Looking back at my first meeting with Alma Johnson I wondered how a woman who was so mean could have an ounce of good in her. But the more time I spent around Alma the more I got to understand why she was who she was. In my travels I have learned some things, one of those things was no matter who you are you have a story. Something someone would find interesting, maybe something you haven't even given a second thought to. Well Alma was one of those people, in fact you could probably write an entire book on Alma and still not even scratch the surface. Alma showed me some pictures of her when she was in her late teens, and from those pictures you could tell she had all the boys beating a path to her door. But one night she had a little too much alcohol, and an offer to be driven home by the captain of the football team, Fred "Buzz top" Johnson. That combination led to a wedding and the birth of a son, Daniel F. Johnson..or "Buzz Jr" as Fred use to call him. The Johnson family movedinto Whispering Brook trailer park in the summer of 1978, and for the first couple of years life was pretty good. Until the winter of 1981, that's when the towns main employer..Parson's Lumber went out of business. If you could point out one thing that killed the town, that was the biggest blow. Nearly one hundred men and women well let go, and it was done without so much as a weeks notice. With the news most people panicked about what they were going to do, but Fred and Alma had set away some money in the back..plus Fred was getting unemployment so they could survive until Fred found another job. Well for the next six months Fred looked for a job, problem was all Fred had was his high school diploma and not many other skills..except working in a lumber yard. Discouraged at his prospects Fred stopped looking for work, he spent most of the days sleeping and the nights at the towns only drinking establishment..the "Nutz & Boltz" tavern. (to be cont.)Looking back at my first meeting with Alma Johnson I wondered how a woman who was so mean could have an ounce of good in her. But the more time I spent around Alma the more I got to understand why she was who she was. In my travels I have learned some things, one of those things was no matter who you are you have a story. Something someone would find interesting, maybe something you haven't even given a second thought to. Well Alma was one of those people, in fact you could probably write an entire book on Alma and still not even scratch the surface. Alma showed me some pictures of her when she was in her late teens, and from those pictures you could tell she had all the boys beating a path to her door. But one night she had a little too much alcohol, and an offer to be driven home by the captain of the football team, Fred "Buzz top" Johnson. That combination led to a wedding and the birth of a son, Daniel F. Johnson..or "Buzz Jr" as Fred use to call him. The Johnson family movedinto Whispering Brook trailer park in the summer of 1978, and for the first couple of years life was pretty good. Until the winter of 1981, that's when the towns main employer..Parson's Lumber went out of business. If you could point out one thing that killed the town, that was the biggest blow. Nearly one hundred men and women well let go, and it was done without so much as a weeks notice. With the news most people panicked about what they were going to do, but Fred and Alma had set away some money in the back..plus Fred was getting unemployment so they could survive until Fred found another job. Well for the next six months Fred looked for a job, problem was all Fred had was his high school diploma and not many other skills..except working in a lumber yard. Discouraged at his prospects Fred stopped looking for work, he spent most of the days sleeping and the nights at the towns only drinking establishment..the "Nutz & Boltz" tavern. (to be cont.)As the months continued Fred Johnson just seemed to give up on living, and Alma watched helplessly as Fred went from the happy-go-lucky man she fell in love with to a man who's moods swung between anger and sadness. It all came to head one stormy night in the spring of 1985, a night that would haunt Alma from that night on. Fred had been drinking heavily that night and when he came home he was in a surly, rotten mood. Fred started yelling at Alma for not having nothing for him to eat, and then it went to Fred blaming Alma for getting pregnant. According to Fred if Alma hadn't got "knocked up" he wouldn't have been trapped into marrying her, plus he wouldn't have a child to support. Alma had never seen Fred show this much anger, she tried to talk to him and went to put her arm around him. Fred reeled around and backhanded Alma and she struck her head on the couch, the blow knocked Alma out. When she came to, about an hour or so later Fred was nowhere to be found, Alma called theconstables office and told him what had happen. Avery Martin the town constable had grown up with Fred and though Avery had been a grade behind Fred they were good friends. Alma told Avery that she was concerned about Fred and was worried what he would do in the mood he was in. Avery assured Alma he would drive around town and see if he could spot Fred anywhere, and he'd get him sobered up and bring him home. Well Alma fell asleep on the couch when Avery drove up a short time later,she awoke when she heard a knock on the door. Avery stood there, red-eyed and at that point Alma knew that the news wasn't good. Seems that Fred was driving on the outskirts of town when he lost control of his car and drove off the bridge into the same river that I had plucked Lenny out of. Normally the river was only a couple of feet deep, but with the recent rains the river had swollen it's banks and Fred had no chance to escape. (to be cont.)Fred's car was found about two days later, it was about a mile downstream from where it had gone in. They searched for Fred's body for a couple of days after they found the car, but all they came up with was a shoe, which Alma said she recognized as belonging to Fred. When The decision came for handling Fred's funeral arrangements Alma decided to place a stone in the cemetary, and they had a gathering afterward at the firehouse. Fred didn't leave a whole lot behind insurance-wise so Alma was faced with the task of earning a living for her and little Fred, so she started looking for a job. It took Alma about a week before she got a job, it was as a waitress over in Jasper Junction at a diner called "Smunchies". She hated the work, the hours were long, the boss was always trying to cop a feel, and the money was piteful. But at least she was making a paycheck and she got to take food home so it cut down on the grocery bill. But with the new job came changes, some radical..some subtle.One change was her and little Fred had to move out of their trailer into a smaller one, with the money Alma was making she just wasn't able to keep up the payments. As the years passed Alma felt as if her life was slipping through her fingers, and she tried to figure a way to stop it. Finally she gave in to her bosses advancements, and there behind Smunchies at 12:05am in the back seat of here bosses station wagon Alma had the worst ten minutes in her life..to that point at least. Alma started living with her boss, and little Fred went to live with Alma's aunt upstate. Alma thought maybe her life would get better, well it just seem to worsen by the minute. Turns out the boss was a drunk, a womanizer, and abusive when Alma refused to have sex with him. For six months this went on, until that late night after closing..then it happened. (to be cont.)Alma's boss/boyfriend Orvis Pearl had left about nine that night, before he left he told Alma he'd be back at closing time and for her to "hold down the fort". Alma had to laugh, looking around the diner there were only 2 other people in the place..and one of those was Heywood Gripter the town drunk. Heywood would come in after a bender and buy a cup of coffee and nurse it for a couple of hours, you never had to worry about throwing out a pot of coffee when Heywood was around. Eleven came and Alma had locked the front door and started cleaning up the kitchen when Orvis suddenly appeared out of the darkness, and judging from the way he was walking and talking he'd paid a visit to the Nutz & Boltz bar. Orvis came up behind Alma and started to fondle her breasts with one hand while the other one groped around underneath her dress, this was the last thing she was in the mood for. Alma told Orvis, "dammit Orvis!!, I am in no mood tonight for your b.s." "It's been a long day and allI want to do is get this place cleaned up and go home and go to sleep", Alma said. Orvis was not going to take no for an answer, he turned Alma around to face him and ripped her uniform top open..exposing her breasts. Orvis then took a knife and cut off her panties, nicking Alma in a couple of spots causing her to bleed. At that point Alma decided enough was enough, while Orvis was fumbling with his pants Alma grabbed the first thing she could lay her hands on, which was a cast iron frying pan. Imagine Ovis's surprise when he looked up and saw that frying pan coming at him, probably didn't have time to think before that frying pan made contact..except for an "oh shit!!". Alma hit Orvis with all the strength her hundred twenty pound body could muster, and Orvis went down faster then you could sneeze. Alma looked at Ovis just laying there and muttered, "that'll teach you to screw with me you horny old bastard..hope I killed you". Alma thought for a minute and decided she better callsomeone, so she called Avery..in turn Avery called the State Police and an ambulance and advised Alma to stay there until he arrived. Surprising Orvis wasn't dead, but from the blow he took the doctor at the hospital told Avery he'd be surprised if Orvis could ever have a thought or much less spell the word ever again. Alma had been taken into custody for aggravated assault, but once they heard her story and knowing the type of person Orvis was nobody figured Alma belonged in jail. Smunchies closed down soon after, and Alma lived off unemployment for a while and she started seeing Avery. They married a few month later, and remained that way for about ten years, until Avery died of a massive coronary in his sleep. Alma started smoking and drinking, until a year ago when they removed a part of her lung, from that time she never went anywhere without that little green tank of oxygen. Alma Johnson was a survivor..and she knew it.