Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thank you for the chapters!
Ava is tired and all, but really has her head in the game.
Ava is tired and all, but really has her head in the game.
Story Ava (Complete)
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
Mr Bill
Veteran Member
We already got our refunds, but no place to spend it.
I just realized I didn't hit post. Thank you for your service Capt Dan
Happy Easter everyone. I am taking tomorrow off and I don't think I'm going to be able to get a chapter posted today either.
Warning Will Robinson … [rant on] I've been working my tailfeathers off and still have a long list of things to do. People staying home all day, every day in their rental units does not make for a smooth time of it. Since they don't own it, they don't use a lot of care taking care of it. If some of them don't beat their kids I just might. We nearly had a housefire when one kid tied toys to strings and then the strings to the ceiling fan. Can you just imagine how that motor reacted when the strings became all entangled as it was spinning around? Not to mention when "mom" tried to get the strings untangled she nearly pulled the fan all the way out of the ceiling before she turned the power off. Just because a fan no longer spins doesn't mean the electricity isn't still trying to make the connection. OMG. There's been a lot of plumbing clogs as well. And the list could go on and on. Broken windows, busted in doors, holes in walls (all from drunks and domestic issues). I'm done in. Put the freakin' kids back in school, get the adults back to work, and stop with the fake emergencies already. It isn't the virus that is going to kill us … it is the idiots that are coming unglued because they pretend to think the virus is going to kill them. [Rant off.]
It isn't the virus that is going to get us. It is the economic consequences of letting the lunatics out of the asylum … or at least that is how way too many people are acting.
Warning Will Robinson … [rant on] I've been working my tailfeathers off and still have a long list of things to do. People staying home all day, every day in their rental units does not make for a smooth time of it. Since they don't own it, they don't use a lot of care taking care of it. If some of them don't beat their kids I just might. We nearly had a housefire when one kid tied toys to strings and then the strings to the ceiling fan. Can you just imagine how that motor reacted when the strings became all entangled as it was spinning around? Not to mention when "mom" tried to get the strings untangled she nearly pulled the fan all the way out of the ceiling before she turned the power off. Just because a fan no longer spins doesn't mean the electricity isn't still trying to make the connection. OMG. There's been a lot of plumbing clogs as well. And the list could go on and on. Broken windows, busted in doors, holes in walls (all from drunks and domestic issues). I'm done in. Put the freakin' kids back in school, get the adults back to work, and stop with the fake emergencies already. It isn't the virus that is going to kill us … it is the idiots that are coming unglued because they pretend to think the virus is going to kill them. [Rant off.]
It isn't the virus that is going to get us. It is the economic consequences of letting the lunatics out of the asylum … or at least that is how way too many people are acting.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Happy Easter, I hope tomorrow goes better.
Sportsman
Veteran Member
I've always said I'm more concerned about the second and third order effects of this thing than I am about the virus. And I'm one of the "vulnerable population".
Take your time. We'll miss the adventures of Ava, but we want you to be in the right mood and a bit rested when you write them.
And I hope this isn't your "new normal", that imaginary thing people keep talking about!
Think of Easter and its meaning.
Take your time. We'll miss the adventures of Ava, but we want you to be in the right mood and a bit rested when you write them.
And I hope this isn't your "new normal", that imaginary thing people keep talking about!
Think of Easter and its meaning.
Sorry for the delay. Things have been crazy.
---------------------------
Chapter 54
I got thoroughly “debriefed.” I was not thrilled. Then again, neither were those so-called debriefers. I’ve gotten better counseling from this crazy old homeless guy that used to hang out around the corner from military surplus store. And when I say the guy was crazy, it was with a capital Cray and a capital Zee. I’d give him dinner about once a week when I cleaned at this Hawaiian BBQ take out place as part of my regular crapwork schedule. I’d have to wait around for him to finish eating so I could clean up after him or he’d throw the trash down right there and that could have lost me the job and they were some of the only ones that paid me in cash. He’d go on some long train ride of a story then right at the end would be the gold. Some bit or piece of wisdom. The way to make a fist properly, how to watch my back at night, how to turn some bit of trash to something useful, which recyclers paid the best, how to get a good fake ID so the people at the blood mobile wouldn’t get suspicious. You know, all those useful tidbits of knowledge the average adult would never think to share with a kid … heck, useful tidbits that not even the average adult seemed to know. He also warned me that I couldn’t let things back up in my psyche or I’d wind up as crazy as him. He was the veritable Kwai Chang Caine of the homeless world. The guy was weird as crap … but that put him in my world since I was the Queen of Crap … or at least Queen of the Kingdom of Crapwork.
Em was a little disgusted and agitated himself. I guess he was trying to do the right thing, but they turned it around on him as they were not just debriefing people, but secretly mining information on locals for some database. Em, having spent his time in the military, figured out what they were doing immediately; but, he wasn’t the only one. The so-called secret got out as soon as The Debriefers opened their mouths and started “doing their jobs” because the locals around here are not your typical know-nothing residents of Podunkville. Nope. Nor did they appreciate what they figured was happening. Those idiots and their bosses have stepped right into a big ol’ pile of stink. I let the Major know after I’d put two and two together and boy did she look like she wanted to rip someone a new one when she checked my theory and found it to be true. Military personnel are basically a captive audience for that kind of thing but doing it to civilians supposedly violates some ordinance number eleventy-dozen point two six nine five subsection a for asshat. I took all the growling I’ve been hearing going on that Colonel Hyland is way overstepping his authority. Just because he acts like he is a cross between Pol Pot and Gen. Benjamin Butler with the looks of Dick Clark and can get away with it in New Orleans (or so he believes) doesn’t mean he is going to get a free pass in the rest of Louisiana. Nope. He’s not really getting away with it in New Orleans either, the folks there are simply biding the time and taking all the free stuff he gives them until he don’t give no more and then they’ll turn on him. But that’s not my problem.
I’ll leave the military personnel to the military to deal with. Not my job. Not my responsibility. Nothing I want to mess with no matter how that Doc tried to suck up and get me to tell her alllll about my friends and the junior enlisted who so obviously must have a thing for a “strong young woman” like me. Gag me. It was a one-off freebie bone I tossed to the Major because the little dweeb … excuse me, dweebette … that had the privilege of debriefing me more than got on my nerves. I’m not some tchotchke to be played or played with. The woman really didn’t realize I had her number or was playing her … I’ve experienced some of the best the State of Florida could throw at us foster kids … and it was fairly easy to get around her leading questions. She’d been forewarned that I was a tough customer. By whom I haven’t the foggiest. Heck, she even told me that … “I’ve been informed that you’re a ‘tough customer’ Ms. Thibodaux.” It was when she called me “Mizz” that I smelled a rat. I’ve been in the system. I know how most counselors try and pick something to show “respect” or “empowerment” and then they use that as a chink in the armor. Good counselors open communication with finding out what you want to be called, they don’t assume anything. For all Dr. Dumbbunny knew I might not identify as cis-gender … I mean I do but that’s something that she would have known at the time. Whatever. I won’t be making that mistake again even if I shake like an old woman’s hand after her fifth cup of coffee.
That was nearly my entire morning wasted. Dat burn I hate that. It left me twice as much work to finish before my day could be over. And though I would have preferred to keep him out of it I needed some monkey help to keep me from burning too much daylight. Fabrice was climbing the walls by the time I came around to try and grab a bite to eat.
“I saved you some!” Fabrice yelled nearly sprinting in my direction.
“Yowzer. Turn the volume knob down a little bit.”
In nearly a whisper he asked, “Are you hungover? Grandpere used to get hungover.”
“No Stinker, I’m not hungover. Geez. I am low on sleep so don’t push my buttons or Tib can go dumpster diving to pull your butt out.” He laughed. He just doesn’t know how close he’s come to getting tossed in a couple of times. “Now tell me how Auntie, Momma L, and Mr. Julius are holding up.”
“Auntie is better but wouldn’t settle down until she found out you were taking care of things and telling some of those military people where they could stuff it.”
“You watch that mouth … at least where people can hear you. Got it?”
“Sure Ava, but that’s what Grandpere said finally settled her down so she’d take the medicine the doctor says she has to take. Grandpere said he needs to talk to you about something important. Momma L says I can go with you when you do your work.”
“She did, did she.”
“Yeah. ‘Cause those cleaners they brought in have gotten most stuff done in the Big House and the Old House already.”
“Cleaners?! That’s my job!”
“I told them you were going to say that.”
“Stay put Squirt. I need to find out what’s going on.”
That’s when I found out the Cleaners had done a better than decent job getting rid of all of the “biologicals,” calling the lawyers and reporting they’d fixed what could be fixed and that they will be leaving any furniture they bring in from this point forward. And that’s when I called the lawyers and said I’d do an inventory and make sure that the Cleaners follow through … with a little persuasion if necessary on my part. For them to just make sure they had the Cleaners on written record if they couldn’t weasel an actual contract out of them. The lawyers in turn pretty much told me not to try and teach an old dog new tricks because they knew more tricks than I even thought existed.
I responded, “Don’t bet on it. But you people are the lawyers. Do your thing. And I’ll do mine. I can name a few of the military personnel you can trust. These new ones in the area I’m a whole lot less than sure of. I’ll pass along when I’m sure one way or the other.”
“We are given to understand Mrs. Fontenot is … unwell. Is she able to continue in her capacity?”
“Auntie Orélie is gonna be just fine. She has something, the doc doesn’t know what exactly at the moment, but antibiotics should take care of things. She’s still in charge.”
There was a long silence. “I see.” Another extended silence. “So long as the property continues to be maintained and provide the trust with income, we won’t have to send anyone down to evaluation the situation.”
“You won’t have any complaints.”
“See that we don’t.”
Ugh. Tap dancing. I can do it better than most, but I don’t like to. However that wasn’t the only situation I had to deal with.
I’m all but duck marched back to the kitchen when they saw me checking up on the job the Cleaners did. “What in the sam hill do you mean I cannot enter the rest of the house. And how exactly do you think the guests staying here are going to be fed, have their rooms cleaned, and the property maintained properly?”
The Major stuck her head out of the smaller dining room. “Is there a problem here?”
Private Pain in my Butt said “No ma’am” at the same time I said, “Yes ma’am.” Difference was my mouth kept going by adding, “I am being prevented from providing the personnel and property here at The Isabelle the care they are paying for.”
The Major gets that extra special look in her eyes that even I try to avoid putting there. “Private?”
“Ma’am Colonel Hyland has ordered …”
“Get it,” she said. “His written and signed order.”
“Ma’am?”
“I want to see who in DC cleared the order.”
“Er … I’ll have to refer your request to …”
“I wasn’t making a ‘request’ private. I was giving you a direct order.”
The private scampered off at a fast pace and then the Major sighed and said, “Ava, I may give you some latitude in your behavior but you can’t just buck orders and expect me to keep you out of trouble.”
“I wasn’t bucking orders or screwing up the chain of command or anything else you want to call it. I am wondering just how far over the line they are going to push this.” That’s when I told her about what the debriefings were really for and explained about having to show my ID the previous night as well as now being refused admittance to the rest of the Big House which meant no one was going to get fed, laundry not done, etc. And how the lawyers were expecting a physical inventory of any damage they were going to be expected to absorb.
About that time we heard pounding out in the yard and when we looked out they were pounding stakes into the ground and running colored tape.
“Why are they trying to make the yard into a rainbow maze?” I asked. “And why is Zeb helping them?”
I could see the Major looked like she really wanted to say something but had more control than I did. She left the room and I figure that was as good as a dismissal as I was going to get and did the same. Fabrice started following me around like he was attached to my butt by a slinky toy. And when I went to the work shed and saw them starting to empty it so they could put their supplies in there I’d had all I was going to take. You know? Sometimes bypassing the people playing dodgeball on the playground and going straight to the principal since the teachers didn’t seem to be able to control the bullies is simply what you have to do. Someone might translate that to mean calling the Governor’s office, pretending to be a reporter and asking certain questions, and then calling and giving select real members of the press a story they could sink their teeth into … namely violation of the 3rd Amendment.
Now I wasn’t sure how much good it was going to do. I didn’t know if it was going to do any good at all and proceeded to do what work I could under the assumption that no one was going to listen to me. First order of business was to have Fabrice help me for a couple of hours to organize what they were just tossing out into the yard in piles from the outbuildings. We were barely staying ahead of the chaos when I hear some yelling from some fancy trailer that had been parked near the pool area. The way someone was cutting up I thought maybe a gator had gotten naughty and climbed in with them. Then cars and news trucks start showing up and people get out and start taking photos and setting up mics and video feeds.
The Major comes out of the trailer looking thoroughly singed. Well crap. I’ll have to fix that another time, sometimes things get dicey on the chess board of life. Immediately after her comes this woman with more stripes on her than I’d yet seen on a female. And sure enough I was staring at Colonel Hyland … a she and not a he as I had assumed. Teach me won’t it. Hmph.
---------------------------
Chapter 54
I got thoroughly “debriefed.” I was not thrilled. Then again, neither were those so-called debriefers. I’ve gotten better counseling from this crazy old homeless guy that used to hang out around the corner from military surplus store. And when I say the guy was crazy, it was with a capital Cray and a capital Zee. I’d give him dinner about once a week when I cleaned at this Hawaiian BBQ take out place as part of my regular crapwork schedule. I’d have to wait around for him to finish eating so I could clean up after him or he’d throw the trash down right there and that could have lost me the job and they were some of the only ones that paid me in cash. He’d go on some long train ride of a story then right at the end would be the gold. Some bit or piece of wisdom. The way to make a fist properly, how to watch my back at night, how to turn some bit of trash to something useful, which recyclers paid the best, how to get a good fake ID so the people at the blood mobile wouldn’t get suspicious. You know, all those useful tidbits of knowledge the average adult would never think to share with a kid … heck, useful tidbits that not even the average adult seemed to know. He also warned me that I couldn’t let things back up in my psyche or I’d wind up as crazy as him. He was the veritable Kwai Chang Caine of the homeless world. The guy was weird as crap … but that put him in my world since I was the Queen of Crap … or at least Queen of the Kingdom of Crapwork.
Em was a little disgusted and agitated himself. I guess he was trying to do the right thing, but they turned it around on him as they were not just debriefing people, but secretly mining information on locals for some database. Em, having spent his time in the military, figured out what they were doing immediately; but, he wasn’t the only one. The so-called secret got out as soon as The Debriefers opened their mouths and started “doing their jobs” because the locals around here are not your typical know-nothing residents of Podunkville. Nope. Nor did they appreciate what they figured was happening. Those idiots and their bosses have stepped right into a big ol’ pile of stink. I let the Major know after I’d put two and two together and boy did she look like she wanted to rip someone a new one when she checked my theory and found it to be true. Military personnel are basically a captive audience for that kind of thing but doing it to civilians supposedly violates some ordinance number eleventy-dozen point two six nine five subsection a for asshat. I took all the growling I’ve been hearing going on that Colonel Hyland is way overstepping his authority. Just because he acts like he is a cross between Pol Pot and Gen. Benjamin Butler with the looks of Dick Clark and can get away with it in New Orleans (or so he believes) doesn’t mean he is going to get a free pass in the rest of Louisiana. Nope. He’s not really getting away with it in New Orleans either, the folks there are simply biding the time and taking all the free stuff he gives them until he don’t give no more and then they’ll turn on him. But that’s not my problem.
I’ll leave the military personnel to the military to deal with. Not my job. Not my responsibility. Nothing I want to mess with no matter how that Doc tried to suck up and get me to tell her alllll about my friends and the junior enlisted who so obviously must have a thing for a “strong young woman” like me. Gag me. It was a one-off freebie bone I tossed to the Major because the little dweeb … excuse me, dweebette … that had the privilege of debriefing me more than got on my nerves. I’m not some tchotchke to be played or played with. The woman really didn’t realize I had her number or was playing her … I’ve experienced some of the best the State of Florida could throw at us foster kids … and it was fairly easy to get around her leading questions. She’d been forewarned that I was a tough customer. By whom I haven’t the foggiest. Heck, she even told me that … “I’ve been informed that you’re a ‘tough customer’ Ms. Thibodaux.” It was when she called me “Mizz” that I smelled a rat. I’ve been in the system. I know how most counselors try and pick something to show “respect” or “empowerment” and then they use that as a chink in the armor. Good counselors open communication with finding out what you want to be called, they don’t assume anything. For all Dr. Dumbbunny knew I might not identify as cis-gender … I mean I do but that’s something that she would have known at the time. Whatever. I won’t be making that mistake again even if I shake like an old woman’s hand after her fifth cup of coffee.
That was nearly my entire morning wasted. Dat burn I hate that. It left me twice as much work to finish before my day could be over. And though I would have preferred to keep him out of it I needed some monkey help to keep me from burning too much daylight. Fabrice was climbing the walls by the time I came around to try and grab a bite to eat.
“I saved you some!” Fabrice yelled nearly sprinting in my direction.
“Yowzer. Turn the volume knob down a little bit.”
In nearly a whisper he asked, “Are you hungover? Grandpere used to get hungover.”
“No Stinker, I’m not hungover. Geez. I am low on sleep so don’t push my buttons or Tib can go dumpster diving to pull your butt out.” He laughed. He just doesn’t know how close he’s come to getting tossed in a couple of times. “Now tell me how Auntie, Momma L, and Mr. Julius are holding up.”
“Auntie is better but wouldn’t settle down until she found out you were taking care of things and telling some of those military people where they could stuff it.”
“You watch that mouth … at least where people can hear you. Got it?”
“Sure Ava, but that’s what Grandpere said finally settled her down so she’d take the medicine the doctor says she has to take. Grandpere said he needs to talk to you about something important. Momma L says I can go with you when you do your work.”
“She did, did she.”
“Yeah. ‘Cause those cleaners they brought in have gotten most stuff done in the Big House and the Old House already.”
“Cleaners?! That’s my job!”
“I told them you were going to say that.”
“Stay put Squirt. I need to find out what’s going on.”
That’s when I found out the Cleaners had done a better than decent job getting rid of all of the “biologicals,” calling the lawyers and reporting they’d fixed what could be fixed and that they will be leaving any furniture they bring in from this point forward. And that’s when I called the lawyers and said I’d do an inventory and make sure that the Cleaners follow through … with a little persuasion if necessary on my part. For them to just make sure they had the Cleaners on written record if they couldn’t weasel an actual contract out of them. The lawyers in turn pretty much told me not to try and teach an old dog new tricks because they knew more tricks than I even thought existed.
I responded, “Don’t bet on it. But you people are the lawyers. Do your thing. And I’ll do mine. I can name a few of the military personnel you can trust. These new ones in the area I’m a whole lot less than sure of. I’ll pass along when I’m sure one way or the other.”
“We are given to understand Mrs. Fontenot is … unwell. Is she able to continue in her capacity?”
“Auntie Orélie is gonna be just fine. She has something, the doc doesn’t know what exactly at the moment, but antibiotics should take care of things. She’s still in charge.”
There was a long silence. “I see.” Another extended silence. “So long as the property continues to be maintained and provide the trust with income, we won’t have to send anyone down to evaluation the situation.”
“You won’t have any complaints.”
“See that we don’t.”
Ugh. Tap dancing. I can do it better than most, but I don’t like to. However that wasn’t the only situation I had to deal with.
I’m all but duck marched back to the kitchen when they saw me checking up on the job the Cleaners did. “What in the sam hill do you mean I cannot enter the rest of the house. And how exactly do you think the guests staying here are going to be fed, have their rooms cleaned, and the property maintained properly?”
The Major stuck her head out of the smaller dining room. “Is there a problem here?”
Private Pain in my Butt said “No ma’am” at the same time I said, “Yes ma’am.” Difference was my mouth kept going by adding, “I am being prevented from providing the personnel and property here at The Isabelle the care they are paying for.”
The Major gets that extra special look in her eyes that even I try to avoid putting there. “Private?”
“Ma’am Colonel Hyland has ordered …”
“Get it,” she said. “His written and signed order.”
“Ma’am?”
“I want to see who in DC cleared the order.”
“Er … I’ll have to refer your request to …”
“I wasn’t making a ‘request’ private. I was giving you a direct order.”
The private scampered off at a fast pace and then the Major sighed and said, “Ava, I may give you some latitude in your behavior but you can’t just buck orders and expect me to keep you out of trouble.”
“I wasn’t bucking orders or screwing up the chain of command or anything else you want to call it. I am wondering just how far over the line they are going to push this.” That’s when I told her about what the debriefings were really for and explained about having to show my ID the previous night as well as now being refused admittance to the rest of the Big House which meant no one was going to get fed, laundry not done, etc. And how the lawyers were expecting a physical inventory of any damage they were going to be expected to absorb.
About that time we heard pounding out in the yard and when we looked out they were pounding stakes into the ground and running colored tape.
“Why are they trying to make the yard into a rainbow maze?” I asked. “And why is Zeb helping them?”
I could see the Major looked like she really wanted to say something but had more control than I did. She left the room and I figure that was as good as a dismissal as I was going to get and did the same. Fabrice started following me around like he was attached to my butt by a slinky toy. And when I went to the work shed and saw them starting to empty it so they could put their supplies in there I’d had all I was going to take. You know? Sometimes bypassing the people playing dodgeball on the playground and going straight to the principal since the teachers didn’t seem to be able to control the bullies is simply what you have to do. Someone might translate that to mean calling the Governor’s office, pretending to be a reporter and asking certain questions, and then calling and giving select real members of the press a story they could sink their teeth into … namely violation of the 3rd Amendment.
Now I wasn’t sure how much good it was going to do. I didn’t know if it was going to do any good at all and proceeded to do what work I could under the assumption that no one was going to listen to me. First order of business was to have Fabrice help me for a couple of hours to organize what they were just tossing out into the yard in piles from the outbuildings. We were barely staying ahead of the chaos when I hear some yelling from some fancy trailer that had been parked near the pool area. The way someone was cutting up I thought maybe a gator had gotten naughty and climbed in with them. Then cars and news trucks start showing up and people get out and start taking photos and setting up mics and video feeds.
The Major comes out of the trailer looking thoroughly singed. Well crap. I’ll have to fix that another time, sometimes things get dicey on the chess board of life. Immediately after her comes this woman with more stripes on her than I’d yet seen on a female. And sure enough I was staring at Colonel Hyland … a she and not a he as I had assumed. Teach me won’t it. Hmph.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thanks for the new chapter.
I hope your Easter went well as can be with the social distancing.
I hope your Easter went well as can be with the social distancing.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you, been looking forward to this.
Chapter 55
“You know, you must be kin to a cat ‘cause you’ve already spent a few lives the short time you’ve been on this planet.”
I looked over at Em who was sweating as much as I was while we put away as much of his and my “extra” stuff that we normally keep at the Old House into the storage locker. The storage unit is still climate-controlled but that doesn’t stop stuff from working up a sweat doing honest labor. June in Louisiana is just hot and humid even with AC.
“And why would you say that?”
“Don’t give me that butter won’t melt in my mouth routine. You may have pulled it off with Zeb and some of the others but I know you Ava Thibodaux. This has you written all over it.”
“I still don’t know why you’d say that. I’m nobody. I’m at the bottom of the heap. I haven’t even made it to the pole to be on the bottom of the totem yet. I mean sure, I did mention the 3rd Amendment but anyone with half a brain could see what was going on.”
“Ava …”
“Em …”
His anger finally dissolved. Had taken long enough to worry me. He started laughing and it took him a while to stop. “Well, Hyland may have been forced to pull back to New Orleans but don’t think we’ve heard the end of her. She’s ambitious.”
“Yeah? Not my job to keep her in line. That is someone else’s job. I’m just glad she’s done trying to tell everyone which colored trail they are allowed to walk on. She had them putting those stupid stakes in all over town. We were going to be put in tiers and depending on which tier we were assigned would be where we could walk and with whom. She is working on a bad case of OCD with a side order of megalomania.”
Em hiked his eyebrow up. “Big word.”
“She is a big pain in the rump. Thanks for helping me to screw those eyebolts in.”
“Ava …”
“Will you stop apologizing already? Auntie needs the greens … or whatever color the scrip is going to be this month.” I decided to drop the clown routine and admit, “I’m worried. That medicine the doctor says she needs … it isn’t cheap even after the insurance covers part of it. You … you don’t think she’ll just give up do you? And I keep wondering how she got that stuff … that bacterial stuff that was weaponized. I thought they caught it before those terrorists could spread it further than New York City.”
He sighed. “Apparently that stuff has spread and mutated more than they are letting the general public in on. Or so I heard while I was up on the rough trying to fix what Hyland’s orders messed up. And who puts staples in a roof anyway. No one with sense that’s for sure.” He shook his head to get back on topic and said, “That bacteria is a non-issue for 99% of people but for some … it is harder to get rid of. As for the other? No, she ain’t giving up. At least not for the foreseeable future. Not after you put that bug in her ear about Fabrice and Julius needing her.”
“It wasn’t a bug … or a lie … or anything else. They do need her. So do you and Momma L, each in your own way. She’s … I don’t know … like a planet all you satellites revolve around or something.”
“And you?”
I knew the question would come. I just hope my answer would be enough for him. “I can’t lie about it Em. I mean I could but I won’t. I … I don’t need people the way most people seem to. I’ve had to learn to get along that way otherwise I would have been crushed by life in the foster care system … at least as I experienced it. That doesn’t mean I don’t admit that you can’t get through in this life on your own without some friends. Scouts and my Crew team kept me from getting too out of touch with the rest of the human race. I could be one of those homeless people, the hard ones, the … what do you call ‘em … the ones that really drop out of society and only come out of the woods when they absolutely have to. Like the Swamp People I read about in Uncle Henley’s journal.”
“Ava you don’t want to be a Swamp person. Most of the stuff you used to see on the TV isn’t the way it really is.”
“Em, I’m not being stupid. Most of everything you see on tv isn’t real, that’s why I don’t watch it. But I could be swamp person. I’ve met a few and …”
“You what?!”
“When I go hunting by myself. They won’t come around if there is anyone else with me, not even Martin. Somehow they know who I am. They knew Uncle Henley and my family. They trusted Uncle Henley, considered him one of them, or close enough. We do a little trading. It’s not a big deal. And I’ve learned the difference between people that live on the edge of being a Swamp Person and those who might as well be the swamp they normally stay so deep in it the tree moss keeps the sun from shining there.”
“Is that really the life you want?”
“It isn’t a matter of what I want or not, I’m simply saying that I could do it and not get as half crazy as a lot of people would.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead and upper lip and added, “I … I like Auntie. Maybe not quite the same way as I was going in the beginning, but I still like her as a person. She’s just not my Auntie the way I was trying to think of her as for a while.”
Em sighed. “I worried there for a while that she was going to run you off. She’s just …” It was like he couldn’t finish the statement because he didn’t want to sound disrespectful to an old woman that had been a stabilizing influence in his life.
“Em I don’t have or hold a thing against her.” I chuckled darkly. “I’m not perfect and can’t even pretend to be at this stage. Look, I could say that I need her for my job, that would be true. But that sounds like I’m using her. And I hope I’m not. And if I explain it, it sounds like she’s using me and that’s not the entire story either. And if the wrong person hears it, they’ll think I’m after her job and I’m not. Geez, I’m like 18 and while I find I’m surprisingly okay filling in the gaps right now, I’m not too sure I want to bow and scrape to people for the rest of my life … ‘cause I hope that is a good long time.”
“You think she is training you to take her place?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ve just got a big, fat head and thinking more of myself than I should. Either way, I’ll do what she needs me to do right now because I see the need. But it is going to depend what she wants from me down the road to see whether I agree to it or not. And maybe what I want out of life down the road.”
We were both silent for a little bit as we tried to do things constructively without too much notice from other people going in and out of the storage building.
“Ava?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Not making a stink about this.”
I snorted. “You really gonna have to go over this again, aren’t you.”
“Ava …”
“You say my name like it’s going to change my feelings on the subject.” I shook my head. “You have more reason to make a stink out of it than I do and I don’t see you doing the whole Drama Queen thing. You’re the one that has been forced to give up your room.”
He said stopping me with a hand on my arm. “You know you can trust me. Right?”
“I’ve known I can trust you before I even wanted to. You’re like DJ. You just accept me for who I am even if you don’t always agree with it. And in case I’ve never said thanks for that … thanks.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You keep turning this around Cher. You … you …”
“Em, stop making this so hard. I’m not making a stink about us turning into the Odd Couple. I’m not going to make a stink about it. Whatever we come to an agreement on it is between the two of us and is no one else’s business. And if you are thinking of how sour Zeb seemed on the subject, I adjusted his attitude. He saw the light.”
He grunted then asked, “You sure about that?”
“If he gives you grief, let me know. ‘Cause if he does that means that maybe he isn’t the friend he says he is.”
“No feuds. I got enough to feel guilty about.”
“Nope. But this is my life and I may be at the bottom of the heap, that doesn’t mean I give over my life to be completely dictated to by others … including him. If he wants my cooperation with a few things then he’ll keep some perspective on this.”
Em stopped and sat down on a stool we keep in there for him to take a load off when he needs to. “Wanna explain that so I can actually understand what you’re saying?”
“Only if we keep this between the two of us.” At his nod I explained. “Zeb is a nice guy. He’s my friend. I’ll … I’ll even admit I had a crush on him at one point. It died a cold, hard death at the hands of reality. I don’t know if Zeb will ever really stand up to his aunt like he needs to. She’s no evil empress of the empire but … she’s not real good for him either, no matter what her motivations are. I’d wind up doing two things … fighting his battles for him or creating battles to try and create space between him and what I see as a problem. And then I’d wind up losing respect for him and … I don’t want to do that. I like Zeb, but for whatever reason I’m … outpacing him. Maybe I always have and I’m just now letting the knowing it sink in.”
“Thought about this a lot have you.” When he saw the look on my face he added, “Easy Cher, I’m not playing word games. It just seems strange a girl your age would connect them kinda dots without someone guiding you and putting the pencil in your hand.”
I eased back on slamming the conversational door and nodded. “Strange or not that’s the way it is. And maybe Zeb is starting to think of me as some strange … I don’t know.” I wasn’t going to go into the details of the fight we’d had. “It is just the way it is. He’s found a girl that he likes … really likes … someone we knew in high school that apparently …”
“I know. He came and asked me the damn dumbest questions.”
I almost couldn’t compute it. “He came to you … asking for girl advice?”
“Naw. Asking me if he’d hurt you or something. How in the hell am I supposed to know that? Then I asked him for details. He gives ‘em to me and … damn. Just damn.”
“Uh … um … what did you say?”
“I told the salaud if he ever did hurt you he’d be carrying his ass in a tote sack for the rest of his life.”
“Em!”
“Da truff Cher. Tell me he hasn’t.”
“He hasn’t. And I ain’t just saying it to protect him. Gawd. You think I’m crazy or something?! You don’t need to be so freakin’ sheep dog. I told you I didn’t have those kinds of feelings for him.”
“Good,” he said calmly.
“You just about crazy you know that?!”
“Yeah I do.” And he says it with such an honest look all I can do is get caught off guard and laugh. Laugh!
“You impossible Emerick Jeansonne.”
“Naw Cher, just irrepressible.” I don’t know why, but I just keep laughing. And it felt so good.
“You know, you must be kin to a cat ‘cause you’ve already spent a few lives the short time you’ve been on this planet.”
I looked over at Em who was sweating as much as I was while we put away as much of his and my “extra” stuff that we normally keep at the Old House into the storage locker. The storage unit is still climate-controlled but that doesn’t stop stuff from working up a sweat doing honest labor. June in Louisiana is just hot and humid even with AC.
“And why would you say that?”
“Don’t give me that butter won’t melt in my mouth routine. You may have pulled it off with Zeb and some of the others but I know you Ava Thibodaux. This has you written all over it.”
“I still don’t know why you’d say that. I’m nobody. I’m at the bottom of the heap. I haven’t even made it to the pole to be on the bottom of the totem yet. I mean sure, I did mention the 3rd Amendment but anyone with half a brain could see what was going on.”
“Ava …”
“Em …”
His anger finally dissolved. Had taken long enough to worry me. He started laughing and it took him a while to stop. “Well, Hyland may have been forced to pull back to New Orleans but don’t think we’ve heard the end of her. She’s ambitious.”
“Yeah? Not my job to keep her in line. That is someone else’s job. I’m just glad she’s done trying to tell everyone which colored trail they are allowed to walk on. She had them putting those stupid stakes in all over town. We were going to be put in tiers and depending on which tier we were assigned would be where we could walk and with whom. She is working on a bad case of OCD with a side order of megalomania.”
Em hiked his eyebrow up. “Big word.”
“She is a big pain in the rump. Thanks for helping me to screw those eyebolts in.”
“Ava …”
“Will you stop apologizing already? Auntie needs the greens … or whatever color the scrip is going to be this month.” I decided to drop the clown routine and admit, “I’m worried. That medicine the doctor says she needs … it isn’t cheap even after the insurance covers part of it. You … you don’t think she’ll just give up do you? And I keep wondering how she got that stuff … that bacterial stuff that was weaponized. I thought they caught it before those terrorists could spread it further than New York City.”
He sighed. “Apparently that stuff has spread and mutated more than they are letting the general public in on. Or so I heard while I was up on the rough trying to fix what Hyland’s orders messed up. And who puts staples in a roof anyway. No one with sense that’s for sure.” He shook his head to get back on topic and said, “That bacteria is a non-issue for 99% of people but for some … it is harder to get rid of. As for the other? No, she ain’t giving up. At least not for the foreseeable future. Not after you put that bug in her ear about Fabrice and Julius needing her.”
“It wasn’t a bug … or a lie … or anything else. They do need her. So do you and Momma L, each in your own way. She’s … I don’t know … like a planet all you satellites revolve around or something.”
“And you?”
I knew the question would come. I just hope my answer would be enough for him. “I can’t lie about it Em. I mean I could but I won’t. I … I don’t need people the way most people seem to. I’ve had to learn to get along that way otherwise I would have been crushed by life in the foster care system … at least as I experienced it. That doesn’t mean I don’t admit that you can’t get through in this life on your own without some friends. Scouts and my Crew team kept me from getting too out of touch with the rest of the human race. I could be one of those homeless people, the hard ones, the … what do you call ‘em … the ones that really drop out of society and only come out of the woods when they absolutely have to. Like the Swamp People I read about in Uncle Henley’s journal.”
“Ava you don’t want to be a Swamp person. Most of the stuff you used to see on the TV isn’t the way it really is.”
“Em, I’m not being stupid. Most of everything you see on tv isn’t real, that’s why I don’t watch it. But I could be swamp person. I’ve met a few and …”
“You what?!”
“When I go hunting by myself. They won’t come around if there is anyone else with me, not even Martin. Somehow they know who I am. They knew Uncle Henley and my family. They trusted Uncle Henley, considered him one of them, or close enough. We do a little trading. It’s not a big deal. And I’ve learned the difference between people that live on the edge of being a Swamp Person and those who might as well be the swamp they normally stay so deep in it the tree moss keeps the sun from shining there.”
“Is that really the life you want?”
“It isn’t a matter of what I want or not, I’m simply saying that I could do it and not get as half crazy as a lot of people would.” I wiped the sweat off my forehead and upper lip and added, “I … I like Auntie. Maybe not quite the same way as I was going in the beginning, but I still like her as a person. She’s just not my Auntie the way I was trying to think of her as for a while.”
Em sighed. “I worried there for a while that she was going to run you off. She’s just …” It was like he couldn’t finish the statement because he didn’t want to sound disrespectful to an old woman that had been a stabilizing influence in his life.
“Em I don’t have or hold a thing against her.” I chuckled darkly. “I’m not perfect and can’t even pretend to be at this stage. Look, I could say that I need her for my job, that would be true. But that sounds like I’m using her. And I hope I’m not. And if I explain it, it sounds like she’s using me and that’s not the entire story either. And if the wrong person hears it, they’ll think I’m after her job and I’m not. Geez, I’m like 18 and while I find I’m surprisingly okay filling in the gaps right now, I’m not too sure I want to bow and scrape to people for the rest of my life … ‘cause I hope that is a good long time.”
“You think she is training you to take her place?”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ve just got a big, fat head and thinking more of myself than I should. Either way, I’ll do what she needs me to do right now because I see the need. But it is going to depend what she wants from me down the road to see whether I agree to it or not. And maybe what I want out of life down the road.”
We were both silent for a little bit as we tried to do things constructively without too much notice from other people going in and out of the storage building.
“Ava?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
“For?”
“Not making a stink about this.”
I snorted. “You really gonna have to go over this again, aren’t you.”
“Ava …”
“You say my name like it’s going to change my feelings on the subject.” I shook my head. “You have more reason to make a stink out of it than I do and I don’t see you doing the whole Drama Queen thing. You’re the one that has been forced to give up your room.”
He said stopping me with a hand on my arm. “You know you can trust me. Right?”
“I’ve known I can trust you before I even wanted to. You’re like DJ. You just accept me for who I am even if you don’t always agree with it. And in case I’ve never said thanks for that … thanks.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “You keep turning this around Cher. You … you …”
“Em, stop making this so hard. I’m not making a stink about us turning into the Odd Couple. I’m not going to make a stink about it. Whatever we come to an agreement on it is between the two of us and is no one else’s business. And if you are thinking of how sour Zeb seemed on the subject, I adjusted his attitude. He saw the light.”
He grunted then asked, “You sure about that?”
“If he gives you grief, let me know. ‘Cause if he does that means that maybe he isn’t the friend he says he is.”
“No feuds. I got enough to feel guilty about.”
“Nope. But this is my life and I may be at the bottom of the heap, that doesn’t mean I give over my life to be completely dictated to by others … including him. If he wants my cooperation with a few things then he’ll keep some perspective on this.”
Em stopped and sat down on a stool we keep in there for him to take a load off when he needs to. “Wanna explain that so I can actually understand what you’re saying?”
“Only if we keep this between the two of us.” At his nod I explained. “Zeb is a nice guy. He’s my friend. I’ll … I’ll even admit I had a crush on him at one point. It died a cold, hard death at the hands of reality. I don’t know if Zeb will ever really stand up to his aunt like he needs to. She’s no evil empress of the empire but … she’s not real good for him either, no matter what her motivations are. I’d wind up doing two things … fighting his battles for him or creating battles to try and create space between him and what I see as a problem. And then I’d wind up losing respect for him and … I don’t want to do that. I like Zeb, but for whatever reason I’m … outpacing him. Maybe I always have and I’m just now letting the knowing it sink in.”
“Thought about this a lot have you.” When he saw the look on my face he added, “Easy Cher, I’m not playing word games. It just seems strange a girl your age would connect them kinda dots without someone guiding you and putting the pencil in your hand.”
I eased back on slamming the conversational door and nodded. “Strange or not that’s the way it is. And maybe Zeb is starting to think of me as some strange … I don’t know.” I wasn’t going to go into the details of the fight we’d had. “It is just the way it is. He’s found a girl that he likes … really likes … someone we knew in high school that apparently …”
“I know. He came and asked me the damn dumbest questions.”
I almost couldn’t compute it. “He came to you … asking for girl advice?”
“Naw. Asking me if he’d hurt you or something. How in the hell am I supposed to know that? Then I asked him for details. He gives ‘em to me and … damn. Just damn.”
“Uh … um … what did you say?”
“I told the salaud if he ever did hurt you he’d be carrying his ass in a tote sack for the rest of his life.”
“Em!”
“Da truff Cher. Tell me he hasn’t.”
“He hasn’t. And I ain’t just saying it to protect him. Gawd. You think I’m crazy or something?! You don’t need to be so freakin’ sheep dog. I told you I didn’t have those kinds of feelings for him.”
“Good,” he said calmly.
“You just about crazy you know that?!”
“Yeah I do.” And he says it with such an honest look all I can do is get caught off guard and laugh. Laugh!
“You impossible Emerick Jeansonne.”
“Naw Cher, just irrepressible.” I don’t know why, but I just keep laughing. And it felt so good.
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Jeepcats27
Senior Member
It is amazing your knack with words, I feel like I'm there in person!
Good chapter
Good chapter
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you 
ROFL. Sorry. Got our hands full with what we already have. But I definitely feel your pain. There are days when trying to get anything done is an exercise in futility. Honest to pete there are people in this world that would make it a whole lot better if they'd stick to their own business rather than trying to run everyone else's.
Laurane
Canadian Loonie
Are you in Alberta??
This one is so good, I almost don't mind all the other stories that're unfinished. You're doin' a good job of enhancin' life's lessons in patience. Just makes it that much better when I go and find another chapter of "Enduring" or one of those. Thanks for givin' us more Ava.