STEVE COOK

Steve joined me at Clarke. I don't recall him being in 6th grade. But he probably was. My first memories of him are from 7th grade.

Steve was a little runt. Seriously, if he were any shorter, he could have been classfied as a midget. But Steve's mouth was as large a mouth as you will ever see.

What the hell was Steve's problem? He was always shooting his mouth off to someone. He was cocky and obnoxious. And he loved to threaten people. But he never could have done anything to anyone anyway. Maybe that's why he did it. He knew no one would take him up on his offers to fight. What an idiot.

See my Stacy Taddy entry for the story how Steve and Stacy got suspended from school.

I suspect that Steve flunked 8th grade. He was dumb as a rock. And he never made it to high school at all. The last time I saw him was in freshman year. In the fall, I was riding my bike after school with Mark Schreiber and Kevin Dehne. We noticed Steve fishing down by the river. Kevin came up with the idea of throwing him in the water. So we went up to Steve - who was timid around Kevin, and stayed away from him. Kevin tried to tempt him by saying we should all climb on the beams under the bridge. Steve was all for it. And everytime Kevin got near him, Steve would start his journey on those beams. Kevin did finally catch him at one point, and managed to get him into the water. But Steve only got his feet submurged. So be it. We then left. But as we were leaving, Steve shouted out a series of obscenities.

At some point Steve was apparently sent to Lincoln Hills juvenile detention center. Allegedly he stole a van. I always wondered how he could have reached the pedals.

The last time I ever saw Steve was that day at the river. But his name did pop up two years later.

Kevin Dehne was hanging around with Tim Hauschultz and Brian Wavrunek. Allegedly Steve had stolen Brian's boombox. At least that's what they believed. They were probably right. Anyway, the three of them went looking for Steve. Unfortunately for Steve, they found him. The three of them beat the living shit out of Steve - punching and kicking him. They pounded him into unconsiousness. They then threw him into the trunk of a car, drove awhile, then dumped him in a ditch in Cato.

Apparently one of them (most likely not Kevin) bragged about the incident later that night at some party. And that fucking bitch Pam Engeldinger called the police. For the record, Pam was a fucking snotty bitch prior to this incident. I have no problem with her calling the police. But it'd be impossible to describe her without using the phrase "fucking bitch."

According to the newspaper, Steve "came to" the next morning. He was dazed, and was found wandering around by a local farmer. If memory serves, both his jaw and shoulder were broken. He also had a concussion, and possibly some missing teeth. The trio were arrested. All of them served time in jail. There were rumors that they had thought Steve was dead, and that they were simply dumping his body. But I spoke to Kevin about it at one point. He said that was absolutely untrue, and that Steve was breathing normally.

I guess no one deserves a beating like that. But based on Steve's past, it's hard to feel too sorry for him.

Today, Steve lives in Two Rivers. To my knowledge, he has never married. He's had a few skirmishes with the law, including receiving stolen property. Prior to coming back to Two Rivers, it looks like Steve lived in Louisiana for several years.