The Rape of the Kennedys by Michael Conniff from the BOOK OF O'KELLS

8/18/2019 The Rape of the Kennedys by Michael Conniff from the BOOK OF O'KELLS

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T HE R APE O F T HE K ENNEDYS

© C OPYRIGHT 2016

A LL R IGHTS R ESERVED

BY M ICHAEL C ONNIFF

Gaps—one learns to be unconcerned about gaps.

With our gaggle of press agents and fixers, we O’Kells have always

been capable of filling in said gaps regardless. Our relationship to history

has always been both cursory and unblinking we can curse the darkness and

lighten the very nature of the narrative by si!ple acts of derision and

deletion. With enough !oney, we si!ply do whatever we want to do and

worry about the actual details later "if at all#. We know history has a price—

to pay for history is priceless , actually—but any narrative can be leased like

a cheap whore, as you shall soon see when it co!es to yours truly, now

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all of his ho!es. God the ather was his unforgiving overseer, and so our

ather never forgot the ulti!ate reason for his success -e, the (hree3&n3

One, was (he One who cracked the whip.

oe Kennedy, in contrast, !ade only one thing—!oney—and he

craved the attention that ca!e fro! living so public a life. 4o wonder then

that the patriarchs of the Kennedys and the O’Kells had such antipathy for

each other ather saw oe Kennedy as an unrepentant !ick long ago lost to

5a!!on6 oe saw ake O’Kell as that !ost unforgiveable of creatures, a

sancti!onious prig far holier than hi!self. &t was no accident that we

O’Kells settled in )outha!pton for the su!!ers, while oe Kennedy

coloni7ed -yannisport at the far end of civili7ation. Given their !utual

loathing, the chances of ake O’Kell allowing one of the randy Kennedy

boys within hailing distance of his daughters was unthinkable and even

sacrilegious.

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only for 1leanor, the eldest and by far the !ost worldly of the three beautiful

young girls.

:&’ve heard about you girls all the way up in Boston,; ack says with

that accent.

/iana and Becca twitter and blush.

:& hope & never go Boston,; 1leanor says. :&t !ight as well be on the

!oon.;

:&’! fro! there,; ack says. :4ow you have a reason.;

:/on’t hold your breath,; 1leanor says.

:When & co!e back, &’! running as a war hero in Boston,; he says.

:&’ll need a wife. % +atholic. % beautiful one. *ike you.;

:Cou haven’t done anything yet,; 1leanor says. :Cou haven’t even

enlisted. Cou probably won’t even co!e back. Cou look like the dying type.;

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:&’! enlisting to!orrow,; ack says, :and &’ll be a hero when & co!e

ho!e after we win the war. Cou’ll see.;

:When ohnny co!es !arching ho!e?; 1leanor says. :(hey could

put you on a throne but you’d still be nothing !ore than a Kennedy. ro!

Boston .;

:1leanorD; /iana says.

:&’ll run as a war hero and &’ll be elected to the -ouse fro! Boston,

then )enator, then God only knows.;

:/addy’s step3ladder to heaven?; 1leanor says.

:Cou’ll see,; ohn . Kennedy r. says. :/ad’s got a photographer

taking pictures of !e in unifor! to!orrow. (aking the oath. Cou’ll see what

happens when & co!e back.;

:/addy’s little boy,; 1leanor says. :Going off to fight the war /addy

didn’t want.;

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:/ear God, 1leanor,; Becca whispers. :Cou don’t have to be so rude.;

:-e’s a Kennedy ,; 1leanor says. :1verything about hi! is rude.;

:Why don’t you tell your little sisters to go ho!e and play with their

blocks,; ack says. :(hen you can find out all about !e for yourself.;

ack Kennedy threw down cab !oney to /iana and Becca and then a

F2 bill to cover the tab and then so!e. 1leanor told her sisters to go and to

tell their father she had gone to 5ass. When the girls left, ack Kennedy

asked !y oldest sister to co!e up to his roo!.

:We can order in,; he says. :0oo! service. % real party. (he whole

works.;

:&’ll give you so!ething to re!e!ber !e by,; 1leanor says.

& have @ust described !y sister as virginal but that is a bald3faced lie.

(here was enough of her innocence left to glow in the face of the world, but

we all knew even then that so!ething cataclys!ic had befallen 1leanor as a

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young girl, so!ething so hateful she would live with it until she was laid to

rest. (he cause of her darkness was %to!ic (o!, of course, our half3brother,

a !an so insatiable and twisted he tracked the scent of his own blood as

prey. (o! beat a path to 1leanor’s door as soon as she ca!e of age, co!ing

@ust often enough for her to know he was never going to stop. & can only

i!agine !y sister’s terror, her horror at what had befallen her, but our

%to!ic brother was not a !an "or a boy# that she could say no to. & have no

doubt, none whatsoever, that (o! threatened her with death, and that he

abused 1leanor so often she had given herself up for dead. )o!ehow, still a

teenager, 1leanor O’Kell had grown up into a world so rigged and unfair that

her only recourse was to never say a word about her lost innocence to

anyone, not even to God. )ure, she bore the patina of youth and those

languid O’Kell legs, but if you looked deep into !y sister’s eyes you knew

her soul had long ago departed for a better world.

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1ven so, with history stacked against her, !y sister had been stoking

an anger against !en that had nowhere to go until the !o!ent when ack

Kennedy locked the door of the roo! at (he


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easy con'uest, the latest in a list that would grow longer before and after his

!arriage. -e can see that 1leanor is a bad girl—!eaning that she is willing

to have sex with hi! even though it is "and was# a sin.

%ll syste!s are go.

& speculate, of course, but & have been that boy in that roo! at (he


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(he attraction is there for both of the!, of course, boy and girl. ack is

looking for one last fling before he floats off to war, but so!ething else

entirely is raging within 1leanor, a self3hatred born the very first ti!e with

%to!ic (o! in the !iddle of the night. )he had instantly learned that life

was brutal and bestial in the best of circu!stances. Our hateful half3brother

knew the dangers of such a coupling when he was done with her he would

spill the contents of his wand all over her sheets and her skin, the stench of

her co!euppance a per!anent scent that bespoke only sha!e.

One can only i!agine how !uch she hated %to!ic (o! O’Kell6 and,

in turn and in ti!e, how !uch 1leanor O’Kell would co!e to hate !en.

(he cocky future war hero fro!


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behind hi!, takes off his belt, and playfully ties his hands together behind

his back.

Before she is called to the +onvent, !y sister 1leanor finds her first

victi! in the figure of the future


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!issing in action. 1leanor is acting like !an and thus turning hi! into a

little boy with no control over his fate. -e begs her to stop —but 1leanor is

not done with hi! until he is forced to do what she re'uires over again and

again.

4ight is falling over (he


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The Rape of the Kennedys by Michael Conniff from the BOOK OF O'KELLS

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Transcript of The Rape of the Kennedys by Michael Conniff from the BOOK OF O'KELLS