The Executioner's Song, Part 3: Gary & Nicole

Nobody trusts Gary. And he doesn't exactly give anyone a reason to trust him: he is dishonest, has a temper, terrible work ethic, immature social behavior.....

But I don't get the feeling that he is a pedophile. He has Nicole. She is young enough to be his child but she is not shaped like an actual child.

So when Pete Guloven--the man who rents his Uncle Vern's cottage--notices Gary propositioning Toni--the young daughter of Annette--to babysit while he and Nicole plan a romantic trip to the canyon, he nosily misinterprets Gary's proposition as something perverse when he sees Gary give her a peck on the cheek.

Gary can only solve disputes with fighting. First, he threatened to fight Pete, then did fight him, and was surprised when this did not inspire Pete to apologize to Gary for telling Ida--Gary's aunt--what he thought Gary was saying to Annette.

Pete believes that "Gary is getting more out of line every day" and Gary confirms  this by telling Nicole "...in prison you don't leave things like Pete undone..."

Nicole also threatened to kill Pete for pressing charges. It takes love to threaten someone else's life, so she must really be in love. Pete was a Mormon and prayed that Gary would control himself and dropped the charges. He also could have feared for his life, now that Gary and Nicole want him dead.

Meanwhile, Gary and Nicole continue to live excessively. A girl named Rosebeth (who is also a minor) is introduced into Gary and Nicole's relationship. (Ok, this technically makes Gary a pedophile, though Annette was 14, but Gary would "never hurt you [Toni] or your family.) Nicole "liked the idea of giving this gift [Rosebeth] to Gary."

Rosebeth is a gift Nicole gives herself too; she cheats on Gary with Rosebeth. It doesn't make a difference that Rosebeth is a girl because Nicole's lust is a slippery slope. Many men want her, and she wants them. It is only a matter of time before she cheats on Gary with an ex-husband or someone else, and then it is only a matter of time until Gary finds out.

Gary's relationship with his boss, Spencer is crumbling. Gary is an increasingly bad worker, takes too many breaks, shows up late. The government pays half of Gary's salary, so a disappointed Spencer rationalizes Gary's behavior.

Gary is also stealing more and more. He steals beer from the store, then he steals things he doesn't need and tries to sell, like guns and water skis. Nicole doesn't approve because Gary is on parole. Getting caught could endanger his freedom, but Gary wants to buy a crappy truck to replace his unreliable mustang and doesn't think things through.

The fights between Nicole and Gary intensify. Nicole, feeling cooped up with Gary, was thinking of her ex-husband Barrett after receiving a letter from Kip, her fourth ex and the father of her second child. The men in her life return.

Gary had bad timing with a sweet though and told Nicole he loved her. She responded "Yeah and so do seven other motherfuckers." Gary hit her, then later apologized. Nicole said she wanted to die, then Gary held a knife to her stomach and asked her if she really wanted it. She said no.

Nicole got invited to Sterling Baker's (her cousin) birthday party. She jokes about having a crush on him, and then open mouth kisses him in front of everyone! Her lust does not obey familial bounds. Gary asks her if she's "Had Enough" then picks a fight with some Chicanos over sunglasses, gets his ass kicked, and Nicole questions her loyalty and attraction to Gary.

Gary drinks beer and eats Florinal for his headaches and can't get it up. Nicole thinks he is a "bad package." She is very tired of Gary's behavior, eventually has sex with Barrett and tells him "I love you" if Gary catches them together and kills them. Nicole leaves Gary, moves out of the apartment she shares with him in Spanish Fork and in with Barrett.

Both Nicole and Gary and immature cheaters who have not learned from their mistakes, and therefore continue to make them with consequences worsening. In this part Mailer introduces many "characters" that Gary has reason to murder.

Tune in next time to see which one it is!