Page 9 of Demitrius

After getting gas and paying, Georgie picked up some chips and a six-pack of beer. It was the snack of champions, she told herself. And when she got out to her baby, she opened up the chips—nothing but spicy hot ones for her, she opened up a can of beer for the road. The entire six-pack wouldn’t be enough to get her drunk, but it was enough to give her a buzz. And that was all she wanted to have to deal with Mandy and the kids.

Georgie was on her way a few minutes after drinking her second beer and downing nearly half the bag of chips. Burping loudly, she pulled into traffic just as her cell phone rang. Looking at the face that came up, she was glad that she’d put the number in for her brother on his contact list the last time he’d been in jail. Saved her time in trying to figure out who was bothering her all the time.

“Speak.” Smiling, she knew that it would throw him off when she didn’t say hello. Just as she figured, he asked her to stop screaming in the phone and answer correctly. “Then don’t call me anymore if that’s the way that you feel. Whatcha want anyway?”

“I can’t get nothing from nobody around here. They’re all about as close-mouthed as I’ve ever seen. You almost here?” She told him that she only had about four hours to go. “Good. You come to the jailhouse when you get here. I’ve asked for Mandy to come and see me. I’m going to see if I can butter her biscuits to get some information from her. Maybe she’ll bring the kids with her. I hope so. I need to know what they been saying about me and shit.”

“If anything happens to you and you don’t get out right away, can you give me permission to live in that government house while I gots them? Might be better than all three of us living in my truck. Besides, I’d like to have a place to keep my beers cold. You need anything?” Her brother said he’d like to have a couple of beers himself; he was going through some terrible shakes. “I’ll grease a few palms to get you a couple in. You still drinking that cheap shit? You know that I won’t join you when we’re talking if you are. That shit is nasty. I’ll get us something to munch on, too, while we converse.”

She thought about the house that her brother had been living in with Besty. It had three big bedrooms and a nice-sized kitchen. She didn’t cook, that shit was for the birds but she could stock up a fridge really good with things that she liked. Then she thought of the kids.

“What do kids eat? I’ve never been around them much, you know?” He said they just ate regular food, like people ate. “I don’t know what that will mean. I tell you what, I’ll just play it by ear to see how much shit they’ll eat. But I draw the line at feeding them steaks and shit. You said there was a food card for them, didn’t you? I can get me some steaks and taters. I’ll love that.”

“They eat cereal too. I don’t buy it, of course, Betsy did the shopping, but I’ve seen them eat it. Hot dogs and pizza, too. They eat that crap up.” She asked about drinks. “I don’t know, Georgie. Just buy some water or give them some out of the sink. Christ, I didn’t hang around them all that much. They’re kids. Just tell them that they’re eating what you give them, and that’s the end of it.”

“All right, cool you engines. I can figure it out on my own. But I need you to tell someone that I’m going to be living in that house of yours. I have me some plans. Anyway, I’m going to go to that Mandy’s place in the morning, first thing. Well, when I get up. It might be later in the afternoon. I’m needing me some downtime before I’m around those kids. Another question I have for you. Are they brats? Am I going to have to show them who their boss is? I don’t mind that, I’m thinking I might enjoy it a bit, but you tell me what kind of brats they are.” Again, he told her that he didn’t know. “How can you be their daddy if you don’t know them at least a little bit? Damn it, Samuel, how am I supposed to be prepared for them? I don’t have a belt or anything to use on them. I guess I could use a switch, but that ain’t going to be the same thing. You remember how Daddy and Momma would beat us? The belt with a big buckle was the worst.”

“Yeah, I remember. I don’t think that Besty beat them at all, and you know that aunt of theirs is going to be the same way. Good Christ, it’s going to be hard to be around them all the time, I can tell you that.” Georgie asked if they had a back yard. “Yeah, there is one. A nice big one, but don’t put them there with a bowl of water and some crackers. I guess that’s against some kind of abuse rule you can’tdo. I don’t understand why that’s a rule, they’re my fucking kids.”

“I’m not going to be asking permission to do anything to them, just so you know. If I have to be around them all the time, they’re going to do what I tell them, and that’s final.” She thought her brother said good luck with that, but wasn’t going to get into an argument with him. “I’m going to have to get off here if I’m going to have any minutes left before I get that money card from the government. I’m looking forward to having some cash on me all the time.”

“Don’t be spending it all up the first day. I mean, with me being in here, I won’t be able to get with my guy about buying out the rest of the food one for cash. And that shit comes in handy too.” She said she’d pace herself. “You’d better if you know what’s good for you. And take me some pictures, too, you can show me next time you come in. I wanna see what you do to Mandy about her taking my kids.”

She didn’t bother telling him yes or no. Her minutes were ticking down, and until she got to the house and got those cards, she was going to be in trouble. It was bad enough that she’d had to steal a card to come this far. Buying money for a phone card would alert the cashier that it wasn’t hers. She couldn’t figure out how long they’d been putting faces on the cards. Just getting the beer and chips had been scary, in getting caught.

It was nearly midnight when she pulled into the drive where her brother had lived. There was a large dumpster out front of it, but she didn’t pay it any mind. Instead, she got out her sleeping bag, laid it across the seats, and laid down. She’d get in tomorrow at least, but for now, she needed a little nap. Then she remembered that she was supposed to see Samuel. Getting up, she headed there now. Stupid fuckers, making it so she had to inconvenience herself to go to the jail to see him. It shouldn’t be a crime to her way of thinking to beat around your spouse. Okay, she told herself she’d killed her spouse, but like before, she’d make it so there were no witnesses.

They wouldn’t allow her to see him. It was too late, they told her, and Samuel hadn’t been a good boy today, so he’d lost his privileges of having company unless she was his attorney. Going back out to her truck, she was so pissed off that she wanted to run over every cruiser in the lot. She didn’t, of course, they’d catch her, but she was sorely tempted.

Going by the Dari Mart on her way back to the house, she picked her up some brews and hoped to Christ nobody said anything to her or they’d be picking up pieces of the person for a long time. She was just pissed enough to ram her little baby right up the ass of the place if they were to give her any shit about the card.

Getting back to the house, she looked in the dumpster to see if there was anything she could use. Since it was empty, she figured that someone was going to be doing some house cleaning. There was still yellow tape around the house, but she wasn’t concerned about that. Whatever mess was still in her house when she moved in, she’d make the brats clean it up. That’s about all they were good for, she knew.

It was just going on one in the morning when she was settling down in her makeshift bed. Tomorrow, she’d have a real bed under her and a shower, too, if she was inclined. While she didn’t know where she was going to pick up the cards from, she was going to make that a priority. Georgie had a fridge to fill up and she wasn’t going to waste any time in fucking around with people to get it, damn it.

Someone pounding on her window woke her up. Sitting up, burping some of the beer she’d drank last night she finally got out of the truck and asked the man what the fuck he wanted. He told her that she couldn’t park here.

“I’m going to be living here soon. My brother has this place.” Wiping the snot out of her eyes, she went to where the driveway ended and blew out the snot from her nose too. “He’s got himself nice digs, but I’m going to be moving into them until he gets himself out of jail.”

“You’re disgusting. And we’ve been told that the woman who lived here is gone, and her kids are with their aunt. You’ll need to move on.” She tried to tell him again that she was the owner of the place, but he told her that he’d have to call the police if she didn’t move on right now. “If you want totalk to someone about living here, you’ll have to go through the proper channels. I don’t know what they are. But we’ve been contracted to clean this place out as the family has gotten everything they want from here.”

“I’m going to be living here with that stuff. You just hold your horses. I’m gonna need that stuff with the kids.” He told her again to take it up with the proper channels. “I don’t have me a television, you idiot. What channel am I supposed to be watching?”

He just stared at her and walked away. She hated it when people did that. Damn it, she wanted answers. Getting back in the truck, she was tempted again to run some of the workers down, but she didn’t. Instead, she headed to the police station again to get in and see her brother. He’d better have some answers for her.

The station house was busy when she got there. Telling the man at the main desk she wanted to see her brother, they had to pat her down, they told her. So much for her sneaking Samuel in a beer, she thought when they took it from her. The chips didn’t get to go back with her either, as they’d been opened. Nobody could tell her why that was an issue. They’d just have to open them when she got back there. She hated people.

~*~

“She pulled into town about midnight and went to stay at the house where Besty lived.” Mandy asked where she was now. “You can’t miss her truck; it’s the biggest thing you’ve ever seen. Wherever it is, she’s there. But in answer to your question, she’s at the stationhouse with her brother.”

She’d been stopping off at one of the little shops in town to delay her going to see her brother. Glad for the network that the little town had going, she knew now that she didn’t want to go and see either of them. However, Shipley thought it was the perfect time to go and talk to them both at the same time. So here she was making her way to the stationhouse to see not just the man who killed her sister, but the woman who wanted to kill her to take the boys from her.

“Just tell them what you’ve been practicing. And remember, I’m with you as a witness.” She asked her why she thought that she needed a witness. “You always need a witness when idiots are concerned. They’re called idiots for a reason. Being in the service, I’ve been around the worst of them.”

She was taken back to his cell, where he was talking to Georgie. Letting the two of them get a good look at her, she had to tell them who she was. Samuel said that she was lying about who she was, and Georgie told her that she was a lot prettier than she remembered.

“Since I’ve never met you before, I don’t know how that would be an issue. I’ve come to tell you both that I’m not going to be threatened or hurt by either of you, or I’ll press charges against the two of you.” Georgie stood up from her chair and sat back down when Shipley put her hand on her gun. She was happy now that she’d brought her. Samuel asked her what her new phone number was. “I’m not going to give that to either of you. I like my quiet and not being bothered by the two of you. Also, you should know that I’m going to adopt Teddy and Martin.”

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