Echoes from a Patricide

by

Denise Noe © 1996

Officer Louise Riley:
"...Pat Martucci was lying on his back in a pool of blood. He was about six feet tall and weighed 280 to 300 pounds. He had no shirt on but was wearing blue jeans. His stomach and right arm were virtually obliterated. The intact left arm had multiple tattoos and he had a tattoo around his neck saying "Cut here" with dashes. Most of his pate was bald but he had very long graying blonde hair and a long mustache and beard. The boy identified himself as the son of the deceased and said he had killed his father. I read him his rights and he repeated that he had killed his father. He was sobbing loudly but did not say why he had done it and did not express remorse.

Mr. Dan Rivera:
"...Mitch was about average in math. Seemed a little vain, always combing that light blond hair of his. I'm sorry but there's really nothing else I can tell you. I didn't know anything about his family until I heard about the shooting on TV. It did shock me though. With all the rough kids at this school it seems weird that he'd be the one to kill his father.

Bobby Gardea:
"...Pat Martucci was OK. Came to work on time and didn't mess around. He'd been in prison but not for a regular crime. A draft dodger during Vietnam. Couldn't get a college deferment like me and Clinton [laugh]. I don't get into my employees' private lives. He'd probably still be working for me if we hadn't closed down. I'm not even working for me now [laugh].

Ms. Audrey Williams:
"...Mitch Martucci was a nice boy. I thought he might be gay because he dressed so spiffy. But, of course, most of the gay men I know--my brother's gay--wear their hair short these days and Mitch always wore it long. He used to razz the life out of Alfred O'Hare, once he get that poor kid to crying, but Al is one of those kids who gets picked on all the time. That doesn't excuse it, of course, but Mitch didn't stick out as mean or anything. Yes, I'd heard a little about his family. Not the sex stuff. About hygiene. I thought people had to be exaggerating. I mean, I know teenagers have to rebel any way they can--I can't believe how many War on Drugs fanatics we've got at this school--but a kid as fastidious as Mitch, I just couldn't believe he came from a home that was dirty. Not in the literal sense.

Karen Schmidt:
"...Yeah, we went out one time. Kindof a dweeb. He dropped me but no biggie. I've heard some girls say he was to die for but I don't know. His Mom's dead. A car accident, I think. I don't know. Yeah, everybody said Martucci's Dad's a Neanderthal. Never met him. I don't know. Everybody.

Jason Reeves:
"...Mitch Martucci seemed normal. Actually, I was rather favorably impressed with him because he seemed like a responsible sort considering what his father was like. A lot of sophomoric sexist talk and joking. Their place was a pigsty. I couldn't wait for him to move out. Sounds terrible but I guess we'll have new neighbors now.

Carolyn Chin-Reeves:
"...I can't add much to what Jason says. There was a lot of fighting at their house. I never actually called the cops on them. . . no, it must have been someone else. One time Pat may have been flirting with me but . . . Yes. I pretty much avoided him. I thought Mitch was a nice boy but I guess . . . you never know.

Steve Perez:
"...Mitch and his Dad were fighting, it seemed like, so bad. But then, me and my Mom fight. I used to fight with my Mother's boyfriend all the time. No, no, not this one. Not Tom so much. Me and him get along famously. But the last guy, step-father . . . He moved out. Mitch said he was embarrassed to bring a girl home, it was so bad. And yeah, his Dad was . . . that would've pissed me off--if my Dad--I don't have a relationship with my real father--but if I did . . . and he came on to my girlfriend . . . Or . . . even if . . . it was just . . . just one of Mom's boyfriends who did it, it'd piss me off so bad 'cause an older guy . . . that's pretty embarrassing.

Teri DeSoto:
"...You might be . . . uh . . . asking the wrong person . . . you know, Mitch broke up with me. You probably don't want to . . . uh . . . get character references from a girl he dumped, you know? Yes, his Mom died in car wreck when he was . . . I don't know . . . Mitch wanted me to go to bed with him and . . . you know, I . . . with AIDS and herpes and all that . . . and he said 'we're through' so . . . He hated his Dad and all that but . . . so many kids say that. Oh . . . Mitch was OK. . . ah . . . I've gotten over the hurt of losing him and all that. I mean, I don't want to say anything that would . . . in a serious way . . . make him go to prison. Uh, yes, I didn't like Mr. Martucci . . . yeah, he tried to . . . feel me. He asked if I was repressed and all that and . . . but . . . you know . . . that wasn't the reason we broke up . . . Well, of course Mitch was . . . you know . . . he was . . . pissed, you know? . . . But it couldn't be the reason for anything . . . You should ask somebody else, probably.

Deborah Yannopoulis:
"...Pat Martucci was nice people. Better than most of the assholes I've been with that's for sure. What? Oh, sure. We had an open relationship. That was what Pat believed in, people loving as they pleased. He said I could go with other guys. Thought everybody should be free to do as they like, men and women both. And I did go out with other guys. Not a Double Standard thing. I hope Mitch goes to prison for life. Oh, I don't know. All I know is Pat was OK and he's not here to defend himself and if Mitch didn't like the way his father was that was no reason for blowing somebody's shit away.

Gail Gerber (nee Martucci):
"...Pat loved Mitch. Maybe he was no Dustin Hoffman but he was as good a Dad as anyone. When Mitch was little, right after Jolene died--poor Jolene, she was nice as hell--if Pat hadn't loved Mitch, he could've just let him stay in a foster home. But he didn't cause Mitch was miserable there. If I remember right, Pat didn't even spank Mitch as a kid. Oh, maybe he did. But he tried not to, usually, because he didn't believe in corporal punishment. My brother was no macho man. I mean, hell, when he was a kid he went to prison instead of going to Vietnam. Is that a macho man? Other than that he didn't have a record. Yeah, he was [laugh]. But, so? A lot of guys are like that. Clarence Thomas, President Clinton, whatshisname?--that Packwood guy--what are you going to do? Shoot 'em all?

Sharon Ford:
"...I . . . Jesus . . . oh, Jesus . . . He, Mitch's Dad, he tried . . . I shouldn't have told Mitch about it! Oh! . . . (sobbing) I don't know why . . . I didn't mean for . . . him to . . . oh Jesus! . . . He just started feeling me and I . . . well, I told Mitch and . . . me and Mitch aren't even . . . we aren't even going steady so . . . (sobbing) I never thought . . . Jees, I didn't want him to . . . Jesus, it's not over me? It can't be . . . we're not even steady or anything . . . he didn't shoot his Dad because of me, did he? Please, it's not . . . It's not because of me, please?

Pat Martucci:
"...Mitch is my kid and I love him. I love the hell out of the boy, even if he is a little bit of a white liar. I love everybody. Maybe they're all shits but I love 'em. I try to express it-- and if I fuck it up sometimes well nobody's perfect. Everybody gets into fights now and then and Mitch might've told people stories--he's got a tendency that way. Shit, I went to prison for three fucking years because I wouldn't go to Vietnam. I hate violence, I just hate it. Mitch is my son and I think he's the cutest kid in the world. I would've loved him if he was gay the way some people said. I'm not at all prejudiced. Not in any way. But Mitch likes girls and I love girls--women--every beautiful one of them. No, that's bullshit, I wouldn't try to horn in on my own kid's girlfriend. But sometimes young girls--young women--they want to find out "what's it all about?" and maybe I . . . I mean, if they asked me. But I never tried to take them away from my Mitch. Or from anyone. There ought to be enough love in this world to go around. And besides, if a girl likes Mitch she might like his old man too. That's natural, isn't it? Like father, like son?

Denise Noe has been published in The Humanist artisan Chrysalis Quarterly, Exquisite Corpse, Circuit Traces, Metis, `Scapes, The Gulf War Anthology, Light Musk Gland Sally, Wicked, The Stake, Attitude Problem, The Arizona Unconservative, The Village Writer, Paper Bag, Catalyst, Gray Areas, Nuthouse, The Pink Chameleon, and other places.

Her major interests are dinosaurs, the ape-language experiments, and social welfare issues, though not necessarily in that order.

Email:Denise Noe

Return to WebDreamer