Eric Carr’s scrapbook - The Defenseless

Additional material for the Janus Clan series of novels. The following is the voice of Eric Carr. He is a peripheral, but not unimportant character in the books. The photo is a pivotal scene from the first book The Defenseless

…

I look at this photo from a hike up South Platte River the family made during the spring of 1968, and I wonder, wonder even more.

The people depicted in this old photo from the Cousin family photo album are from left to right Tilla Stevens, Mike Cousin, Ted Cousin, Linda Cousin and Elizabeth Kendall. There are several odd things about it.

I’ve asked Ted about it, and he says Rodney Cousin, his father, or rather his adopted father took it.

The first thing striking me is that it is in black and white. The color film had long since made its entrance. Cousin was seen as a very conservative man, with his own, obscure ideas about life. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something is still off. Ted said that Cousin (he always says Cousin, not father) directed them, placed them on specific points before snapping the photos. Mike, the oldest, tallest has the dominant spot, even though Linda is in front. Linda is Cousin’s daughter by blood. Ted is placed behind both Mike and Linda, almost hidden by both. The perspective also makes Tilla small. Elizabeth is placed apart, far behind the rest, as if she doesn’t belong. Cousin was one twisted man. A therapist would have a field day with this.

Other striking features include the total lack of hippy clothing and that only Elizabeth is smiling. I notice more and more, the more I look, the more I stare. You can practically feel the tension. You don’t even have to strain yourself.

But I’m also struck by how… ordinary they look. They hardly differ from any other kid or group of kids in that particular neighborhood. They don’t really stand out in the local school’s yearbook, in the shooting club the brothers were a part of or any public record. It isn’t farfetched to call them an all-American family. Everyone would be hard pressed to guess what would follow weeks, months, years, decades… down the line.