A Lost Cause in a Hopeless Case

Reginald Rain is a character straight out of a western penny novel. Unfortunately for him, he was not born in the wild west but rather modern America. This is his story; the life of the last real man.

                There aren’t any real men left in the world. Too much bureaucracy and red tape, real men can’t live normal lives anymore; they’ve been exterminated by laws that protect the wicked. February 29, 2016 was a historic day that very few people remember. That was the day that the last man died.

                Growing up was hard for Reginald Rain. He had been cursed with a mentality that belonged in the wild west, not a US school system. He was the kid that the teachers called a Bully. Looking at it from a distance I could see why they might think of him that way; but the other children knew better. He wasn’t a bully, he was justice. Nobody ever got picked on when Reggie Rain was standing in the room. Those that tried to break his code found that he was every bit as tough as his rules. No matter how big the bully, or how many friends he brought, Reggie always won. His legacy started all the way back then, sitting in an elementary classroom.

                By the time he made it to high school the public school system had given up on him. He was a smart kid, passed every test that he took, finished his homework no problem. Unfortunately for him, fighting is prohibited in school, regardless of the reason. As a result, Reggie spent at least two weeks of every school year in in OSS, out of school suspension. While there he was forced to simply miss out on any lectures, homework assignment, or tests that happened in his classes. It appeared to Reggie as though the punishment for being a little rough around the edges, was forced failure. So, the kid that got straight A’s on everything he took passed his classes with C’s. Eventually his parents gave up on him too. Figured he was a lost cause. They sent him away to a boy’s ranch when he turned fifteen.

                That, as it turned out, was a bad idea. Generally speaking, most of the young men that you find on a boy’s ranch are a little rough themselves. Usually they don’t possess the kind of moral compass that Reggie did. He found himself fighting more often than ever before. Somebody would smart off to him, or worse try to pick on one of the smaller boys at the ranch and then he would do what he had always done; stand up.

                Reggie spent his seventeenth birthday in a Juvenile jail cell after he pummeled a couple of the boys on the ranch for beating a horse. He had caught the miscreants behind the barn whapping the animal with a two-by-four. He didn’t know why, didn’t much care either. He had raised that horse with his own sweat and blood, besides that it wasn’t right to treat a defenseless creature with such cruelty.

                That was his last day on the ranch. The family that ran the place had deemed him to be a lost cause too. Reggie spent the next six months on the streets. Roaming, looking for work. He had no home address, no phone, no work experience, and worst of all, no degree. He was homeless without so much as a GED. He never begged for anything. If he was hungry he went to the city lake and fished for his meal. Somedays he ate very well, somedays he didn’t eat at all. He didn’t have a fishing pole, but it wasn’t hard to find a hook and line hung in a tree. Starting a fire had been a challenge at first, but he quickly got the hang of it. He bathed in the water, something that city officials wouldn’t have liked had they ever caught him doing it.

                After that first six months he began to mellow out a little. He learned that personal pride wasn’t worth fighting for, not when the punishment was sunburnt summers and freezing winters in the snow. He began to turn the other cheek when some pompous jerk would point and laugh at the bum walking down the street; he didn’t knock the teeth out of every teenage punk that tossed pennies at his feet. It was hard for him, but it was good for him too. He landed a job flipping burgers, the manager didn’t know he was homeless. He had used the city lake’s address for his home address and said that he lived off the grid when asked for his contact information. It felt wrong to deceive people in such a manner but none of it was a lie. Reggie used his first paycheck to buy soap and take his clothes to a laundromat, because he knew that people wouldn’t like to know that the man preparing their food had been washing himself and his duds with the murky water in the city lake.

                Reggie used his second paycheck to buy a phone and rent an apartment. It wasn’t much, but it was cheap. Eight months later he was promoted up at the burger joint to a shift manager; he worked that job for all of two weeks before stepping back down. Managers had to deal with angry customers, and while he had learned to bite his tongue and take it when they insulted him, Reggie was not prepared to apologize to the patrons who verbally attacked his coworkers. It was there at that burger joint that Reggie began the last adventure of the last real man.

                “Hey Reggie, run this out to table nine would you.” Colleen called out from the kitchen. The waiter had called in for the day and Reggie was filling in for him. It had been his day off, but he was paid by the hour; the more the merrier. Colleen was the cook for the day, she was a middle aged woman, quickly growing from the waist out; making that wonderful transition from her twenty year old figure to a more honest thirty seven year old, motherly look. She had left a thick burger heaping with tomatoes and lettuce on the counter. Reggie took the plate out to the floor and placed it in front of the customer sitting at table number nine.

                The patron thanked him, but he didn’t pay much mind to it. He was focused on the duo that had just walked in the door. A pretty, young blonde with her hair hanging loose over her shoulders. She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and loose fitting jeans, sunglasses covering her eyes. The male that was accompanying her was dressed more appropriately for the weather, but not appropriately for public. His cloth shorts hung down around his ankles leaving his checkered boxers to cover up everything above his knees. Granted his shirt was doing a lot of the work too as the black and white flaming skull on the front hung down low enough that it could have been considered a cocktail dress if a woman was wearing it. Reggie didn’t like the look of the pair, in fact, it was downright infuriating.

                Not being one to shy away from something that he knew was wrong, he moved to welcome their guests. “Why hello there miss.” He spoke politely, tipping his head to the lady. “Please allow me to find you a seat.” He gestured with his arms towards a table near the kitchen. She smiled softly and followed him to the table. It was a table meant to seat two. Reggie pulled out a chair for the lady, then held out a hand to stop the punk she was with from sitting down.

                “No, we won’t be serving you today.” There was no apology in his voice. It was a flat monotone, he was not rude, nor was he kind.

                The punk looked at him incredulously, then slapped Reggie’s arm down with a backhand wave. Rather, he tried to swat Reggie’s arm down, but it didn’t budge. Reggie met the boy’s eyes, they were sunken deep into their sockets, dark bags underneath of them from malnutrition and a lack of sleep. The boy took an involuntary step backwards as he met the icy glare. He quickly looked away. That marked two signs of weakness, twice in an instant that he had shown his cowardice. The fool didn’t know what was good for him, he didn’t know what it meant to be a man, so he did what most cowards do. He talked.

                “Not going to serve me? What, cause I got a couple of tattoos? Or maybe you don’t like my gages? Could it be that your scared of my-“

                Reggie had heard enough. “No.” He cut the punk off. “I don’t like the way you’ve been treating the lady.”

                It happened to be that Mark, one of the eating joints owners was attending to a nearby table. Having seen and heard all that was transpiring in his shop, he came to the aid of the punk. “Now you look here, Reginald Rain! This is MY restaurant and I will decide who gets to eat and who doesn’t!” Mark was in his early fifties; a tall man with a wide gut. He had always gotten along well with Reggie, but this was pushing the limits of his patients.

                Reggie knew that he would be far better off if he just dropped the issue, but physical benefits meant far less to him than knowing that he had done the right thing. “Miss, I hate to drag you into the middle of all of this, but I have a favor to ask of you.” Reggie turned towards the lady, meeting her eyes.

                Jackie Lile had lived a hard life. Her father had left before she was born, her mother was an alcoholic. She married a drug addict when Jackie turned eleven. As far as Jackie was concerned the man was the devil, that was a lesson she had learned the hard way. She escaped her family by eloping the day she turned sixteen. She had ran off with a boy that she barely knew, she didn’t even like the guy, but he was her only way out. That is what had brought her to this moment, three years later. The way that this stranger looked at her, so caring, enduring. She couldn’t have refused him if she tried. Looking into his eyes she knew that this stranger cared more deeply for her wellbeing that anybody that she had ever known.

                “Please, show them why I can’t serve this man.”

                Of course, that’s what he would want. They had been together for so long, yes, her fiancé’ was a little crude, but without him she would still be trapped with her horrible stepfather. This stranger, why did he have to be so cruel, asking her to betray the person who had saved her life. Was it because he knew she couldn’t say no?

                The lady, Jackie, she removed her sunglasses to reveal a purple ring around her left eye. Then she reached over and rolled up her sleeves, slowly as she didn’t want to bump the dark bruises that covered her arms.

                The punk sucked in a sharp breath, his lip curled into an enraged snarl. “After all that I’ve done for you!” He was yelling at her. “After I saved you from that s**t hole! I feed you! I put a roof over your head! I keep you-” He didn’t get to finish.

                A sharp right hook flattened his lips and chipped his two front teeth as Reggie silenced him the only way that he knew how. Blood sprayed from busted lips as the punk hit the floor. He didn’t bother trying to get back up.

                Reggie ignored the cries of nearby patrons and the angry screaming from his boss as he turned back to the girl. “I’m sorry about that miss, that wasn’t an easy thing that you just did, but I promise that it was for the best.”

                She couldn’t turn away from him, he spoke softly but somehow, she heard him easily over all the noise. It was amazing, nobody had ever given her their full attention before, yet hear this man was, about to lose his job, right after striking down his opponent, waiting for the police to arrive, and she was the only person in the world that he was concerned with. In that moment he had no desire except to apologize to the girl that he had just gone out of his way to standup for.

                Now it was her turn to return the favor. “Y-You should go. The police will be here soon, they’ll take you to jail.” She stumbled over her words, she wanted him to be free, but she didn’t want him to leave.

                Reggie laughed, unafraid. “Why should I run? I haven’t done anything wrong. He got what he had coming. Don’t worry about me, it’s time for you to start thinking about yourself. This is your chance to make a better life.” He was so sincere.

                It’s not very often, that somebody can change a life in an instant. One good deed that changes the world. See, you don’t have to do anything extreme to change the world, one person is all it takes. The events at that burger joint may not have changed the course of history, but it changed Jackie Lile’s world in ways that she had never imagined. Like most of their generation, she had never known a real man before. Like most of every generation, that kind of honest power was a hard thing for her to resist. She wanted Reggie in her life, her future.

                They were both standing, in the middle of all the noise and excitement that they ignored. She leaned in, reaching a hand to his masculine jawline. She closed her eyes and her lips met… Her lips met his index finger. She pulled back, looking into his caring eyes once more. Searching for answers.

                Reggie shook his head gently. “No, you need to take on this journey without me. You are not the damsel in distress, and I’m not your white knight.”

                Then she lost his eye. He cut her out of his attention as wholly as he had attached her to it a moment before. Suddenly she became aware of the sirens squealing towards them on the street outside. The police were coming. Contrary to Reggie’s belief, they would not be so quick to determine his innocence. After all, Reggie had instigated and ended the fight. He was the cause and the solution.

…

                The cell was dark, the only sources of light were the flickering incandescent bulbs in the hallway that led down the middle of the cell block. Inside two men lay in their beds asleep. The inmate on the bottom bunk was covered in blue and black bruise; a shallow cut showing above his right eye. The man above him was in much better condition, with the exception of his hands. A white cloth covered his knuckles as the man stared up at the ceiling, unwilling to sleep with an enemy in the bunk bellow him.

                Reginald Rain was a cautious man. He did not understand the reasoning that had brought him to this cell. He had not done anything wrong in his mind, or in the eyes of the witnesses to his so-called crime. Unfortunately, the law was not decided by morals; right and wrong mattered very little when it came to the law.

                Innocent or guilty Reggie wouldn’t see trial for four more days. He could not afford to post his own bail and he didn’t know anybody on the outside that could, or would, come to his aid. So he would spend five days in jail awaiting a trial for saving a girl from her abusive boyfriend.

                Jail was not a good place for a man like Reggie. He was surrounded by the scum of the earth. Child molesters, rapists, petty thieves, drug dealers; this place had them all. The only saving grace that he found was that there was no reason for him to defend anybody that had found themselves in with him. The odds of there being another circumstance such as his in the same jail were fairly slim. Most of the time the law got it right, because most of the time the good people will bend their backs to avoid breaking a law. Innocent civilians doing their best to keep from disobeying the government mandates. Reggie was the exception, not the rule.

                In the buildup to his trail Reggie was offered a lawyer. He was quick to dismiss the idea. Lawyers were nothing but trouble in his mind. He would simply tell the jury what had happened, lay out all of the details of the case, and surely they would set him free.

                “Reginald Rain, please take the stand.” Reggie obeyed, standing and moving to the front of the courtroom. He placed his hand on the bible and swore the oath. A sentiment that was not necessary for an honest man. Then he began his testimony.

                “The man that I hit, Mr. Emerald, he was abusive towards his- “

                “OBJECTION!!!” An excited voice screamed from the plaintiff. “This is all speculation; my client has not been convicted or tried for any wrongdoing and the woman in question has not come forward with any civil or criminal acquisitions!” The beady eyed lawyer smirked. He had been waiting for this moment, he knew that Reggie had no experience with the law and that with that objection he could throw out the idea that his client deserved what he got.

                “Sustained.” The judge looked over at the jury “Please ignore any ungrounded acquisitions when you make your conclusions.” He turned to face the stand. “And please refrain from making statements that are not grounded in facts while under oath Mr. Rain.”

                Reggie bit his tongue, there was no point in starting a fight with the judge. “Well, then let me tell you exactly what happened and I’ll let the jury decide for themselves.” He launched into his story. “When they first walked in the door I knew that something wasn’t right. The woman was wearing long sleeves and dark glasses despite the- “

                “OBJECTION!!!” The beady eyed lawyer spoke again. “This is all unneeded information that is irrelevant to the case.” He smirked again, there was nobody on Reggie’s side to dispute the objection.

                “Sustained.” The judge cast a condescending glance to the defendant.

                Barely able to contain himself, Reggie continued. “Well, then, I showed the lady to a table, then I refused to allow her boyfriend, Mr. Emerald, to be served. My boss heard our conversation and came to see what was going on, he was mad of course. Then I asked the lady to show him why I wouldn’t serve Mr. Emerald. She took off her glasses and rolled up her sleeves to reveal- “

                “OBJECTION!!!” No need to say by who. “This is all hearsay and again, unnecessary. We are not here to determine why my client was attacked, merely to prove that this man is a vicious and violent offender that is a danger to society!” Smirk.

                Reggie could remain silent no longer. “No, that’s not true! The most important piece of this case is the why! I don’t go around hitting people for no reason, that man abused the lady, he beat her black and blue!” The court room was beginning to lose control.

                The lawyer shouted over the judge’s call for order. “That is a lie! My client has not been convicted of any crime! And furthermore, this man has been nothing but trouble during his short stay at the jail he has violently and without cause, viciously attacked other inmates!” The lawyer’s smirk was an audible piece of his voice.

                “Enough!” The judge finally managed to make his voice heard. “Mr. Rain! Another outbreak like that and I will have you removed from my courtroom. At which point there will be nobody left at your bench and the jury will be left to make a decision based on nothing other than the information provided by the plaintiff.

                “And how would that be any different than what we are doing right now?” Reggie no longer cared about what the court had to say, he could see where the trial was going.

                The judge sputtered for a moment, incredulous. “Are you trying to argue with me?! I’ve had it with you. Bailiff, remove this man from my sight.” A pudgy officer waddled up to the stand and raised a pair of handcuffs. Reggie offered his wrists without complaint, regardless of what the judge said, this case would be decided by the jury. Even if they had been told to ignore the truth, he still had enough faith in people to believe that they would come to the right conclusion.

                Half an hour later Reggie was escorted back into the courtroom to receive the jury’s decision.

                The judge gave him a hard look before reading the paper in his hand. “After reviewing the evidence of the case, we find Reginald Rain to be guilty of battery, assault, and racial discrimination.”

                What? Racial discrimination? “Excuse me Mr. Judge sir, but how does hitting another white man make me a racist?” No point in trying to be polite now.

                The punk from the restaurant, Mr. Emerald, called out from across the courtroom. “Because I’m one third Mexican pendejo!”

                If that were true, it wasn’t a noticeable feature.

                The judge continued. “In return for your crimes you have been sentenced to three years in prison with a five-hundred-thousand-dollar bond pending nine months of good behavior.”

                Reggie was not going to jail. For one he was innocent. Two, he would never be able to post bond. Three, he would never get out, because good behavior was not an option if he was to spend any kind of time at all with the men that he had met in his first five days.

                If he wasn’t going to jail, then he was going to have to run. If he ran he would be an outlaw. If he didn’t he would be a convict. Outlaw. Reggie liked the sound of that. Reminded him of the old west, a time when a man could survive without persecution.

Reggie raised his chained hands; holding them shoulder level and looking at the bailiff. “Could you please remove these for me?” He requested. The officer moved a hand involuntarily towards his left pocket; that was all Reggie needed.

He clasped his hands together and smashed them against the bailiff’s temple. The officer hit the ground and Reggie dug a hand into his pocket. Reggie came up with the keys and made a break for the courtroom door. There wasn’t much security at the trial; it was a low-profile case after all. Only two officers remained to challenge his escape and both of them were standing near the door behind the judge when Reggie moved. They had hurdled the railing and were in hot pursuit but neither was in great shape for a sprint. Reggie escaped the courthouse without any trouble but he was far from free.

The courthouse was near the center of town; an area that Reggie had never cared to spend much time. Cursing his lack of knowledge he ran towards the back of the building. He was hoping that the officers inside would not see him turn the corner. They didn’t, but it didn’t matter because they had already given up on a foot chase. Instead they turned the corner and ran for their cruiser; which was parked behind the courthouse. 

                Behind the building Reggie saw a back alley, it was a narrow lane between two buildings, barely wide enough to fit a car through. Perfect for a man trying to win a footrace against a Dodge Charger. The problem with an alley, was that it only had two exits. Behind him the officers from inside the courtroom were gaining ground back now that they had a vehicle and in front of him he heard the sirens of another cruiser heading his direction. He needed his hands. Making a gut decision he stopped running right in the middle of his escape route and unlocked his cuffs. As he was doing that, the officers behind him caught up, they leapt from the car brandishing their pistols and ordering him to get on the ground.

                It was a stupid threat to make. Reggie didn’t believe for one second that they would fire off a gun downtown in the middle of the day. All of the brick and concrete, people walking down the sidewalk. No, it would be too dangerous. He charger at them, running towards the car.

                A gunshot rang through the alley. Searing pain exploded in Reggie’s left shoulder. The idiots were actually going to shoot. He ducked his shoulder, ramming into the passenger side door. The officer had been standing with one leg in the floorboard and the other on the ground; looking over the door as he shot. When Reggie hit the door it pinned the leg he had in the car. The result was a sickening crunch as the officer’s leg snapped. Blood exploded out of his calf as the pressure under his skin caused it to burst. It was a blow that would end his career.

                The second officer panicked; jumping over the top of the cruiser in an attempt to get to his wounded colleague. Reggie reached up and grabbed the COP by his hair, then used the hold to slam his face into the side of a building. The collision knocked the officer out. The officer with a broken leg had passed out from the pain. The sirens coming from the end of the tunnel had stopped, meaning that the cruiser was probably parked at the exit, waiting for Reggie to come running out in the open. With the officers he had just taken out, the entrance was free for him. Reggie ran in that direction, leaving the wounded COPS behind him.

…

                It was a beautiful day; February 29, 2016. The sun shone down on the green grass and trees blooming with life. Spring was in the air and Reginald Rain was on the mountain. It wasn’t a true mountain, more like a large hill, but locals called it a mountain. Reggie had ran into the forest nearly two years ago. He was a wanted felon, so he avoided civilization. He had dug his home out of the ground with nothing but a rock and his bare hands. It was a shallow hole, only about three foot deep and less than four wide. Over the top of the hole he had stacked fallen trees and sealed the cracks with sod. He slept in the hole and lived in the area outside of it. As long as he had been there, he had not spoken to another human being. Occasionally he would strike up a conversation with a bird or a groundhog as they passed by. Otherwise he was alone.

                Reggie never had many friends to begin with. The closest he had ever come was in middle school; the children he had defended always called him their friend. He hadn’t seen any of them since his days on the ranch, and he certainly hadn’t made any friends there. So the loneliness didn’t bother him. He was content to live out his life in the peace and quiet of the woods.

                On this particular morning, Reggie was bent over collecting wild unions. He did not know if the plant offered any nutritional value, or even if it was meant to be eaten. All he knew was that the long grass like plants smelled like onions, ergo, they were probably some kind of vegetable. Armed with nothing other than his assumption, he had made them a part of his regular diet. Most everything else he ate was some kind of fish.

                Behind him he heard a branch break. He became aware of the crunching leaves and the snarl of an angry animal. Turning, he found himself looking into the eyes of a bear cub. It was not moving, but the sounds of an approach continued. Reggie looked past the cube, searching the forest for what he knew to be causing the sound.

She was big. Her fine hairs stood on edge, blowing gently in the cool breeze. Her muzzle was scared from battles of the past.  She raised herself up onto two legs, stretching her full nine-foot-long frame up to the sky. Nobody challenged her, nobody got in her way.

                There was no fear in Reginald Rain. He could have ran, but she would have caught him. He could have tried to hide, but she would have found him. He could have tried to scare her, but she would not have left her cub. He could have played dead, but she would have eaten him all the same. He could have tried to tame her, but that would have been a foolish insult to the majesty of a grizzly. So Reggie did what he had always done. He stood up.

                It was going to be a hell of a fight.

Author's Note

This is definitely intended to be nothing more than a fun piece for entertainment, but at the same time it does outline a difference in culture. It's hard to be a teenager and stand up for old fashioned beliefs anymore. In some cases that is a good thing; but there are certainly instances when overregulation can be a problem.

Reviews

[Luke Steed]

Wow... Brilliant story with a whole lot of meaning. Thank you for this! A very engaging read

[Paul Bell]

I must admit, i really liked it. I suppose in theory. Reginald Rain is a modern day hero. But real life doesn't work that, as the system proved.
You feel his pain. Great story.