SpringSummer Chapter 3: The Changeling

SpringSummer

Chapter 3: The Changeling

“Yes, I will sign a confession stating that I conspired with members of the Mexican Alliance to distribute tons of methamphetamine throughout Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and beyond...

“Yes, I did personally distribute more than one hundred kilos...

“Yes, I did deliver an ounce of methamphetamine to James Charles Pearce on two separate occasions...”

Dr. Wu worked his persuasive magic on the inmate strapped to the table who admitted to running an Escobar-sized operation. Wu's team would have to scale back the details of course. Meantiwhile the confessor admitted to conspiracy, to running an ongoing criminal enterprise, showed a willingness to implicate other conspirators, a willingness to firm up the cases against a few convicts who wanted to appeal their convictions ...another giant leap for Dr. Wu, or so it seemed.

The problem, which would not be discovered immediately, is that Dr. Wu had the wrong inmate on his confession table. Delbert Wayne Duncan, inmate # 101793, was the intended subject of the confessional. Instead, inmate # 107193, Delmore Wade Duggin, was having his cranium bombarded with horrific images.

Mr. Duggin had received many diagnoses over his twenty seven years but two recurring terms were “schizoaffective” and “paranoid.” For reasons unclear even to the perpetrator, Delmore had returned home after a lengthy psychiatric hospitalization and immediately took an aluminum bat to the stained glass windows of an Episcopalean church. He was instantly remorseful to the point of cutting his wrist in a sincere suicidal effort. How could a man who loved his Savior and who prayed to him incessantly, commit such an act of barbarity? No one could explain it.

As the changeling experienced visions of Delbert Wayne Duncan's sons burning in Hell with accompanying sizzles and screams and pleas of “Daddy help me!” the genuine Delbert Wayne Duncan studiously consumed video material on The Unit's new and improved Education Ward. There, he was captivated by images of his childhood head flawlessly graphed on the neck of a child actor as the tussin-tenor voice-over filled his triangular cell.

“Remember when you tasted your first bowl of AM Cereal and every kid wanted to be your friend?”

Yes, it was coming back to him now. In those days children were told to stay away from kids whose fathers were in prison and young Delbert Wayne often played by himself. Then his mother brought home a box of “American Morning” cereal and every kid in the world wanted to play with him.

The screen cut to his adult head flawlessly gumped on an athletic body reading the label of an “American Morning” cereal box. His shopping cart is overflowing with giant turkeys and hams and apples the size of cantaloupe and extra-yellow bananas...Delbert Wayne Duncan places the titanic box of cereal into the depths of the stainless steel cornucopia with a blissful smile on his face...cut to an exterior of a large, luxurious house...cut to a bright, sunny dining room where a smiling Delbert Wayne Duncan sits at the head of a sprawling table. Seated next to him is his wholesome model wife, a handsome teenage son and two daughters on the cusp of womanhood. The child models are all within ten years of his wife model.

The family is enjoying American Morning cereal and Happy Start pastries. Delbert Wayne Duncan silently pledges to devote himself to his family and stay out of trouble. His older son had grown into a fine young man. Not sure where his younger son might be. Hope he isn't in trouble. His wife must have been pregnant with twin girls when he got sent away. They all want to see their father and enjoy American Morning cereal with him.

“Things will be different next time around,” Delbert Wayne Duncan said aloud. “Things will be different.”