That morning was the last time he would see his baby sister alive.
While his mother choked on the thick cock of Mr. Cerelli, the neighbor next door, his three year old sister was literally choking to death on another, ironically, phallic shaped item.
A hot-dog and bun.
It would be years before the surgeon general would deem hot-dogs the #1 choke hazard of children 3 or younger. Long after Lisa (and her mother for that matter) were busily decomposing, and no longer in need of his sage advice.
Troy would always be off elsewhere during their trysts. Maybe at the pool in the summer heat. Maybe down at the soda fountain or riding his bike, a 1964 Schwinn Stingray, to the park. It was long before before the helicopter parenting of today. Children were basically raised free-ranged. Lisa Ann would be napping.
But not today.
Today, Troy had gone outside with his lunch. Peanut butter, as he detested hot-dogs. After this day, peanut butter sandwiches would also be off the list for life. Lisa Ann was fussy...resisting her nap. Exasperated Connie had parked her, just as so many other mothers routinely parked their children, in front of the family's 24 inch, grainy, black and white Motorola television.
The Glass Teat, as Harlan Ellison would refer to it, sarcastically, in 1983.
She handed her a plate with a hot-dog in a bun, chips and a sippy cup of purple Kool-Aid.
Mr. Cerelli came businesslike to the front door with a folder of papers in his hand, as always. The illusion of propriety, if not the intent. Passing by the toddler glued to her cartoons. Sticky purple Kool-Aid fingers reaching for chips without even breaking her gaze at the grey and white cat chasing an even greyer mouse. Color TV wasn't even a dream yet, and no man would set foot on the moon for another four years.
Their arrangement had gone on for nearly 6 months, completely unnoticed.
All of that was about to change.
Upstairs, Connie's was face buried in Lorenzo Cerelli's jet black chest hair. Breathing in his familiar scent as his hand slipped beneath her dress and thick calloused fingers worked between the nylon of her panties and her skin. Her breathing reduced to small moans of pleasure. Begging for a release.
Except, it would never come.
(Not even later that Fall when she would send Troy to play at a neighbor's house and tied a rope around her neck before stepping off the kitchen chair)
He unbuckled his belt and roughly pushed her head down in the general direction of his bulging crotch, closing his eyes. She greedily obliged him.
Only moments later, downstairs, there was a huge crash, the sound of glass breaking, and a scrabbling sound on the floor.
Cerelli darted into the nearby bathroom to arrange himself, and Connie dashed down the wooden stairs.
What the hell has she gotten into now? Connie angrily thought to herself.
Why couldn't she just sit quietly and watc....
[the thought froze there]
Reaching the bottom step, she first saw the television smashed face down in the broken plate. Grape Kool-Aid running from the sippy over the already staining hardwood floor. Then, the horrific purplish-blue face of her daughter flailing and soundless. Spittle running from the corners of her mouth. Snot dripping from her nose. Her eyes rolling back into their sockets. Grabbing her, screaming, Connie hammered her back, trying to dislodge the sticky bun-meat mass with clawing fingers to no avail.
The Heimlich Maneuver would be published in 1974 by Henry Heimlich. Once again, much too late to save Lisa Ann.
The kicking and flailing stopped as though someone had removed the batteries from a toy doll. The toddler went limp. Her face and chest a deep ashen blue color, and it was over. Her eyes dilated and fixed, sightless. Forever. Connie still keening. Mr. Cerelli attempting to calm her, and check Lisa for a pulse, but finding nothing.
Mr. Cerelli stayed until Dick arrived. Muttered an excuse about hearing Connie's screams from next door; then hurriedly left them both to their grief, the police and ambulance.
And 8 year old Richard Troy Jr. having just biked home, smelled his father's Brut cologne through the open screen window and looked inside...
