Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold

When Jerry found out that Mark had attacked Rachelle, he was furious.  “I'm gonna KILL him!” he fumed.

Rachelle adjured him to measure his response.  “Stay within your swing, Jerry,” she advised.  “Keep a cool head.”

Jerry was not mollified.  “What am I supposed to do?” he asked.  “Just let him get AWAY with it?” 

Over salad, Rachelle pointed out that she had stung Mark very badly.  She did not allow Jerry to labor under ANY delusions.  “From the point of view of the school, Mark has two arenas, Jerry,” she enumerated.  “He's a jock, and you've stolen his girl, but also, he's a rich kid, and his Dad might be furious for his own reasons.  Mark KNOWS it all started with you and me.  He is not completely deceived.” 

Jerry pondered this response.  “Well, as far as his dad knows, Mark screwed the Coach over, and he assaulted you when he had to face losing you.  I'm pretty sure that discredits him with his Dad.  What we really need to do, is discredit him with his fraternity.  Can you think of a way to embarrass him with them?”  Jerry paused.  “It would have to be public, though,” he wondered aloud.

It was Rachelle's turn to contemplate.  Fraternities had their own rules, and they would not necessarily shun Mark for cuckolding the coach.  “I bet he's getting help from his frat brothers right now,” she speculated.  She went on to add that frat brothers would divide, when it came to rebelling against their parents, despite elastic morals about sex and academic standards. 

Even as they spoke, Mark was raging to his friends.  “That slut,” he railed.  “After everything I did for her!” 

“Why don't you punish HER by punishing HIM?” one of them suggested. 

Having seen no immediate way to retaliate, Mark was quickly won to this point of view.  If Rachelle really loved this nerd, then hurting Jerry would make her so mad, she'd have a cow.  Being enraged himself, the thought of angering Rachelle appealed to him deeply.  “I know just what I need to do.  That bastard spends all his time at the library?  I'll just take his computer, throw it through the library door, and burn the library down.” 

The idea of burning down the school library was not the instant success that Mark expected.  “I don't know... that seems a little extreme,” Ronald, the most studious among them ventured. 

The rest were caught between two wills.  Mark had the panache of a jock, while Ronald usually led by virtue of his intellect.  Mark mistook indecision for deference.  “Are you with me, or not?” he demanded.

The result was somewhat predictable.  “We won't rat you out, Mark.  Just don't get caught.” 

Mark left in disgust.  It was the work of three hours to persuade a sorority sister to “borrow” the resident assistant's key (to Jerry and Rachelle's dorm room,) and visit a hardware store.  Soon he had not only stolen Jerry's computer, but also proved his own ingenuity by affixing a hasp to the door, and locking it with a combination lock he had purchased for the purpose.   Patricia stood lookout, while he first installed the grommet on the door jam, then he bent the hasp so that it would mate with it.  He duly drove the screws that fastened the hasp into the door first, in such a way that the hasp folded over this part, preventing removal after it was closed.  Jerry would be a while sorting this out, even if he came home before nightfall. 

The enemy pair had skipped the cafeteria, and were eating at a restaurant, before going Geo-caching, to “get away from it all.”  If it got too late, they were prepared to stop at a motel for the night.

Nightfall saw Mark quietly sneak two five gallon Jerry-cans full of kerosine into the stacks.  He had drilled a pin-hole into one of them, laying a trail of accelerant like a fuse.  He returned to his car, and lugged the computer up the steps unobserved.  He hurled the computer through the door, and lit his makeshift fuse, before high tailing it straight back to his car.  He could hear the fire alarms ringing, as he sped away... straight into the parked vehicle of a school security guard. 

Jerry and Rachelle were fated to see their sometime enemy jailed and expelled, without even lifting a finger.  The evidence was damning.