Big Leather Couch

It was a beautiful SPRING day. The songs of the sea birds and the crashing of the waves below Lookout Park were broken by the anguished scream as the body tumbled through the air. Arms and legs kicking and flailing, as if trying to stop the fall…the scream finally ending as the body met the rocks on the base of the cliff and a wave washed over it.


Two days later, Sheriff Flynn and two of his deputies were crawling over the rocks from the nearby beach to reach the body. When they did, Deputy Stanfield immediately turned and lost his McDonalds lunch into the bay. The body had been caught in a crevice between the rocks and had been pounded on for two days. It also appeared the sea birds had been snacking.

After Deputy Woods had taken some pictures with the digital camera, they allowed the men from the Coroner's office to step forward and put the body into one of those black bags.

An hour later the County Coroner Doctor Pamplin was examining the body as Sheriff Flynn watched through the wall of glass.



After Mary Alice had left her mother, she went right home. That evening when her father walked into the house she knew she was in for it.

“Mary Alice, you might be mad at your mom for all the things going on, but I will NOT allow you to speak to her like you did today.”

“But dad, she left us, why should I even care what she thinks?”

“Young lady, she is still your mother, nothing is going to change that and we taught you to respect your elders and you will do so.”

“But dad, she hurt you and she hurt me, I don’t care if she is hurt any more.”

“Mary Alice, I will NOT allow you to speak like that. Your mother is doing what she has to. I am not happy about it, but it is probably for the best for both of us and in the end for you.”

“NO DAD, IT IS NOT FOR THE BEST FOR ME. I DON’T WANT TO EVER TALK TO HER AGAIN, AND I DON’T HAVE TO.”

Mary Alice stormed out the door and headed straight to Ann’s house where she asked her friend if she could spend the night, and “maybe longer.”

“I just can’t stay with my dad, he is such a wimp. If he was a real man, he would kick Mr. Hill’s stupid ass all over Main Street.”

Ann comforted her friend and spoke with her mother, getting permission for her friend to spend a few days until she got past this problem. Mrs. Murphy called over to Mary Alice’s dad to let him know where his daughter was and to assure him she would be cared for.

One day became a week and a week became a month. Mary Alice brought most of her clothes over to the Murphy’s and settled in to the spare bedroom.

She still went to the restaurant to help her dad. Their relationship slowly healed and plans were made for her to move back home at the end of the school year. She and her mother hardly spoke, hardly acknowledged each other’s existence.


The stress of moving out of her home was putting some stress on her relationship with Travis also. Travis Kelso’s father Matt was the mayor of the town of Rogers Bay. His mother was all about appearances and how the people in the town would feel about everything the Kelso’s did. Travis was pounded on nightly about dating the girl whose mother was living with another man while being married and how Mary Alice could not even live in her own home. His dad sat there and never spoke, as it was really Mrs. Kelso who ran the household.

Travis in turn would continually push Mary Alice to move back in with her dad; “Look, it would be better for us if you would just move home.”

“Why do I care what other people think Travis?”

"M.A., look, appearances mean everything in life and I have college coaches coming around and I need them to see me in a good place.”

These conversations went on day after day, and others began to notice, especially Elizabeth. Even though she was dating Wayne Robins, who was the star running back and also pitched for the school team, still had visions of being with Travis. She began finding private ways of talking to Travis under the ruse of “just trying to help.” But in reality she was plotting to steal him away.

Everything came to a head three weeks before prom. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and Elizabeth had lured Travis to her house to “talk.” They were sitting on the couch in her living room, her parents out for the day, and when she saw her opening, Elizabeth leaned in and kissed Travis on the lips. He immediately pulled back.

“What are you doing? What if Mary Alice or Wayne found out?”

“Oh Travis, you know that I am only with Wayne because I can’t be with you.” As she spoke her fingers began to rub his shoulder, using the technique she knew would get to his weak side. “And I also know your mom would prefer you were with someone who makes a better appearance for you.”

Elizabeth ignored the fact that her household was not the best for appearances sake and plowed on. As her left hand continued to rub his shoulder, her right began to rub another body part that makes it hard for any man to resist and after a few minutes the two were embraced in serious petting. Soon they were out of their clothes, on the floor having sex.

When they were done, they dressed and Elizabeth walked Travis to the door. “I will tell Wayne I can’t go to the prom with him tomorrow.”

“Wait Elizabeth, do you think this means I am breaking up with Mary Alice? I can’t have all that drama now. Let’s just get past the end of school and then we will see what happens, but we can’t talk about this.”

“What the hell do you mean? What was that just now - screw the bimbo? Who the hell do you think you are?” Elizabeth’s right hand shot out, but Travis saw it coming and blocked the blow with his arm. He grabbed her by the arms and pushed her against the wall.

“Look, you wanted it, you got it…now keep your mouth shut or,” and now his face was right against hers “what your father did to you and your mom will look like a love-in,” he hissed. “If you screw this up for me I will make you wish you were never born.”

With that Travis walked out. If he hadn’t he would have seen the look of hate that crossed Elizabeth’s face, and then that look turned into a leer.


From across the street, a figure moved from behind some bushes. The look on Elizabeth’s face was nothing compared to the look on Mary Alice’s face as she watched Travis get into his car and drive away.

Striding across the street, her body language would tell anyone she was not to be messed with. When she got to the front door, she did not knock, but banged on it with the side of her fist. When the door opened she lunged forward and, for the second time in two months the two girls were on the floor punching and kicking, only this time there was no one to separate them.

As they scratched and punched Elizabeth was yelling “And he wasn’t that good, but I screwed him and will screw him again!” over and over.

“You stupid bitch, I will kill you, I will kill you,” screamed Mary Alice.

All of a sudden, two hands grabbed Elizabeth who was on top and hurled her across the room. Then they grabbed Mary Alice and pushed her out the door. “You come in my house again and I will make you regret it. Go back to your whore mother and wimp-ass father you little slut,” Growled Elizabeth’s father who had pulled into the driveway to see his front door open and the two girls on the floor fighting.

He slammed the door and, as Mary Alice staggered away heard his yelling and the sound of crying getting louder.

When Mary Alice got back to the Murphy’s, and saw and heard what had happened, Mrs. Murphy was furious and told Mary Alice to pack her things and that it was time to go back to her own house.

Ann tried to convince her mom to let Mary Alice to stay, but Mrs. Murphy would hear none of it and, after packing her bag, Mary Alice headed back to her house. She called her dad, who was just closing up the restaurant and told him she had decided it was time to come home but would be asleep before he got there.

She figured it would be better to have this discussion tomorrow, he was sure to hear about the fight from someone in town.


As she lay down her phone rang and she picked it up. “M.A., I called over at Ann’s and all her mom would say is you moved home. Is everything OK?”

“I hope she was good Travis, you asshole, don’t ever talk to me again...and you can go to the prom with her you ass.” And she slammed the phone down.

About 30-seconds late the phone rang again and Mary Alice picked it up. “Baby, I just got a call from Mrs. Stevens and she told me you and Elizabeth had a huge fight.”

Mary Alice was amazed, did the whole world know about this already? “What mom, did you call to gloat? Did she also tell you her slut daughter screwed Travis? Did she tell you her husband threw out of their house? Did you tell your lover about it already?”

“Mary Alice, no matter what is going on between us I am still your mother and I will never abandon you. Did that man hurt you, because if he did I will call Sheriff Flynn and have him arrested?”

“I don’t need your help mom, you don’t live here anymore.” With that, she hung up the phone. She walked to her door and locked it and climbed into bed where she soaked her pillow with tears.


When Doctor Pamplin was done, he tossed the disposable gown into a bin and walked into the room Sheriff Flynn was watching from. “Well Doc?”

“She was alive when she went off the cliff, I would say it was a suicide, but if there were any bruises beforehand, it would be hard to tell. She was in the water for at least two days, maybe more, so any evidence of a struggle would be washed away.”

Sheriff Flynn nodded and thanked the Doctor mumbling, “I hate this part…”


When Mary Alice woke up she dressed quickly and left the house happy that her father had to leave before her to open the restaurant. As it was spring, and the tourist season was beginning, he opened early.

When she got to school, she ran into Liz J. and Mary Beth. They had both spoken to Ann the evening before and knew of the fight and were waiting for her a block away. “Look, M.A., he is a slime, forget about him and if you want, I will not go to the prom and stay with you, we both will…we discussed it already,” Said Liz J.

Mary Alice hugged them both and thanked them. She also told them they could not miss out on the prom and she would not let them.

Ann walked up a few minutes later and also offered to stay home from the prom and got the same response as Mary Beth and Liz J did. The three girls then vowed that Elizabeth was no longer a “Bay Babe” and with that, the four walked to the school. As they walked in they saw Travis standing with some friends and he began to walk over. The three friends blocked him from getting to Mary Alice. Ann spoke up “Travis, just turn around and go find your little slut. If you bother M.A., you will have to deal with us.”

At that moment Elizabeth walked into school. Mary Alice knew what she looked like after their fight and even though she was wearing more makeup then normal, could tell that some of the bruises were applied after their fight was over.

She looked at the four girls and turned and walked down the hall without a comment.

Later that day Elizabeth and Wayne had a huge fight in the cafeteria. Of course he had heard about Elizabeth’s time with Travis and he dumped her in front of the entire school.

After school, Travis and Wayne had one of those fights high school boys have more often then not. A bunch of screaming, some shoving, but it came to nothing more. It was broken up by the baseball coach who threatened Wayne with suspension from the team if he got into any more “incidents.”


The day of the prom came and Mary Alice helped all three of her friends get ready and sent them off to have a great time. She then walked over to the high school to watch all the couples stream in. When she saw Travis and Elizabeth together, she cursed under her breath. That bitch would pay she seethed…

She was startled when a hand landed on her shoulder. She spun around to come face to face with her mother. “I knew you would be here and I wanted to come and give you support. Oh Baby, don’t worry, you still have your junior prom and your senior prom.”

“God mom, why would you even come here?” That is when Mary Alice saw, standing behind her mother the root of all her problems. “AND WHY WOULD YOU BRING HIM HERE?”

She was so shocked by the site of Mr. Hill standing there that she didn’t realize how loudly she had shouted. Then she heard the commotion from across the street and realized everyone had heard and were looking over at her, her mother and the man she detested.

And she heard the other voice that made her skin crawl, Elizabeth…”Oh look everyone, it is Mary Alice and her mom with the boyfriend. Mary Alice, you doing threesomes now?”

Everyone in earshot began to laugh hysterically.

“Thanks mom, gee, you and Mr. Wonderful keep making my life better and better. I wish you were dead!"”

Mary Alice turned and ran in the opposite direction.



As the body went flying off the cliff, Mary Alice turned and walked back to her car.

“That is the last time you will ruin somebody’s life”


As Mary Alice pulled out of the “Blessed Eternity” cemetery, she smiled weakly. She drove to the Happy Acres motel 5 miles out of town and checked into room 203.

Picking up the phone, she dialed a number she knew by heart. “Hello...? Hello...? Is anyone there?”

Mary Alice put down the phone without speaking a word. Just hearing her father’s voice made her choke up. He sounded so old, so weak. If she were brave enough, she would have gone to see him, but she was not. She knew it and she knew if she had, she would blurt out the truth and that would surely kill him.

After she had left town, she read the papers and saw the reports of the body being found and that suicide was the cause. She read how the people who knew the victim spoke about all the problems she had over the last months, but how they could not understand why she would do what she had.

When Travis saw that Mary Alice had taken a room, he went back to the office and pulled out the file. The file he had read over and over once he had joined the Sheriff’s department.

If this had happened today, they would know so much more, but back then forensics were not as sophisticated. Maybe they would have found some evidence, maybe they would not. The body had been in the water for such a long time.


Today, when he saw the car, it all came flooding back. That year, the scene in Elizabeth’s house, the confrontation in the school the next day, the night of the prom. He had been furious at Elizabeth for shouting at Mary Alice when they saw her across the street as they entered.

The night was a total wreck and he had broken it off that next day. Three weeks later, two days after school had ended, the tragedy had occurred and then four days later, right after the funeral was held, Mary Alice was gone.

Her father told people that she could not deal with the whole situation and had decided to live with an aunt the next state over. Travis thought he would see her when she came back to visit, yet she never did.

Then, she is driving through town and visiting the spot of the tragedy – or was it something more? Travis now had more questions, especially after she visited the grave site.

Why was she back?

He would ask her the next day, he made himself that promise. Putting the file into his desk, he drove home. On the ride, he decided not to mention this to his wife Ann. It would just cause her to relive the nightmare.

They had married when Travis came back to Rogers Bay after blowing out his knee as a junior at State University. He could have finished his education, but came back and completed the 10 credits he needed at the local community college.

They had begun dating and got married 5 years later and now were the proud parents of two children, Travis, Jr. and Mary Beth, named after their good friend from high school.


His sleep was restless that night and the next morning Ann asked him if he was OK. He lied and told her everything was just fine and got into his patrol car and drove right to the Happy Acres motel.

When he pulled in the lot, he immediately saw that Mary Alice’s car was not there. Silently cursing, he pulled back out and hit the gas. He knew where he had to go and using his flashing lights, he sped up “Cliff Road”

His tires hit the gravel of the parking lot and he saw the car parked in the far corner. Not caring to be secretive any longer he sped to that end and hit his brakes hard.

He saw her standing by the edge looking out. He did not think she had even heard him pull up.

“Mary Alice?” he called as he walked up to about five feet away.

Without turning she replied “Hi Travis, I thought I saw you yesterday, you wouldn’t make a good spy.”

“Mary Alice, we need to talk.”

With that she turned around and faced him. “No Travis, there is nothing to talk about. There never was. You did what you did and I did what I had to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“OH Travis, you were always the most intelligent person I knew. I don’t have to explain it to you, do I? She hurt me, Trav. She was evil through and through. She ruined my life…she didn’t deserve to be happy.”

“Mary Alice, you better stop talking. I am not here as a friend, anything you say…”

Laughing out loud Mary Alice said “OH Travis, I know, ‘can be used against me in a court of law’. Next you will tell me that I have a right to an attorney, right? Do you really think that this will ever go to court?”

“M.A., why don’t we go back to the office and talk? You can call your dad and he can get someone to come and represent you. “

“I already called him Travis, he sounded so old, but he didn’t know it was me…or maybe he did, but I never spoke. We were always friendly Travis, please do me a favor and tell him I am sorry. I know that he was crushed by everything that happened. I hope he got over it and he found happiness eventually.”

“M.A., he never remarried, he never got over the loss…”

“I don’t want to know this Travis…I wish you hadn’t come here this morning, I hate that you are here.”

As she said the last words, Mary Alice smiled. It was a sad smile, one that contained twenty years of pain and guilt and abandon.

And then she took one step backward and disappeared over the edge right before Travis’ eyes…

As Mary Alice Silber passed the “Welcome” Sign for Rogers Bay, she looked down to see the odometer on her 1986 Dodge Colt click over the 138,000 mile mark. With a small, sad smile she pondered the oddity of this occurrence. When she had “run” from Rogers Bay at the age of 16, the car was one year old and the odometer read 11,000 miles.

The oldies radio station from the city 50 miles away played through the tinny speakers located on the top of the dashboard. Again she smiled sadly as she realized the song had been released in 1986, during the spring just a few months before she had packed the Colt in June, after her sophomore year in high school had ended and driven out of Rogers Bay. A song she and her girlfriends had listened to in the basement of Mary Alice’s parent’s home, or danced to on the beach when they would cut out of school.



Around town Mary Alice, Ann Murphy, Mary Beth Snyder, Liz Johnson, Lee Ann Paterson and Elizabeth Stevens were known as the “Bay Babes”. They had all started kindergarten together, had been girl scouts for a few years, moved from Rogers Elementary School to Kennedy Junior High and eventually walked the halls of County High. From the time they were freshman, they were the clique everyone wanted to be a part of, but theirs was a closed group…no other members allowed.

Growing up, Mary Alice’s parents ran the diner on Main Street in Rogers Bay. When her friends would go home for dinner, Mary Alice would rush to the diner to sit in the kitchen, do her homework, and watch her dad as he cooked the meals for the tourists who would flock to the thriving resort community, while her mother acted as Hostess and cashier up front.

Driving onto Main Street, she was not surprised to see the same sign in every third store window.


Looking to her left, a tear formed at the corner of her eye looking at the empty space that had been Silber’s Diner. The sign was still above the main window, part of the neon broken after years of neglect.

Coming to the one light in the town, Mary Alice turned the car left and followed the road as it wound upward to the cliffs above Rogers Bay. When she crested the hill, she pulled the car into the gravel parking area, laughing to herself as she saw the “Scenic Overlook” sign upon entering the small parking lot.

As she had hoped, on this gray day in October, the lot was empty. She pulled the Colt to the far side of the lot, turned off the radio and then turned the key. The car showed its age and shuddered into silence.

Opening the door, Mary Alice grabbed her coat from the back seat and pulled it on tight as the winter began making its presence known. Walking to the edge of the cliff she peered out at the waters of the bay.

How many times had she stood in this same spot? The number was too big to calculate. Pulling her jacket closer, Mary Alice thought back to her last winter in Rogers Bay to those months when everything was normal here in Rogers Bay.



Then, in January, everything changed. Mary Alice shivered, only this time it was not from the cold wind, but rather from the memories.

Right after Christmas, Mary Alice learned that not everything was rosy in the Silber household. She began to hear arguments coming from her parent’s bedroom when they had thought she was asleep. It seemed like they grew louder and louder each evening.

At first, Mary Alice could not hear the subjects of the fights, but then one night after about two weeks, she climbed out of her bed and quietly padded to the door outside her parents room. Putting her ear to the door she sat quietly and listened as her father berated her mother for having an affair with Mr. Hill, who was the owner of the company that supplied the produce to their diner.

Mary Alice snuck back to her room and fell asleep that night covering her pillow with tears. Over the next weeks, the arguments continued and her father began sleeping in the third bedroom. Neither her mom nor dad had guessed that Mary Alice was aware of the nature of their fights.

Then one day, Mary Alice had finished her homework and she and her dad left the restaurant. Her mother never came home that evening and after that, never lived in the house. She began sleeping in the small apartment above the restaurant.

Neither ever discussed the real issue behind their breakup with Mary Alice. The next Saturday afternoon as Mary Alice, Liz J. and Ann were on their way to the movies, she told her friends about the breakup of her happy home. Her girlfriends listened silently and showed true sympathy for their friend.

Mary Alice took one last look at the bay and walked back to her car. She slipped behind the wheel and started the car. She turned the heater on and sat there letting the car warm up.

She put the car into reverse and began to pull out of the lot. When she reached the road, she turned the knob on the radio. From the speakers came an ad for the megaplex movie theatre that was showing 20 different movies. It was such a change from when she and the girls would walk into town and go to the Odeon Theatre. They showed one movie which ran every evening and 4 times on Saturday. Each Friday a new movie would premier.



As the ad ended the disc jockey came on and introduced the next song. Mary Alice wondered if they were programming just for her today. This day she returned to Rogers Bay after being gone for 20-years.

This song had been the #1 hit the week, Mary Alice actually left town.