The Juggernaut

I'm going to start this off a little corny so bear with me. Once upon a time, there was a little boy born into this world. The little boy was naturally a shy, timid creature. He was not born with the temperament for battling and fighting. The little boy was born with a natural artistic ability and could sing, draw, paint, and create all sorts of things from clay and other materials simply from his imagination. His imagination was very strong. The little boy was also born with the gift to learn and craved to know things. Learning came very easily to this little boy because he had a little camera in his head that could take pictures of anything he could later pull up to look at when he needed, and he had a little tape recorder in his head that recorded everything he heard and he could go back and replay the tapes anytime he needed or wanted to hear what he heard again. The little boy was born for creating things, not fighting.

The little boy, who we will call Terry, had all these natural abilities and talents, yet he was born into squalor. His father was an alcoholic who switched jobs often because of his temper. His mother was a co-dependent that allowed the father to do whatever he pleased both out of fear and out of commitment. There was no hugging and kissing for the little boy. His parents never said I love you. This didn't seem strange to Terry it was all he had ever known. He thought it strange to see this type of behavior on t.v. shows. And so life went for Terry. He could read, write and add and subtract numbers by the time he was three. He didn't think this strange either, he thought everyone was that way. Although Terry had these gifts inside him, he longed to belong and let other children push him around just to have someone to play with.

Terry's father was a loud, strong, violent man especially when he was drunk. Terry's mother was quiet and went along with whatever the father said or did, mostly to keep from getting a punch or a slap. One thing she agreed with Terry's father about was Terry's behavior. All she had ever know was for males in her life to be loud, violent, drunken creatures that made demands and expected to have their demands obeyed or else. She kept her mouth shut when Terry's father would start in on him berating him for being a little weakling. Often Terry's father just called him Pussy and would tell him that he was not his son, but that his mother had whored around and gotten pregnant by another man. His son would be strong and violent and take what he wanted from this world. He would not sit and color, read books, and allow other children to bully him around. This just confused Terry. Of course he belonged to his father, they looked almost exactly alike, and when Terry's father wasn't around she would tell him not to pay any attention to the terrible things his father said, but Terry had that little tape recorder in his head, and he could not control what and when it recorded, and often when he was alone or in bed all those terrible things and curse words his father flung at him would play over and over in his head. Terry couldn't figure out why people were the way they were, or why he was whipped and cursed for doing nothing but being himself.

As Terry grew older his mother became pregnant and Terry was so very excited to have a little brother or sister to play with. He was nearly 5 years old now and he was certain a little brother or sister would make life at home better all around, but Terry couldn't have been any more wrong. Terry's little brother was born with bright red hair, just like his father's late father who had only died a couple months earlier. The new baby Brady was instantly the father's, and secretly the mother's, favorite. As far as the father was concerned Brady was his only real son and the maltreatment towards Terry only increased. Terry's mother would show him occasional kindness because the father treated him so badly, and because she felt guilty for loving the new baby more. Terry wasn't stupid. It was obvious to him he was like a step-child to his parents, more of a burden to them than anything else, so Terry withdrew into himself even more and stayed in his room by himself preferring that to the screaming and fighting and curses hurled in his direction. Terry decided to create something to protect himself from the mean kids he played with, and from his parents. He created something he called Juggernaut. Juggernaut could be called on at any time to defend Terry against all forms of attack from anyone.

While Terry was forming Juggernaut, Brady was growing into a promising young duplicate of his father, already fist fighting other kids by the time he was three. Brady was almost as intelligent and Terry, but Brady didn't have the camera or tape recorder in his head. He did possess the same natural talent in artistic things and creation, but he didn't care about those things. Father had told him those things were for weak pussies like Terry, not for strong men like Brady would grow to be. All this while Terry was creating Juggernaut and telling him about the way things were, and what he needed him to do. When Terry felt threatened, Juggernaut would stand in and take over while Terry waited in the background. Terry had not actually used Juggernaut yet, but Juggernaut was fully formed, functional, informed, and rearing for action. Juggernaut to everyone else looked identical and sounded identical to Terry. They would never know it was Juggernaut they were dealing with instead of Terry. Juggernaut had the same looks, the same intelligence, but possessed none of Terry's artistic talent, so when Terry/Juggernaut was singing and drawing it was Terry. When dealing with other people, Juggernaut stepped forward.

It was about this time that one afternoon Terry's father came home from work with five or six hardwood sticks about four feet long. A lot of people in the south call them tomato sticks, because these hardwood sticks are made to stick in the ground beside tomato plants to tie the tomato plants to as they grow so the weight of the tomatoes do not pull the plant to the ground. Father put the sticks in the corner of the garage and told Terry the next time another child bullied him, if Terry didn't beat the child with one of these sticks, then Father would beat Terry with one of the sticks. Terry was scared at first, then he remembered Juggernaut and knew it was time to let Juggernaut have a turn. Sure enough that very afternoon the children from next door came over to play. At some point during play the established daily bullying started. Terry's mother could see everything going on from the kitchen window. Terry told Juggernaut it was his time and Juggernaut gladly stepped forward. Juggernaut went and got one of the hardwood sticks, walked up to the first child he came to in the group and tried to either break the stick over the child's head, or break the child's head open. Whichever it didn't matter to Juggernaut. Juggernaut brought the stick down on top of the child's head with all the force he could muster, but the stick didn't break and the child's head didn't bust open, the child simply fell limply to the ground. Oh well there were plenty of other children in the yard to beat so he started chasing them hitting and clubbing them wherever he could hit them as they all tried to scramble away. He chased them home with them all screaming for help and Juggernaut screaming obscenities and promising pain and death to all. The hardwood stick proved to be a fantastic weapon, no matter how many times Juggernaut hit the children or how hard he hit them the stick wouldn't break HA! Juggernaut was having the time of his life beating these children. Then the children's mother came up from behind and grabbed the stick away from him. She told Juggernaut to go home and that she was telling his mother on him. Juggernaut told her "I don't give a fuck bitch I got lots of sticks. Fuck you." The children's mother looked stunned, Juggernaut thought it was hilarious. He laughed all the way home because he had an idea too good not to act upon. He passed the first child he had hit on his was home, the child was holding his head and crying. Juggernaut could not contain his pleasure and laughed like a madman at the crying child. Juggernaut got to the garage and grabbed another stick. Time to put plan 2 into action. He walked slowly back towards the children's house. Their mother was on her knees looking at the crying child's head to see what damage was done. Terry came up behind her and brought the hardwood stick down across the top of the kneeling mother's head as hard as he could. To be so small, Juggernaut had amazing strength and when the stick cracked across the children's mother's head, she when from her kneeling position to plop on her behind. Her eyes looked hazy like she maybe would pass out there for a minute, but what excited Juggernaut most was he heard the hardwood stick crack as it struck the woman. He knew that stick wasn't going to be any good any more so he threw it down and said "Here bitch, you can have this one too", then Juggernaut made his way back home smiling at his triumph. Terry was terrified. He just knew hitting this woman was going to mean a beating for him, possibly with one of the tomato sticks. Juggernaut didn't care about a whipping, he said "Don't worry Terry, if they whip you, I'll take the whipping for you. Whippings don't hurt". This brought a lot of comfort to Terry because he thought whippings DID hurt.

Later that afternoon, Terry was himself again in his room drawing when he heard the other children's mother at the door talking to his mother. She was telling her everything that had happened, but Terry's mother had seen everything through the kitchen window and told the other woman if she didn't want her kids getting hurt, that she should teach them to play nicer or keep them at home. Terry could not believe his ears! His mother was actually defending him over the beating Juggernaut had given those children and their mother? That left Terry thinking. Then he heard Father come home. Oh no, maybe mother approved, but surely his father would use this as an excuse to beat the hell out of him again. Instead he heard his father laughing at what had happened. Then he heard father call for him. Father asked "boy did you really beat up those kids and that woman with those sticks I gave you?" and Terry, full of suspense and fear answered, "yes sir". Terry's father broke out in laughter and said "finally the boy shows some balls. Maybe he's not a little queer after all". Terry knew it was Juggernaut that did all that violence, but still he had answered yes and took credit for it all. This earned him a head rub and laughter and that a boy from his father. Could it be possible? Could he really call on Juggernaut anytime to help him, and then he Terry collect all the praise? That would be like a miracle from heaven.

Juggernaut would become a permanent fixture in Terry's life. In time Juggernaut would have to come forward so often that Terry was in control less and less until by the time Terry was ten, Juggernaut was in control completely, and only allowed Terry to come forward when he wanted to, which wasn't very often. Truth of the matter is, Juggernaut hated Terry for being such a weakling. He pretended to be his friend to avoid a battle with Terry for control. Juggernaut knew he could easily kill Terry and be rid of him, but he needed Terry for times when a situation called for the tact Terry had that Juggernaut did not possess. Terry would have quite a lot of trouble in his life because of Juggernaut. But that is another story all it's own.