Story Ava (Complete)
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
Thanks for the stories Mother Hen, finished or not.
With all the chatter in the BS and on the main board I intend to spend some time this weekend copying tips, hints and recipes from your stories for my SHTF Notebook.... just in case.
With all the chatter in the BS and on the main board I intend to spend some time this weekend copying tips, hints and recipes from your stories for my SHTF Notebook.... just in case.
Little bit more to the west. LOL But close.
Chapter 83
“Got a question,” Em said.
“Shoot,” was my way of telling him to go ahead as I flipped the shrimp on the dehydrator one more time.
“Er … you aren’t mad that we’re not going as a couple to the Fall Festival?”
“How many times we have to go over this?” I asked hoping he wasn’t about to try and change plans on me. “We are trying to minimize people talking. I’m going to sing. You’re going to listen. People will say it is for Col. Morgan and his wife. You’ll know that I’m singing for you.”
He relaxed which might not have seemed very complimentary, but I thought it was. And I was relieved on top of that. But something was up so I asked him, “What brought this on?”
He grimaced as he sat to take off his boots. I was going to help him but he shoo’ed me off. “People are talkin’.”
“As Missus Honoree is fond of saying, ‘If people didn’t talk, the sky would fall.’ What makes what they are talking about this time any different?”
He finally got the first boot off and said, “They’re talking about us. And other people are listening. Won’t be long before some people start trying to do more than talk and listen.”
“They’ll start managing and blaming? That what you trying to say?”
He sighed.
I then asked, “Are you having problems with your family concerning the talking that is happening … is that some of what caused that long, aggravating phone call with Xavier that you didn’t want to share?”
Growing aggravated all of a sudden he snapped, “Stop trying to read my mind. It’s irritating as hell.”
“Back it up,” I told him sharply. “I ain’t trying to do anything but understand what you are worried about. You don’t talk so that means I have to ask questions. You can’t handle questions? That’s your problem, not mine.”
And he just got up and left. He was barefoot so I knew it would only be to the porch, but I wasn’t going to follow him out and make nice with the world watching. I went back to cleaning my shrimp mess and when I was finished and he wasn’t back I listened out the window and heard him joking with some of the young enlisted like he hadn’t thrown a snit fit not long before. The fact that it was a joke on females just made it worse in my mind. Yeah, guys are guys, especially when you get more than two or three together in one spot, but that wasn’t a good day to expect that kind of acceptance out of me. I was done.
I went out the opposite side of the house to grab a shower out in the shed to get the shrimp smell out of my hair and to try and get my brain and body feeling half-way human. I was tired and was looking at another long day of hard work the next day. When I came back, he was sitting on the bed but I ignored him and got ready for my own bed and then hopped up in the hammock and started to fall asleep.
“You aren’t going to say anything?” he asked.
Sighing because he was going to keep going to make a point, I decided to cut him off. “I ain’t your Momma. You walk off in a snit that’s on you.”
“So you can just go to sleep despite we having a fight?”
“We aren’t having a fight. You are trying to pick one and I ain’t participating. And hell to the yes I can sleep. My butt is dragging and I’m tired because not only do I have my job to keep up with, I’m trying to help make sure the people with rose-colored glasses around here won’t starve to death when they have to evacuate. Not if. When.”
“You think you doing everything all on your own?!”
Understanding he was angry because I wouldn’t play his stupid game I told him, “No. But I’m doing my part. And I’m tired. And I am not going to start a fight just so you can exercise whatever demon is irritating you. And here’s another thing … you don’t have to worry about me asking about your family anymore. You made your point so relax already. And stop trying to make it out to be about something like me being mad about not going to the dance together. You know that was never the plan and you also know I keep my word about it never being the plan. Did I cover everything?” When he didn’t answer I said, “Hallelujah. Good freaking night.”
I really did fall asleep though it was only because I was every bit as tired as I’d told him. A few hours later I sensed him standing over me. “Ava?”
“Mpphf.”
“You awake?”
“No. But don’t worry about that. I only have to get up before four because your Auntie has some extra work she wants done before the sun sets.”
“Huh?”
I sat up, not particularly appreciative even if he did look good with his shirt off. It was warm for October, especially with all the bodies in the building. We were fuller than usual and that was only one reason why I was tired. “Say whatever is on your mind so you can sleep.”
Like it was against his better judgment he answered me saying, “Mere is giving Xavier fits. And the crap just keeps rolling downhill into my lap.”
“Am I going to have to pull it out a word at a time? Fits over what?”
“Us.”
“Well publicly there is no us. There shouldn’t be any reason for your mother to throw fits. I’ve never even met the woman … or your brother … so they have to be getting their information from somewhere because I at least give you credit for not carrying our business all over the place like an ol’ gossipy hen. So figure out who is spreading gossip and I’ll go bash their head in. Problem solved.”
He snorted. “Just that easy is it.”
“Sure it is. Because more than likely it is one or both of your former girlfriends. You, being a guy, won’t hit a female like they need, and in particular those two females because … well because and we’ll leave it at that. Me being female, regardless of what some people might think of that fact, absolutely will kick some female butt and not apologize for it. Been thinking all I need is a good excuse and this one seems better than most.”
“I never said …”
I interrupted him to bring this to a conclusion. “You didn’t have to. As soon as you told me what is happening it became obvious. And just as obvious who is doing it. Wylene and Mona, maybe or maybe not at the direction of Daniel Edgar. They’re putain enough to do it on their own. They couldn’t get me through Auntie. They can’t get me through any direct approach, so they tried to steal my job – which hasn’t and won’t happen because the source of my employment is out of their sphere of influence.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that the people who really employ me, the ones that tell the Trust Lawyers what to do, gives not a single frick about what certain people are trying to say about me. The big boss knows more about how local politics works around here than Daniel Edgar and his gang of retards realize. All the big boss cares about are results and so long as I perform above and beyond without costing them an arm and a leg, they are happy with the way things are arranged. Daniel Edgar has also been rebuffed when he and a few of his minions tried to get a little more direct with their attempts.”
“Now wait. Wut?”
“So now that Daniel has overplayed his hand in one direction, he is taking it in another, just being more subtle. Looks just like with Auntie. You’re falling for it. Worse, you are keeping it to yourself, leaving me to get blindsided. Thanks Em. I really like it when you think I’m a half-wit with no sympathy for what you have to be going through. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Now who is trying to start a fight?” he asked deflecting which only made me angrier for some reason.
“I’m not trying. I gave you something to work with so you can feel justified and rationalize your position. Go with it. You know you’ll be more comfortable.”
“Well it’s obvious you don’t want a rational discussion.” And there it was again. He was pushing for a verbal fight. I didn’t know what kind of day he’d had but I knew what kind of day I’d had so I tried to hold onto my temper. I also knew what kind of day I was likely to have tomorrow and the day after that which was the Fall Festival.
He was lucky I was too tired to do something about how much I felt like throwing something at him at that moment. “No because all you are looking for is a way to not feel guilty for stuff you shouldn’t be feeling guilty about to begin with. I don’t need you to take me to some damn party to be more than friends with you. I don’t need you to play hero or masochist in public because I’m fine keeping things private until other messes get taken care of. I don’t need anyone to define whatever this is that we are working on because it isn’t anyone else’s damn business and I don’t want them screwing things up. I don’t need anyone’s approval of how I feel about you because I approve how I feel about you. I don’t need …”
“All right already. I get it. Keep it down before you wake someone up.”
“Do you get it Em? Because from where I am right now it sure seems that maybe you need those things and if you do, that’s a change from what you’ve been saying. We have a plan. We are … or were … working on it. You want to change that plan I have a right to know and help decide what and how things are going to change. ‘You Tarzan, me Jane, let me go make you a sammich Honey’ might sound fun to play on occasion but it isn’t a way of life I intend on living day in and day out.”
He was silent so long I was almost back to sleep despite the suspicions I had started to have. He sounded too much like Zeb had once upon a time.
He finally asked, “That the way you see it?”
“Define ‘it’,” I said almost unable to form the words.
“Er … You don’t sound good.”
“I’m awake a ‘leventy clock trying not to have a fight over something that doesn’t need to be fought over.”
He sighed. “I can’t help how I feel.”
“I’m not asking you to change how you feel Em. I was asking for an explanation of why you feel the way you do so I can understand and help do something about it. Share it or don’t. But I guarantee that me working in the dark is not going to make your job easier.”
We finally got down to brass tacks.
“They make me feel bad.”
“They who?” I asked.
“Xavier. Mere. Auntie. Momma L. They say that maybe I should move back home since there isn’t enough room here and it might be giving you ideas since … er …”
“Since I’m so young? Since I have no morals? Since I am some brainless wonder that would jump on you at the least provocation? That I’m unable to be your friend and your more than friend at the same time? Since you have no morals? Since you too brainless in the female department that you …”
Breaking in on my list which was proving maybe he was going to get a fight after all he said, “All of the above and a few that make even less sense. I know we talked this over.”
“Ad nauseum.”
“I know we have a plan and I know it isn’t you changing.”
“But you are.”
It took him a while to admit. “Yeah.”
“Fine. You need space. Give me time to move my hammock to the shed and maybe we can both get some sleep.”
“Wait …”
“Wait for what Em? Wait until people stop talking? Wait until my age catches up with yours? Wait until your family decides I’m not some piece of white trash bringing their bloodline down?”
“Now wait just a …”
“Because even if you haven’t figured it out yet, I know that is not going to happen. People never stop talking. I’m always going to be 10 years younger than you. And your momma will always think I’m trash, because to her that is exactly what I am.” He just looked at me, helpless to deny it. “I told you that I was, am, and always will be your friend. Don’t ask me why, that’s just the way it is. But I’m not willing to die a martyr waiting on you to accept and be willing to live with those facts.”
“Ava …”
And I knew. And just like with Zeb I wasn’t willing to lose a friend just because we’d both made the same mistake. “Stop. No need to throw yourself in the volcano over this. We’ll just put it down to two friends who tried to make more of a situation than they should have. Not like I haven’t faced that before. Time for some commonsense to be used by one of us and hopefully soon by both of us. Let it go Em. I trust you no matter how this may sound. You’re a good guy that just … we were both lonely. There’s no fault in that. We both just … just needed a friend and got carried away, tried to fill too many holes at the same time and now it is biting us on the butt.”
“I never meant for things to go this way Ava. Never.”
Feeling as bad for him as I was for myself I said, “Stop worrying about that. If I know nothing else in this life Em, it’s that you are one of the good guys. Don’t fault me for trying to think I’d found … whatever … look, I’m going to the shed. With some of my things. Including the hammock. I have to be up in less than an hour anyway. We’ll just have to figure out divvying …” I tossed a hand at all the stuff in the room. “… some other time. I don’t have it in me right now to do it. And I’m going to say the rest of this before things turn into a damn soap opera. The storage locker is still yours to use. Shaddup about it before you even start talking. And I’ll still help with the food part when it comes to getting your family out in case of an evacuation. The rest is just … too much right now. Can we at least leave it at that and … and try to stay friends?”
“Yeah, Sweetheart. Yeah. And …”
“Nothing else Em or I risk turning into a real live girl and freak you out.”
“Got a question,” Em said.
“Shoot,” was my way of telling him to go ahead as I flipped the shrimp on the dehydrator one more time.
“Er … you aren’t mad that we’re not going as a couple to the Fall Festival?”
“How many times we have to go over this?” I asked hoping he wasn’t about to try and change plans on me. “We are trying to minimize people talking. I’m going to sing. You’re going to listen. People will say it is for Col. Morgan and his wife. You’ll know that I’m singing for you.”
He relaxed which might not have seemed very complimentary, but I thought it was. And I was relieved on top of that. But something was up so I asked him, “What brought this on?”
He grimaced as he sat to take off his boots. I was going to help him but he shoo’ed me off. “People are talkin’.”
“As Missus Honoree is fond of saying, ‘If people didn’t talk, the sky would fall.’ What makes what they are talking about this time any different?”
He finally got the first boot off and said, “They’re talking about us. And other people are listening. Won’t be long before some people start trying to do more than talk and listen.”
“They’ll start managing and blaming? That what you trying to say?”
He sighed.
I then asked, “Are you having problems with your family concerning the talking that is happening … is that some of what caused that long, aggravating phone call with Xavier that you didn’t want to share?”
Growing aggravated all of a sudden he snapped, “Stop trying to read my mind. It’s irritating as hell.”
“Back it up,” I told him sharply. “I ain’t trying to do anything but understand what you are worried about. You don’t talk so that means I have to ask questions. You can’t handle questions? That’s your problem, not mine.”
And he just got up and left. He was barefoot so I knew it would only be to the porch, but I wasn’t going to follow him out and make nice with the world watching. I went back to cleaning my shrimp mess and when I was finished and he wasn’t back I listened out the window and heard him joking with some of the young enlisted like he hadn’t thrown a snit fit not long before. The fact that it was a joke on females just made it worse in my mind. Yeah, guys are guys, especially when you get more than two or three together in one spot, but that wasn’t a good day to expect that kind of acceptance out of me. I was done.
I went out the opposite side of the house to grab a shower out in the shed to get the shrimp smell out of my hair and to try and get my brain and body feeling half-way human. I was tired and was looking at another long day of hard work the next day. When I came back, he was sitting on the bed but I ignored him and got ready for my own bed and then hopped up in the hammock and started to fall asleep.
“You aren’t going to say anything?” he asked.
Sighing because he was going to keep going to make a point, I decided to cut him off. “I ain’t your Momma. You walk off in a snit that’s on you.”
“So you can just go to sleep despite we having a fight?”
“We aren’t having a fight. You are trying to pick one and I ain’t participating. And hell to the yes I can sleep. My butt is dragging and I’m tired because not only do I have my job to keep up with, I’m trying to help make sure the people with rose-colored glasses around here won’t starve to death when they have to evacuate. Not if. When.”
“You think you doing everything all on your own?!”
Understanding he was angry because I wouldn’t play his stupid game I told him, “No. But I’m doing my part. And I’m tired. And I am not going to start a fight just so you can exercise whatever demon is irritating you. And here’s another thing … you don’t have to worry about me asking about your family anymore. You made your point so relax already. And stop trying to make it out to be about something like me being mad about not going to the dance together. You know that was never the plan and you also know I keep my word about it never being the plan. Did I cover everything?” When he didn’t answer I said, “Hallelujah. Good freaking night.”
I really did fall asleep though it was only because I was every bit as tired as I’d told him. A few hours later I sensed him standing over me. “Ava?”
“Mpphf.”
“You awake?”
“No. But don’t worry about that. I only have to get up before four because your Auntie has some extra work she wants done before the sun sets.”
“Huh?”
I sat up, not particularly appreciative even if he did look good with his shirt off. It was warm for October, especially with all the bodies in the building. We were fuller than usual and that was only one reason why I was tired. “Say whatever is on your mind so you can sleep.”
Like it was against his better judgment he answered me saying, “Mere is giving Xavier fits. And the crap just keeps rolling downhill into my lap.”
“Am I going to have to pull it out a word at a time? Fits over what?”
“Us.”
“Well publicly there is no us. There shouldn’t be any reason for your mother to throw fits. I’ve never even met the woman … or your brother … so they have to be getting their information from somewhere because I at least give you credit for not carrying our business all over the place like an ol’ gossipy hen. So figure out who is spreading gossip and I’ll go bash their head in. Problem solved.”
He snorted. “Just that easy is it.”
“Sure it is. Because more than likely it is one or both of your former girlfriends. You, being a guy, won’t hit a female like they need, and in particular those two females because … well because and we’ll leave it at that. Me being female, regardless of what some people might think of that fact, absolutely will kick some female butt and not apologize for it. Been thinking all I need is a good excuse and this one seems better than most.”
“I never said …”
I interrupted him to bring this to a conclusion. “You didn’t have to. As soon as you told me what is happening it became obvious. And just as obvious who is doing it. Wylene and Mona, maybe or maybe not at the direction of Daniel Edgar. They’re putain enough to do it on their own. They couldn’t get me through Auntie. They can’t get me through any direct approach, so they tried to steal my job – which hasn’t and won’t happen because the source of my employment is out of their sphere of influence.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means that the people who really employ me, the ones that tell the Trust Lawyers what to do, gives not a single frick about what certain people are trying to say about me. The big boss knows more about how local politics works around here than Daniel Edgar and his gang of retards realize. All the big boss cares about are results and so long as I perform above and beyond without costing them an arm and a leg, they are happy with the way things are arranged. Daniel Edgar has also been rebuffed when he and a few of his minions tried to get a little more direct with their attempts.”
“Now wait. Wut?”
“So now that Daniel has overplayed his hand in one direction, he is taking it in another, just being more subtle. Looks just like with Auntie. You’re falling for it. Worse, you are keeping it to yourself, leaving me to get blindsided. Thanks Em. I really like it when you think I’m a half-wit with no sympathy for what you have to be going through. I’m going back to sleep.”
“Now who is trying to start a fight?” he asked deflecting which only made me angrier for some reason.
“I’m not trying. I gave you something to work with so you can feel justified and rationalize your position. Go with it. You know you’ll be more comfortable.”
“Well it’s obvious you don’t want a rational discussion.” And there it was again. He was pushing for a verbal fight. I didn’t know what kind of day he’d had but I knew what kind of day I’d had so I tried to hold onto my temper. I also knew what kind of day I was likely to have tomorrow and the day after that which was the Fall Festival.
He was lucky I was too tired to do something about how much I felt like throwing something at him at that moment. “No because all you are looking for is a way to not feel guilty for stuff you shouldn’t be feeling guilty about to begin with. I don’t need you to take me to some damn party to be more than friends with you. I don’t need you to play hero or masochist in public because I’m fine keeping things private until other messes get taken care of. I don’t need anyone to define whatever this is that we are working on because it isn’t anyone else’s damn business and I don’t want them screwing things up. I don’t need anyone’s approval of how I feel about you because I approve how I feel about you. I don’t need …”
“All right already. I get it. Keep it down before you wake someone up.”
“Do you get it Em? Because from where I am right now it sure seems that maybe you need those things and if you do, that’s a change from what you’ve been saying. We have a plan. We are … or were … working on it. You want to change that plan I have a right to know and help decide what and how things are going to change. ‘You Tarzan, me Jane, let me go make you a sammich Honey’ might sound fun to play on occasion but it isn’t a way of life I intend on living day in and day out.”
He was silent so long I was almost back to sleep despite the suspicions I had started to have. He sounded too much like Zeb had once upon a time.
He finally asked, “That the way you see it?”
“Define ‘it’,” I said almost unable to form the words.
“Er … You don’t sound good.”
“I’m awake a ‘leventy clock trying not to have a fight over something that doesn’t need to be fought over.”
He sighed. “I can’t help how I feel.”
“I’m not asking you to change how you feel Em. I was asking for an explanation of why you feel the way you do so I can understand and help do something about it. Share it or don’t. But I guarantee that me working in the dark is not going to make your job easier.”
We finally got down to brass tacks.
“They make me feel bad.”
“They who?” I asked.
“Xavier. Mere. Auntie. Momma L. They say that maybe I should move back home since there isn’t enough room here and it might be giving you ideas since … er …”
“Since I’m so young? Since I have no morals? Since I am some brainless wonder that would jump on you at the least provocation? That I’m unable to be your friend and your more than friend at the same time? Since you have no morals? Since you too brainless in the female department that you …”
Breaking in on my list which was proving maybe he was going to get a fight after all he said, “All of the above and a few that make even less sense. I know we talked this over.”
“Ad nauseum.”
“I know we have a plan and I know it isn’t you changing.”
“But you are.”
It took him a while to admit. “Yeah.”
“Fine. You need space. Give me time to move my hammock to the shed and maybe we can both get some sleep.”
“Wait …”
“Wait for what Em? Wait until people stop talking? Wait until my age catches up with yours? Wait until your family decides I’m not some piece of white trash bringing their bloodline down?”
“Now wait just a …”
“Because even if you haven’t figured it out yet, I know that is not going to happen. People never stop talking. I’m always going to be 10 years younger than you. And your momma will always think I’m trash, because to her that is exactly what I am.” He just looked at me, helpless to deny it. “I told you that I was, am, and always will be your friend. Don’t ask me why, that’s just the way it is. But I’m not willing to die a martyr waiting on you to accept and be willing to live with those facts.”
“Ava …”
And I knew. And just like with Zeb I wasn’t willing to lose a friend just because we’d both made the same mistake. “Stop. No need to throw yourself in the volcano over this. We’ll just put it down to two friends who tried to make more of a situation than they should have. Not like I haven’t faced that before. Time for some commonsense to be used by one of us and hopefully soon by both of us. Let it go Em. I trust you no matter how this may sound. You’re a good guy that just … we were both lonely. There’s no fault in that. We both just … just needed a friend and got carried away, tried to fill too many holes at the same time and now it is biting us on the butt.”
“I never meant for things to go this way Ava. Never.”
Feeling as bad for him as I was for myself I said, “Stop worrying about that. If I know nothing else in this life Em, it’s that you are one of the good guys. Don’t fault me for trying to think I’d found … whatever … look, I’m going to the shed. With some of my things. Including the hammock. I have to be up in less than an hour anyway. We’ll just have to figure out divvying …” I tossed a hand at all the stuff in the room. “… some other time. I don’t have it in me right now to do it. And I’m going to say the rest of this before things turn into a damn soap opera. The storage locker is still yours to use. Shaddup about it before you even start talking. And I’ll still help with the food part when it comes to getting your family out in case of an evacuation. The rest is just … too much right now. Can we at least leave it at that and … and try to stay friends?”
“Yeah, Sweetheart. Yeah. And …”
“Nothing else Em or I risk turning into a real live girl and freak you out.”
Yes it is. Trust me, I'd do something like buy a membership if I could. But there is no membership and there's nothing that is really free in this life. Ads are the least of the yuck I've seen on some sites.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
A very BIG thank you for the chapter. 
Yeehaw.
Yeehaw.
Nope. Lately I always seem to be running in chaos mode.
Anyone else have a husband that is going to lovingly "help" you into an early grave? Oldest son finally took flight and moved out. It was time. He's 28 and was a freakton of help with the business and around the house but it would be wrong to keep him tied down. He works full time in therapy now and he deserves to live the fruit of his labors. He still helps hubby with business paperwork and me with the landscaping on his days off but I don't know how long he'll be able to keep that up.
But anywho ... we are painting his old room and our 16 year old has waited a lifetime to have a regular bedroom and a "man's" bathroom. Monday hubby is having a painter come do the work for me ... love the help, wish he would have asked me for a convenient time (sigh) ... and after that room gets painted I will get younger son's former bedroom as ... drumroll please ... my own office. Yippee skippy. It is the smallest bedroom in the house and the office of the former owners. But it too needs painting and befoer that kilz'd to lock the dark wall color so I can take it to a light cream to "unshrink" it a bit. Then comes moving my desk, et al there and out of the living room.
While I know I'm luckier than should be allowed, 1st world problems and all that, it is really crazy on top of having to keep up with cleaning and organizing for my parents. Crazy crazy crazy. And now my complaining is at an end and I'll post the next chapter in just a sec.
LOL Thanks everyone for listening.
Chapter 84
Why do I keep forgetting just how much life can suck? You’d think the lesson would be indelibly tattooed into my forehead by then. Nope. Gotta learn to hurt all over again. Gotta learn to be flexible. Gotta learn to … well just learn to adult on a higher and higher level each time. What choice did I have? It’s not like sitting around crying about something had ever helped me any, ever changed the facts, ever made me feel better. So, the next day I worked my butt off ticking one, then two, then bunches of things off my to-do list that never could get shorter because Aunt Orélie just kept piling on more. When she tried to get me to take over some chores from Vadie I drew the line, and she got a surprise when she couldn’t push me no more. Franc and Fontaine was there to witness it.
“Ma’am I am now outside help. By your choice and direction. You want something done on the inside of the Big House you now need to tell Vadie.”
She took exception no matter I’d tried to be defusing the situation. “That’s a smart mouth you have.”
One of the two brats from hell, can’t remember which anymore, chimed up and said, “She and Em had a fight. She’s sleeping in the shed.” Then they both laughed nasty.
No longer willing to even pretend to play nice where they were concerned I said, “You two are a couple of idiots and don’t know what you think you do. My schedule is making it hard for Em to get any real sleep. I don’t go to sleep until after he does and have to get up before the roosters. No matter how I’ve been trying not to creak the hammock, it wakes him up. He’s a light sleeper. I on the other hand can sleep hanging by my heels while Sherman’s Army dances the Polka. What kind of friend would I be to keep interrupting their sleep when they have their own set of invoices they’re working on?”
Momma L asked from the porch, “You really sleeping in the shed Girl?”
“We worked it out last night. Don’t believe me ask Major Broadstreet.”
Aunt Orélie continued to just look at me while Momma L continued her interrogation. “Maybe so, but that was disrespectful to Orélie. You should know better. And you should have asked her permission to move your sleeping quarters since she’s the one that pays for them.”
“No ma’am. I wasn’t being disrespectful. My pay now comes solely from the Trust or so I’ve been informed by the Lawyers. Aunt Orélie was getting reimbursed for my room and board. This way the accounting isn’t so unnecessary complicated as well. And I’m being respectful of the folks that run the Trust. The Lawyers have been checking up on my work for some time. I have to send them my hours and invoices for work. I don’t want any trouble so I do as they say.”
“You’ve what?” Aunt Orelie asked alarmed.
“I’ve been sending them my hours via invoices for work completed. It is all electronic via an app which should have been making your paperwork load lighter. It also makes it easier for me to include pictures of the work in question with before and after pics. I keep similar records for the gigs and piecework I’ve been doing for other people. It makes it easier for the Lawyers to pay me as an independent contractor and not have to worry about employment taxes and such since I have to take care of them myself. Been fun learning how to do all that stuff the right way but the Trust Lawyers have been insistent. And like I said, they check up on me regular so you don’t need to worry about it coming back on you. Lord knows Daniel Edgar and some of his people tried to stick their noses in for some reason. Well the Lawyers told him to mind his own business since it needed it … whatever that was supposed to mean. I do understand Edgars was put out that they disproved some of the concerns he had. Oh well. Um … you need something else because I got more than a little bit of work to do today before I can lay my head down. The Lawyers want a full accounting of the pool chemicals and want them locked up from here on out. Tried to explain that with more people using the pool and hot tub the chemicals would go faster. Hopefully they’ll get with some pool maintenance company and find out I’m telling the truth. Or they can hire someone to take care of that if they don’t believe me. Either way, once it cools off, I doubt the pool is going to get used very much. They’re leaving the hot tub for the officers, but they are cutting the gas lines to the pool to try and lower that cost … not to mention that’s also per the new federal restrictions which I’ll be posting shortly.”
“Why didn’t they tell me instead of you?!”
I shrugged and said, “Above my pay grade to ask those kinda questions Auntie. Check your weekly reports or call the Lawyers up yourself. They’ll probably have one of their law clerks explain it. My job is just to do as they tell me.”
She was still taking it in and I bet she hadn’t even gotten to the part that my job was being set by them and not her. She would. Or someone would for her. Either/or I now only worked for the Trust … or her if it pertained to some repairs and maintenance at the Old House, and she could dang well pay me in something besides a corner of a shared room and meals that she charged to the Trust anyway. I know that doesn’t sound nice but I was starting to separate myself from people. Stop making excuses for them and their ways. I had faced the fact that my connection through Em had turned out to be a pipe dream. Their true thoughts were beginning to come out; I was servant, not sister. They were even keeping Fabrice from me which hurt … a lot. Oh he’d still waive and say hi like an excited little boy … when the dumbtastic duo wasn’t around … but not like before. He’d transferred his affections to Thib and Vadie and even if I thought that was good and right, it didn’t mean it didn’t cause an ache.
What I said to Orélie and Momma L was the truth but there was a little more to it. See I suspected Franc and Fontaine of stealing things here and there and I spoke to Evelyn and she and I came up with a cover story. Smart woman and someone I'd come to respect more and more. You should have heard the noise being made later in the day when those in the Big House found out there were now motion activated cameras inside all of the storage areas, including the shed. It meant they couldn’t deactivate the camera prior to breaking and entering. And there were no coax cables to cut because the cameras were wireless and battery operated, and hooked up to the military comm station’s wifi. Which made it so that there would be no hacking the system on top of the rest of it.
A little hesitantly Em looked me up when he hadn’t seen me at dinner. “Didja eat?”
“Yeah”, I told him as I was back-filling where I’d had to dig up the French drain and dig out a bunch of dirt that someone(s) – who didn’t think they were going to get caught doing it – had used to cause a blockage. Maj. Broadstreet had more than a thing or three to say about it since it “backed up” right under her office causing an awful smell. The Major was in the process of getting the Hell Brats VOP’d and sent back to juvie in Lafayette … and they needed to pray they got juvie because if they didn’t she was going to send them out of state to a federal holding pen for “unaccompanied” and/or incorrigible minors. All Thib said later was that they’d screwed the pooch this time and Mr. Julius was of the same mind. The older ladies were a bit shell-shocked but it was out of their hands and they’d seen the videos themselves … and heard what the little turds had been saying while they were doing it. For one, calling Aunt Orélie and Momma L old fools. Screwed the pooch? Oh yeah. They just didn’t know how much yet.
I was thinking these things when Em finally asked, “Ain’t it time to stop for the day?”
“Nope.”
He sighed. “You not talking to me? I told you I didn’t mean to hurt you Ava.”
I gave him a sigh in return and leaned on the shovel. “I am talking to you. I’m just working at the same time and having to divide my attention. It’s no different than I was before.”
“Feels like it.”
“Well don’t expect me to tell you how to feel. I ain’t your momma.”
A little sadly Em muttered, “You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
“Not just to you. If it bothers you I’ll try and not do it.”
He shook his head. “Now it sounds like I’m trying to tell you how to feel about things.”
“And that’s different how?” I said with a small chuckle, trying to lighten his mood.
“Well I feel bad for … for …”
I wasn't in the mood to go there. “Stop it. You’re making this too complicated.”
“It’s a complicated thing.”
I wanted to take a swing at him with the shove but knew the big dope would probably just stand there and take it and still want to talk. “No it isn’t. We’re still friends unless you are changing your mind about that too.”
“Uh uh. Naw, not about that.”
“Then don’t worry it to death. You know good and well I’ve always worked like this. I don’t have the luxury of a regular 9 to 5 schedule. Or shift or anything else you want to call it. I’ve got a list and I gotta get it done however it takes me to do it. And not to be rude but … I gotta finish this before the skeeters come out and drink me dry.”
“You got a sec?”
I wanted to ask if he’d just heard me but I started working and nodded for me to continue. “There’s a bunch of noise at the Big House about some security camera’s you installed?”
“Yeah. They’re inside the storage areas and shouldn’t bother anyone.”
“Why?”
“Why what? Why are they inside the storage areas? Because if they were outside they might accidentally break … whatever rule the Major is worried about. The cameras might take pictures of the enlisted or equipment or get hacked or something like that and cause a security risk. That’s what she called them … a security risk if they were outside. They could also get deactivated and I’m not going to all that work just to have the military turn them off.”
“Hmph.”
“What?”
Giving me a look he said, “Sounds reasonable. But why do I have a feeling you aren’t telling me something?”
“Because you are a suspicious man looking for something to be suspicious about? Em, they’re just cameras. The Trust Lawyers ordered me to install them. Major Broadstreet had to approve them. The process started last week. If you don’t believe me then check on it yourself. Why the Lawyers want them is above my pay grade but it could be anything or nothing. Maybe they are checking up on who is using supplies. Maybe they are checking up on me. Maybe they are trying to keep insurance down. Maybe for no other reason than they can. It shouldn’t be frying Aunt Orélie like it is. It isn’t my fault that the Lawyers didn’t tell her … or maybe they did in a report she didn’t read. None of my business either way. I’m just here to do what I’m told until this job is over.”
He straightened a bit and asked, “You heard something?”
“Some things that have been said has me thinking. There’s noise from the Big House to hire Thib to do my job.”
“What?!”
“Keep your voice down. I heard them through the kitchen window while I was mulching the azalea bushes. Thib wants no part of it. He wants to be his own man, in his own time. Not tied to someone apron strings because they don’t think he can pull it off on his own. Mr. Hubert isn’t in favor of it either.”
“Julius?”
I shrugged. “He either wasn’t there or wasn’t talking. And it isn’t just that. I’m an independent contractor, not a full employee. One of these days … well I can’t wait around on people to do anything for me Em. I have to look out for myself. That’s just life as I know it to be. The Trust Lawyers could find someone else tomorrow and I’d be out with no recourse and no severance package. That’s why I’m trying to pick up so much other work while I can. I’m building my own cushion, such as it is. But the truth is the Trust pays me at least some in cash which is more than most of my other gigs do. If they cut me off I’m in a world of hurt.”
“What about that money Henley left you?”
“What about it? You know I can’t get to any of it until I’m twenty-one and …” he winced. “And that’s a few years off. I’ve considered my options and one of them is enlisting but I …”
He jumped. “The hell you say!”
“Relax. It isn’t my first choice. But I’m not going to run the risk of someone calling me a kept woman. You’ve got enough problems with your family on the subject as it is.”
“Dammit to hell. I never meant for this to …”
“Knock it off,” I told him. My tone startled him but I was going to hold my own come what may. “You aren’t my keeper or my … whatever. You’re my friend, or say you are. And if you are you’ll respect whatever choice I eventually have to make for myself. I’m done with life happening to me. When a decision has to be made I’m going to make it before someone makes it for me.”
Sounding miserable he growled out, “This is all my fault. Look forget about last night. Just …”
“Not happening Em. I’m no one’s charity case. You’re my friend. I’m your friend. Let’s … I don’t know … let’s have some respect for each other. I supported you when you went back to school to get your Master Electrician designation. If you can’t support whatever choice I eventually make, at least accept it with some good grace even if it isn’t something you’d do in my shoes.”
What he would have said to that I don’t know because he got a call he couldn’t get out of since it was from a contractor for a job he was scheduled to do the following week. A big job with a big pay out. Something else he looked guilty about for no reason I could discern. I finished back-filling the trench, put the tools away, and then went to get some clean clothes. Em wasn’t around to read me a lecture again so I grabbed more of my personal gear and was going to go take a shower before getting the cameras synced up and taking inventory of the chemicals in the shed.
I stepped onto the porch only for my way to be blocked by none other than Dagobert Edgar, a man I only recognized because I’d made it my business to do so. And he did not look like a happy camper. The situation was volatile enough but seeing Daniel Edgar standing off to the side made things oh so much worse.
Why do I keep forgetting just how much life can suck? You’d think the lesson would be indelibly tattooed into my forehead by then. Nope. Gotta learn to hurt all over again. Gotta learn to be flexible. Gotta learn to … well just learn to adult on a higher and higher level each time. What choice did I have? It’s not like sitting around crying about something had ever helped me any, ever changed the facts, ever made me feel better. So, the next day I worked my butt off ticking one, then two, then bunches of things off my to-do list that never could get shorter because Aunt Orélie just kept piling on more. When she tried to get me to take over some chores from Vadie I drew the line, and she got a surprise when she couldn’t push me no more. Franc and Fontaine was there to witness it.
“Ma’am I am now outside help. By your choice and direction. You want something done on the inside of the Big House you now need to tell Vadie.”
She took exception no matter I’d tried to be defusing the situation. “That’s a smart mouth you have.”
One of the two brats from hell, can’t remember which anymore, chimed up and said, “She and Em had a fight. She’s sleeping in the shed.” Then they both laughed nasty.
No longer willing to even pretend to play nice where they were concerned I said, “You two are a couple of idiots and don’t know what you think you do. My schedule is making it hard for Em to get any real sleep. I don’t go to sleep until after he does and have to get up before the roosters. No matter how I’ve been trying not to creak the hammock, it wakes him up. He’s a light sleeper. I on the other hand can sleep hanging by my heels while Sherman’s Army dances the Polka. What kind of friend would I be to keep interrupting their sleep when they have their own set of invoices they’re working on?”
Momma L asked from the porch, “You really sleeping in the shed Girl?”
“We worked it out last night. Don’t believe me ask Major Broadstreet.”
Aunt Orélie continued to just look at me while Momma L continued her interrogation. “Maybe so, but that was disrespectful to Orélie. You should know better. And you should have asked her permission to move your sleeping quarters since she’s the one that pays for them.”
“No ma’am. I wasn’t being disrespectful. My pay now comes solely from the Trust or so I’ve been informed by the Lawyers. Aunt Orélie was getting reimbursed for my room and board. This way the accounting isn’t so unnecessary complicated as well. And I’m being respectful of the folks that run the Trust. The Lawyers have been checking up on my work for some time. I have to send them my hours and invoices for work. I don’t want any trouble so I do as they say.”
“You’ve what?” Aunt Orelie asked alarmed.
“I’ve been sending them my hours via invoices for work completed. It is all electronic via an app which should have been making your paperwork load lighter. It also makes it easier for me to include pictures of the work in question with before and after pics. I keep similar records for the gigs and piecework I’ve been doing for other people. It makes it easier for the Lawyers to pay me as an independent contractor and not have to worry about employment taxes and such since I have to take care of them myself. Been fun learning how to do all that stuff the right way but the Trust Lawyers have been insistent. And like I said, they check up on me regular so you don’t need to worry about it coming back on you. Lord knows Daniel Edgar and some of his people tried to stick their noses in for some reason. Well the Lawyers told him to mind his own business since it needed it … whatever that was supposed to mean. I do understand Edgars was put out that they disproved some of the concerns he had. Oh well. Um … you need something else because I got more than a little bit of work to do today before I can lay my head down. The Lawyers want a full accounting of the pool chemicals and want them locked up from here on out. Tried to explain that with more people using the pool and hot tub the chemicals would go faster. Hopefully they’ll get with some pool maintenance company and find out I’m telling the truth. Or they can hire someone to take care of that if they don’t believe me. Either way, once it cools off, I doubt the pool is going to get used very much. They’re leaving the hot tub for the officers, but they are cutting the gas lines to the pool to try and lower that cost … not to mention that’s also per the new federal restrictions which I’ll be posting shortly.”
“Why didn’t they tell me instead of you?!”
I shrugged and said, “Above my pay grade to ask those kinda questions Auntie. Check your weekly reports or call the Lawyers up yourself. They’ll probably have one of their law clerks explain it. My job is just to do as they tell me.”
She was still taking it in and I bet she hadn’t even gotten to the part that my job was being set by them and not her. She would. Or someone would for her. Either/or I now only worked for the Trust … or her if it pertained to some repairs and maintenance at the Old House, and she could dang well pay me in something besides a corner of a shared room and meals that she charged to the Trust anyway. I know that doesn’t sound nice but I was starting to separate myself from people. Stop making excuses for them and their ways. I had faced the fact that my connection through Em had turned out to be a pipe dream. Their true thoughts were beginning to come out; I was servant, not sister. They were even keeping Fabrice from me which hurt … a lot. Oh he’d still waive and say hi like an excited little boy … when the dumbtastic duo wasn’t around … but not like before. He’d transferred his affections to Thib and Vadie and even if I thought that was good and right, it didn’t mean it didn’t cause an ache.
What I said to Orélie and Momma L was the truth but there was a little more to it. See I suspected Franc and Fontaine of stealing things here and there and I spoke to Evelyn and she and I came up with a cover story. Smart woman and someone I'd come to respect more and more. You should have heard the noise being made later in the day when those in the Big House found out there were now motion activated cameras inside all of the storage areas, including the shed. It meant they couldn’t deactivate the camera prior to breaking and entering. And there were no coax cables to cut because the cameras were wireless and battery operated, and hooked up to the military comm station’s wifi. Which made it so that there would be no hacking the system on top of the rest of it.
A little hesitantly Em looked me up when he hadn’t seen me at dinner. “Didja eat?”
“Yeah”, I told him as I was back-filling where I’d had to dig up the French drain and dig out a bunch of dirt that someone(s) – who didn’t think they were going to get caught doing it – had used to cause a blockage. Maj. Broadstreet had more than a thing or three to say about it since it “backed up” right under her office causing an awful smell. The Major was in the process of getting the Hell Brats VOP’d and sent back to juvie in Lafayette … and they needed to pray they got juvie because if they didn’t she was going to send them out of state to a federal holding pen for “unaccompanied” and/or incorrigible minors. All Thib said later was that they’d screwed the pooch this time and Mr. Julius was of the same mind. The older ladies were a bit shell-shocked but it was out of their hands and they’d seen the videos themselves … and heard what the little turds had been saying while they were doing it. For one, calling Aunt Orélie and Momma L old fools. Screwed the pooch? Oh yeah. They just didn’t know how much yet.
I was thinking these things when Em finally asked, “Ain’t it time to stop for the day?”
“Nope.”
He sighed. “You not talking to me? I told you I didn’t mean to hurt you Ava.”
I gave him a sigh in return and leaned on the shovel. “I am talking to you. I’m just working at the same time and having to divide my attention. It’s no different than I was before.”
“Feels like it.”
“Well don’t expect me to tell you how to feel. I ain’t your momma.”
A little sadly Em muttered, “You’ve been saying that a lot lately.”
“Not just to you. If it bothers you I’ll try and not do it.”
He shook his head. “Now it sounds like I’m trying to tell you how to feel about things.”
“And that’s different how?” I said with a small chuckle, trying to lighten his mood.
“Well I feel bad for … for …”
I wasn't in the mood to go there. “Stop it. You’re making this too complicated.”
“It’s a complicated thing.”
I wanted to take a swing at him with the shove but knew the big dope would probably just stand there and take it and still want to talk. “No it isn’t. We’re still friends unless you are changing your mind about that too.”
“Uh uh. Naw, not about that.”
“Then don’t worry it to death. You know good and well I’ve always worked like this. I don’t have the luxury of a regular 9 to 5 schedule. Or shift or anything else you want to call it. I’ve got a list and I gotta get it done however it takes me to do it. And not to be rude but … I gotta finish this before the skeeters come out and drink me dry.”
“You got a sec?”
I wanted to ask if he’d just heard me but I started working and nodded for me to continue. “There’s a bunch of noise at the Big House about some security camera’s you installed?”
“Yeah. They’re inside the storage areas and shouldn’t bother anyone.”
“Why?”
“Why what? Why are they inside the storage areas? Because if they were outside they might accidentally break … whatever rule the Major is worried about. The cameras might take pictures of the enlisted or equipment or get hacked or something like that and cause a security risk. That’s what she called them … a security risk if they were outside. They could also get deactivated and I’m not going to all that work just to have the military turn them off.”
“Hmph.”
“What?”
Giving me a look he said, “Sounds reasonable. But why do I have a feeling you aren’t telling me something?”
“Because you are a suspicious man looking for something to be suspicious about? Em, they’re just cameras. The Trust Lawyers ordered me to install them. Major Broadstreet had to approve them. The process started last week. If you don’t believe me then check on it yourself. Why the Lawyers want them is above my pay grade but it could be anything or nothing. Maybe they are checking up on who is using supplies. Maybe they are checking up on me. Maybe they are trying to keep insurance down. Maybe for no other reason than they can. It shouldn’t be frying Aunt Orélie like it is. It isn’t my fault that the Lawyers didn’t tell her … or maybe they did in a report she didn’t read. None of my business either way. I’m just here to do what I’m told until this job is over.”
He straightened a bit and asked, “You heard something?”
“Some things that have been said has me thinking. There’s noise from the Big House to hire Thib to do my job.”
“What?!”
“Keep your voice down. I heard them through the kitchen window while I was mulching the azalea bushes. Thib wants no part of it. He wants to be his own man, in his own time. Not tied to someone apron strings because they don’t think he can pull it off on his own. Mr. Hubert isn’t in favor of it either.”
“Julius?”
I shrugged. “He either wasn’t there or wasn’t talking. And it isn’t just that. I’m an independent contractor, not a full employee. One of these days … well I can’t wait around on people to do anything for me Em. I have to look out for myself. That’s just life as I know it to be. The Trust Lawyers could find someone else tomorrow and I’d be out with no recourse and no severance package. That’s why I’m trying to pick up so much other work while I can. I’m building my own cushion, such as it is. But the truth is the Trust pays me at least some in cash which is more than most of my other gigs do. If they cut me off I’m in a world of hurt.”
“What about that money Henley left you?”
“What about it? You know I can’t get to any of it until I’m twenty-one and …” he winced. “And that’s a few years off. I’ve considered my options and one of them is enlisting but I …”
He jumped. “The hell you say!”
“Relax. It isn’t my first choice. But I’m not going to run the risk of someone calling me a kept woman. You’ve got enough problems with your family on the subject as it is.”
“Dammit to hell. I never meant for this to …”
“Knock it off,” I told him. My tone startled him but I was going to hold my own come what may. “You aren’t my keeper or my … whatever. You’re my friend, or say you are. And if you are you’ll respect whatever choice I eventually have to make for myself. I’m done with life happening to me. When a decision has to be made I’m going to make it before someone makes it for me.”
Sounding miserable he growled out, “This is all my fault. Look forget about last night. Just …”
“Not happening Em. I’m no one’s charity case. You’re my friend. I’m your friend. Let’s … I don’t know … let’s have some respect for each other. I supported you when you went back to school to get your Master Electrician designation. If you can’t support whatever choice I eventually make, at least accept it with some good grace even if it isn’t something you’d do in my shoes.”
What he would have said to that I don’t know because he got a call he couldn’t get out of since it was from a contractor for a job he was scheduled to do the following week. A big job with a big pay out. Something else he looked guilty about for no reason I could discern. I finished back-filling the trench, put the tools away, and then went to get some clean clothes. Em wasn’t around to read me a lecture again so I grabbed more of my personal gear and was going to go take a shower before getting the cameras synced up and taking inventory of the chemicals in the shed.
I stepped onto the porch only for my way to be blocked by none other than Dagobert Edgar, a man I only recognized because I’d made it my business to do so. And he did not look like a happy camper. The situation was volatile enough but seeing Daniel Edgar standing off to the side made things oh so much worse.
Chapter 85
I wasn’t going to start a fight and tried to move around him. He moved to block my way. After doing that two or three more times with my arms full I asked, “You here to say something in particular or to ask for a dance?”
In a three pack a day voice he growled, “You going to shaddup on your lies about my sons.”
Not even playing stupid I said, “If you’re talking about Franc and Fontaine I don’t have nothing to do with the fact they are got hauled off. They got caught violating their parole by participating in some vandalism. And in case you haven’t been told yet, it’s all on camera and has already been turned over to the Judge.”
“Vandalism?” he asked suddenly confused. “You didn’t say they stole stuff?”
“No. Why would I say something like that? And even if I could have, where’s the proof to back it up? Your sons got VOP’d because they chose to do the stupid and got caught at it. They also managed to hack off a Major and a Colonel while they were at it ‘cause they don’t have the sense of a rock not to mouth off to certain people.”
Dagobert looked over at Daniel Edgar before saying, “You said she claimed they’d been stealing stuff.”
I told Dagobert, “Which just goes to show people shouldn’t listen to crap talk from people that don’t know nothing about nothing and are only looking to get someone else in trouble because they’re about to get caught for not doing their job. Or don’t you think it strange that your sons weren’t wearing their ankle monitors when they got caught? I’ve heard the Judge ain’t exactly happy about it. Shame too as they only had a couple of more days before they could have gotten rid of them the right way.”
“The hell you say.” He wasn’t mad, he was surprised, and not in a good way.
“I haven’t got any reason to lie to you Mr. Deveraux. I’ll walk you over to the Big House so you can speak to the Major directly if she is available. Thing is, it’s getting close to the gates being closed and she might ask you to make an appointment but if you don’t ask you don’t get. You are their father after all.”
“Damn straight and I’m gonna sue those that have been lying about my sons.” He glared at me.
“Like I said, the VOP is about vandalism and they were caught in the act and on vid. And the lawyers for the Trust that holds the Big House where the damage occurred have already been called and will likely ask for victim restitution. And just to warn you, the camera was one of them military cameras that is wired for sound, not some cheap home security job.” I kinda glanced Daniel Edgar’s way before turning back to Dagobert. “You’d also think that if that man over there knew what he was talking about he’d know about the VOP details. His office is also the one that monitors them ankle bracelets and would know they’d taken them off. He’s put you in an awkward situation and taken you away from getting legal representation for your sons. To be honest it sounds like they are going to need it. Lord knows what they are going to say, what they might have already said.”
“They’re kids. They don’t know nuthin’.”
“None of my business either way,” I told him. “Hopefully they have found a couple of braincells and will not brag or anything. They’re always saying they know stuff about people. You might need to …” Dagobert started walking away with a worried look on his face. “Wait! Mr. Deveraux don’t you want me to take you to the Major’s office?!”
“I got business to take care of. Where’d you say they were holding the boys?”
“How I’m supposed to know that? It’s none of my business. Ask him,” I said tossing my thumb towards Daniel Edgar. “He’s a cop. He should know this kind of stuff.”
Dagobert turned a thoughtful, then suspicious, look at Daniel Edgar before taking his phone out to make a call. I got a nasty look from Daniel Edgar before he walked over to Dagobert and started doing what looked like damage control. They were soon being escorted off the property by the military security patrol. I could see Edgar try to pull the cop card but it was met with expressions that made it plain he had zero standing and better get gone right that minute.
I left it to the military personnel and headed over to the shed. I was beat and I still hadn’t decided what to do about the Fall Festival. I’d promised to sing but the remainder of my plans had fallen apart for obvious reasons. I wanted to roll my eyes at the noise still coming from the general area of Orélie’s office but didn’t want anyone to catch me at it and start more gossip.
I nearly plowed into Vadie who’d been waiting on me at the shed door. “Another work order?” I asked.
“No.” She looked at me then said, “Let’s go inside.”
I was too tired to deal with whatever was coming but figured deal with it then, deal with it later, I’d still have to deal with it. But I let her open the conversation.
“So … they get it wrong about you and Em?”
“Not sure what you mean?”
She snorted. “That means that yeah, there was something between you and Em.”
“I’m not …”
“… going to talk about it? Yeah. I get it. And just let me say I ain’t here to find out things and carry them back inside. ‘Cause, yes they asked me to try which makes me feel like doing the exact opposite. What they got against you all of a sudden?”
I shook my head. “Didn’t Thib talk to you about being careful?”
“Yeah he did, and I thought he was a little nuts but not so much anymore. Daniel Edgar is …”
“Shhhh.”
“Relax. Big House ain’t sitting on the fence anymore. They may not be ready to give up whatever flew up their nose over you, but they don’t care for Daniel Edgar anymore. Mr. Hubert put a few things on the table they couldn’t blind themselves to … like ankle monitors.”
“You were listening in just now.”
“Sure was. And girl you got problems.”
“Life is full of them. You better get back to the Big House.”
“You’re good I’ll give you that.”
“Huh?”
“Avoiding talking about the elephant in the room. So I’ll just ask straight out because Thib won’t. Did you and Em have a fight an break up?”
“Geez, sounds like high school.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Is Thib going to start talking?”
“I might not tell Thib … because yes, the old ladies know how to get things out of him too easy.”
Finally caving because maybe a female friend was what I needed right then. “I’m not sure there ever was a me and Em … not really. I think we both just … took our friendship in a direction it was never meant to go.”
“And that means?”
“It means that even if Em and I kept trying, there’s too many things in the way. One of them is my age.”
“Oh. Okay. You … um … hurtin’?”
“You mean am I going to sit down and cry a river? No. We’re just trying to figure out how to pull back and not screw up the friendship. Which is real even if no one else can believe it.”
“You … still going to the Festival tomorrow?”
“I’m keeping my promise to sing. Whether I stay after that part? I’m leaning no.”
“I’m really sorry Ava.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“So it was Em that pulled back.”
“Yeah. The age thing has been a problem for him since the beginning. Other things have been popping up and I thought we could work on them by going slow but … the age thing is never going to change. Doesn’t matter if I could give a rat’s left toe about the difference in our ages, Em does. He treats me … er … nunnish.”
“Oh. OH! You mean?” She put on the mom face even though she was too young to be doing it to me. “Be glad. Once you go down that street, it’s easy to get lost. Especially if you don’t wind up with what you expected to wind up with. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Positive.”
“Say it enough and you might even make it true,” she told me as she surprised me with a hug. “I’ll be over to help with the get up like I said.”
“Uh … thanks.”
She left and not even a minute later there was a knock. “Yeah?”
“Ava … it’s Zeb. Um … you … er …”
I jerked the door open and said, “Not you too.”
I wasn’t going to start a fight and tried to move around him. He moved to block my way. After doing that two or three more times with my arms full I asked, “You here to say something in particular or to ask for a dance?”
In a three pack a day voice he growled, “You going to shaddup on your lies about my sons.”
Not even playing stupid I said, “If you’re talking about Franc and Fontaine I don’t have nothing to do with the fact they are got hauled off. They got caught violating their parole by participating in some vandalism. And in case you haven’t been told yet, it’s all on camera and has already been turned over to the Judge.”
“Vandalism?” he asked suddenly confused. “You didn’t say they stole stuff?”
“No. Why would I say something like that? And even if I could have, where’s the proof to back it up? Your sons got VOP’d because they chose to do the stupid and got caught at it. They also managed to hack off a Major and a Colonel while they were at it ‘cause they don’t have the sense of a rock not to mouth off to certain people.”
Dagobert looked over at Daniel Edgar before saying, “You said she claimed they’d been stealing stuff.”
I told Dagobert, “Which just goes to show people shouldn’t listen to crap talk from people that don’t know nothing about nothing and are only looking to get someone else in trouble because they’re about to get caught for not doing their job. Or don’t you think it strange that your sons weren’t wearing their ankle monitors when they got caught? I’ve heard the Judge ain’t exactly happy about it. Shame too as they only had a couple of more days before they could have gotten rid of them the right way.”
“The hell you say.” He wasn’t mad, he was surprised, and not in a good way.
“I haven’t got any reason to lie to you Mr. Deveraux. I’ll walk you over to the Big House so you can speak to the Major directly if she is available. Thing is, it’s getting close to the gates being closed and she might ask you to make an appointment but if you don’t ask you don’t get. You are their father after all.”
“Damn straight and I’m gonna sue those that have been lying about my sons.” He glared at me.
“Like I said, the VOP is about vandalism and they were caught in the act and on vid. And the lawyers for the Trust that holds the Big House where the damage occurred have already been called and will likely ask for victim restitution. And just to warn you, the camera was one of them military cameras that is wired for sound, not some cheap home security job.” I kinda glanced Daniel Edgar’s way before turning back to Dagobert. “You’d also think that if that man over there knew what he was talking about he’d know about the VOP details. His office is also the one that monitors them ankle bracelets and would know they’d taken them off. He’s put you in an awkward situation and taken you away from getting legal representation for your sons. To be honest it sounds like they are going to need it. Lord knows what they are going to say, what they might have already said.”
“They’re kids. They don’t know nuthin’.”
“None of my business either way,” I told him. “Hopefully they have found a couple of braincells and will not brag or anything. They’re always saying they know stuff about people. You might need to …” Dagobert started walking away with a worried look on his face. “Wait! Mr. Deveraux don’t you want me to take you to the Major’s office?!”
“I got business to take care of. Where’d you say they were holding the boys?”
“How I’m supposed to know that? It’s none of my business. Ask him,” I said tossing my thumb towards Daniel Edgar. “He’s a cop. He should know this kind of stuff.”
Dagobert turned a thoughtful, then suspicious, look at Daniel Edgar before taking his phone out to make a call. I got a nasty look from Daniel Edgar before he walked over to Dagobert and started doing what looked like damage control. They were soon being escorted off the property by the military security patrol. I could see Edgar try to pull the cop card but it was met with expressions that made it plain he had zero standing and better get gone right that minute.
I left it to the military personnel and headed over to the shed. I was beat and I still hadn’t decided what to do about the Fall Festival. I’d promised to sing but the remainder of my plans had fallen apart for obvious reasons. I wanted to roll my eyes at the noise still coming from the general area of Orélie’s office but didn’t want anyone to catch me at it and start more gossip.
I nearly plowed into Vadie who’d been waiting on me at the shed door. “Another work order?” I asked.
“No.” She looked at me then said, “Let’s go inside.”
I was too tired to deal with whatever was coming but figured deal with it then, deal with it later, I’d still have to deal with it. But I let her open the conversation.
“So … they get it wrong about you and Em?”
“Not sure what you mean?”
She snorted. “That means that yeah, there was something between you and Em.”
“I’m not …”
“… going to talk about it? Yeah. I get it. And just let me say I ain’t here to find out things and carry them back inside. ‘Cause, yes they asked me to try which makes me feel like doing the exact opposite. What they got against you all of a sudden?”
I shook my head. “Didn’t Thib talk to you about being careful?”
“Yeah he did, and I thought he was a little nuts but not so much anymore. Daniel Edgar is …”
“Shhhh.”
“Relax. Big House ain’t sitting on the fence anymore. They may not be ready to give up whatever flew up their nose over you, but they don’t care for Daniel Edgar anymore. Mr. Hubert put a few things on the table they couldn’t blind themselves to … like ankle monitors.”
“You were listening in just now.”
“Sure was. And girl you got problems.”
“Life is full of them. You better get back to the Big House.”
“You’re good I’ll give you that.”
“Huh?”
“Avoiding talking about the elephant in the room. So I’ll just ask straight out because Thib won’t. Did you and Em have a fight an break up?”
“Geez, sounds like high school.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Is Thib going to start talking?”
“I might not tell Thib … because yes, the old ladies know how to get things out of him too easy.”
Finally caving because maybe a female friend was what I needed right then. “I’m not sure there ever was a me and Em … not really. I think we both just … took our friendship in a direction it was never meant to go.”
“And that means?”
“It means that even if Em and I kept trying, there’s too many things in the way. One of them is my age.”
“Oh. Okay. You … um … hurtin’?”
“You mean am I going to sit down and cry a river? No. We’re just trying to figure out how to pull back and not screw up the friendship. Which is real even if no one else can believe it.”
“You … still going to the Festival tomorrow?”
“I’m keeping my promise to sing. Whether I stay after that part? I’m leaning no.”
“I’m really sorry Ava.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“So it was Em that pulled back.”
“Yeah. The age thing has been a problem for him since the beginning. Other things have been popping up and I thought we could work on them by going slow but … the age thing is never going to change. Doesn’t matter if I could give a rat’s left toe about the difference in our ages, Em does. He treats me … er … nunnish.”
“Oh. OH! You mean?” She put on the mom face even though she was too young to be doing it to me. “Be glad. Once you go down that street, it’s easy to get lost. Especially if you don’t wind up with what you expected to wind up with. You sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah. Positive.”
“Say it enough and you might even make it true,” she told me as she surprised me with a hug. “I’ll be over to help with the get up like I said.”
“Uh … thanks.”
She left and not even a minute later there was a knock. “Yeah?”
“Ava … it’s Zeb. Um … you … er …”
I jerked the door open and said, “Not you too.”
Chapter 86
It took a few minutes to convince Zeb I was okay and there was no reason for him to go after Em.
“Geez, it was a thing that was doomed Zeb. Too many marks against it.”
“And you’re sure …?”
I nearly gave him an atomic eye roll. “Yeah, I’m sure. And stop looking green around the gills, we never did it. I … I guess we were both just needing something we didn’t have at the time. Em is a friend that should have stayed a friend-only. Same as it was for us.”
“Er …”
“Don’t swallow your tongue. You know it’s true. And we’ve managed to stay friends. Right? I just seem to keep getting friendship and the other stuff mixed up. Lucky for me the guys it happens with have the sense to let me keep my pride intact and do their part to save our friendships.”
Zeb left after a few more platitudes leaving him feeling like he’d done the right thing. The discussion that’d been going on at the Big House – and yes, I lied when I told Dagobert I didn’t know where his sons were – had finally quieted down. They had been sitting in the Major’s office with a couple of guards standing over them to put the fear of God in them. I’d seen a dark van with a military seal on the door pull up to the house while I was talking to Zeb. Franc and Fontaine had been marched out … in cuffs which surprised me … and loaded into the back of the van. They hadn’t wanted to go when the rear doors opened. Maybe they saw something they didn’t like, I don’t know. Too bad so sad for them; they were simply lifted up and all but tossed in and the doors slammed shut behind them. I haven’t seen them since.
I was in the shower when my phone buzzed. “Seriously?!” I was shaving because I wouldn’t have time the next day and my hands were covered in shaving soap. I used my elbow to turn the phone over and read,
I can’t sleep.
There’s wall to wall crap in here
but I still feel like I’m in the
middle of the desert.
Alone.
Sighing I wiped my hands off and wrapped a towel around me before replying.
Sorry.
Was in the shower.
Drink some warm milk.
Almost immediately he typed:
Don’t have any.
Wanna talk?
Are you still going to the Festival?
I shook my head. It felt bizarre. Like he wanted to keep things too much like they were when I wasn’t sure there was any way to do that given the rest of it.
Have to. Promised the Colonel’s wife
I’d sing that stupid song for their
Anniversary.
Relax.
Prob won’t stay after that.
Not what I meant.
You can stay.
Was just asking.
I have to go too.
Orélie set me up.
?????
Mere asked her to.
Figuring out he meant he’d been set up on a blind date I told him
Sucks to be you.
I decided just to give up on the shower since I’d managed to get all the soap out of my hair. Conditioner would just have to wait. I thought he’d given up, but it seems like he’d just been debating whether to reply.
You okay with that?
With what?
Me. A date, even if it is a blind one.
As long as you are okay with it.
Friends want friends to have fun.
And be happy.
Not sure that will happen.
Why?
Keep screwing up.
How?
I’m not stupid.
I know I hurt you.
Saw the look in your eyes
Even if it didn’t match the words
Coming out of your mouth.
Stop.
Now.
You’re making things hard again.
And you’re making them too easy.
I screwed up.
We both did.
Neither one of us is
The friends with benefits type.
Don’t drive this bus into a wall.
We’re friends.
I’m not asking or expecting more.
Should be.
Why?
‘Cause I screwed up.
You keep saying that.
If you did then so did I.
Didn’t realize how hard
People were going to
Make things. Didn’t understand
Just how much the age
Thing really bothered you.
Guess I was fooling myself.
Guess I was wearing
My own version of
Rose-colored glasses.
He switched subjects on me so fast I nearly got whiplash.
Saw Daniel Edgar.
What did he want?
To screw with me via
Dagobert Deveraux and
The man’s demon spawn.
Backfired.
He keeps forgetting how
Stupid he looks when he
Plays his lame games
With me.
He’s dangerous.
Yep.
He needs to let me stay
Away from him.
He may be a high functioning
Sociopath, but he’s getting
Closer to not functioning.
Ava. You NEED to be CAREFUL.
The guy is WARPED.
That’s the plan.
Promise?
Yes.
How do you make that yellow
Milk again?
It is either that or a sleeping
Pill and I don’t want to start
Down that path and get hooked
On something.
I gave him the directions and he signed off. I hoped he could sleep because one of us should. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be able to. Too many things were running through my head and none of them happy thoughts. Just call me a prophetess.
It took a few minutes to convince Zeb I was okay and there was no reason for him to go after Em.
“Geez, it was a thing that was doomed Zeb. Too many marks against it.”
“And you’re sure …?”
I nearly gave him an atomic eye roll. “Yeah, I’m sure. And stop looking green around the gills, we never did it. I … I guess we were both just needing something we didn’t have at the time. Em is a friend that should have stayed a friend-only. Same as it was for us.”
“Er …”
“Don’t swallow your tongue. You know it’s true. And we’ve managed to stay friends. Right? I just seem to keep getting friendship and the other stuff mixed up. Lucky for me the guys it happens with have the sense to let me keep my pride intact and do their part to save our friendships.”
Zeb left after a few more platitudes leaving him feeling like he’d done the right thing. The discussion that’d been going on at the Big House – and yes, I lied when I told Dagobert I didn’t know where his sons were – had finally quieted down. They had been sitting in the Major’s office with a couple of guards standing over them to put the fear of God in them. I’d seen a dark van with a military seal on the door pull up to the house while I was talking to Zeb. Franc and Fontaine had been marched out … in cuffs which surprised me … and loaded into the back of the van. They hadn’t wanted to go when the rear doors opened. Maybe they saw something they didn’t like, I don’t know. Too bad so sad for them; they were simply lifted up and all but tossed in and the doors slammed shut behind them. I haven’t seen them since.
I was in the shower when my phone buzzed. “Seriously?!” I was shaving because I wouldn’t have time the next day and my hands were covered in shaving soap. I used my elbow to turn the phone over and read,
I can’t sleep.
There’s wall to wall crap in here
but I still feel like I’m in the
middle of the desert.
Alone.
Sighing I wiped my hands off and wrapped a towel around me before replying.
Sorry.
Was in the shower.
Drink some warm milk.
Almost immediately he typed:
Don’t have any.
Wanna talk?
Are you still going to the Festival?
I shook my head. It felt bizarre. Like he wanted to keep things too much like they were when I wasn’t sure there was any way to do that given the rest of it.
Have to. Promised the Colonel’s wife
I’d sing that stupid song for their
Anniversary.
Relax.
Prob won’t stay after that.
Not what I meant.
You can stay.
Was just asking.
I have to go too.
Orélie set me up.
?????
Mere asked her to.
Figuring out he meant he’d been set up on a blind date I told him
Sucks to be you.
I decided just to give up on the shower since I’d managed to get all the soap out of my hair. Conditioner would just have to wait. I thought he’d given up, but it seems like he’d just been debating whether to reply.
You okay with that?
With what?
Me. A date, even if it is a blind one.
As long as you are okay with it.
Friends want friends to have fun.
And be happy.
Not sure that will happen.
Why?
Keep screwing up.
How?
I’m not stupid.
I know I hurt you.
Saw the look in your eyes
Even if it didn’t match the words
Coming out of your mouth.
Stop.
Now.
You’re making things hard again.
And you’re making them too easy.
I screwed up.
We both did.
Neither one of us is
The friends with benefits type.
Don’t drive this bus into a wall.
We’re friends.
I’m not asking or expecting more.
Should be.
Why?
‘Cause I screwed up.
You keep saying that.
If you did then so did I.
Didn’t realize how hard
People were going to
Make things. Didn’t understand
Just how much the age
Thing really bothered you.
Guess I was fooling myself.
Guess I was wearing
My own version of
Rose-colored glasses.
He switched subjects on me so fast I nearly got whiplash.
Saw Daniel Edgar.
What did he want?
To screw with me via
Dagobert Deveraux and
The man’s demon spawn.
Backfired.
He keeps forgetting how
Stupid he looks when he
Plays his lame games
With me.
He’s dangerous.
Yep.
He needs to let me stay
Away from him.
He may be a high functioning
Sociopath, but he’s getting
Closer to not functioning.
Ava. You NEED to be CAREFUL.
The guy is WARPED.
That’s the plan.
Promise?
Yes.
How do you make that yellow
Milk again?
It is either that or a sleeping
Pill and I don’t want to start
Down that path and get hooked
On something.
I gave him the directions and he signed off. I hoped he could sleep because one of us should. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to be able to. Too many things were running through my head and none of them happy thoughts. Just call me a prophetess.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Loved the chapters, and wonderful, your own office. Good luck with all the work.
Chapter 87
“Wow.”
“Wow what?” I asked Vadie. “Something hanging out where it shouldn’t?” I glanced over at the only mirror I had and found it useless even if I twisted myself up like a pretzel.
Vadie snickered and said, “Wow. As in Em is going to freak out.”
I sighed. “Don’t start. That was never why I was doing this.”
“Bet he’ll seriously regret ...”
“Vadie …”
“You saying you don’t want him anymore? That you wouldn’t get back together?”
I gave her as much truth as I was willing to share. “I’m saying he and I are friends. Maybe that’s all we really were and … yeah, it sucks but life tends to be like that. Not to mention I don’t want him to get hurt anymore than I want to be the one getting hurt. Things are what they are.” I wished people would stop putting ideas in my head. I had enough crowding that space as it is.
She just stood there looking at me then asked a practical question I hadn’t considered. “If you aren’t going to hang around long enough for Em to give you a ride, how are you getting back here?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Walk? It isn’t that far and there will be patrols all over the place to keep people from messing around and getting in trouble.”
“In those shoes?”
I looked down and grimaced. “Fine. I need a bag.”
“Told you. And it is purse, not bag.”
“Backpack, not purse. It looks like I’ll need a change of clothes … and shoes … to make my getaway in.”
“So you aren’t staying?”
“I don’t know. I have a feeling just like Orélie set up Em, I’m gonna get guys thrown in my way as well. People like to tie up things with pretty ribbons and bows so they don’t have to feel bad about being the ones to screw stuff up in the first place.”
“Uh oh.”
I sighed realizing I’d given away more than I had meant to.
She said, “You’ve gotten beyond the first part and now you are getting angry at what happened and who did it.”
“Probably,” I admitted. “But I’ve got more sense than to go off on the people in question. I need this job and the paycheck that comes with it. And I don’t want the embarrassment some could make my feelings out to be.”
“Girlfriend … been there done that and have more than a couple of t-shirts to prove it. If I can’t get Thib to … er …”
It was my turn to think uh oh. “He’s a lot better since you two hooked up. But you gotta admit, his family – or at least some of them – haven’t had the best influence on him.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna snatch Serafine bald-headed one day real soon if she doesn’t stay out of my space.”
“Uh huh. I noticed you were just crying buckets when they hauled off the two jack-holes.”
She chuckled darkly. “Between you and me the authorities might just have found out a few things about those two angels that no one knew.”
“Such as?”
“They’re messing around with some cougar.”
“Ew.” Then against my better judgment I asked, “Who?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“You might be surprised.”
She looked around and then whispered, “Daniel Edgars’ sister. That weird fem Lorelei.” Then looking around again she said even more quietly, “And I hear she’s pregnant.”
I threw up a little in my mouth but didn’t get a chance to ask any more questions because it was time to go. Zeb was giving me a ride just to make sure I didn’t chicken out.
When he saw me I had to say, “Oh for Pete’s sake, close your mouth.”
“Ava?”
“No, the Jolly Green Giant’s ugly stepsister. Are we leaving or not?”
“Uh … uh … uh … There’s a couple of us in the car.”
I looked inside and saw Denise having a fit of the giggles. I growled, “You are not helping.” Of course that only made her worse.
I was crammed in the back of the soccer mom car that Zeb had borrowed from some place – probably arranged by Mark who would have thought it a grand joke on Zeb and his sister – trying to ignore the stares. I knew that if I said something it would just make it worse but gawd I was beginning to think I’d made a serious mistake proving just how much of a girl I was underneath my normal work exterior.
##### ##### #####
I was fending off another round of pictures from Denise when I heard, “Ava?!” The girl in question ran off laughing, leaving me to once again try and hold onto my temper and play nice.
If I’d heard that once I heard it about a hundred times. Part of me was flattered. Part of me was beyond irritated. Yeah. I’m female. Get over it already.
“Don’t you start.”
Em looked confused. It wasn’t a good look for him. “Er …”
“Every freaking time I turn around someone looks at me like it’s the first time they’ve considered the possibility that I’m a girl. What … the … frick?! I mean, no, I don’t play dress up very often but geez. Just because I’m showing a little skin shouldn’t mean people’s eyes should fall out of their head and roll around. I’m getting more and more sorry that I decided to stay.”
He opened his mouth when who should stroll up? Wylene and Mona, the last two people I wanted to run into. Even more than Daniel Edgar if you want to know the truth.
Mona looked at me with pity written large on her face. “Honey, you really shouldn’t advertise that way. It only makes you look like a whore.”
I heard a few indrawn breaths telling me more people had been listening in than I thought. Oh well. When you have nothing to lose the gloves could come off.
“I wouldn’t mention the word whore too loud if I were you Mona. The guys are going to think you’ve hung your billboard back up and this time they’ll be asking for a discount due to overuse.”
“Why you little …”
“Knock it off Mona,” Wylene said. “You gave her the ammunition.”
“I what?!”
“People are starting to stare,” she said giving Mona a pointed look. “You’re drawing attention.”
“So? Daniel isn’t my boss. You wanna kiss his butt that’s up to you. Me? S&M isn’t my thang.”
Wylene hissed. I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. If there was going to be a cat fight between those two the last thing I wanted was a ring side seat. I didn’t have to worry. A couple of MPs showed up real quick to escort them to an alternative location. Female MPs. And they weren’t the type to give a crap that Mona and Wylene were fems; they’d drag them out and bust their heads either way if they didn’t do what they were told.
Everyone wanted the Colonel to have a good time. They had a virtual screen set up so that even though they were hundreds of miles apart the Colonel and his wife could be together. They were going to terminate the transmission in a few more minutes and after that I’d heard things were going to get a little earthier. I’d been asked to sing but I was no longer feeling it and told them that the music I knew wouldn’t work with the crowd that had shown up. Better to let the band do their thing. No hard feelings all around and I got the feeling I’d just been asked out of courtesy.
Someone grabbed my arm as I’d been heading to the punch table to get a drink before changing. It was nearly midnight and the carriage was about to turn back into a pumpkin.
“Hey! That hurt dammit,” Em said as he jerked his hand back, missing most of the pain he could have had as I’d started to run my nail under his own thumbnail.
“Sorry. Didn’t expect it to be you. Where’s your date?”
Em shrugged. “Ditched her.”
“’Scuse me?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“Ditched her. With a guy she could dance with. Trust me, she was happier.”
I stood there looking at him for a second making sure I’d heard what he’d said. “It appears Aunt Orélie didn’t put enough thought into her choice.”
“Or she had to scrape the bottom of the barrel,” he said. As a comeback I wasn’t happy to hear the self-pity.
“You dance just fine,” I reminded him.
“Not the kind of dancing she wanted to do. I didn’t even move like that before I got blew up.”
“Seriously? That’s what you’re going with?”
He shrugged again. “Might come up with something better later. Assuming you want to stick around.”
“Em …”
“C’mon. I … I wanna say something and I don’t want it to be in the middle of a hundred other people.”
I was willing to go so long as it was after passing by the punch and buffet tables. Em was agreeable but had a strange look on his face as we sat down at one of the little tables outside.
“Spit it out,” I told him.
He took a breath to speak twice before anything actually came out. “I want a do over.”
“’Scuse me?”
“I … want … a … do over. And get that look off your face. It ain’t because of that dress you’re nearly falling out of. It don’t help, but I knew I made a mistake the morning after. I just thought I could live with it … should live with it.”
Not sure what to say I said the first thing that came to mind. “I am NOT falling out of this dress. For gawd’s sake I’m duct taped into my brassiere just to make sure it doesn’t happen. You got any idea how much fun I’m going to have getting that stuff off tonight?!”
“Oh Lord Ava … that was not an image I needed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Em. Are you certifiable or trying to make me that?”
“What I am or am not is up for debate. What I want isn’t. Ava … I … look, I know there are issues. I know they aren’t going to be easy to deal with. And one of them is ma mere. I’ll figure it out. Just … give this … us … another shot.”
“I wasn’t the one that said …”
“I know dammit.” He took a calming breath. “I feel like an idiot begging a barely legal girl child to give me a chance when I’m coming up on thirty years of age. I’m practically a pedophile. Have had a few people point that out thank you and I still can’t get you out of my head.”
“You’ve been listening to some really, really, REALLY stupid people. I’ve been legal for nearly a year. Was close to it the first time we met. We haven’t done anything … get that look off your face you know what I mean … that would get you that kind of handle hung on you even if I wasn’t legal. As a matter of fact, you’re the one that insists on treating me like … not like … dang it, you know what I mean!”
He sighed. “I do. Thank gawd I’ve got some sense. Just … that’s now what I think about …” He shook his head. “We’re getting off track here. What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry Ava. You don’t know how sorry. Sorry for pushing you away. Sorry for not really wanting to but thinking it was the right thing to do and not being able to live with it. Sorry …”
Don’t you just hate it when it’s lights out right when you get to the good part? The string of twinkly LEDs had just blinked out. Em and I both turned to watch the lights in the Kingdom Hall slowly go down like we were having a brown out.
“What the …?”
“Wow.”
“Wow what?” I asked Vadie. “Something hanging out where it shouldn’t?” I glanced over at the only mirror I had and found it useless even if I twisted myself up like a pretzel.
Vadie snickered and said, “Wow. As in Em is going to freak out.”
I sighed. “Don’t start. That was never why I was doing this.”
“Bet he’ll seriously regret ...”
“Vadie …”
“You saying you don’t want him anymore? That you wouldn’t get back together?”
I gave her as much truth as I was willing to share. “I’m saying he and I are friends. Maybe that’s all we really were and … yeah, it sucks but life tends to be like that. Not to mention I don’t want him to get hurt anymore than I want to be the one getting hurt. Things are what they are.” I wished people would stop putting ideas in my head. I had enough crowding that space as it is.
She just stood there looking at me then asked a practical question I hadn’t considered. “If you aren’t going to hang around long enough for Em to give you a ride, how are you getting back here?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Walk? It isn’t that far and there will be patrols all over the place to keep people from messing around and getting in trouble.”
“In those shoes?”
I looked down and grimaced. “Fine. I need a bag.”
“Told you. And it is purse, not bag.”
“Backpack, not purse. It looks like I’ll need a change of clothes … and shoes … to make my getaway in.”
“So you aren’t staying?”
“I don’t know. I have a feeling just like Orélie set up Em, I’m gonna get guys thrown in my way as well. People like to tie up things with pretty ribbons and bows so they don’t have to feel bad about being the ones to screw stuff up in the first place.”
“Uh oh.”
I sighed realizing I’d given away more than I had meant to.
She said, “You’ve gotten beyond the first part and now you are getting angry at what happened and who did it.”
“Probably,” I admitted. “But I’ve got more sense than to go off on the people in question. I need this job and the paycheck that comes with it. And I don’t want the embarrassment some could make my feelings out to be.”
“Girlfriend … been there done that and have more than a couple of t-shirts to prove it. If I can’t get Thib to … er …”
It was my turn to think uh oh. “He’s a lot better since you two hooked up. But you gotta admit, his family – or at least some of them – haven’t had the best influence on him.”
“Yeah. I’m gonna snatch Serafine bald-headed one day real soon if she doesn’t stay out of my space.”
“Uh huh. I noticed you were just crying buckets when they hauled off the two jack-holes.”
She chuckled darkly. “Between you and me the authorities might just have found out a few things about those two angels that no one knew.”
“Such as?”
“They’re messing around with some cougar.”
“Ew.” Then against my better judgment I asked, “Who?”
“You won’t believe me.”
“You might be surprised.”
She looked around and then whispered, “Daniel Edgars’ sister. That weird fem Lorelei.” Then looking around again she said even more quietly, “And I hear she’s pregnant.”
I threw up a little in my mouth but didn’t get a chance to ask any more questions because it was time to go. Zeb was giving me a ride just to make sure I didn’t chicken out.
When he saw me I had to say, “Oh for Pete’s sake, close your mouth.”
“Ava?”
“No, the Jolly Green Giant’s ugly stepsister. Are we leaving or not?”
“Uh … uh … uh … There’s a couple of us in the car.”
I looked inside and saw Denise having a fit of the giggles. I growled, “You are not helping.” Of course that only made her worse.
I was crammed in the back of the soccer mom car that Zeb had borrowed from some place – probably arranged by Mark who would have thought it a grand joke on Zeb and his sister – trying to ignore the stares. I knew that if I said something it would just make it worse but gawd I was beginning to think I’d made a serious mistake proving just how much of a girl I was underneath my normal work exterior.
##### ##### #####
I was fending off another round of pictures from Denise when I heard, “Ava?!” The girl in question ran off laughing, leaving me to once again try and hold onto my temper and play nice.
If I’d heard that once I heard it about a hundred times. Part of me was flattered. Part of me was beyond irritated. Yeah. I’m female. Get over it already.
“Don’t you start.”
Em looked confused. It wasn’t a good look for him. “Er …”
“Every freaking time I turn around someone looks at me like it’s the first time they’ve considered the possibility that I’m a girl. What … the … frick?! I mean, no, I don’t play dress up very often but geez. Just because I’m showing a little skin shouldn’t mean people’s eyes should fall out of their head and roll around. I’m getting more and more sorry that I decided to stay.”
He opened his mouth when who should stroll up? Wylene and Mona, the last two people I wanted to run into. Even more than Daniel Edgar if you want to know the truth.
Mona looked at me with pity written large on her face. “Honey, you really shouldn’t advertise that way. It only makes you look like a whore.”
I heard a few indrawn breaths telling me more people had been listening in than I thought. Oh well. When you have nothing to lose the gloves could come off.
“I wouldn’t mention the word whore too loud if I were you Mona. The guys are going to think you’ve hung your billboard back up and this time they’ll be asking for a discount due to overuse.”
“Why you little …”
“Knock it off Mona,” Wylene said. “You gave her the ammunition.”
“I what?!”
“People are starting to stare,” she said giving Mona a pointed look. “You’re drawing attention.”
“So? Daniel isn’t my boss. You wanna kiss his butt that’s up to you. Me? S&M isn’t my thang.”
Wylene hissed. I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away. If there was going to be a cat fight between those two the last thing I wanted was a ring side seat. I didn’t have to worry. A couple of MPs showed up real quick to escort them to an alternative location. Female MPs. And they weren’t the type to give a crap that Mona and Wylene were fems; they’d drag them out and bust their heads either way if they didn’t do what they were told.
Everyone wanted the Colonel to have a good time. They had a virtual screen set up so that even though they were hundreds of miles apart the Colonel and his wife could be together. They were going to terminate the transmission in a few more minutes and after that I’d heard things were going to get a little earthier. I’d been asked to sing but I was no longer feeling it and told them that the music I knew wouldn’t work with the crowd that had shown up. Better to let the band do their thing. No hard feelings all around and I got the feeling I’d just been asked out of courtesy.
Someone grabbed my arm as I’d been heading to the punch table to get a drink before changing. It was nearly midnight and the carriage was about to turn back into a pumpkin.
“Hey! That hurt dammit,” Em said as he jerked his hand back, missing most of the pain he could have had as I’d started to run my nail under his own thumbnail.
“Sorry. Didn’t expect it to be you. Where’s your date?”
Em shrugged. “Ditched her.”
“’Scuse me?” I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“Ditched her. With a guy she could dance with. Trust me, she was happier.”
I stood there looking at him for a second making sure I’d heard what he’d said. “It appears Aunt Orélie didn’t put enough thought into her choice.”
“Or she had to scrape the bottom of the barrel,” he said. As a comeback I wasn’t happy to hear the self-pity.
“You dance just fine,” I reminded him.
“Not the kind of dancing she wanted to do. I didn’t even move like that before I got blew up.”
“Seriously? That’s what you’re going with?”
He shrugged again. “Might come up with something better later. Assuming you want to stick around.”
“Em …”
“C’mon. I … I wanna say something and I don’t want it to be in the middle of a hundred other people.”
I was willing to go so long as it was after passing by the punch and buffet tables. Em was agreeable but had a strange look on his face as we sat down at one of the little tables outside.
“Spit it out,” I told him.
He took a breath to speak twice before anything actually came out. “I want a do over.”
“’Scuse me?”
“I … want … a … do over. And get that look off your face. It ain’t because of that dress you’re nearly falling out of. It don’t help, but I knew I made a mistake the morning after. I just thought I could live with it … should live with it.”
Not sure what to say I said the first thing that came to mind. “I am NOT falling out of this dress. For gawd’s sake I’m duct taped into my brassiere just to make sure it doesn’t happen. You got any idea how much fun I’m going to have getting that stuff off tonight?!”
“Oh Lord Ava … that was not an image I needed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Em. Are you certifiable or trying to make me that?”
“What I am or am not is up for debate. What I want isn’t. Ava … I … look, I know there are issues. I know they aren’t going to be easy to deal with. And one of them is ma mere. I’ll figure it out. Just … give this … us … another shot.”
“I wasn’t the one that said …”
“I know dammit.” He took a calming breath. “I feel like an idiot begging a barely legal girl child to give me a chance when I’m coming up on thirty years of age. I’m practically a pedophile. Have had a few people point that out thank you and I still can’t get you out of my head.”
“You’ve been listening to some really, really, REALLY stupid people. I’ve been legal for nearly a year. Was close to it the first time we met. We haven’t done anything … get that look off your face you know what I mean … that would get you that kind of handle hung on you even if I wasn’t legal. As a matter of fact, you’re the one that insists on treating me like … not like … dang it, you know what I mean!”
He sighed. “I do. Thank gawd I’ve got some sense. Just … that’s now what I think about …” He shook his head. “We’re getting off track here. What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry Ava. You don’t know how sorry. Sorry for pushing you away. Sorry for not really wanting to but thinking it was the right thing to do and not being able to live with it. Sorry …”
Don’t you just hate it when it’s lights out right when you get to the good part? The string of twinkly LEDs had just blinked out. Em and I both turned to watch the lights in the Kingdom Hall slowly go down like we were having a brown out.
“What the …?”
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
oh wow, another great chapter.
Chapter 88
“What the …?”
“Down Ava. Get down!”
I heard a bang and felt him fall on me before all heck broke loose. When I realized he wasn’t moving I also realized my back was getting wet.
I jumped and rolled him off me and over. I pulled my phone out and was going to use the flashlight app but felt him pulling me back down and pushing my hands so I couldn’t hit engage.
“Ava …” he moaned.
“Hold on. Just hold on. I’m going to get help.”
“Naw Cher. We’re under attack. Triage time.”
“No.”
“Ava. Think. Don’t you hear what is going on around us?”
Crap. That’s when it sank in. Automatic rifle fire. Screaming. And the smell of smoke though I couldn’t see any flames. The occasional flash in the dark that accompanied the gun fire.
I thought fast. “Triage. Yeah. Sorry but these people are on their own … triaged. I’m not freaking Wonder Woman and this … no … I’m not getting mixed up in something that will only get me shot or worse.”
“Ava …” he moaned.
“No. This isn’t the Big House. This isn’t my place. Zeb, Denise, the rest of them … they’ll have to do for themselves. Makes me sound like a coward. Makes me sound like a bitch. I know but … rescuing them isn’t my job. And I’m not leaving you here to … to whatever. Can you walk at all or do I need to carry you?”
He sounded like he was going to throw up but then said, “Walk. But I don’t know how far.”
We decided we needed to find out. My gawd, the following hours stripped away what little innocence I’d been holding onto. Hard to believe given what I’d already done in my life but dumping a bloated body in the bayou was different than stepping in fresh ones because it was too dark to see where I was going. Cleaning up gore from wooden floors was nothing compared to the gore I was getting covered in as Em insisted on picking up a rifle from a dead man – and helping me aim and pull the trigger until I could do it for myself. Loading my automatic bow was different than learning to load a rifle over and over again because I kept emptying it to clear us a path out of the chaos.
We temporarily stopped in the dressing rooms of the Hall because I needed desperately to find something to try and tie off the hole in Em’s right shoulder. He did wind up throwing up that time, and nearly passing out, but it had to be done. I put a pressure bandage on and then immobilized the arm the best I could by wrapping it with some weird strips of spangly stuff that had been hanging down at the back of the stage.
While he rested from the pukes and the pain I found my backpack and changed right there in front of him.
“Gawd,” he whispered. “That was worth getting shot for.”
“You’re certifiable,” I snapped. “Nothing is worth you getting shot. You want a girly show, I’ll give you one after you get well enough to appreciate it.”
“Promise?”
He was drunk on adrenalin, but I knew that wouldn’t last. I’d seen it in the field. I also knew he needed real medical help asap or he was going to go into shock from blood loss. And shock means death.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be. Ava?”
“No. Whatever you’re about to suggest? Hell to the no. Convert that talking energy to walking energy. C’mon.”
We only made it a block before Em couldn’t go anymore. He was so weak I couldn’t even get him to respond. And the fight was spreading. How in the heck did they get the drop on us again?! I have my suspicions. Had them then as well. The one bit of luck was that Em had given out in the alley beside the hardware store.
“Listen Em, I am NOT leaving you. But I gotta do a little breaking and entering. So you hold on. I’ll be right back.”
Should have been harder to break in than it was. Someone was there ahead of me. I’m not going into graphic details but essentially I recognized one of the guy as one of the older kids that the Deveraux Jackholes used to hang with.
When the other one with him said, “C’mon. Daniel said we only had an hour to take what or who we wanted from the town and then we’d need to find a hole.”
“Edgars can …” He went on to describe an anatomical impossibility. Essentially if Daniel Edgars had thought he was going to be able to control whoever ‘we’ was, he was wrong.
“We need to find a hole,” the guy said as he ducked when an explosion rattled the plate glass windows that faced the street.
“I’m gonna find a hole. Gonna find a bunch of them when I pop this damn safe and head to Cozumel. You should have seen the girls when I went there with my cousin.”
“You’re gonna take me with you? Right?”
“That’s the plan. Damn. That old fart McPherson must have changed the combination again. There’s a paper under the register, get it. I mean what idiot changes the safe combination and then tells everyone if he dies he wrote the combo down on a paper and hid it under the register? Well he good and dead now and I want the money.”
I finally smelled the rank odor of bowels giving way in death. I knew the guys in front of me needed to experience the same reality. A trench hoe is a nasty, but effective weapon. They were both down and I still haven’t felt any regret for what I did. Not to mention I was too busy grabbing a wheelbarrow to give a frick about the noises they were trying to make.
Getting Em into the wheelbarrow was so not fun for either one of us. I did it but it took what little consciousness he had left. I was within sight of the Big House when I nearly got shot.
“Dammit Forrester,” I growled. “You shoot me and I’ll kick your …”
“Ava?! What the hell?!”
“Are there any medics?”
“You hurt?”
“Not me. Em. Bad. But not bad enough he won’t recover if I can get him some help.”
Whatever meds they were feeding him shortly thereafter had him awake but only enough to know we were going to be separated.
“Em, stop. An evacuation of the entire Gulf Coast is underway. I got your family going … Thib and Vadie came back from the party early ‘cause of the kids.”
“Come … with …”
“Can’t. Listen to me. You don’t let them take this letter from you. It’s important. It has your ID and papers in it. And your dog tags.”
“Come …” When they started running off with him on a stretcher I didn’t try to follow. There was something I had to do.
I ran over to the Big House. I’d already had Thib help me grab all the supplies I’d been working up.
“Are you sure about this?” he said, with a fire in his eyes that I’d never seen there. I hadn’t thought Thib was the kind of guy that could get that angry. I was wrong. And I was glad. The anger had finally cleared his head.
“Yeah. You get your family gone from here. Knock Auntie out if you have to.”
“My own sister. I don’t care what happens to her but … you think you know where Edgars means he’s taken the kidlets?”
“Yeah. You and Vadie hang as long as you can at the old pier. Give me as much time as you can. If you gotta go before I get there, leave me a note and I’ll make sure to bring ‘em to you. Now go. Traffic is going to be bad. And … take care of Em for me. Just …” I thrust a wad of paper money – the real stuff and not just scrip – I kept in the heat register in case of evacuation into his hand and he looked shocked but I didn’t have time to have a friggin’ debate. I’d put things off too long despite knowing it was probably always going to come to this. I was a Thibodaux, same as Uncle Henley had been. I tried to run from it for as long as I could, but I wasn’t running anymore … at least not away.
It was time for Daniel Edgar to meet his maker. I was hoping Ol’ Beezlebub had a special cell waiting on him, even if I had to hog tie him and throw him in myself.
“What the …?”
“Down Ava. Get down!”
I heard a bang and felt him fall on me before all heck broke loose. When I realized he wasn’t moving I also realized my back was getting wet.
I jumped and rolled him off me and over. I pulled my phone out and was going to use the flashlight app but felt him pulling me back down and pushing my hands so I couldn’t hit engage.
“Ava …” he moaned.
“Hold on. Just hold on. I’m going to get help.”
“Naw Cher. We’re under attack. Triage time.”
“No.”
“Ava. Think. Don’t you hear what is going on around us?”
Crap. That’s when it sank in. Automatic rifle fire. Screaming. And the smell of smoke though I couldn’t see any flames. The occasional flash in the dark that accompanied the gun fire.
I thought fast. “Triage. Yeah. Sorry but these people are on their own … triaged. I’m not freaking Wonder Woman and this … no … I’m not getting mixed up in something that will only get me shot or worse.”
“Ava …” he moaned.
“No. This isn’t the Big House. This isn’t my place. Zeb, Denise, the rest of them … they’ll have to do for themselves. Makes me sound like a coward. Makes me sound like a bitch. I know but … rescuing them isn’t my job. And I’m not leaving you here to … to whatever. Can you walk at all or do I need to carry you?”
He sounded like he was going to throw up but then said, “Walk. But I don’t know how far.”
We decided we needed to find out. My gawd, the following hours stripped away what little innocence I’d been holding onto. Hard to believe given what I’d already done in my life but dumping a bloated body in the bayou was different than stepping in fresh ones because it was too dark to see where I was going. Cleaning up gore from wooden floors was nothing compared to the gore I was getting covered in as Em insisted on picking up a rifle from a dead man – and helping me aim and pull the trigger until I could do it for myself. Loading my automatic bow was different than learning to load a rifle over and over again because I kept emptying it to clear us a path out of the chaos.
We temporarily stopped in the dressing rooms of the Hall because I needed desperately to find something to try and tie off the hole in Em’s right shoulder. He did wind up throwing up that time, and nearly passing out, but it had to be done. I put a pressure bandage on and then immobilized the arm the best I could by wrapping it with some weird strips of spangly stuff that had been hanging down at the back of the stage.
While he rested from the pukes and the pain I found my backpack and changed right there in front of him.
“Gawd,” he whispered. “That was worth getting shot for.”
“You’re certifiable,” I snapped. “Nothing is worth you getting shot. You want a girly show, I’ll give you one after you get well enough to appreciate it.”
“Promise?”
He was drunk on adrenalin, but I knew that wouldn’t last. I’d seen it in the field. I also knew he needed real medical help asap or he was going to go into shock from blood loss. And shock means death.
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be. Ava?”
“No. Whatever you’re about to suggest? Hell to the no. Convert that talking energy to walking energy. C’mon.”
We only made it a block before Em couldn’t go anymore. He was so weak I couldn’t even get him to respond. And the fight was spreading. How in the heck did they get the drop on us again?! I have my suspicions. Had them then as well. The one bit of luck was that Em had given out in the alley beside the hardware store.
“Listen Em, I am NOT leaving you. But I gotta do a little breaking and entering. So you hold on. I’ll be right back.”
Should have been harder to break in than it was. Someone was there ahead of me. I’m not going into graphic details but essentially I recognized one of the guy as one of the older kids that the Deveraux Jackholes used to hang with.
When the other one with him said, “C’mon. Daniel said we only had an hour to take what or who we wanted from the town and then we’d need to find a hole.”
“Edgars can …” He went on to describe an anatomical impossibility. Essentially if Daniel Edgars had thought he was going to be able to control whoever ‘we’ was, he was wrong.
“We need to find a hole,” the guy said as he ducked when an explosion rattled the plate glass windows that faced the street.
“I’m gonna find a hole. Gonna find a bunch of them when I pop this damn safe and head to Cozumel. You should have seen the girls when I went there with my cousin.”
“You’re gonna take me with you? Right?”
“That’s the plan. Damn. That old fart McPherson must have changed the combination again. There’s a paper under the register, get it. I mean what idiot changes the safe combination and then tells everyone if he dies he wrote the combo down on a paper and hid it under the register? Well he good and dead now and I want the money.”
I finally smelled the rank odor of bowels giving way in death. I knew the guys in front of me needed to experience the same reality. A trench hoe is a nasty, but effective weapon. They were both down and I still haven’t felt any regret for what I did. Not to mention I was too busy grabbing a wheelbarrow to give a frick about the noises they were trying to make.
Getting Em into the wheelbarrow was so not fun for either one of us. I did it but it took what little consciousness he had left. I was within sight of the Big House when I nearly got shot.
“Dammit Forrester,” I growled. “You shoot me and I’ll kick your …”
“Ava?! What the hell?!”
“Are there any medics?”
“You hurt?”
“Not me. Em. Bad. But not bad enough he won’t recover if I can get him some help.”
Whatever meds they were feeding him shortly thereafter had him awake but only enough to know we were going to be separated.
“Em, stop. An evacuation of the entire Gulf Coast is underway. I got your family going … Thib and Vadie came back from the party early ‘cause of the kids.”
“Come … with …”
“Can’t. Listen to me. You don’t let them take this letter from you. It’s important. It has your ID and papers in it. And your dog tags.”
“Come …” When they started running off with him on a stretcher I didn’t try to follow. There was something I had to do.
I ran over to the Big House. I’d already had Thib help me grab all the supplies I’d been working up.
“Are you sure about this?” he said, with a fire in his eyes that I’d never seen there. I hadn’t thought Thib was the kind of guy that could get that angry. I was wrong. And I was glad. The anger had finally cleared his head.
“Yeah. You get your family gone from here. Knock Auntie out if you have to.”
“My own sister. I don’t care what happens to her but … you think you know where Edgars means he’s taken the kidlets?”
“Yeah. You and Vadie hang as long as you can at the old pier. Give me as much time as you can. If you gotta go before I get there, leave me a note and I’ll make sure to bring ‘em to you. Now go. Traffic is going to be bad. And … take care of Em for me. Just …” I thrust a wad of paper money – the real stuff and not just scrip – I kept in the heat register in case of evacuation into his hand and he looked shocked but I didn’t have time to have a friggin’ debate. I’d put things off too long despite knowing it was probably always going to come to this. I was a Thibodaux, same as Uncle Henley had been. I tried to run from it for as long as I could, but I wasn’t running anymore … at least not away.
It was time for Daniel Edgar to meet his maker. I was hoping Ol’ Beezlebub had a special cell waiting on him, even if I had to hog tie him and throw him in myself.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Very big treat this morning. You get any sleep?
Chapter 89
Things had moved fast as soon as I was cleared to bring Em into the compound. Everywhere I looked … what little I could see in the dark … military gear and equipment was being packed and loaded for transport. They didn’t let me in the Med Tent at first so I ran to the Big House to find that Mr. Hubert had been hurt as well but not as badly as Em. Mr. Hubert was ambulatory but had a good toot on trying to dull the pain of a through and through in the meaty part of his thigh. Unfortunately for Thib that put him in charge. Worse, the poor guy was having a hard time getting anyone to listen to him.
“Then ignore them,” I brutally told Thib. “You and Vadie get things packed and then throw everyone in the van and go.”
“I … I can’t.”
“Yes you can.”
“No! I can’t!” he yelled on the raw edge of panic and anger. That’s when I found out that Daniel Edgars had shown up with Serafine earlier. Thib thought it weird but his sister made it normal and everyone was following her lead. Aunt Orélie and Momma L were in hospitality mode. He blamed himself for not going with his gut instincts. Then everything went crazy at once. There was an attack at the gates – not the enemy at that point but cartel fighters.
I never did get all the facts but basically Daniel went a little nutso. He made Serafine grab Fabrice and Dot and hold them and when Mr. Hubert jumped to grab them back Daniel shot him except it went wide when Serafine grabbed his arm. Auntie Orélie may or may not have had a heart attack as she collapsed in shock. I still don’t know. When Serafine objected to her father being shot Daniel slapped her hard a couple of times and told her to do what she was told or she knew what he’d do to her. She’d watched him do it to Wylene enough times. Thib and I both suspected what that meant given the rumors that we’d run across a few times. It would have scared the crap out of anyone.
That’s when Daniel said that the only way the kids lived is if I brought “the treasure” to the “old woman’s house.”
Still near panic Thib grabbed at me. “What the hell does that mean? What the hell does that mean Ava?!”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him feeling cold and dead. “I know what it means and I’ll get them back.” A plan grew right then and there. Vadie joined in on it and they did their part … getting out of town and trying to stop at the old pier long enough for me to reach them. I was headed into the swamp. The only place Daniel Edgar could mean was Yula Mae’s island.
While I was piling the food and water into the van, I grabbed my go bag and put it on my back. It was heavy but I didn’t really notice then. I asked Vadie for the ones I’d made for Fabrice and Dot. She was still crying but snot wasn’t running over her lips and down her chin anymore. But she was definitely wrecked up.
I’ve found out since that they call it compartmentalization. That thinking – or not thinking – you do so you can be what you need to be to survive. I had already slipped into a different place. I had to. I knew I was probably leaving everything behind. Again. I was going deep in the swamp, same as Uncle Henley had all those months ago. But unlike him, I wasn’t all that certain I was coming out. I was going to bring the kids out if I could, but I wasn’t sure what shape I would be in.
##### ##### #####
There were a lot of things I wanted to take with me but the truth was I knew I would either come out of the swamp and reclaim what I’d left behind … or I wouldn’t and there was no sense in dragging it around with me like an ancient Egyptian burial practice. The one thing I did do was empty what was left of the Treasure that I’d found in the mausoleum into a bag. The ones in Pa-pere’s treasure box stayed where they were, hidden down in the old heat register.
Before Em and I had broken up on the more than friends side of things I had been doing a lot of serious thinking. And thanks to Evelyn and her pet lawyers I was able to do more than just think. I’d made a will. Yeah, I wasn’t nineteen yet, but I learned about that side of life the hard way. And I didn’t want just anyone benefitting from all of the butt-busting hours I was putting in. And then there was my Trust and the rest of it to think about. The “treasure” was another pile of mess that I didn’t want just lying around waiting to be claimed by the nuts and knotholes left on my decaying family tree. So I did it. He didn’t know and I had meant to keep it that way. Didn’t have a choice anymore though, I stuck a certified copy of the will and a letter I had quickly written as an explanation and put them in the envelope that held Em’s important identification papers. See, whether we’d made up or not, he was still the only person I trusted not to change because of the treasure. And trusted him to use it in some good way and not just hoard it like a troll. I told him that, among other things, in the letter. I gave one last look around the room, grabbed two more canteens of water, then headed back out into the chaos.
##### ##### #####
I was shot at more times than I care to remember trying to get to my pirogue. Of course the opposite is true as well … I no longer hesitated to shoot first as necessary. If I knew them to be cartel members or any other enemy, I didn’t even hesitate to shoot them in the back. Fair fight is nothing but an oxymoron and I was done being a moron, oxy or otherwise.
I knew Daniel would have lookouts, I just hadn’t anticipated how stupid easy they would be to evade and/or dispose of. Not that he had a lot of them. When I made my way up onto the little island close enough to hear what he was raging about I realized it was because a lot of “his” people had switched sides to the Cartels because they thought there was going to be a bigger pay off. When I was done counting I had more than halved the number of people he had left, and most of those were more prisoner than guard. This included Serafine, Mona, and Wylene.
Mona and Serafine were in bad shape. I don’t think it was from Daniel’s recreational proclivities so much as Serafine finally discovered she had maternal feelings, and Mona just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Wylene was busted up too but she was physically stronger to start with and had developed a resistance to the pain Daniel liked to inflict. The two men left on the boat were staying out of Daniel’s way while he stormed back and forth on the dock they were tied to, screeching his madness loud enough to draw predators looking for a snack. I’d already given them more than a few to get as close as I did, but the greedy guts sensed there was more to come.
It was as dark as the inside of a black cat. The only light was a single lantern sitting on the dock to keep Daniel from tripping over his feet and going headfirst into the water. When he stormed off to the outhouse I knew I had to move fast. The two men were on the top deck but talking rather than keeping watch as they should have been. Apparently their boss was more threat than I was. I was shortly to show them the error of their ways. ‘Course they were dead by that time so I wasn’t sure what their reaction was. I was pulling the last bolt out of one of the men’s throat when I heard a commotion down below. I’d chosen silent and messy over noisy and clean and a good thing I had.
I hid just in time to see Wylene throw Mona’s body overboard. I heard her hiss, “He’s mine.” Good Lord. Her cheese had slipped all the way off her cracker. I was about to do for her the same as I’d done for the men when I saw her pick up Serafine and do the same thing.
“You shoulda left well enough alone. He mighta let you live had you just done what he said. But I’m not him. He’s made sure that he’s all I have so you had to go.”
Yeezus, she might not have had any cheese to start with. The few times that Em had talked about it he’d given that impression. I thought it was just a guy thing, an exaggeration, but maybe not. And I was getting scared for the kids. Where were they?
“What the hell did you do?!”
Being enthralled by Wylene’s brand of crazy had made me lose track of time and of Daniel. Him coming on board startled me and I nearly gave my location away. Luckily he was too focused on the demented creature in front of him.
“You’re mine. You promised,” she whined.
Angry, he fired back at her, “Go to hell. No one owns me.”
“You promised!” she screeched.
In disgust he snapped, “Like hell I did!”
The went at each other like a couple of demon dogs but in the end Daniel’s gun trumped Wylene’s insanity. That’s when I smelled smoke. And it was coming from below deck. Craptastic.
All that time. All that scheming to trick him with the treasure so I could get the kids. All that Cajun soap opera level drama. All that waiting for the perfect monologue opportunity to prove I was the winner and he the loser. And God decided to end things His way instead.
There was an explosion and that gave off a whoomp of flame that shot up a few feet from where Daniel stood and he was clambering off the boat and getting away. I finally took my rifle and just shot the bastard dead with one to the back of his head. I had more problems on my hands than my ego. I’ve since thought about it and am grateful that God did it the way He did. I was working on turning into the next knothole on the family tree. It wasn’t something that I wanted to happen so God took care that I kept the fries in my Happy Meal instead of feeding them to the local wildlife.
I was going to run below deck even with the flames to look for the kids but I heard, “Mmm! Mmmmmm! Mmm!!!” I saw some sail canvas moving over in the corner and ran to it, pulling to aside. There were the kids trussed up like a couple of Thanksgiving turkeys. Alive but not yet safe. I hauled them both up, kept Dot in my arms and grabbed Fabrice and was pulling him over to the gangplank after cutting the restraints off his ankles. We got off the boat just in time for it to jump and then list towards the dock, catching it on fire too.
I kinda figured what was going to happen after that. The swamp was dry … not completely dried up but dryer than it normally was that time of year. And the island was even worse. Tall grass, dilapidated buildings, leafless trees where no one had kept the orchard watered during the drought. Sure enough I barely got them to the pirogue in time to keep it – and us – from getting scorched. After that all I could do was pole and pray we outran the flames igniting the cedars and cypress tops.
Things had moved fast as soon as I was cleared to bring Em into the compound. Everywhere I looked … what little I could see in the dark … military gear and equipment was being packed and loaded for transport. They didn’t let me in the Med Tent at first so I ran to the Big House to find that Mr. Hubert had been hurt as well but not as badly as Em. Mr. Hubert was ambulatory but had a good toot on trying to dull the pain of a through and through in the meaty part of his thigh. Unfortunately for Thib that put him in charge. Worse, the poor guy was having a hard time getting anyone to listen to him.
“Then ignore them,” I brutally told Thib. “You and Vadie get things packed and then throw everyone in the van and go.”
“I … I can’t.”
“Yes you can.”
“No! I can’t!” he yelled on the raw edge of panic and anger. That’s when I found out that Daniel Edgars had shown up with Serafine earlier. Thib thought it weird but his sister made it normal and everyone was following her lead. Aunt Orélie and Momma L were in hospitality mode. He blamed himself for not going with his gut instincts. Then everything went crazy at once. There was an attack at the gates – not the enemy at that point but cartel fighters.
I never did get all the facts but basically Daniel went a little nutso. He made Serafine grab Fabrice and Dot and hold them and when Mr. Hubert jumped to grab them back Daniel shot him except it went wide when Serafine grabbed his arm. Auntie Orélie may or may not have had a heart attack as she collapsed in shock. I still don’t know. When Serafine objected to her father being shot Daniel slapped her hard a couple of times and told her to do what she was told or she knew what he’d do to her. She’d watched him do it to Wylene enough times. Thib and I both suspected what that meant given the rumors that we’d run across a few times. It would have scared the crap out of anyone.
That’s when Daniel said that the only way the kids lived is if I brought “the treasure” to the “old woman’s house.”
Still near panic Thib grabbed at me. “What the hell does that mean? What the hell does that mean Ava?!”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him feeling cold and dead. “I know what it means and I’ll get them back.” A plan grew right then and there. Vadie joined in on it and they did their part … getting out of town and trying to stop at the old pier long enough for me to reach them. I was headed into the swamp. The only place Daniel Edgar could mean was Yula Mae’s island.
While I was piling the food and water into the van, I grabbed my go bag and put it on my back. It was heavy but I didn’t really notice then. I asked Vadie for the ones I’d made for Fabrice and Dot. She was still crying but snot wasn’t running over her lips and down her chin anymore. But she was definitely wrecked up.
I’ve found out since that they call it compartmentalization. That thinking – or not thinking – you do so you can be what you need to be to survive. I had already slipped into a different place. I had to. I knew I was probably leaving everything behind. Again. I was going deep in the swamp, same as Uncle Henley had all those months ago. But unlike him, I wasn’t all that certain I was coming out. I was going to bring the kids out if I could, but I wasn’t sure what shape I would be in.
##### ##### #####
There were a lot of things I wanted to take with me but the truth was I knew I would either come out of the swamp and reclaim what I’d left behind … or I wouldn’t and there was no sense in dragging it around with me like an ancient Egyptian burial practice. The one thing I did do was empty what was left of the Treasure that I’d found in the mausoleum into a bag. The ones in Pa-pere’s treasure box stayed where they were, hidden down in the old heat register.
Before Em and I had broken up on the more than friends side of things I had been doing a lot of serious thinking. And thanks to Evelyn and her pet lawyers I was able to do more than just think. I’d made a will. Yeah, I wasn’t nineteen yet, but I learned about that side of life the hard way. And I didn’t want just anyone benefitting from all of the butt-busting hours I was putting in. And then there was my Trust and the rest of it to think about. The “treasure” was another pile of mess that I didn’t want just lying around waiting to be claimed by the nuts and knotholes left on my decaying family tree. So I did it. He didn’t know and I had meant to keep it that way. Didn’t have a choice anymore though, I stuck a certified copy of the will and a letter I had quickly written as an explanation and put them in the envelope that held Em’s important identification papers. See, whether we’d made up or not, he was still the only person I trusted not to change because of the treasure. And trusted him to use it in some good way and not just hoard it like a troll. I told him that, among other things, in the letter. I gave one last look around the room, grabbed two more canteens of water, then headed back out into the chaos.
##### ##### #####
I was shot at more times than I care to remember trying to get to my pirogue. Of course the opposite is true as well … I no longer hesitated to shoot first as necessary. If I knew them to be cartel members or any other enemy, I didn’t even hesitate to shoot them in the back. Fair fight is nothing but an oxymoron and I was done being a moron, oxy or otherwise.
I knew Daniel would have lookouts, I just hadn’t anticipated how stupid easy they would be to evade and/or dispose of. Not that he had a lot of them. When I made my way up onto the little island close enough to hear what he was raging about I realized it was because a lot of “his” people had switched sides to the Cartels because they thought there was going to be a bigger pay off. When I was done counting I had more than halved the number of people he had left, and most of those were more prisoner than guard. This included Serafine, Mona, and Wylene.
Mona and Serafine were in bad shape. I don’t think it was from Daniel’s recreational proclivities so much as Serafine finally discovered she had maternal feelings, and Mona just couldn’t keep her mouth shut. Wylene was busted up too but she was physically stronger to start with and had developed a resistance to the pain Daniel liked to inflict. The two men left on the boat were staying out of Daniel’s way while he stormed back and forth on the dock they were tied to, screeching his madness loud enough to draw predators looking for a snack. I’d already given them more than a few to get as close as I did, but the greedy guts sensed there was more to come.
It was as dark as the inside of a black cat. The only light was a single lantern sitting on the dock to keep Daniel from tripping over his feet and going headfirst into the water. When he stormed off to the outhouse I knew I had to move fast. The two men were on the top deck but talking rather than keeping watch as they should have been. Apparently their boss was more threat than I was. I was shortly to show them the error of their ways. ‘Course they were dead by that time so I wasn’t sure what their reaction was. I was pulling the last bolt out of one of the men’s throat when I heard a commotion down below. I’d chosen silent and messy over noisy and clean and a good thing I had.
I hid just in time to see Wylene throw Mona’s body overboard. I heard her hiss, “He’s mine.” Good Lord. Her cheese had slipped all the way off her cracker. I was about to do for her the same as I’d done for the men when I saw her pick up Serafine and do the same thing.
“You shoulda left well enough alone. He mighta let you live had you just done what he said. But I’m not him. He’s made sure that he’s all I have so you had to go.”
Yeezus, she might not have had any cheese to start with. The few times that Em had talked about it he’d given that impression. I thought it was just a guy thing, an exaggeration, but maybe not. And I was getting scared for the kids. Where were they?
“What the hell did you do?!”
Being enthralled by Wylene’s brand of crazy had made me lose track of time and of Daniel. Him coming on board startled me and I nearly gave my location away. Luckily he was too focused on the demented creature in front of him.
“You’re mine. You promised,” she whined.
Angry, he fired back at her, “Go to hell. No one owns me.”
“You promised!” she screeched.
In disgust he snapped, “Like hell I did!”
The went at each other like a couple of demon dogs but in the end Daniel’s gun trumped Wylene’s insanity. That’s when I smelled smoke. And it was coming from below deck. Craptastic.
All that time. All that scheming to trick him with the treasure so I could get the kids. All that Cajun soap opera level drama. All that waiting for the perfect monologue opportunity to prove I was the winner and he the loser. And God decided to end things His way instead.
There was an explosion and that gave off a whoomp of flame that shot up a few feet from where Daniel stood and he was clambering off the boat and getting away. I finally took my rifle and just shot the bastard dead with one to the back of his head. I had more problems on my hands than my ego. I’ve since thought about it and am grateful that God did it the way He did. I was working on turning into the next knothole on the family tree. It wasn’t something that I wanted to happen so God took care that I kept the fries in my Happy Meal instead of feeding them to the local wildlife.
I was going to run below deck even with the flames to look for the kids but I heard, “Mmm! Mmmmmm! Mmm!!!” I saw some sail canvas moving over in the corner and ran to it, pulling to aside. There were the kids trussed up like a couple of Thanksgiving turkeys. Alive but not yet safe. I hauled them both up, kept Dot in my arms and grabbed Fabrice and was pulling him over to the gangplank after cutting the restraints off his ankles. We got off the boat just in time for it to jump and then list towards the dock, catching it on fire too.
I kinda figured what was going to happen after that. The swamp was dry … not completely dried up but dryer than it normally was that time of year. And the island was even worse. Tall grass, dilapidated buildings, leafless trees where no one had kept the orchard watered during the drought. Sure enough I barely got them to the pirogue in time to keep it – and us – from getting scorched. After that all I could do was pole and pray we outran the flames igniting the cedars and cypress tops.
Chapter 90
I was nearly home free when I was surrounded. Not by cartel members. Not by the enemy. Not by the military. It was a militia group that had come in to help evacuate people. But if anyone thinks of real militias as warm and fuzzy support animals they’ve got another think coming. Most of the real militias are every bit as dangerous as the most well-armed military personnel. Mostly because they aren’t constrained by the same rules and chain of command. That has its good points and bad.
Had a man get in my face and ask, “You local?”
“Mostly,” I answered carefully. His response was to nearly overturn the pirogue and send me and the kids into the water. We were within sight of land, but the water was still deep enough I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep both kids afloat, especially if our “escort” decided to get in the way.
The kids cried out but were instinctually quiet about it. Their brief time in Daniel’s care had taught them that.
“Knock it off butthole!” I snapped. “You can see they’re just little kids!”
“You done being a smart mouth?”
“I wasn’t but if you expect me to recite my pedigree, I ain’t that dumb.”
“Ain’t you heard there’s an evacuation order in effect?”
Trying not to give away that I had a pistol in my pocket I answered, “Of course. I’m trying to get these kids back to their family.”
“Town’s shut down. No more in or out.”
“They’re waiting not too far from here. Or that was the plan. Just around that bend over there. There’s a pier. Just let me take them over there and drop them off.”
The man who was acting in charge keyed the mic on a handheld asked, “Them people still there?”
A voice came back saying, “Yeah. Woman is crying again about her kids. Keeps asking when Ava is going to get here.”
The guy lowered the handheld and gave me a closer look. I told him, “I’m not flashing my boobs if that’s what you are waiting for.”
I heard some snickering and it turned out all the “men” weren’t all men. I spotted three women in a boat with a trawling motor on it.
Ignoring them the man asked, “You know how to get us from here to the coast?”
“By water?” He nodded. “Yeah. But don’t expect it to be on a map since they dug the new canals.”
Three seconds later he said, “Consider yourself drafted.”
There wasn’t much room for me to maneuver with that and even less time. Despite my shock I was able to say, “Deal. IF you let me drop off the kids. You try and force me without that and I’ll take you to the middle of the swamp and let the gators and Rougarou have you.”
“Big talk.”
“Flat out truth,” I rebutted.
At his nod I started poling as fast as I could get away with. I was beat and the latest hilarity hadn’t helped.
I gave the whippoorwill whistle I used with Mr. Hubert and heard the responding whistle nearly immediately. Based on the hand signals I was getting – and the death ray eyes – I was not to give the militia away and if I tried to run there was going to be trouble.
Thib and Vadie were running into the water before I could land. “Hush!” I told them harshly. “Take them and get gone fast. Things are falling apart and if that glow to the north didn’t tell you, the swamp is on fire. The back roads are going to get burned over if you don’t head out.”
“Wait!” Vadie said finally hearing what I was saying. “Aren’t you coming?!”
“Can’t. And don’t ask questions. And don’t ask the kids anything until you are good and away. And no, it ain’t Edgars or the cartel or anything like that. It just is what it is. Now go! And Thib? Promise me …”
“Yeah. We got his patient number from Zeb who says we can find him at some field hospital in Arkansas. It’s where we are all rendezvousing. They’re going to be pissed Ava. You …”
Zeb being alive was another release of a hook tying me that place and time. I told him, “Life is what it is. Looks like I was always destined to do … whatever the hell life is throwing at me this time. Just make sure that Em keeps that packet of letters. And tell him I’m sorry for dumping it on him. Hopefully he’ll understand. Now go.”
I’m not sure what I was feeling then and haven’t been inclined to dwell on it since then until just recently. I’m not sure it matters anymore but we’ve all got bones that we can’t seem to lay to rest no matter how many times we try.
##### ##### #####
It took two days to get them to the coast, and they were damn lucky to have me or they would have gotten there hungry. Once we made it to the coast it was some other excuse not to cut me loose. I was a useful tool. It took me weeks to escape and by then several of their group had gone AWOL and a few others had been buried. It wasn’t until they needed to go home and lick their wounds that they no longer laid claim to me. Unfortunately for me someone else did. I got drafted for real. It didn’t start out that way. I started out as a civilian Scout. They never knew how apt that title was.
On my 19th birthday I was slogging through swampland fighting with a militia group. At Christmas I was a civilian Scout. By the new year I was a private in the US Army, no Basic Training needed because I’d already experienced more than those green beans being put in the field had, and I could take orders or operate without them better when necessary too. On my 20th birthday I was fighting a dust storm in the Nevada desert, tagging along with the 75th Ranger Regiment and following the orders of a bunch of men that thought it damn funny that a female could do what had to be done and just keep going. On my 21st birthday I was getting the one and only drunk on I’ve had since I was a teenager after a celebration because I’d run afoul of enough field promotions that I was given my own command group. Everyone called me “CapT” because the girl that had once been Ava Thibodaux no longer existed and because no one wore name insignia for the enemy to take advantage of … and most never could figure out how to say my surname anyway. On my 22nd birthday I was wearing a gas mask while fighting hand to hand, just barely able to make out being called “Shai-tan” while the oilfields of the Middle East burned leaving everything a toxic waste around me.
Just shy of my 23rd birthday the Peace Treaty went from pipe dream to reality as everyone had finally had enough of blood, guts, black powder, bioterror, nuclear fallout, and economic strife. The US Flag grew a few extra stars too. Not only had we picked up DC and PR, we’d also picked up most of what used to be northern Mexico but was now little more than a barren waste land from where it had been bombed and burned over so many times to prevent the cartels and the “Axis of Blackhearted Bastards” from using it as a staging area into the Lower 49’s major population centers. There were new territories as well but they were already being shuttled towards independence to keep them from being a drain on the US economy.
I was also in the hospital being told I could no longer pass the physical that would be needed to remain in once they started shedding all the excess personnel. One too many booms going off around me had wrecked my hearing up on one side. It looked like I’d be wearing a hearing aid for the rest of my life if I wanted to be able to get a driver’s license.
And suddenly I was standing on the sidewalk outside of the VA with my DD214 in hand. They’d given me a week at a local motel so I could pull myself together. I headed that way wondering, like many other suddenly former military personnel, just what in the heck I was supposed to do now.
I was nearly home free when I was surrounded. Not by cartel members. Not by the enemy. Not by the military. It was a militia group that had come in to help evacuate people. But if anyone thinks of real militias as warm and fuzzy support animals they’ve got another think coming. Most of the real militias are every bit as dangerous as the most well-armed military personnel. Mostly because they aren’t constrained by the same rules and chain of command. That has its good points and bad.
Had a man get in my face and ask, “You local?”
“Mostly,” I answered carefully. His response was to nearly overturn the pirogue and send me and the kids into the water. We were within sight of land, but the water was still deep enough I worried I wouldn’t be able to keep both kids afloat, especially if our “escort” decided to get in the way.
The kids cried out but were instinctually quiet about it. Their brief time in Daniel’s care had taught them that.
“Knock it off butthole!” I snapped. “You can see they’re just little kids!”
“You done being a smart mouth?”
“I wasn’t but if you expect me to recite my pedigree, I ain’t that dumb.”
“Ain’t you heard there’s an evacuation order in effect?”
Trying not to give away that I had a pistol in my pocket I answered, “Of course. I’m trying to get these kids back to their family.”
“Town’s shut down. No more in or out.”
“They’re waiting not too far from here. Or that was the plan. Just around that bend over there. There’s a pier. Just let me take them over there and drop them off.”
The man who was acting in charge keyed the mic on a handheld asked, “Them people still there?”
A voice came back saying, “Yeah. Woman is crying again about her kids. Keeps asking when Ava is going to get here.”
The guy lowered the handheld and gave me a closer look. I told him, “I’m not flashing my boobs if that’s what you are waiting for.”
I heard some snickering and it turned out all the “men” weren’t all men. I spotted three women in a boat with a trawling motor on it.
Ignoring them the man asked, “You know how to get us from here to the coast?”
“By water?” He nodded. “Yeah. But don’t expect it to be on a map since they dug the new canals.”
Three seconds later he said, “Consider yourself drafted.”
There wasn’t much room for me to maneuver with that and even less time. Despite my shock I was able to say, “Deal. IF you let me drop off the kids. You try and force me without that and I’ll take you to the middle of the swamp and let the gators and Rougarou have you.”
“Big talk.”
“Flat out truth,” I rebutted.
At his nod I started poling as fast as I could get away with. I was beat and the latest hilarity hadn’t helped.
I gave the whippoorwill whistle I used with Mr. Hubert and heard the responding whistle nearly immediately. Based on the hand signals I was getting – and the death ray eyes – I was not to give the militia away and if I tried to run there was going to be trouble.
Thib and Vadie were running into the water before I could land. “Hush!” I told them harshly. “Take them and get gone fast. Things are falling apart and if that glow to the north didn’t tell you, the swamp is on fire. The back roads are going to get burned over if you don’t head out.”
“Wait!” Vadie said finally hearing what I was saying. “Aren’t you coming?!”
“Can’t. And don’t ask questions. And don’t ask the kids anything until you are good and away. And no, it ain’t Edgars or the cartel or anything like that. It just is what it is. Now go! And Thib? Promise me …”
“Yeah. We got his patient number from Zeb who says we can find him at some field hospital in Arkansas. It’s where we are all rendezvousing. They’re going to be pissed Ava. You …”
Zeb being alive was another release of a hook tying me that place and time. I told him, “Life is what it is. Looks like I was always destined to do … whatever the hell life is throwing at me this time. Just make sure that Em keeps that packet of letters. And tell him I’m sorry for dumping it on him. Hopefully he’ll understand. Now go.”
I’m not sure what I was feeling then and haven’t been inclined to dwell on it since then until just recently. I’m not sure it matters anymore but we’ve all got bones that we can’t seem to lay to rest no matter how many times we try.
##### ##### #####
It took two days to get them to the coast, and they were damn lucky to have me or they would have gotten there hungry. Once we made it to the coast it was some other excuse not to cut me loose. I was a useful tool. It took me weeks to escape and by then several of their group had gone AWOL and a few others had been buried. It wasn’t until they needed to go home and lick their wounds that they no longer laid claim to me. Unfortunately for me someone else did. I got drafted for real. It didn’t start out that way. I started out as a civilian Scout. They never knew how apt that title was.
On my 19th birthday I was slogging through swampland fighting with a militia group. At Christmas I was a civilian Scout. By the new year I was a private in the US Army, no Basic Training needed because I’d already experienced more than those green beans being put in the field had, and I could take orders or operate without them better when necessary too. On my 20th birthday I was fighting a dust storm in the Nevada desert, tagging along with the 75th Ranger Regiment and following the orders of a bunch of men that thought it damn funny that a female could do what had to be done and just keep going. On my 21st birthday I was getting the one and only drunk on I’ve had since I was a teenager after a celebration because I’d run afoul of enough field promotions that I was given my own command group. Everyone called me “CapT” because the girl that had once been Ava Thibodaux no longer existed and because no one wore name insignia for the enemy to take advantage of … and most never could figure out how to say my surname anyway. On my 22nd birthday I was wearing a gas mask while fighting hand to hand, just barely able to make out being called “Shai-tan” while the oilfields of the Middle East burned leaving everything a toxic waste around me.
Just shy of my 23rd birthday the Peace Treaty went from pipe dream to reality as everyone had finally had enough of blood, guts, black powder, bioterror, nuclear fallout, and economic strife. The US Flag grew a few extra stars too. Not only had we picked up DC and PR, we’d also picked up most of what used to be northern Mexico but was now little more than a barren waste land from where it had been bombed and burned over so many times to prevent the cartels and the “Axis of Blackhearted Bastards” from using it as a staging area into the Lower 49’s major population centers. There were new territories as well but they were already being shuttled towards independence to keep them from being a drain on the US economy.
I was also in the hospital being told I could no longer pass the physical that would be needed to remain in once they started shedding all the excess personnel. One too many booms going off around me had wrecked my hearing up on one side. It looked like I’d be wearing a hearing aid for the rest of my life if I wanted to be able to get a driver’s license.
And suddenly I was standing on the sidewalk outside of the VA with my DD214 in hand. They’d given me a week at a local motel so I could pull myself together. I headed that way wondering, like many other suddenly former military personnel, just what in the heck I was supposed to do now.
