Read Online Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman - Free Book Online Page A

to be the one to die?”
    Dad stares at the woman and without hesitation responds, “Have you ever said to anybody something like ‘If I’m ever brain damaged and in a coma, just put me out of my misery?’”
    â€œWhat?” the woman asks, blinking nervously.
    Dad presses on, “I mean, I think most people have said things like that. I know I have, and I know friends have said things like that to me. If you were unable to kill yourself but you wanted to be dead, don’t you think you’d want somebody to know your wishes?”
    Alice, pretending to be real concerned but actually sounding phony to me, says, “I’m not sure that’s really the point, Syd. We’re not here today to discuss voluntary euthanasia.”
    Dad sighs and shakes his head. “You’re right, Alice. Let’s keep that focus nice and tight. To answer your friend’s question—what do I think about Detraux? I think he was a man who did what he thought he had to do.”
    Alice looks at Dad and says, “I know you’ve brought some video footage of interviews you’ve been conducting with the child killer—”
    â€œChild killer?” Dad interrupts.
    Alice burrows in. “Mr. Detraux did kill his son, didn’t he?” she asks. “He was convicted of murder for that crime, wasn’t he? His little boy was a two-year-old, utterly incapable of defending himself in any way, wasn’t he?” Alice sounds confident.
    Suddenly a photograph of a cute little boy, a blowup of a snapshot, grainy, a kind of orange tint over the color, fills the screen.
    Alice says, “We’re showing our audience a snapshot of little Colin right now.”
    The audience ooh s and ahh s for a moment, then snaps to silence as they realize this was Earl Detraux’s victim.
    Alice, certain that nothing can go wrong, asks, “Earl did kill this little angel, didn’t he?”
    Dad looks at her and quietly says, “No, he didn’t.”
    Alice looks genuinely confused, almost stunned. “That is Colin Detraux, isn’t it?”
    Dad answers, “Yes, that was him.”
    â€œ Was , because his father murdered him.”
    â€œNo,” Dad answers. “Colin died from a terrible, terminal, inoperable seizure disorder, an irreversible medical condition, coupled with profound mental retardation that made his existence insufferable.”
    â€œHis father—” Alice begins, but Dad cuts her off.
    â€œHis father loved him enough to do whatever he had to do to end his son’s suffering. Earl loved his son enough to sacrifice his own life to end his child’s pain—”
    â€œIncluding murder,” Alice interrupts.
    â€œWhy don’t we let Earl speak for himself?” Dad asks softly.
    â€œIndeed,” Alice says. “Are we ready to roll the tape?” A couple seconds later, Alice says, “We are? Good. Roll please.”
    On the screen appears an image of Earl Detraux. I have seen him before, but I am curious about his appearance now, since he’s been in prison. Luckily my eyes are focused on him. He is sitting in front of a gray wall, in an orange-colored inmate’s jumpsuit. I can’t tell how tall he is, but he looks about the same size as Dad. His face is pleasant. His hair is cut quite short and he’s mostly bald on top. His left ear sticks out a little farther than the right. Otherwise he’s regular-looking with a mild, gap-toothed smile. He sure doesn’t look like any murderer I’ve ever seen in movies or on TV crime shows. Just the opposite—he looks like a next-door neighbor, a guy you’d see out mowing his lawn or raking his leaves, Mr. Average.
    The way the prison room is set up, Dad is sitting next to Earl; their metal folding chairs almost touch, but both men face more toward the camera than toward one another. They are framed on-screen from the ankles up. They look