Story Ava (Complete)
- Thread starter Kathy in FL
- Start date
Chapter 49
I’m not big into dieting. In my opinion hard work is better for a case of the jiggles. Usually. But after that night I am giving it due consideration. Forcing myself up that dang hatch left some rather uncomfortable squeezy marks on my skin, even though my shirt. Not to be sacrilegious or anything but that story of a camel through the eye of a needle kinda flitted through my head. Ugh. I’ve got matching marks on my other end as well. Thank goodness I don’t have to explain them to anyone. Yeah, I can see that happening. Not. Obviously the hatchway in Fabrice’s room is a little more accommodating ‘cause I can guarantee Auntie would have at least as much trouble as I did. We are going to enlarge that crawl space hatchway, and I don’t care if it looks funny in the back guest bedroom or not. And if Em thinks he can ask why I am set on it and get away with being stupid as only a guy can be? Uh uh. He better think again. Or maybe not. I’ll just tell him that it is for his sake and he can make of that what he will.
Well after deciding I wasn’t fit to play the part of a mouse I pulled up my machete and pistol grip crossbow into the house with me and then shut the hatch just in time to realize the noise I was hearing wasn’t coming from outside but was coming from inside. Geez. Someone was getting slapped around. Then I heard a chair getting knocked over, some laughing and then something … someone … getting dragged in my direction. Talk about trying to find a place to hide. Good thing for dark shadows. The door flew open and someone was shoved inside, landing unceremoniously on the bed.
Daaayammm. It was the Major and man was she messed up. And the three men obviously intended on messing her up worse, but they were arguing over who got to go first. I’m surprised they weren’t going to take turns watching too. Maybe they would have, but there was a bellow from another part of the house. Two of the men gave the third a dirty look while he smirked. As soon as the door closed I put the crossbow to the remaining man’s head and pulled the trigger. The bolt didn’t go in all the way but it went in far enough to cause immediate shock and paralysis. I barely caught him before he face planted. That kind of noise I did not need.
The Major looked at me like I was some kind of figment. But only for a second. She managed to get her feet under her and locked the room’s door. I opened my mouth to say something but she cut me off with a finger across her throat (universal sign for shut yo’ mouth) and sat back down on the edge of the bed and started bouncing on it making it squeak. I thought she’d completely lost it until someone started banging on the door. I didn’t understand all of what they were saying but I guess my street Spanglish and high school foreign language credits haven’t completely disappeared because I heard something along the lines of, “Hurry up Man, it’s my turn.”
The Major motioned for me to come take her place. I got the message. The problem is that I didn’t have a clue for how long I was supposed to make the stupid bouncy noise. The Major didn’t get the picture so, left to my own devices, I started playing acting some things I’d seen in movies. The guys outside the doors liked that and seemed to be rooting for their comrade and so I bounced bigger but slower … one … two … three times and moaned like I’d heard the girl do in the movies. The guys were nearly losing it outside the door. The Major just looked at me like I’d taken all leave of my senses and then motioned me to open the door while she grabbed my machete.
Of course the idiots were too hot and bothered to use much sense. Heck, they tried to come through the door at the same time and got stuck which gave the Major the time to do what you figure a hacked off Amazon would do to her abusers and wannabee abusers. And my brain simply blanked out some of it except for the odd thought that it was going to be really hard to get that mess out of the rug.
The Major gave me one of the guns we took from the men and she took two as we quietly made our way through the dark house. The Major motioned that there had been ten enemy and we’d taken down three of them. That left seven. Lovely. They were split into two groups with four all clumped together with a radio in the big dining room and the other three guarding the small dining room.
The Major grunted quietly as she tied a one of Auntie’s fancy doillies around her forehead to keep the blood from a head wound from leaking down into her eyes. “We need to take out both groups at nearly the same time or it will be a blood bath. We can’t lose the General and I won’t lose my men.”
I barely cared for little more than not losing my lunch at that moment I was so scared. But if I’ve learned little else in life, you don’t show your fear. Ever. I whispered, “Fine. If you have a plan let me in on it.”
About that time this scrawny guy, not much older than me if at all, hurries out into the hall and just …
Why is it that some guys think that it is okay to take care of their urges against anything tall and straight? I mean he just hauled it out and was going to use the grandfather clock like a tree. Just the week before I’d taken that thing apart to clean up the gummed up gears and to sand and re-polish it so it didn’t look like a reject from someone attic sale and I was not having my work messed up. I used the handle of my machete and caught him in the sweet spot, and it was nighty night for Mr. Point and Shoot.
Major whispered, “Little harder next time.” She then kicked him in the head and there was a squishy noise that told me that that particular enemy wouldn’t be waking up. I didn’t have time to process it or whatever the debriefing doctors called it before she handed me a second gun as well as the guy’s pistol. I felt like freaking Pancho Villa as I stuck the pistol in my waist band. All I needed was a double bandolier of bullets to complete the picture. The Major looked like a female cross between Rambo and Rocky. Yeah I know who those two are. Given my brother’s taste in illicit films my parents did not approve of, boy Skippy did I knew who that was. I’d blackmailed DJ plenty to let me watch with him. I mean what are little sisters for anyway.
I could see the Major was struggling. She was bad hurt and torn between getting to her men or protecting the general. We lost the chance to hash a plan out when two men came down the hall dragging a third. They spotted us so there went the element of surprise. The Major rushed them and there was a bunch of noise where all four were wrestling around on the floor. I decided to let them go at it and focused on the dining room.
First thing I did was put a bolt in the back of the head of the guy operating the radio. That took that problem out of the calculus equation the situation had turned into. I had two bolts left – and didn’t Em’s eyes cross when he found out Scooter and I had managed to turn my single bolt action crossbow into an automatic crossbow that held three bolts I could shoot before reloading. Heck, you should have seen Tib’s face when I used it to take out some blackbirds that were terrorizing Momma LeBlanc’s cherry trees.
So one bolt down, two to go, and I knew I would need to make them count. Second guy that went down was the one closest to the guy I recognized as the General though he’d been worked over a bit. Last bolt I used on the guy that seemed to be “Mr. Big” and all three seemed to set the cat amongst the pigeons. Of course the usual saying is three out of four ain’t bad but … number four can do a bit of damage that’s for sure.
I’m wrastling around with number four and losing fast. I may have taken out Mr. Big … but Mr. Big had a Mr. Bad and I guess I tweaked his ego a bit or something along those lines. Either that or the guy was just plain crazy because instead of running like he had some self-preservation (though Lord knows I shouldn’t talk) he came after me with the pig sticker he’d been using on the General … and apparently the Major as well not much earlier. Dang thing looks like something out of a horror movie.
Well we’d been wrastling a few minutes when he sticks me in the meaty part of my arm (I think he was aiming for a boob but missed) and dang that hurt and sho ‘nuff hacked me off royally. I know I’m not exactly the most ladylike female on the planet, but I’ve always tried to keep the scars and nastiness to a minimum when I’m fighting. Well I’m done at that point. I throw everything at him that I’ve got left. He busts me in the mouth and all that did was make me angrier. Those dang braces were expensive and I still wear my retainer at night. Most of the time. When I remember to anyway. And I was wearing them that night and I felt the top piece crack. Just for that I head butt him in the nose as hard as I could and he yelps and I start beating on him in earnest.
Pretty soon his nose isn’t the only thing I head butted. He never should have tried to take my feet from under me because it put me at the right level to act like one of Mr. Morant’s goats that have seen a bullseye. Too bad for him he wasn’t wearing padded protection because I squished his parts between a doorframe and my hard head. I knew I had him when he gave a high pitched whinny and lost his balance. Yeehaw. Colonel Morgan has had to order a new desk chair ‘cause the one he had been using is no longer in its proper shape and usable. The metal frame is all kind of bent out of shape and so was Mr. Bad’s head when I was through with him. Which ended a little too soon for my temper’s liking when a couple of our soldiers pulled me off him.
I was still a little juiced up or I might not have gone quite so Cajun. I pulled my phone out of my pocket – amazingly it hadn’t come out which tells me my pants might be getting a little tight – and pushed redial.
“Ava?!”
“Zeb, you know when I said to give us a few minutes to whittle ‘em down? We whittled. General is here and I’ll let him give you the particulars. But if you’re asking me, I do believe we would all appreciate the cavalry’s swift arrival with some rocket launchers of cesium tipped missiles aimed right at the bad guys’ bits and pieces.”
I handed a rather startled general my phone and was about to head out to keep fighting when the Major stops me. But not for long as she hands me a rifle and tells me, “Body shots. None of that fancy crap you just pulled. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
##### ##### #####
Morning started the mop up, though I gotta say it took a lot more than mops to get things cleaned up and back in order. I got Auntie and Fabrice out of the safety spot and got them installed in Auntie’s suite before anyone could notice and have a thing to say about it. I didn’t want either one of them seeing the state the Big House was in so I asked Fabrice to stand guard over Auntie as her nerves were shot and I needed to fix some things before she took a walk around the house and got a look at the mess.
Aunt Orélie was already lying down, she’d nearly overdosed on her meds which was the reason for her “sleeping hard” and Fabrice walks me to the door and asks, “Is it really bad? Will … will I have to go live … someplace else?”
“I’d like to see anyone try and take you from us,” I told him. “Just ‘cause Auntie doesn’t feel well right this second doesn’t mean she isn’t up to going Momma Bear all over anyone that thinks they got the cojones to try something like that.”
“You too?”
“Definitely me too. And leave the shutters closed. I catch you peeking outside and …”
Quickly he said, “I won’t. I don’t want Auntie to see it either.” Great big ol’ puppy dog eyes looked at me and asked, “You … you think that Granpere and … even Momma …”
“Security is going to be a bit tight for a little bit but as soon as I can find out I’ll let you know. Pinky promise,” I tell him holding my pinky out for him to shake on.
He was satisfied with that and I brought in a couple gallons of water and some fruit, cheese, and crackers to tide them over until I could get things straight enough to figure some decent grub for everyone.
I was calming down finally and Fabrice’s questions made my own come out of hiding.
I’m not big into dieting. In my opinion hard work is better for a case of the jiggles. Usually. But after that night I am giving it due consideration. Forcing myself up that dang hatch left some rather uncomfortable squeezy marks on my skin, even though my shirt. Not to be sacrilegious or anything but that story of a camel through the eye of a needle kinda flitted through my head. Ugh. I’ve got matching marks on my other end as well. Thank goodness I don’t have to explain them to anyone. Yeah, I can see that happening. Not. Obviously the hatchway in Fabrice’s room is a little more accommodating ‘cause I can guarantee Auntie would have at least as much trouble as I did. We are going to enlarge that crawl space hatchway, and I don’t care if it looks funny in the back guest bedroom or not. And if Em thinks he can ask why I am set on it and get away with being stupid as only a guy can be? Uh uh. He better think again. Or maybe not. I’ll just tell him that it is for his sake and he can make of that what he will.
Well after deciding I wasn’t fit to play the part of a mouse I pulled up my machete and pistol grip crossbow into the house with me and then shut the hatch just in time to realize the noise I was hearing wasn’t coming from outside but was coming from inside. Geez. Someone was getting slapped around. Then I heard a chair getting knocked over, some laughing and then something … someone … getting dragged in my direction. Talk about trying to find a place to hide. Good thing for dark shadows. The door flew open and someone was shoved inside, landing unceremoniously on the bed.
Daaayammm. It was the Major and man was she messed up. And the three men obviously intended on messing her up worse, but they were arguing over who got to go first. I’m surprised they weren’t going to take turns watching too. Maybe they would have, but there was a bellow from another part of the house. Two of the men gave the third a dirty look while he smirked. As soon as the door closed I put the crossbow to the remaining man’s head and pulled the trigger. The bolt didn’t go in all the way but it went in far enough to cause immediate shock and paralysis. I barely caught him before he face planted. That kind of noise I did not need.
The Major looked at me like I was some kind of figment. But only for a second. She managed to get her feet under her and locked the room’s door. I opened my mouth to say something but she cut me off with a finger across her throat (universal sign for shut yo’ mouth) and sat back down on the edge of the bed and started bouncing on it making it squeak. I thought she’d completely lost it until someone started banging on the door. I didn’t understand all of what they were saying but I guess my street Spanglish and high school foreign language credits haven’t completely disappeared because I heard something along the lines of, “Hurry up Man, it’s my turn.”
The Major motioned for me to come take her place. I got the message. The problem is that I didn’t have a clue for how long I was supposed to make the stupid bouncy noise. The Major didn’t get the picture so, left to my own devices, I started playing acting some things I’d seen in movies. The guys outside the doors liked that and seemed to be rooting for their comrade and so I bounced bigger but slower … one … two … three times and moaned like I’d heard the girl do in the movies. The guys were nearly losing it outside the door. The Major just looked at me like I’d taken all leave of my senses and then motioned me to open the door while she grabbed my machete.
Of course the idiots were too hot and bothered to use much sense. Heck, they tried to come through the door at the same time and got stuck which gave the Major the time to do what you figure a hacked off Amazon would do to her abusers and wannabee abusers. And my brain simply blanked out some of it except for the odd thought that it was going to be really hard to get that mess out of the rug.
The Major gave me one of the guns we took from the men and she took two as we quietly made our way through the dark house. The Major motioned that there had been ten enemy and we’d taken down three of them. That left seven. Lovely. They were split into two groups with four all clumped together with a radio in the big dining room and the other three guarding the small dining room.
The Major grunted quietly as she tied a one of Auntie’s fancy doillies around her forehead to keep the blood from a head wound from leaking down into her eyes. “We need to take out both groups at nearly the same time or it will be a blood bath. We can’t lose the General and I won’t lose my men.”
I barely cared for little more than not losing my lunch at that moment I was so scared. But if I’ve learned little else in life, you don’t show your fear. Ever. I whispered, “Fine. If you have a plan let me in on it.”
About that time this scrawny guy, not much older than me if at all, hurries out into the hall and just …
Why is it that some guys think that it is okay to take care of their urges against anything tall and straight? I mean he just hauled it out and was going to use the grandfather clock like a tree. Just the week before I’d taken that thing apart to clean up the gummed up gears and to sand and re-polish it so it didn’t look like a reject from someone attic sale and I was not having my work messed up. I used the handle of my machete and caught him in the sweet spot, and it was nighty night for Mr. Point and Shoot.
Major whispered, “Little harder next time.” She then kicked him in the head and there was a squishy noise that told me that that particular enemy wouldn’t be waking up. I didn’t have time to process it or whatever the debriefing doctors called it before she handed me a second gun as well as the guy’s pistol. I felt like freaking Pancho Villa as I stuck the pistol in my waist band. All I needed was a double bandolier of bullets to complete the picture. The Major looked like a female cross between Rambo and Rocky. Yeah I know who those two are. Given my brother’s taste in illicit films my parents did not approve of, boy Skippy did I knew who that was. I’d blackmailed DJ plenty to let me watch with him. I mean what are little sisters for anyway.
I could see the Major was struggling. She was bad hurt and torn between getting to her men or protecting the general. We lost the chance to hash a plan out when two men came down the hall dragging a third. They spotted us so there went the element of surprise. The Major rushed them and there was a bunch of noise where all four were wrestling around on the floor. I decided to let them go at it and focused on the dining room.
First thing I did was put a bolt in the back of the head of the guy operating the radio. That took that problem out of the calculus equation the situation had turned into. I had two bolts left – and didn’t Em’s eyes cross when he found out Scooter and I had managed to turn my single bolt action crossbow into an automatic crossbow that held three bolts I could shoot before reloading. Heck, you should have seen Tib’s face when I used it to take out some blackbirds that were terrorizing Momma LeBlanc’s cherry trees.
So one bolt down, two to go, and I knew I would need to make them count. Second guy that went down was the one closest to the guy I recognized as the General though he’d been worked over a bit. Last bolt I used on the guy that seemed to be “Mr. Big” and all three seemed to set the cat amongst the pigeons. Of course the usual saying is three out of four ain’t bad but … number four can do a bit of damage that’s for sure.
I’m wrastling around with number four and losing fast. I may have taken out Mr. Big … but Mr. Big had a Mr. Bad and I guess I tweaked his ego a bit or something along those lines. Either that or the guy was just plain crazy because instead of running like he had some self-preservation (though Lord knows I shouldn’t talk) he came after me with the pig sticker he’d been using on the General … and apparently the Major as well not much earlier. Dang thing looks like something out of a horror movie.
Well we’d been wrastling a few minutes when he sticks me in the meaty part of my arm (I think he was aiming for a boob but missed) and dang that hurt and sho ‘nuff hacked me off royally. I know I’m not exactly the most ladylike female on the planet, but I’ve always tried to keep the scars and nastiness to a minimum when I’m fighting. Well I’m done at that point. I throw everything at him that I’ve got left. He busts me in the mouth and all that did was make me angrier. Those dang braces were expensive and I still wear my retainer at night. Most of the time. When I remember to anyway. And I was wearing them that night and I felt the top piece crack. Just for that I head butt him in the nose as hard as I could and he yelps and I start beating on him in earnest.
Pretty soon his nose isn’t the only thing I head butted. He never should have tried to take my feet from under me because it put me at the right level to act like one of Mr. Morant’s goats that have seen a bullseye. Too bad for him he wasn’t wearing padded protection because I squished his parts between a doorframe and my hard head. I knew I had him when he gave a high pitched whinny and lost his balance. Yeehaw. Colonel Morgan has had to order a new desk chair ‘cause the one he had been using is no longer in its proper shape and usable. The metal frame is all kind of bent out of shape and so was Mr. Bad’s head when I was through with him. Which ended a little too soon for my temper’s liking when a couple of our soldiers pulled me off him.
I was still a little juiced up or I might not have gone quite so Cajun. I pulled my phone out of my pocket – amazingly it hadn’t come out which tells me my pants might be getting a little tight – and pushed redial.
“Ava?!”
“Zeb, you know when I said to give us a few minutes to whittle ‘em down? We whittled. General is here and I’ll let him give you the particulars. But if you’re asking me, I do believe we would all appreciate the cavalry’s swift arrival with some rocket launchers of cesium tipped missiles aimed right at the bad guys’ bits and pieces.”
I handed a rather startled general my phone and was about to head out to keep fighting when the Major stops me. But not for long as she hands me a rifle and tells me, “Body shots. None of that fancy crap you just pulled. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
##### ##### #####
Morning started the mop up, though I gotta say it took a lot more than mops to get things cleaned up and back in order. I got Auntie and Fabrice out of the safety spot and got them installed in Auntie’s suite before anyone could notice and have a thing to say about it. I didn’t want either one of them seeing the state the Big House was in so I asked Fabrice to stand guard over Auntie as her nerves were shot and I needed to fix some things before she took a walk around the house and got a look at the mess.
Aunt Orélie was already lying down, she’d nearly overdosed on her meds which was the reason for her “sleeping hard” and Fabrice walks me to the door and asks, “Is it really bad? Will … will I have to go live … someplace else?”
“I’d like to see anyone try and take you from us,” I told him. “Just ‘cause Auntie doesn’t feel well right this second doesn’t mean she isn’t up to going Momma Bear all over anyone that thinks they got the cojones to try something like that.”
“You too?”
“Definitely me too. And leave the shutters closed. I catch you peeking outside and …”
Quickly he said, “I won’t. I don’t want Auntie to see it either.” Great big ol’ puppy dog eyes looked at me and asked, “You … you think that Granpere and … even Momma …”
“Security is going to be a bit tight for a little bit but as soon as I can find out I’ll let you know. Pinky promise,” I tell him holding my pinky out for him to shake on.
He was satisfied with that and I brought in a couple gallons of water and some fruit, cheese, and crackers to tide them over until I could get things straight enough to figure some decent grub for everyone.
I was calming down finally and Fabrice’s questions made my own come out of hiding.
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sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Very big thanks for another chapter.
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
“Little harder next time.” I like your characters.
Thank you Kathy. It's nice to have your chapters to look forward to while sheltering in place.
Thank you Kathy. It's nice to have your chapters to look forward to while sheltering in place.
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Another great chapter, one should never underestimate what your characters are capable of!
Chapter 50
I stepped outside and the first place I headed was my room. The new troops there didn’t know me and even when they saw my ID and believed who I was, still were hesitant to let me in.
I whipped off the apron I’d put on to cover the bloody mess on my shirt before dealing with Auntie and Fabrice and said, “I am not walking around looking like a reject from the chainsaw massacre. So I am asking politely to please, allow me to go to my room and change.”
“Miss … look, I understand but we’re still clearing …” I watched a stretcher come out with a triaged soldier. Someone I knew.
I slapped a hand away that tried to stop me from going over to him. “Bebeau, listen up here. You’re going to hold on.”
“It … hurts.”
“Hurts like hell I’m sure. But you are strong. I remember you telling me about all the hay and stuff you tossed helping your family on their ranch. Right? That’s gotta make you hella strong. So you hold on. Got that?”
“You think … think I can?”
“Are you kidding?! I know you can. I know a man that got blown up and bounced around, finally got rods in his back and leg, and he’s still a Master Electrician and can work most men under the table.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah buddy. And I ain’t playin’. You just wait for the pain meds to kick in. Just no using those flirty blue eyes on the nurses. Got me?”
“Yeah,” he whispered right before his hand went limp in mine and his eyes closed. I’d known it was coming. He was covered in blood and his skin was nearly translucent from it. I just hadn’t wanted him to die without hope. He was just a kid. Younger than me. Just a goofy farm kid from Oklahoma that had never even been out of the state until he’d been drafted.
I looked at the men carrying the stretcher and said, “I … I think he’s gone. Sgt. Kramer has all his info. I’ll … I’ll pack his gear. I’m pretty sure there is a letter home to his mother and girlfriend. He was asking me … asking me about the location of the post office yesterday.” I was babbling a bit.
That hand was back again. It was Kramer. “Come on.”
“I need to … pack his gear up.” I finally turned to look at him. I could barely get out, “Sarge … here somewhere?”
He saw I’d switched back to calling him by his military rank and he nodded. “He’s around. He is working with some civilians to form a militia group. They’re going house to house to keep our boys from being shot at accidentally and to check for civilian wounded.”
Well, I thought, that’s one hole I don’t have to dig right now. I tried to go into the house though the entrance was a charred mess. He stopped me again. “Not yet. They’re still bringing out … those that are triaged.”
“How many?”
“Three more.”
“Where are they taking them?”
“Ava …”
Having settled on a course I refused to be put off. “I know how to lose people Kramer. I also have plenty of emergency and wilderness medical training. Stick me with those that have been triaged. It’ll free up people to … to work on the ones that can be saved.”
He gave me a look I’ll likely never be in the mood to try and interpret then gave the okay for me to follow the stretcher bearers.
There were too damn many in the empty lot they were using. It had been bad at the Bayou Cabins. They were all junior officers. No seniors there to guide them, no sergeants to offer experience. All there for a little R&R before heading to the front lines. None of them in the frame of mind it took to react quickly enough for a surprise attack. I did what I could. Makeshift, half-baked, scout-trained crap. Survey and assess the wounded. Stabilize injuries … wounds, broken bones, burns, shock. Try and address the ones that must be addressed first while keeping the patient in the loop of what is going on, make them feel less helpless, getting them to assist rather than fight those trying to help them, give them some control to help with morale. But you can’t save everyone. You can try and ease their passing but even that isn’t always possible. God help me understand that and accept it. But you don’t just give up either. Even if is just comforting someone struggling to breathe to keep them from panicking and making it worse on them. Letting a friendly face be the last thing they see and not just a gray sky that looked ready to cry. Let them know in real and concrete ways they aren’t alone. If they want to talk then listen and talk with them. Listen to last requests when they’re cognizant enough to make them. Maybe even decide to try and make them happen as long as it doesn’t break you as bad as they’ve been broken.
Sometimes two guys would run over and say, “We have a bed!” I was the only one around willing to point to who might survive with immediate help. It meant picking. It meant choosing. It meant praying. A lot. By the middle of the day it was over. Either they were dead or they were with the med teams and being moved to military hospitals with real doctors and nurses and not a near homeless girl that will likely never know if her choices were right or were just ego and wishful thinking.
I was covered in more blood and gore than I had started with. I had tried putting the apron back on to protect my clothes, but the ruffles and pictures of dancing crawfish nearly made me lose it a few times. I tossed it in a burn pile as I was cleaning up what was left of the temporary combat support hospital. Bloody bandages mostly. But I saw charts and name tags and other things that shouldn’t have been left behind … and those I packed for someone with authority to decide where they went. I boxed for burying some … parts … that I didn’t want Fabrice to run across or scavenging animals to cart away.
It wasn’t perfect but it didn’t look like a scene from an old tintype of the American Civil War either. I heard that there would be a “cleaning crew” coming through in the next day or so to assess the damage to civilian property. Goody goody. I looked up at an odd sound that was growing nearer and through the black smoke of the nearest burn pile I saw the biggest helicopter I’d ever seen doing a fly over. I knew it landed somewhere close and I figured maybe that was a new general or the old one getting carried off.
I headed back to the Big House trying to keep Auntie from being pulled into whatever was going on. When I reached the back porch I saw the water coolers on the outside tables. “What the …?!”
“Good Lord Child!” I turned sharply and saw Momma LeBlanc’s shocked face.
I looked down at myself and grimaced before saying, “It’s not mine.” Then I saw a pale and very scared seven-year-old boy carrying out another cooler that he was almost dropping.
“Fabrice, it’s not mine. I promise. Okay. I look like I’ve been hunting without any sense but I swear, this isn’t mine.”
“Your lips busted,” he whispered.
“Yeah and you saw it this morning. There’s nothing on me you need to worry about. It’s not mine.”
“It’s … It’s not yours,” he said slowly getting color back in his face.
“That’s right. Now what are you doing out here? I told you to stay with Auntie.”
Momma LeBlanc answered for him after telling him to shoo back into the house. I looked at her and she at me and while I didn’t fight her, she knew I wasn’t happy. “The boy is old enough. And the nurse woman wanted him out of the room while she looked Orélie over.”
“What’s wrong with Auntie?!”
She stopped me from rushing into the house. “They think she’s had a mild heart attack … or close enough that it makes no difference. They gave her something and she’s sleeping. As soon as things settle down we’ll get her to a doctor to see what else needs to be done.”
“But …” That’s when I spotted Mr. Julius through the window. “I’m sorry. I didn’t ask. Is the family …?”
“Julius’ place got hit. He’s a little run over but not too bad but the place isn’t livable right now.”
“Oh no.”
“Julius is staying in the boy’s room. Fabrice will be on a cot with Orélie. And it doesn’t matter whether either of us approves or not. Julius won’t leave Orelie while he thinks she needs him.”
“Er …”
“It’s a long story. If they had done something about it while they were both young enough to enjoy it …”
“Ew. TMI!”
She laughed at me and then nearly cried. “Go on inside Momma. I’m here now. Go have a lie down on the sofa in Auntie’s office.”
“Naw Child. I’m fine. No, don’t fuss now. Hubert and Tib wouldn’t settle until they knew that I’d be here and not at the homeplace and alone. They’re out with Em doing something heroic I ‘spect.” She sighed. “What Orelie is going to say about this mess.”
“She’s not going to say a thing about it because no one is going to tell her. At least not until a doctor says she’s well enough. Since I’m already nasty I’m going to go clean up the worst of it.”
“They’s takin’ pictures.”
“Then they better hurry up. I’ve got work to do.” I walked to the back bedroom I knew was going to be the worst mess thanks to the Major.
I was praying they’d taken the bodies out but just in case I took a roll of black trash bags and some spray air freshener with me. Sure enough the bodies were still there and were apparently of some fascination to three people in disposable coveralls and booties taking pictures.
“How much longer? Can we at least get them out of here before they start stinking? I want to see if that rug is salvageable.”
The three looked up but one of them jerked off the clear face plate he’d been wearing. “Ava?!”
“Hey Zeb … er, it’s not mine. The blood I mean. How much longer ‘til I can start cleaning? I’d like to avoid people having to see this as much as possible.”
“Er … Ava? You okay?”
Then I heard, “Ava Thibodaux? You were here in the house last night?”
Pretending to have some manners I said, “And you are?”
Zeb made the introductions. “Ava, this is Captain Mark Piccolo. He is one of the medical examiners.”
Piccolo … Piccolo … Piccolo. Why did that sound familiar. Then it falls into place. “Hey, your Denise’s big brother. Right?”
Zeb growls, “Ava.”
“Relax. He and DJ played soccer together in the church league for a few years.” Turning to the guy … man now I suppose though it was like a double exposure to see him as he is now and as he was then … I said, “Yes, I was with Major Broadstreet last night. I haven’t seen her since I went back outside but knowing the Major’s efficiency she probably has an outline for her report around here somewhere already at least half written.”
The third “man” turned out to be the Major. She did her not smiling smile and asked me, “Where have you been?”
“The … the triage field. Ma’am.”
They were silent for an uncomfortable moment. “I’ll need the details.”
“Sgt. Kramer can give them to you ma’am. I’ll … I’ll come back when …”
“No. We’re finished here. Back up and let the bodies get hauled out. Kennedy, take a break and go get something to drink. Be back in ten. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
I went back to the kitchen and started washing my hands in the sink and then picked up the potato brush to scrub under my nails and Zeb took it out of my hand.
“You’re gonna scrub your skin off like that.”
Trying not to let my voice sound as shaky as I was feeling I said, “Just tell me the cavalry arrived and kicked some butt.”
“Yep. The missiles weren’t tipped in cesium but close enough.”
“Did you get them all?”
“Not me. But the ones that were ordered in rounded the enemy up … the few that survived local retaliation … and the Navy captured the ships in the Gulf they used. Now tell me why you look like you are wearing a bad Halloween costume.”
I gave him a brief synopsis of what happened and then a man stuck his head in and said, “Room’s clear.”
Zeb was called another direction and I went back to the room. They’d taken the rug with them. Probably wasn’t salvageable anyway. But all that did was reveal the wooden floor beneath. To no one I said, “We’re going to need a bigger scrub brush.”
I stepped outside and the first place I headed was my room. The new troops there didn’t know me and even when they saw my ID and believed who I was, still were hesitant to let me in.
I whipped off the apron I’d put on to cover the bloody mess on my shirt before dealing with Auntie and Fabrice and said, “I am not walking around looking like a reject from the chainsaw massacre. So I am asking politely to please, allow me to go to my room and change.”
“Miss … look, I understand but we’re still clearing …” I watched a stretcher come out with a triaged soldier. Someone I knew.
I slapped a hand away that tried to stop me from going over to him. “Bebeau, listen up here. You’re going to hold on.”
“It … hurts.”
“Hurts like hell I’m sure. But you are strong. I remember you telling me about all the hay and stuff you tossed helping your family on their ranch. Right? That’s gotta make you hella strong. So you hold on. Got that?”
“You think … think I can?”
“Are you kidding?! I know you can. I know a man that got blown up and bounced around, finally got rods in his back and leg, and he’s still a Master Electrician and can work most men under the table.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah buddy. And I ain’t playin’. You just wait for the pain meds to kick in. Just no using those flirty blue eyes on the nurses. Got me?”
“Yeah,” he whispered right before his hand went limp in mine and his eyes closed. I’d known it was coming. He was covered in blood and his skin was nearly translucent from it. I just hadn’t wanted him to die without hope. He was just a kid. Younger than me. Just a goofy farm kid from Oklahoma that had never even been out of the state until he’d been drafted.
I looked at the men carrying the stretcher and said, “I … I think he’s gone. Sgt. Kramer has all his info. I’ll … I’ll pack his gear. I’m pretty sure there is a letter home to his mother and girlfriend. He was asking me … asking me about the location of the post office yesterday.” I was babbling a bit.
That hand was back again. It was Kramer. “Come on.”
“I need to … pack his gear up.” I finally turned to look at him. I could barely get out, “Sarge … here somewhere?”
He saw I’d switched back to calling him by his military rank and he nodded. “He’s around. He is working with some civilians to form a militia group. They’re going house to house to keep our boys from being shot at accidentally and to check for civilian wounded.”
Well, I thought, that’s one hole I don’t have to dig right now. I tried to go into the house though the entrance was a charred mess. He stopped me again. “Not yet. They’re still bringing out … those that are triaged.”
“How many?”
“Three more.”
“Where are they taking them?”
“Ava …”
Having settled on a course I refused to be put off. “I know how to lose people Kramer. I also have plenty of emergency and wilderness medical training. Stick me with those that have been triaged. It’ll free up people to … to work on the ones that can be saved.”
He gave me a look I’ll likely never be in the mood to try and interpret then gave the okay for me to follow the stretcher bearers.
There were too damn many in the empty lot they were using. It had been bad at the Bayou Cabins. They were all junior officers. No seniors there to guide them, no sergeants to offer experience. All there for a little R&R before heading to the front lines. None of them in the frame of mind it took to react quickly enough for a surprise attack. I did what I could. Makeshift, half-baked, scout-trained crap. Survey and assess the wounded. Stabilize injuries … wounds, broken bones, burns, shock. Try and address the ones that must be addressed first while keeping the patient in the loop of what is going on, make them feel less helpless, getting them to assist rather than fight those trying to help them, give them some control to help with morale. But you can’t save everyone. You can try and ease their passing but even that isn’t always possible. God help me understand that and accept it. But you don’t just give up either. Even if is just comforting someone struggling to breathe to keep them from panicking and making it worse on them. Letting a friendly face be the last thing they see and not just a gray sky that looked ready to cry. Let them know in real and concrete ways they aren’t alone. If they want to talk then listen and talk with them. Listen to last requests when they’re cognizant enough to make them. Maybe even decide to try and make them happen as long as it doesn’t break you as bad as they’ve been broken.
Sometimes two guys would run over and say, “We have a bed!” I was the only one around willing to point to who might survive with immediate help. It meant picking. It meant choosing. It meant praying. A lot. By the middle of the day it was over. Either they were dead or they were with the med teams and being moved to military hospitals with real doctors and nurses and not a near homeless girl that will likely never know if her choices were right or were just ego and wishful thinking.
I was covered in more blood and gore than I had started with. I had tried putting the apron back on to protect my clothes, but the ruffles and pictures of dancing crawfish nearly made me lose it a few times. I tossed it in a burn pile as I was cleaning up what was left of the temporary combat support hospital. Bloody bandages mostly. But I saw charts and name tags and other things that shouldn’t have been left behind … and those I packed for someone with authority to decide where they went. I boxed for burying some … parts … that I didn’t want Fabrice to run across or scavenging animals to cart away.
It wasn’t perfect but it didn’t look like a scene from an old tintype of the American Civil War either. I heard that there would be a “cleaning crew” coming through in the next day or so to assess the damage to civilian property. Goody goody. I looked up at an odd sound that was growing nearer and through the black smoke of the nearest burn pile I saw the biggest helicopter I’d ever seen doing a fly over. I knew it landed somewhere close and I figured maybe that was a new general or the old one getting carried off.
I headed back to the Big House trying to keep Auntie from being pulled into whatever was going on. When I reached the back porch I saw the water coolers on the outside tables. “What the …?!”
“Good Lord Child!” I turned sharply and saw Momma LeBlanc’s shocked face.
I looked down at myself and grimaced before saying, “It’s not mine.” Then I saw a pale and very scared seven-year-old boy carrying out another cooler that he was almost dropping.
“Fabrice, it’s not mine. I promise. Okay. I look like I’ve been hunting without any sense but I swear, this isn’t mine.”
“Your lips busted,” he whispered.
“Yeah and you saw it this morning. There’s nothing on me you need to worry about. It’s not mine.”
“It’s … It’s not yours,” he said slowly getting color back in his face.
“That’s right. Now what are you doing out here? I told you to stay with Auntie.”
Momma LeBlanc answered for him after telling him to shoo back into the house. I looked at her and she at me and while I didn’t fight her, she knew I wasn’t happy. “The boy is old enough. And the nurse woman wanted him out of the room while she looked Orélie over.”
“What’s wrong with Auntie?!”
She stopped me from rushing into the house. “They think she’s had a mild heart attack … or close enough that it makes no difference. They gave her something and she’s sleeping. As soon as things settle down we’ll get her to a doctor to see what else needs to be done.”
“But …” That’s when I spotted Mr. Julius through the window. “I’m sorry. I didn’t ask. Is the family …?”
“Julius’ place got hit. He’s a little run over but not too bad but the place isn’t livable right now.”
“Oh no.”
“Julius is staying in the boy’s room. Fabrice will be on a cot with Orélie. And it doesn’t matter whether either of us approves or not. Julius won’t leave Orelie while he thinks she needs him.”
“Er …”
“It’s a long story. If they had done something about it while they were both young enough to enjoy it …”
“Ew. TMI!”
She laughed at me and then nearly cried. “Go on inside Momma. I’m here now. Go have a lie down on the sofa in Auntie’s office.”
“Naw Child. I’m fine. No, don’t fuss now. Hubert and Tib wouldn’t settle until they knew that I’d be here and not at the homeplace and alone. They’re out with Em doing something heroic I ‘spect.” She sighed. “What Orelie is going to say about this mess.”
“She’s not going to say a thing about it because no one is going to tell her. At least not until a doctor says she’s well enough. Since I’m already nasty I’m going to go clean up the worst of it.”
“They’s takin’ pictures.”
“Then they better hurry up. I’ve got work to do.” I walked to the back bedroom I knew was going to be the worst mess thanks to the Major.
I was praying they’d taken the bodies out but just in case I took a roll of black trash bags and some spray air freshener with me. Sure enough the bodies were still there and were apparently of some fascination to three people in disposable coveralls and booties taking pictures.
“How much longer? Can we at least get them out of here before they start stinking? I want to see if that rug is salvageable.”
The three looked up but one of them jerked off the clear face plate he’d been wearing. “Ava?!”
“Hey Zeb … er, it’s not mine. The blood I mean. How much longer ‘til I can start cleaning? I’d like to avoid people having to see this as much as possible.”
“Er … Ava? You okay?”
Then I heard, “Ava Thibodaux? You were here in the house last night?”
Pretending to have some manners I said, “And you are?”
Zeb made the introductions. “Ava, this is Captain Mark Piccolo. He is one of the medical examiners.”
Piccolo … Piccolo … Piccolo. Why did that sound familiar. Then it falls into place. “Hey, your Denise’s big brother. Right?”
Zeb growls, “Ava.”
“Relax. He and DJ played soccer together in the church league for a few years.” Turning to the guy … man now I suppose though it was like a double exposure to see him as he is now and as he was then … I said, “Yes, I was with Major Broadstreet last night. I haven’t seen her since I went back outside but knowing the Major’s efficiency she probably has an outline for her report around here somewhere already at least half written.”
The third “man” turned out to be the Major. She did her not smiling smile and asked me, “Where have you been?”
“The … the triage field. Ma’am.”
They were silent for an uncomfortable moment. “I’ll need the details.”
“Sgt. Kramer can give them to you ma’am. I’ll … I’ll come back when …”
“No. We’re finished here. Back up and let the bodies get hauled out. Kennedy, take a break and go get something to drink. Be back in ten. Understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
I went back to the kitchen and started washing my hands in the sink and then picked up the potato brush to scrub under my nails and Zeb took it out of my hand.
“You’re gonna scrub your skin off like that.”
Trying not to let my voice sound as shaky as I was feeling I said, “Just tell me the cavalry arrived and kicked some butt.”
“Yep. The missiles weren’t tipped in cesium but close enough.”
“Did you get them all?”
“Not me. But the ones that were ordered in rounded the enemy up … the few that survived local retaliation … and the Navy captured the ships in the Gulf they used. Now tell me why you look like you are wearing a bad Halloween costume.”
I gave him a brief synopsis of what happened and then a man stuck his head in and said, “Room’s clear.”
Zeb was called another direction and I went back to the room. They’d taken the rug with them. Probably wasn’t salvageable anyway. But all that did was reveal the wooden floor beneath. To no one I said, “We’re going to need a bigger scrub brush.”
Texican
Live Free & Die Free.... God Freedom Country....
Ava has gone through so much in life that she has the capabilities to deal with such tragidies, but Ava will still hurt emotionally and then be stronger.
Thank you Kathy for your story for it plucks our heart strings.
Now the meeting between Ava and the Major will be something.
Texican....
Thank you Kathy for your story for it plucks our heart strings.
Now the meeting between Ava and the Major will be something.
Texican....
Jeepcats27
Senior Member
My, oh my, what a nerve racking chapter!!!!!!!!
I am so glad I didn't read this till this morning!!!!!!!
With my imagination, I'd have been reliving it all night.
Thank you Kathy!!!!!!!!!
I am so glad I didn't read this till this morning!!!!!!!
With my imagination, I'd have been reliving it all night.
Thank you Kathy!!!!!!!!!
Old Gray Mare
TB Fanatic
Thanks Kathy. So many stories have a schimish and then a: "they buried their dead, cared for the wounded and the survivors all lived happily ever after". You provided a small peak into some of the clean up, physical and mental needed.
DH and I stayed at the historic Cashtown Inn just outside of Gettysburg, PA. It served as a Confederate Hospital twice during the Civil war. The guides there painted a vivid picture of the carnage and tragedy.
DH and I stayed at the historic Cashtown Inn just outside of Gettysburg, PA. It served as a Confederate Hospital twice during the Civil war. The guides there painted a vivid picture of the carnage and tragedy.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
A very big thanks
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Sorry this one is late, just been busy. No forced vacation for me and mine. That has its good points and bad.
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Chapter 51
I have found that often in my life it is the mundane that helps me keep my anger or other strong emotions under control. Last year I couldn’t have said this. It isn’t that I didn’t “know” it was one of my personal realities, I just couldn’t have verbalized it in a meaningful way. And in fact, I really didn’t care to verbalize it because I didn’t have much of a social support system that would make expressing that idea of any import. For me then … and now … you either take me as I am or screw you. My life, my rules … although even saying it then I knew that wasn’t the entire truth, it is just something I comforted myself with. Now? Things are so crazy that I suppose I’m analyzing myself to try and make something make sense because it feels like too little does.
I stood there looking at that bloody and stained floor and for some reason all I could think of was that old horror movie Jaws. “We’re going to need a bigger boat” morphed into a darkly humorous thought “we’re going to need a bigger scrub brush.” Yeah. It wasn’t nearly a humous as the original; however, when you are in a dark place sometimes dark humor is the only remedy. But there is a time for humor and a time for the mop and bucket.
The first thing I did was find another apron, this one a plain butcher apron. Not because I didn’t want to get dirty – I was, well I was already just plain disgusting – but because I didn’t want to contaminate the places that I was cleaning. I got a sponge and bucket of water. I didn’t want to add too much water or that would just spread the blood and goo around making a bigger mess. I started from the outside and moved in using a barely damp cloth to get up everything that could be gotten up. I went through A LOT of rags. The stain remained but at least the worst of the mess was clean.
Next I used peroxide and the same technique I had used with the water. The problem is that peroxide is a rationed item, further restricted because it is a medical item. But the Big House had one advantage that most people don’t. The water treatment is peroxide based and not chlorine based. It is a higher concentrate than what you can buy with your ration book so I had to be careful … and sneaky … but I got it, diluted it, and used it to clean and fade it to the next shade lighter.
I could still see the stain and I knew Auntie would be able to so I had to take it to the next level. I went to the work shed and found my mineral spirits and super fine steel wool. I had to be careful or this would mess up the woods patina that he had been developing since it was laid down … a lotta years ago. I cleaned the area with the steel wool and the mineral spirits, lightly buffing the surface and hoping the blood hadn’t gotten too far down into the layers of varnish. Whew. That worked, or so close it didn’t matter, and all I had to do after that point was repolilsh the floor in that room.
And then I moved on to the next room, the next blood stain, and the next one after that and so on.
#### #### ####
“Ava?”
I looked up from where I was putting the final touches on the last blood splatter, at least on the floors, and said to the Major, “Sorry, I forgot to ask if you had all the pictures you needed.”
“You cleaned all of the biologicals up?”
“You mean the blood, guts, and puke? Yeah. On the floors. I’ll get the splatters on the walls tomorrow. Lights out is coming pretty soon and I needed this done before Auntie or the boy got a too close look at it. I’ll have to do the Old House tomorrow too, but they won’t go over there. Umm, I guess I need to thank someone for getting a cafeteria thingie set up outside … and letting the folks here eat from it.”
She looked at me and then said, “You keep surprising me.”
“Ma’am?”
“You’re cool as a cucumber.”
“No ma’am. I’m just … me. And there was crap work that needed to be done and I’m …”
“Queen of Crapwork. So I’ve heard,” she said with a pain filled chuckle. “Well, unlike you I am not filled with boundless energy.”
“That’s not what the Colonel says.”
She snorted. “Yeah, so let’s keep the truth between us. Come sit down so I can finish this report.”
I knew it was coming but I sure didn’t want to. “Why do some people feel the need to go so deep on this stuff they know the color of someone’s belly button lint?”
“Because it could be a factor in our success or failure next time.”
I didn’t really smile, neither did she, but the snark had cleared the air and I no longer felt an incipient tantrum coming on.
“I have sufficient details to fill in what happened before you entered this house. I have sufficient details of your efforts to assist the medic corp after the sun came up. However I’m still missing a chunk of time. After you went back outside … after we had cleared this room … where did you go and what did you do?”
I wasn’t sure why she needed to know but since it wasn’t a state secret I tried to describe it, but it still only comes back in flashes and feelings no matter her prompting. The flashes I shared, the feelings I kept to myself.
“I … disabled as many of the enemy as I could.”
“Do you know how many you … disabled?”
“No ma’am. I didn’t keep count. All I needed them to do is go down and stay down. If they stayed down with one shot I kept going. If it took more than one I gave it to them.”
“Did you reload?”
“What? The rifle? No. Bigsby did it.”
“Bigsby? Lt. Bigsby?”
“Yes ma’am. I found him in the bushes trying to tie his shirt around his head where he got klunked with something and was bleeding all over the place. You know how he is about his hair, nearly OCD. I got him settled down and tied the shirt on after getting the torn flap of scalp kinda back in place. I heard he has a pretty bad concussion but he’ll pull through. He was one of the first ones airlifted out. While I did that, he reloaded the magazine and then nearly cussed me for letting it get low. I got out of the way right before he puked. I thought it might have been nerves or something but it was probably the concussion making itself known. I got him to a medic and then went back to disabling the enemy.”
“Disabling them.”
“Yeah. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I … disabled them.”
“I … see. Well one magazine for your rifle holds 30 bullets. You said Bigsby reloaded it. Was it full?”
“Full with one in the chamber.”
She made a couple of notes she was scribbling and then asked, “What did you do with the rifle?”
“When it went empty it was basically just an oversized paperweight so I handed it off to a medic team that was dragging someone else away … the guy they were dragging didn’t have a uniform on so I’m not sure who it was … could have been a civilian as it was right before they started giving the all-clear. I know I ran into two guys after I turned the rifle in. They were … uh … evading being rounded up. How many before that I’m not sure.”
She scribbled some more then looked up and growled a quiet curse when the brown out warning was given that we had an hour before lights out. “You need to go back to quarters. I know you are used to having more freedom but under the circumstances I need you to cooperate. Nighttime security is being covered by a new patrol that I haven’t had the chance to introduce you to yet. I would hate for you to wind up … disabled. Do you understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Very good. Dismissed.”
I don’t know if she treats everyone like one of her soldiers or if I’m the only one that gets that treatment. Doesn’t really matter I suppose. First I checked on Fabrice and Mr. Julius, found out Mamma LeBlanc was still in residence as were Mr. Hubert and Tib ‘cause they were draped over some cots that I didn’t recognize in Auntie’s office. I reminded them that the military personnel would be eating in a mess hall type set up across the street and that I wasn’t sure how fast I would be allowed to cook. Momma L told me not to try and teach an old dog to suck eggs and to scat before I got in trouble. I took that to mean that if they got hungry she knew how to cook and that I was micromanaging things I didn’t need to.
After that I did as I was told as I wanted to wash up only halfway there I can feel it starting to hit and I make a sharp right and head to the work shed. It is a mess in there, but I don’t care. I’m stripping out of the nasty clothes – ripping off the blood and gore splattered rejects from George Romero’s nightmares – and stepping under the spray head and pull the chain. Nothing. I pulled it a few more times and then fall to my knees and start rocking with my hands covering my mouth trying to keep from drawing anyone’s attention.
I nearly come completely unglued when arms go around me until I hear, “Hush Cher. Its nearly too dark in here to see anything anyway. Bullet got the reservoir. Brought a bucket of water to take a spit bath with since there’s a line too long to finish before lights out at the Old House. C’mon now. It’s just me. You know me. Or ain’t you the one that had to help me get them damn cactus spikes out of my ass with a pair of plyers when I fell on one last month?”
It was awful to laugh. At the same time it felt like my lungs were filling back up with air and I could breathe again.
Still holding me like I was going to disintegrate or something he said, “You open your mouth and even think you’re gonna apologize and you and me gonna have words Cher. You got that?”
I sniffed and said, “Yeah. But if you ever tell anyone you caught me like this, I’ll tell them you have freckles on your butt that look like a smiley face. And that cactus thorn sticking out of the one that makes the nose …” I choke on a laugh that scares me because it didn’t feel like the kind of laugh that I would be able to stop willingly.
“Hey, that’s a birthmark I’ll have you know. One handed down from father to son for several generations, or so claimed my father. And … deal. I won’t tell you if you won’t.”
For some reason I couldn’t stop shaking. He reaches over and grabs a towel off the stack we make a habit of keeping there and wraps me up. Or tries. “Don’t. I’m … disgusting. I’m covered in … in stuff.”
He was silent for a moment. “We can either get through this and get cleaned and get out of here before lights out … or we can talk it to death and get nothing accomplished. Cher?” I was still shaking and couldn’t seem to find enough braincells that were willing to work together to answer him like I knew he expected. “Aw hell. Don’t hate me for this.”
It didn’t take long but at least I felt cleaner. We both at least looked cleaner. At least on the outside. My brain finally started coming back online when I found myself watching rivulets of muddy brown water flowing down the drain and could understand him talking to me like I was that half-feral cat he’s been trying to tame to keep the mice population in the outbuildings under control.. I participated in getting cleaned up from that point onward before it got any more embarrassing. I tried to ignore that neither one of us was dressed. I found out I’d managed to be so quiet he hadn’t known I was there until he pulled back the privacy screen.
I keep some clean clothes out in the work shed for just-in-case and used those to dress in. Em had brought some with him. I managed to get dressed without his help … mostly. I had to walk back in flip flops because my boots were every bit as disgusting as everything else. We slowly made our way out of the work shed to the laundry shed and filled the big, commercial washer up and threw our stuff in to soak overnight. It would have been nice to throw the clothes away but neither one of us could really afford to do that. I stirred in some borax and some vinegar and I suppose we’ll just have to see. I’m just as worried about the stains on my soul but I don’t think there is enough borax on the planet to get those stains out.
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Chapter 51
I have found that often in my life it is the mundane that helps me keep my anger or other strong emotions under control. Last year I couldn’t have said this. It isn’t that I didn’t “know” it was one of my personal realities, I just couldn’t have verbalized it in a meaningful way. And in fact, I really didn’t care to verbalize it because I didn’t have much of a social support system that would make expressing that idea of any import. For me then … and now … you either take me as I am or screw you. My life, my rules … although even saying it then I knew that wasn’t the entire truth, it is just something I comforted myself with. Now? Things are so crazy that I suppose I’m analyzing myself to try and make something make sense because it feels like too little does.
I stood there looking at that bloody and stained floor and for some reason all I could think of was that old horror movie Jaws. “We’re going to need a bigger boat” morphed into a darkly humorous thought “we’re going to need a bigger scrub brush.” Yeah. It wasn’t nearly a humous as the original; however, when you are in a dark place sometimes dark humor is the only remedy. But there is a time for humor and a time for the mop and bucket.
The first thing I did was find another apron, this one a plain butcher apron. Not because I didn’t want to get dirty – I was, well I was already just plain disgusting – but because I didn’t want to contaminate the places that I was cleaning. I got a sponge and bucket of water. I didn’t want to add too much water or that would just spread the blood and goo around making a bigger mess. I started from the outside and moved in using a barely damp cloth to get up everything that could be gotten up. I went through A LOT of rags. The stain remained but at least the worst of the mess was clean.
Next I used peroxide and the same technique I had used with the water. The problem is that peroxide is a rationed item, further restricted because it is a medical item. But the Big House had one advantage that most people don’t. The water treatment is peroxide based and not chlorine based. It is a higher concentrate than what you can buy with your ration book so I had to be careful … and sneaky … but I got it, diluted it, and used it to clean and fade it to the next shade lighter.
I could still see the stain and I knew Auntie would be able to so I had to take it to the next level. I went to the work shed and found my mineral spirits and super fine steel wool. I had to be careful or this would mess up the woods patina that he had been developing since it was laid down … a lotta years ago. I cleaned the area with the steel wool and the mineral spirits, lightly buffing the surface and hoping the blood hadn’t gotten too far down into the layers of varnish. Whew. That worked, or so close it didn’t matter, and all I had to do after that point was repolilsh the floor in that room.
And then I moved on to the next room, the next blood stain, and the next one after that and so on.
#### #### ####
“Ava?”
I looked up from where I was putting the final touches on the last blood splatter, at least on the floors, and said to the Major, “Sorry, I forgot to ask if you had all the pictures you needed.”
“You cleaned all of the biologicals up?”
“You mean the blood, guts, and puke? Yeah. On the floors. I’ll get the splatters on the walls tomorrow. Lights out is coming pretty soon and I needed this done before Auntie or the boy got a too close look at it. I’ll have to do the Old House tomorrow too, but they won’t go over there. Umm, I guess I need to thank someone for getting a cafeteria thingie set up outside … and letting the folks here eat from it.”
She looked at me and then said, “You keep surprising me.”
“Ma’am?”
“You’re cool as a cucumber.”
“No ma’am. I’m just … me. And there was crap work that needed to be done and I’m …”
“Queen of Crapwork. So I’ve heard,” she said with a pain filled chuckle. “Well, unlike you I am not filled with boundless energy.”
“That’s not what the Colonel says.”
She snorted. “Yeah, so let’s keep the truth between us. Come sit down so I can finish this report.”
I knew it was coming but I sure didn’t want to. “Why do some people feel the need to go so deep on this stuff they know the color of someone’s belly button lint?”
“Because it could be a factor in our success or failure next time.”
I didn’t really smile, neither did she, but the snark had cleared the air and I no longer felt an incipient tantrum coming on.
“I have sufficient details to fill in what happened before you entered this house. I have sufficient details of your efforts to assist the medic corp after the sun came up. However I’m still missing a chunk of time. After you went back outside … after we had cleared this room … where did you go and what did you do?”
I wasn’t sure why she needed to know but since it wasn’t a state secret I tried to describe it, but it still only comes back in flashes and feelings no matter her prompting. The flashes I shared, the feelings I kept to myself.
“I … disabled as many of the enemy as I could.”
“Do you know how many you … disabled?”
“No ma’am. I didn’t keep count. All I needed them to do is go down and stay down. If they stayed down with one shot I kept going. If it took more than one I gave it to them.”
“Did you reload?”
“What? The rifle? No. Bigsby did it.”
“Bigsby? Lt. Bigsby?”
“Yes ma’am. I found him in the bushes trying to tie his shirt around his head where he got klunked with something and was bleeding all over the place. You know how he is about his hair, nearly OCD. I got him settled down and tied the shirt on after getting the torn flap of scalp kinda back in place. I heard he has a pretty bad concussion but he’ll pull through. He was one of the first ones airlifted out. While I did that, he reloaded the magazine and then nearly cussed me for letting it get low. I got out of the way right before he puked. I thought it might have been nerves or something but it was probably the concussion making itself known. I got him to a medic and then went back to disabling the enemy.”
“Disabling them.”
“Yeah. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. I … disabled them.”
“I … see. Well one magazine for your rifle holds 30 bullets. You said Bigsby reloaded it. Was it full?”
“Full with one in the chamber.”
She made a couple of notes she was scribbling and then asked, “What did you do with the rifle?”
“When it went empty it was basically just an oversized paperweight so I handed it off to a medic team that was dragging someone else away … the guy they were dragging didn’t have a uniform on so I’m not sure who it was … could have been a civilian as it was right before they started giving the all-clear. I know I ran into two guys after I turned the rifle in. They were … uh … evading being rounded up. How many before that I’m not sure.”
She scribbled some more then looked up and growled a quiet curse when the brown out warning was given that we had an hour before lights out. “You need to go back to quarters. I know you are used to having more freedom but under the circumstances I need you to cooperate. Nighttime security is being covered by a new patrol that I haven’t had the chance to introduce you to yet. I would hate for you to wind up … disabled. Do you understand?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Very good. Dismissed.”
I don’t know if she treats everyone like one of her soldiers or if I’m the only one that gets that treatment. Doesn’t really matter I suppose. First I checked on Fabrice and Mr. Julius, found out Mamma LeBlanc was still in residence as were Mr. Hubert and Tib ‘cause they were draped over some cots that I didn’t recognize in Auntie’s office. I reminded them that the military personnel would be eating in a mess hall type set up across the street and that I wasn’t sure how fast I would be allowed to cook. Momma L told me not to try and teach an old dog to suck eggs and to scat before I got in trouble. I took that to mean that if they got hungry she knew how to cook and that I was micromanaging things I didn’t need to.
After that I did as I was told as I wanted to wash up only halfway there I can feel it starting to hit and I make a sharp right and head to the work shed. It is a mess in there, but I don’t care. I’m stripping out of the nasty clothes – ripping off the blood and gore splattered rejects from George Romero’s nightmares – and stepping under the spray head and pull the chain. Nothing. I pulled it a few more times and then fall to my knees and start rocking with my hands covering my mouth trying to keep from drawing anyone’s attention.
I nearly come completely unglued when arms go around me until I hear, “Hush Cher. Its nearly too dark in here to see anything anyway. Bullet got the reservoir. Brought a bucket of water to take a spit bath with since there’s a line too long to finish before lights out at the Old House. C’mon now. It’s just me. You know me. Or ain’t you the one that had to help me get them damn cactus spikes out of my ass with a pair of plyers when I fell on one last month?”
It was awful to laugh. At the same time it felt like my lungs were filling back up with air and I could breathe again.
Still holding me like I was going to disintegrate or something he said, “You open your mouth and even think you’re gonna apologize and you and me gonna have words Cher. You got that?”
I sniffed and said, “Yeah. But if you ever tell anyone you caught me like this, I’ll tell them you have freckles on your butt that look like a smiley face. And that cactus thorn sticking out of the one that makes the nose …” I choke on a laugh that scares me because it didn’t feel like the kind of laugh that I would be able to stop willingly.
“Hey, that’s a birthmark I’ll have you know. One handed down from father to son for several generations, or so claimed my father. And … deal. I won’t tell you if you won’t.”
For some reason I couldn’t stop shaking. He reaches over and grabs a towel off the stack we make a habit of keeping there and wraps me up. Or tries. “Don’t. I’m … disgusting. I’m covered in … in stuff.”
He was silent for a moment. “We can either get through this and get cleaned and get out of here before lights out … or we can talk it to death and get nothing accomplished. Cher?” I was still shaking and couldn’t seem to find enough braincells that were willing to work together to answer him like I knew he expected. “Aw hell. Don’t hate me for this.”
It didn’t take long but at least I felt cleaner. We both at least looked cleaner. At least on the outside. My brain finally started coming back online when I found myself watching rivulets of muddy brown water flowing down the drain and could understand him talking to me like I was that half-feral cat he’s been trying to tame to keep the mice population in the outbuildings under control.. I participated in getting cleaned up from that point onward before it got any more embarrassing. I tried to ignore that neither one of us was dressed. I found out I’d managed to be so quiet he hadn’t known I was there until he pulled back the privacy screen.
I keep some clean clothes out in the work shed for just-in-case and used those to dress in. Em had brought some with him. I managed to get dressed without his help … mostly. I had to walk back in flip flops because my boots were every bit as disgusting as everything else. We slowly made our way out of the work shed to the laundry shed and filled the big, commercial washer up and threw our stuff in to soak overnight. It would have been nice to throw the clothes away but neither one of us could really afford to do that. I stirred in some borax and some vinegar and I suppose we’ll just have to see. I’m just as worried about the stains on my soul but I don’t think there is enough borax on the planet to get those stains out.
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Jeepcats27
Senior Member
Thanks Kathy, this hits home on many levels.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Thank you from me as well.
Gonna be a two-fer tonight. Just give me a chance to get the second chapter formatted.
____________________________
Chapter 52
“Where you think you going Cher?”
It took a lot of energy to come up with a response. “Gotta make sure that everything is locked down.”
“It is. Saw to it myself. C’mon, and let’s get in before these damn bloodsuckers drink us dry. Don’t envy the patrols tonight. Bugs are bad.”
“Crowds of people wearing smelly stuff, putting off lactic acid. It is pulling the gnats and stuff in off the bayou. Then there is all the blood and … and other stuff … that saturated the ground in places.”
“Don’t think about that right now. Time to rest.”
I was more than willing. My brain felt like I was trying to drag it through molasses that had been left outside and gone sticky. I almost couldn’t remember my name when I was forced to stop and sign in. That’s right. Sign in and show my ID just so I could get into the Old House. All five of the soldiers standing around on the porch counting heads knew who I was. I’d slung hash at them enough. But still I had to show my ID and sign in ‘cause I wasn’t one of them. Almost made me find the energy to get offended.
They tried to do the same thing with Em but he seemed to be as full up as I was and he snarled in a loud voice. “Kramer?! You in there?”
The man came out and said, “Not a damn thing I can do about it Em. Orders. And yes, I know it is going to cause problems. Col. Hyland from New Orleans gave the order.”
My mouth fell open with something stupid. Sounding like a bookie I once knew I said, “Morgan vs. Hyland. I’m taking bets it is a TKO in the first round. C’mon boys, let’s see the color of your money.”
Kramer and the others all looked at me like I must be three sheets to the wind. One of the soldiers asked, “She high on something? We don’t need that kind of asshattery.”
Kramer snarled, “Shut your mouth Duggan. You don’t know shit from shinola.” He asked Em, “She been checked out by a medico?”
“Doubt it. They have a clean team coming in tomorrow and I hope they bring some debriefers qualified to work with civilians.”
Kramer snorted, “Female civilians that have mastered the art of being pain in the asses would be real good right about now. That girlfriend of yours has been calling and pestering the hell out of the comm board.”
In a voice full of disgust Em said, “She’s not my girlfriend. Block her number.”
“Oh yeah?” Kramer said like it was tasty bit of news he approved of.
“Yeah. She said I finally pissed her off for the last time a few days back and broke up with me.”
“You look like you’re just crying buckets over it,” Kramer said with a sly chuckle.
“These tears you see are tears of relief.”
It must be a guy thing ‘cause all of them chuckled. I was still trying to compute the fact that Em and Mona had broken up and I hadn’t known about it.
Kramer was wearing what I’ve heard more than once called a crap eating grin, but just as soon as we were out of the entry alcove he got dead serious real fast. I saw him give me a wincing glance then said to Em, “We got what you are going to consider a problem.”
“Aw hell, what now?” Em growled.
“NO command has taken over temporarily.”
“I thought they already had all that cockstrutting knocked out of them.”
“New strutters took the place of the old ones. Morgan and the General are going to have to start all over again feeling out which of the political appointees can be worked with and those that can’t.”
“From where I’m standing looks like a lot of can’ts.”
“Maybe not. You know it is SOP.”
“Yeah but when are the desk jockeys going to get the concept that SOP in a manual don’t mean it is going to be SOP in the field?”
“If I knew that I’d be a rich man and working on my fifth star. And that ain’t the problem. We’re stacking them like cordwood in here for a week or two. Some bean counter they brought in found out you and the girl had your own private rooms.”
“They did not put her out!”
“No. And personnel and civilians can’t room together. But … er … your room is bigger and will hold six personnel … and the dumbass bean counter wasn’t informed soon enough that Ava was female. And get that look off your face Em, I know it sounds like a bad joke but for now it is what it is.”
I had finally gotten my fingers to cooperate and the key inserted and turned into my door. But I couldn’t get the door to open all the way because, as I was to find out after I squeezed in, something fell over and was blocking it. Stacking the garbage bags out of the way I stepped back out and told Em, “I’m too tired to fight this out and win even with the 3rd Amendment on my side.” To Kramer I said, “Better tell your bean counter this is a private residence, not a commercial structure. Aunt Orélie never had to help The Isabelle owners with overflow, she did it to be nice.”
When I heard a couple of the junior enlisted asking what was the 3rd Amendment I’d had all I could take. If even I knew what that was and what it said, your average guy fighting a war on their own soil should certainly know. I knew they had suspended habeas corpus, I hadn’t realized they’d suspended the whole dang Constitution. I just looked at Em and he finally gave a growl and gave in. He turned to Kramer and said, “I’m getting the feeling this is fubar. But anybody start opening their mouths on this I’m gonna put a boot to deir ass. I ain’t playin’ Kramer. This is their first and last snafu where this is concerned.”
The door clicked shut behind us like we were teaming up to keep out the world for a while. I opened my mouth to tell him to take the bed when the lights flickered off. There was some relatively mild cussing all things considered. I told Em, “Hang on and let me close the black out curtains. Can you drop the roll down curtain over the door? Just pull the cord to the right of the light switch. Don’t move after that. There’s stuff all over the floor and neither one of us would enjoy you breaking your neck.”
I had to wade through all of Em’s stuff but I got the curtains in place and then got the gravity light going. He looked around and then kinda gave out. “Ava …”
“Don’t sweat it Em. Do you snore?”
“Some,” he admitted with a strange look on his face.
I told him, “Me too. Or at least sometimes. I get too loud just drop something on me.”
“Huh?”
“You take the bed. I’m going to throw my bedroll on the floor.”
“Ava …”
“Stop trying so dang hard,” I told him, trying not to show how nervous I actually was. “This ain’t gonna break me and I’m not going to let it break you or our friendship, teamship, crewship, whatever the heck you wanna call it. And I ain’t out to … to … I don’t even know what to call this. I trust you. And get that look off your face, it ain’t the kiss of friggin’ death.”
He sat on the bed and said, “It should be.” But he was grinning when he said it. The grin lost wattage though when he added, “This is messed up.”
“Yeah it is. But I’ve been able to say that about most of my life in some way or the other. And why didn’t you tell me about you and Mona?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. He was quiet for a few moments then started unlacing his boots. “Don’t know. Kinda have a reason but you might not like it.”
“Did she … er … break your heart?”
He snorted. “No.”
“Oh. Then it must be one of those she was tired of waiting on a commitment things.”
He stopped what he was doing and just stared at me. “How in the sam hill did you figure that out?”
“’Cause I’m a girl. And while I might not be your average girl that doesn’t mean I don’t know how the average girl thinks. Mona … she … er … wasn’t just in it for fun and games.”
“You got that right. She damn near smothered me there for a while. Got to be hard to ignore the hints and hooks she kept throwing out. Made me feel like being the bastard she started accusing me of being.”
“Tell me you wore a condom.”
He gave me another one of those weird looks he saves up for special occasions and said, “Not that it is a conversation I want to have with you … but yes, since I wasn’t born last week, I know better than to have unprotected sex.”
“Well that’s a relief. ‘Cause if she was really all that hot and bothered on the subject she could have gotten pregnant on purpose to try and force you.”
“She couldn’t have … forced me to make a committment that is. This isn’t the damn dark ages and it was consensual and we’re both adults.”
“Did she know that?”
He gave me another look that told me he was just about finished with this tangent and said, “Yes. I made it plain up front before we had sex the first time. You done?”
I said, “Yeah because you just proved again that you’re smarter than 99% of the guys I’ve known. You would have hit 100% if you would have gotten it in writing.”
I was shifting stuff around from where they’d just thrown Em’s stuff in my room and then digging out my camp bedding that I’d used when I’d been living on the road. Some of the cells on the sleeping pad didn’t inflate all the way but it didn’t stop me from using it.
“You sure you’re going to be okay down there?” Em asked. “I could …”
“Stop. You know I can sleep nearly anywhere.”
“You sure as hell can,” he finally said with a grin. “How you’ve wedged yourself in some places to take a catnap and not get stuck is beyond me.”
“See? So leave off already. Long day tomorrow. At least for me. Momma L basically said she’ll take breakfast duty, but I’ve still got a crapton of cleaning to do at the Big House and then over here.” I was starting to doze off when I was hit with what is probably pretty close to a real live anxiety attack. I sat straight up and could barely breathe. “I gotta find a doctor for Auntie. Heart attack. Oh my gawd. How could I have forgotten. I gotta go check …”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa there. You ain’t gotta nothing,” Em said as he grabbed me to keep me from tripping over everything in the dark since the gravity light had reached bottom and gone off. “Ava … stop. Now sit here. Just put your head down and breathe.”
The shaking was back. Nearly as bad as it had been in the work shed.
I’m trying to take control of my body back from my brain that wasn’t working too well as Em explained, “Local doc … guy that Julius knows … has already seen her. Doc doesn’t think it was a heart attack. He had one of those portable soni-whateverthehellyoucallits with the wand that gives those picture things. Sorta like the ones they use in battlefield hospitals, only the civilian version. He works at the free clinic that St. Bernard’s helps sponsor. What Doc Carlson does think is Auntie is due an attack or something similar if she doesn’t get some rest. She’s got some kind of infection running around in her that he doesn’t know from what right now because he doesn’t have the ability to run those tests. She’ll have to go to Lafayette if he can’t get it under control with antibiotics. So … that’s what we’re going to do … help her get better and get some rest. Only it ain’t going to be at the risk of your health either. Mamma LeBlanc has decided she’s gonna play duenna and move in for a while. That’ll take a load off Hubert and Tib who will be living at her place and running herd on Franc and Fontaine.”
I was still playing catch up. “Play what?”
“Duenna. Er … it’s a Spanish creole word for chaperone.”
It took a moment but it clicked. “Oh gawd, don’t you start. It was bad enough to hear Momma L all but say that Auntie and Mr. Julius had the hots for each other and shoulda done something about it when they were younger and could enjoy it.”
I don’t know why but Em had to stuff a pillow on his face to keep from people hearing him laugh. Finally he catches his breath and says, “It’s an old story. Auntie’s sister … well she was what used to be called high in the in step, meaning she was a little bit of a snob and wanted to have a reason to feel that way.”
“Then what was she married to Mr. Julius for? Momma L is always telling me how poor they were growing up.”
“’Cause the same reason you warned me off of.”
“Oh. You … er … mean Mr. Hubert …”
“Yeah. They were told they had to get married by the parish priest and both families involved. You notice there ain’t no more kids.”
“No. I haven’t stuck my nose in it. People tell me stuff then fine, but it’s mostly none of my business.”
“Yeah, it gives me acid indigestion too.” He sighed. “Look, I gotta question. Can’t help but think it can be anything else but I gotta ask.”
“Uh … okay?”
“You ever … er … had … uh … feelings for Daniel Edgar?”
____________________________
Chapter 52
“Where you think you going Cher?”
It took a lot of energy to come up with a response. “Gotta make sure that everything is locked down.”
“It is. Saw to it myself. C’mon, and let’s get in before these damn bloodsuckers drink us dry. Don’t envy the patrols tonight. Bugs are bad.”
“Crowds of people wearing smelly stuff, putting off lactic acid. It is pulling the gnats and stuff in off the bayou. Then there is all the blood and … and other stuff … that saturated the ground in places.”
“Don’t think about that right now. Time to rest.”
I was more than willing. My brain felt like I was trying to drag it through molasses that had been left outside and gone sticky. I almost couldn’t remember my name when I was forced to stop and sign in. That’s right. Sign in and show my ID just so I could get into the Old House. All five of the soldiers standing around on the porch counting heads knew who I was. I’d slung hash at them enough. But still I had to show my ID and sign in ‘cause I wasn’t one of them. Almost made me find the energy to get offended.
They tried to do the same thing with Em but he seemed to be as full up as I was and he snarled in a loud voice. “Kramer?! You in there?”
The man came out and said, “Not a damn thing I can do about it Em. Orders. And yes, I know it is going to cause problems. Col. Hyland from New Orleans gave the order.”
My mouth fell open with something stupid. Sounding like a bookie I once knew I said, “Morgan vs. Hyland. I’m taking bets it is a TKO in the first round. C’mon boys, let’s see the color of your money.”
Kramer and the others all looked at me like I must be three sheets to the wind. One of the soldiers asked, “She high on something? We don’t need that kind of asshattery.”
Kramer snarled, “Shut your mouth Duggan. You don’t know shit from shinola.” He asked Em, “She been checked out by a medico?”
“Doubt it. They have a clean team coming in tomorrow and I hope they bring some debriefers qualified to work with civilians.”
Kramer snorted, “Female civilians that have mastered the art of being pain in the asses would be real good right about now. That girlfriend of yours has been calling and pestering the hell out of the comm board.”
In a voice full of disgust Em said, “She’s not my girlfriend. Block her number.”
“Oh yeah?” Kramer said like it was tasty bit of news he approved of.
“Yeah. She said I finally pissed her off for the last time a few days back and broke up with me.”
“You look like you’re just crying buckets over it,” Kramer said with a sly chuckle.
“These tears you see are tears of relief.”
It must be a guy thing ‘cause all of them chuckled. I was still trying to compute the fact that Em and Mona had broken up and I hadn’t known about it.
Kramer was wearing what I’ve heard more than once called a crap eating grin, but just as soon as we were out of the entry alcove he got dead serious real fast. I saw him give me a wincing glance then said to Em, “We got what you are going to consider a problem.”
“Aw hell, what now?” Em growled.
“NO command has taken over temporarily.”
“I thought they already had all that cockstrutting knocked out of them.”
“New strutters took the place of the old ones. Morgan and the General are going to have to start all over again feeling out which of the political appointees can be worked with and those that can’t.”
“From where I’m standing looks like a lot of can’ts.”
“Maybe not. You know it is SOP.”
“Yeah but when are the desk jockeys going to get the concept that SOP in a manual don’t mean it is going to be SOP in the field?”
“If I knew that I’d be a rich man and working on my fifth star. And that ain’t the problem. We’re stacking them like cordwood in here for a week or two. Some bean counter they brought in found out you and the girl had your own private rooms.”
“They did not put her out!”
“No. And personnel and civilians can’t room together. But … er … your room is bigger and will hold six personnel … and the dumbass bean counter wasn’t informed soon enough that Ava was female. And get that look off your face Em, I know it sounds like a bad joke but for now it is what it is.”
I had finally gotten my fingers to cooperate and the key inserted and turned into my door. But I couldn’t get the door to open all the way because, as I was to find out after I squeezed in, something fell over and was blocking it. Stacking the garbage bags out of the way I stepped back out and told Em, “I’m too tired to fight this out and win even with the 3rd Amendment on my side.” To Kramer I said, “Better tell your bean counter this is a private residence, not a commercial structure. Aunt Orélie never had to help The Isabelle owners with overflow, she did it to be nice.”
When I heard a couple of the junior enlisted asking what was the 3rd Amendment I’d had all I could take. If even I knew what that was and what it said, your average guy fighting a war on their own soil should certainly know. I knew they had suspended habeas corpus, I hadn’t realized they’d suspended the whole dang Constitution. I just looked at Em and he finally gave a growl and gave in. He turned to Kramer and said, “I’m getting the feeling this is fubar. But anybody start opening their mouths on this I’m gonna put a boot to deir ass. I ain’t playin’ Kramer. This is their first and last snafu where this is concerned.”
The door clicked shut behind us like we were teaming up to keep out the world for a while. I opened my mouth to tell him to take the bed when the lights flickered off. There was some relatively mild cussing all things considered. I told Em, “Hang on and let me close the black out curtains. Can you drop the roll down curtain over the door? Just pull the cord to the right of the light switch. Don’t move after that. There’s stuff all over the floor and neither one of us would enjoy you breaking your neck.”
I had to wade through all of Em’s stuff but I got the curtains in place and then got the gravity light going. He looked around and then kinda gave out. “Ava …”
“Don’t sweat it Em. Do you snore?”
“Some,” he admitted with a strange look on his face.
I told him, “Me too. Or at least sometimes. I get too loud just drop something on me.”
“Huh?”
“You take the bed. I’m going to throw my bedroll on the floor.”
“Ava …”
“Stop trying so dang hard,” I told him, trying not to show how nervous I actually was. “This ain’t gonna break me and I’m not going to let it break you or our friendship, teamship, crewship, whatever the heck you wanna call it. And I ain’t out to … to … I don’t even know what to call this. I trust you. And get that look off your face, it ain’t the kiss of friggin’ death.”
He sat on the bed and said, “It should be.” But he was grinning when he said it. The grin lost wattage though when he added, “This is messed up.”
“Yeah it is. But I’ve been able to say that about most of my life in some way or the other. And why didn’t you tell me about you and Mona?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it. He was quiet for a few moments then started unlacing his boots. “Don’t know. Kinda have a reason but you might not like it.”
“Did she … er … break your heart?”
He snorted. “No.”
“Oh. Then it must be one of those she was tired of waiting on a commitment things.”
He stopped what he was doing and just stared at me. “How in the sam hill did you figure that out?”
“’Cause I’m a girl. And while I might not be your average girl that doesn’t mean I don’t know how the average girl thinks. Mona … she … er … wasn’t just in it for fun and games.”
“You got that right. She damn near smothered me there for a while. Got to be hard to ignore the hints and hooks she kept throwing out. Made me feel like being the bastard she started accusing me of being.”
“Tell me you wore a condom.”
He gave me another one of those weird looks he saves up for special occasions and said, “Not that it is a conversation I want to have with you … but yes, since I wasn’t born last week, I know better than to have unprotected sex.”
“Well that’s a relief. ‘Cause if she was really all that hot and bothered on the subject she could have gotten pregnant on purpose to try and force you.”
“She couldn’t have … forced me to make a committment that is. This isn’t the damn dark ages and it was consensual and we’re both adults.”
“Did she know that?”
He gave me another look that told me he was just about finished with this tangent and said, “Yes. I made it plain up front before we had sex the first time. You done?”
I said, “Yeah because you just proved again that you’re smarter than 99% of the guys I’ve known. You would have hit 100% if you would have gotten it in writing.”
I was shifting stuff around from where they’d just thrown Em’s stuff in my room and then digging out my camp bedding that I’d used when I’d been living on the road. Some of the cells on the sleeping pad didn’t inflate all the way but it didn’t stop me from using it.
“You sure you’re going to be okay down there?” Em asked. “I could …”
“Stop. You know I can sleep nearly anywhere.”
“You sure as hell can,” he finally said with a grin. “How you’ve wedged yourself in some places to take a catnap and not get stuck is beyond me.”
“See? So leave off already. Long day tomorrow. At least for me. Momma L basically said she’ll take breakfast duty, but I’ve still got a crapton of cleaning to do at the Big House and then over here.” I was starting to doze off when I was hit with what is probably pretty close to a real live anxiety attack. I sat straight up and could barely breathe. “I gotta find a doctor for Auntie. Heart attack. Oh my gawd. How could I have forgotten. I gotta go check …”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa there. You ain’t gotta nothing,” Em said as he grabbed me to keep me from tripping over everything in the dark since the gravity light had reached bottom and gone off. “Ava … stop. Now sit here. Just put your head down and breathe.”
The shaking was back. Nearly as bad as it had been in the work shed.
I’m trying to take control of my body back from my brain that wasn’t working too well as Em explained, “Local doc … guy that Julius knows … has already seen her. Doc doesn’t think it was a heart attack. He had one of those portable soni-whateverthehellyoucallits with the wand that gives those picture things. Sorta like the ones they use in battlefield hospitals, only the civilian version. He works at the free clinic that St. Bernard’s helps sponsor. What Doc Carlson does think is Auntie is due an attack or something similar if she doesn’t get some rest. She’s got some kind of infection running around in her that he doesn’t know from what right now because he doesn’t have the ability to run those tests. She’ll have to go to Lafayette if he can’t get it under control with antibiotics. So … that’s what we’re going to do … help her get better and get some rest. Only it ain’t going to be at the risk of your health either. Mamma LeBlanc has decided she’s gonna play duenna and move in for a while. That’ll take a load off Hubert and Tib who will be living at her place and running herd on Franc and Fontaine.”
I was still playing catch up. “Play what?”
“Duenna. Er … it’s a Spanish creole word for chaperone.”
It took a moment but it clicked. “Oh gawd, don’t you start. It was bad enough to hear Momma L all but say that Auntie and Mr. Julius had the hots for each other and shoulda done something about it when they were younger and could enjoy it.”
I don’t know why but Em had to stuff a pillow on his face to keep from people hearing him laugh. Finally he catches his breath and says, “It’s an old story. Auntie’s sister … well she was what used to be called high in the in step, meaning she was a little bit of a snob and wanted to have a reason to feel that way.”
“Then what was she married to Mr. Julius for? Momma L is always telling me how poor they were growing up.”
“’Cause the same reason you warned me off of.”
“Oh. You … er … mean Mr. Hubert …”
“Yeah. They were told they had to get married by the parish priest and both families involved. You notice there ain’t no more kids.”
“No. I haven’t stuck my nose in it. People tell me stuff then fine, but it’s mostly none of my business.”
“Yeah, it gives me acid indigestion too.” He sighed. “Look, I gotta question. Can’t help but think it can be anything else but I gotta ask.”
“Uh … okay?”
“You ever … er … had … uh … feelings for Daniel Edgar?”
Chapter 53
I had to stick my finger in my ear and shake it a bit to make sure I’d actually heard what I thought I heard. “Did you just ask me if I’d ever had … feelings? For Daniel Edgar?”
“I take it from that tone that the answer is no.”
Kinda outraged I said, “It’s hella no and a little more on the other side of that. I suppose you wouldn’t ask for no reason though so spit it out.”
“I’m going to sound like an idiot.”
“Better than being one so c’mon. Give.”
In the dark I could handle the fact that he still had his hand on me keeping my head down on my knees. But the floor was hard and I moved. He jumped like he’d forgotten what he was doing. But then got down on the floor with me and used the bed to lean back on while I did the same.
“You never complained about Mona.”
“No. You’re a grown man. And while friends don’t let friends drive drunk, if they want to stay friends they keep their noses out of each other’s love lives.”
Like he’d confirmed something he’d been wondering he said, “So you did know about …”
“Her opinion of me and what she considered the time we occasionally spent together hunting or working over in the storage locker? Yeah. She was never what I would call … um … overt. She knew if you got wind of it that it would play against her. Major Broadstreet burnt her tail feathers about it once too.”
“I didn’t know that.” Em was surprised and then some over that little tidbit.
“The Major might be a Major, but she is still female and sometimes it is best if we just keep female stuff out of the male universe. Fewer world wars that way.”
“Do tell.”
“Just did.”
He snorted and said, “Well, part of why Mona and I broke up …”
When he seemed to be hesitating I asked, “Me?”
“Some. But it was also people that she started hanging out with. One example of that is she and Wylene Boudreaux talked … a lot.”
“That’s weird. I thought Deputy Boudreaux was one of your exes.”
“Was … is. I light a candle in thanksgiving every time I remember to.”
He might have been trying to keep things light but I could hear some true relief in there too. Still, better safe than sorry. “Don’t be sacrilegious, Auntie doesn’t like it. I take it that it was bad.”
“We were both young and dumb. Getting away from all that and the drama is one of the reasons I joined the military.”
“I thought you joined the military because of trouble with your brother and needing to find a career.”
“Cher, you can have more than one reason for doing a thing.” He grunted. “And sitting on this floor isn’t working for me.”
“Then we’ll sit on the bed. We’re both too old to believe that we’ll give each other cooties.” I don’t know if he agreed but we both moved to the bed and used the wall to lean against and I gotta admit it was more comfortable. “So your ex and your current started talking. And it sounds like it made you uncomfortable.”
“Not at first. At first I didn’t care so long as … er …”
“Yeah. We can gloss over that part. Carry on.” His cough sounded suspiciously like an embarrassed chuckle but I let it go rather than embarrass myself.
He said, “I caught ‘em once too often … er …”
“What?!”
“Not that kinda er. I mean … look it sounds crazy but I caught ‘em conspiring.”
“Conspiring.” I thought about it. “Doesn’t sound crazy. But who was the ring leader or were they equal? That would tell you what kind of conspiring they were doing.”
A little stunned Em asked, “You don’t think I sound crazy?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
He was silent then said, “Shoulda said something to you when it started making me notice them.”
“Ahhhh, so it was me they were conspiring about. But back to who was the boss. And do you know what they were conspiring to do?”
“They were … uh … trying to set you up with a guy.”
“Any particular guy?”
“You still don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No. Like I said I know how girls think because basically I am one. I can even understand Mona … a little. She’s the kinda girl that can’t quite wrap her head around the idea that guys and girls can legitimately be friends. She might say she does but when it comes right down to it, she just can’t quite trust the concept. I don’t understand where Wylene fits in this.”
“That makes two of us. Especially after I learned of some of the guys they were thinking about. I wouldn’t trust most of them as far as I could throw ‘em. Only one I knew you weren’t likely to immediately toss in the nearest ditch is Scooter.”
“Scooter?! Oh my lord. They’re stoopid. Scooter is dead dog in love with some girl that left town about three years ago to go to college. They keep in touch but … geez, never mind. It’s the worst soap opera. Or I thought it was until I heard this bunch of kaka. You got a list of exes? I wanna know if I gotta watch my back from the arrows of unrequited loooove.”
“Will you be serious?” he asked on the verge of throwing a pillow at me if the way he was twisting his was any indication.
I gave it a try. “Em, I am as serious as the situation warrants. I’m really sorry that you and Mona broke up if upsets you. I’m sorry if Wylene Boudreaux is still hormonally challenged where you are concerned. But if you are worried that they’re smart enough to hatch some stupid plan to get me hooked up with some guy? Don’t. Worry I mean. You know my opinion on the subject.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t change your mind.”
“So? If I go to the trouble of changing my mind you really think I’m gonna let those two pick for me? Naw. Ain’t even in the cards Em. You know me. You really think I’m that weak?”
“Naw. I think you’re that lonely.”
Well that stopped me. With more honesty than I had planned I told him, “I’m a lot less lonely than I was. One of the best things that happened to me is when I met you on US90. But saying that … I don’t want to be some cause you decide to claim as your own in place of having a life. If the reason you broke up with Mona was because …”
“Naw Cher. It wasn’t just ‘cause of you. I already told you that and I meant it. That said, you watch your back.”
“I always do.”
“Against two women that …”
“Em, be serious. I was friends with a lot of guys from Cubbies into high school in my troop, my crew, and in school. I dealt with things in the foster care system that would uncurl your hair. In the process I learned how to be a good fighter … not just against guys who are for the most part simple … but girls too, and girls can be vicious in a way few guys will ever understand. Including you. You’re a good guy Em, but you’re smarter than the average bear so use it. Mona played a losing hand. She didn’t even have the sense to fold before she lost more than she could afford.”
Hearing my tone Em said, “I didn’t tell you this to start a feud.”
“There’s not gonna be a feud.”
“But?”
“No buts. Let me guess since you never said, you think Wylene is the one that was boss dog.”
“Uh …”
“’Cause this all started with you asking me if I somehow had feelings for Det. Edgar. Truth is I wouldn’t put it passed Daniel Edgar to be twitting Boudreaux with it a bit though why is the question. Martin Edgar …”
“I asked you to be careful around him. People say he’s gone strange.”
“And people might be getting a little help to be thinking that way.”
“Huh?”
“Martin has warned me more than once not to be taken in by his brother’s so-called charm. And Det. Edgar has tried to corner me a couple of times to warn me off Martin. Lorelei Edgar was playing informant for her brother at one law office and now does it from another one. Now she’s one that is good at making a Cheltenham tragedies out things. I understand there is another brother that has his own mess going on.”
I thought Em had gone to sleep but then he said, “You know, I think you need to stay away from all the Edgars.”
“I’m not dropping Martin. He may be a little crispy on the outside but he’s alright on the inside … like a marshmallow that got too near the campire. Buy why did me bringing up the other brother make you think. You spout any more steam and …”
In one of the most serious voices I’ve ever heard him use Em said, “Ava, I’m asking you to watch yourself. You got me thinking … remembering some things about the Edgar family.”
“You mean about their father … their bio father and not the man that is Lorelei’s father? The one that adopted the three boys when their father never came forward to contest the court order stripping him of his parental rights?”
“How in the sam hill …?!”
“I hear things. I don’t always know what I’m hearing at first but I still hear things. Run across things that fit in the gaps people leave in their stories that make them make more sense as time goes on. Don’t really matter none I guess but it does give me reason to believe my intuition that Det. Edgar isn’t the person he plays at being. Where Deputy Boudreaux fits in I don’t know but maybe they are just peas in a pod. Mona is maybe just a tool. That doesn’t matter either. I’m warned now. They can play their silly games all they want. Forewarned is forearmed.” And the reason I know something interesting about the Edgar brothers is because of hearing the name Frechette in a casual conversation caught my attention or I’d still be blind to what might be going on. I knew I’d need to find the time to go over them family trees that Uncle Henley had drawn up.
Em got my wandering attention back by saying, “You promise me you’ll be careful.”
It wasn’t a request and I knew it. “I promise. And as scintillating as this TMI conversation has been for both of us … I gotta get some sleep Em. Last night and today … they’ve left skid marks on my brain. And if we are going to have some primadonnas fighting it out for whose the biggest bully on the block I need to rest and recharge my patience bone ‘cause if I don’t have enough, Ava might make the kinda mistakes that she can’t afford to make from the bottom of the heap where I live.”
He snorted. “You got the strangest way of saying things.” He sighed. “But I do know the feeling. And on top of that you and me gonna go have a conversation with a doc.”
“Oh heck no … now you …”
He made me jump when he put his arm around me. “It ain’t gonna kill either one of us. And the right one can help you clear the fog for a while. Trust me on this Ava. What you did last night … today …”
I started shaking again.
“Ava?”
“Are the pictures in my head ever going to go away?”
“I’ll let you know if I ever find out. But I can tell you they can get where they aren’t the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and the last thing before you fall asleep. But it is going to take time, and some work. And that starts tomorrow. Okay?”
I remember nodding but that’s about it.
I had to stick my finger in my ear and shake it a bit to make sure I’d actually heard what I thought I heard. “Did you just ask me if I’d ever had … feelings? For Daniel Edgar?”
“I take it from that tone that the answer is no.”
Kinda outraged I said, “It’s hella no and a little more on the other side of that. I suppose you wouldn’t ask for no reason though so spit it out.”
“I’m going to sound like an idiot.”
“Better than being one so c’mon. Give.”
In the dark I could handle the fact that he still had his hand on me keeping my head down on my knees. But the floor was hard and I moved. He jumped like he’d forgotten what he was doing. But then got down on the floor with me and used the bed to lean back on while I did the same.
“You never complained about Mona.”
“No. You’re a grown man. And while friends don’t let friends drive drunk, if they want to stay friends they keep their noses out of each other’s love lives.”
Like he’d confirmed something he’d been wondering he said, “So you did know about …”
“Her opinion of me and what she considered the time we occasionally spent together hunting or working over in the storage locker? Yeah. She was never what I would call … um … overt. She knew if you got wind of it that it would play against her. Major Broadstreet burnt her tail feathers about it once too.”
“I didn’t know that.” Em was surprised and then some over that little tidbit.
“The Major might be a Major, but she is still female and sometimes it is best if we just keep female stuff out of the male universe. Fewer world wars that way.”
“Do tell.”
“Just did.”
He snorted and said, “Well, part of why Mona and I broke up …”
When he seemed to be hesitating I asked, “Me?”
“Some. But it was also people that she started hanging out with. One example of that is she and Wylene Boudreaux talked … a lot.”
“That’s weird. I thought Deputy Boudreaux was one of your exes.”
“Was … is. I light a candle in thanksgiving every time I remember to.”
He might have been trying to keep things light but I could hear some true relief in there too. Still, better safe than sorry. “Don’t be sacrilegious, Auntie doesn’t like it. I take it that it was bad.”
“We were both young and dumb. Getting away from all that and the drama is one of the reasons I joined the military.”
“I thought you joined the military because of trouble with your brother and needing to find a career.”
“Cher, you can have more than one reason for doing a thing.” He grunted. “And sitting on this floor isn’t working for me.”
“Then we’ll sit on the bed. We’re both too old to believe that we’ll give each other cooties.” I don’t know if he agreed but we both moved to the bed and used the wall to lean against and I gotta admit it was more comfortable. “So your ex and your current started talking. And it sounds like it made you uncomfortable.”
“Not at first. At first I didn’t care so long as … er …”
“Yeah. We can gloss over that part. Carry on.” His cough sounded suspiciously like an embarrassed chuckle but I let it go rather than embarrass myself.
He said, “I caught ‘em once too often … er …”
“What?!”
“Not that kinda er. I mean … look it sounds crazy but I caught ‘em conspiring.”
“Conspiring.” I thought about it. “Doesn’t sound crazy. But who was the ring leader or were they equal? That would tell you what kind of conspiring they were doing.”
A little stunned Em asked, “You don’t think I sound crazy?”
“Isn’t that what I just said?”
He was silent then said, “Shoulda said something to you when it started making me notice them.”
“Ahhhh, so it was me they were conspiring about. But back to who was the boss. And do you know what they were conspiring to do?”
“They were … uh … trying to set you up with a guy.”
“Any particular guy?”
“You still don’t think I’m crazy?”
“No. Like I said I know how girls think because basically I am one. I can even understand Mona … a little. She’s the kinda girl that can’t quite wrap her head around the idea that guys and girls can legitimately be friends. She might say she does but when it comes right down to it, she just can’t quite trust the concept. I don’t understand where Wylene fits in this.”
“That makes two of us. Especially after I learned of some of the guys they were thinking about. I wouldn’t trust most of them as far as I could throw ‘em. Only one I knew you weren’t likely to immediately toss in the nearest ditch is Scooter.”
“Scooter?! Oh my lord. They’re stoopid. Scooter is dead dog in love with some girl that left town about three years ago to go to college. They keep in touch but … geez, never mind. It’s the worst soap opera. Or I thought it was until I heard this bunch of kaka. You got a list of exes? I wanna know if I gotta watch my back from the arrows of unrequited loooove.”
“Will you be serious?” he asked on the verge of throwing a pillow at me if the way he was twisting his was any indication.
I gave it a try. “Em, I am as serious as the situation warrants. I’m really sorry that you and Mona broke up if upsets you. I’m sorry if Wylene Boudreaux is still hormonally challenged where you are concerned. But if you are worried that they’re smart enough to hatch some stupid plan to get me hooked up with some guy? Don’t. Worry I mean. You know my opinion on the subject.”
“That doesn’t mean you won’t change your mind.”
“So? If I go to the trouble of changing my mind you really think I’m gonna let those two pick for me? Naw. Ain’t even in the cards Em. You know me. You really think I’m that weak?”
“Naw. I think you’re that lonely.”
Well that stopped me. With more honesty than I had planned I told him, “I’m a lot less lonely than I was. One of the best things that happened to me is when I met you on US90. But saying that … I don’t want to be some cause you decide to claim as your own in place of having a life. If the reason you broke up with Mona was because …”
“Naw Cher. It wasn’t just ‘cause of you. I already told you that and I meant it. That said, you watch your back.”
“I always do.”
“Against two women that …”
“Em, be serious. I was friends with a lot of guys from Cubbies into high school in my troop, my crew, and in school. I dealt with things in the foster care system that would uncurl your hair. In the process I learned how to be a good fighter … not just against guys who are for the most part simple … but girls too, and girls can be vicious in a way few guys will ever understand. Including you. You’re a good guy Em, but you’re smarter than the average bear so use it. Mona played a losing hand. She didn’t even have the sense to fold before she lost more than she could afford.”
Hearing my tone Em said, “I didn’t tell you this to start a feud.”
“There’s not gonna be a feud.”
“But?”
“No buts. Let me guess since you never said, you think Wylene is the one that was boss dog.”
“Uh …”
“’Cause this all started with you asking me if I somehow had feelings for Det. Edgar. Truth is I wouldn’t put it passed Daniel Edgar to be twitting Boudreaux with it a bit though why is the question. Martin Edgar …”
“I asked you to be careful around him. People say he’s gone strange.”
“And people might be getting a little help to be thinking that way.”
“Huh?”
“Martin has warned me more than once not to be taken in by his brother’s so-called charm. And Det. Edgar has tried to corner me a couple of times to warn me off Martin. Lorelei Edgar was playing informant for her brother at one law office and now does it from another one. Now she’s one that is good at making a Cheltenham tragedies out things. I understand there is another brother that has his own mess going on.”
I thought Em had gone to sleep but then he said, “You know, I think you need to stay away from all the Edgars.”
“I’m not dropping Martin. He may be a little crispy on the outside but he’s alright on the inside … like a marshmallow that got too near the campire. Buy why did me bringing up the other brother make you think. You spout any more steam and …”
In one of the most serious voices I’ve ever heard him use Em said, “Ava, I’m asking you to watch yourself. You got me thinking … remembering some things about the Edgar family.”
“You mean about their father … their bio father and not the man that is Lorelei’s father? The one that adopted the three boys when their father never came forward to contest the court order stripping him of his parental rights?”
“How in the sam hill …?!”
“I hear things. I don’t always know what I’m hearing at first but I still hear things. Run across things that fit in the gaps people leave in their stories that make them make more sense as time goes on. Don’t really matter none I guess but it does give me reason to believe my intuition that Det. Edgar isn’t the person he plays at being. Where Deputy Boudreaux fits in I don’t know but maybe they are just peas in a pod. Mona is maybe just a tool. That doesn’t matter either. I’m warned now. They can play their silly games all they want. Forewarned is forearmed.” And the reason I know something interesting about the Edgar brothers is because of hearing the name Frechette in a casual conversation caught my attention or I’d still be blind to what might be going on. I knew I’d need to find the time to go over them family trees that Uncle Henley had drawn up.
Em got my wandering attention back by saying, “You promise me you’ll be careful.”
It wasn’t a request and I knew it. “I promise. And as scintillating as this TMI conversation has been for both of us … I gotta get some sleep Em. Last night and today … they’ve left skid marks on my brain. And if we are going to have some primadonnas fighting it out for whose the biggest bully on the block I need to rest and recharge my patience bone ‘cause if I don’t have enough, Ava might make the kinda mistakes that she can’t afford to make from the bottom of the heap where I live.”
He snorted. “You got the strangest way of saying things.” He sighed. “But I do know the feeling. And on top of that you and me gonna go have a conversation with a doc.”
“Oh heck no … now you …”
He made me jump when he put his arm around me. “It ain’t gonna kill either one of us. And the right one can help you clear the fog for a while. Trust me on this Ava. What you did last night … today …”
I started shaking again.
“Ava?”
“Are the pictures in my head ever going to go away?”
“I’ll let you know if I ever find out. But I can tell you they can get where they aren’t the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning and the last thing before you fall asleep. But it is going to take time, and some work. And that starts tomorrow. Okay?”
I remember nodding but that’s about it.
sssarawolf
Has No Life - Lives on TB
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