Page 6 of Demon
“All right.Give me a couple of minutes and then you can take me in to re-schedule.”Brenda swung the door closed, but Ronnie didn’t hear the lock click back into place, only voices on the other side.
She turned and looked up and down the street, noting that there was no one outside, despite the cool day.Were there no other kids in the neighborhood?When she was a kid, this time of day, no matter how hot it might have been, she and her friends were out with skates, bikes, skateboards, and whatever other toys they had making the most of every minute.Why were Brenda’s kids not out?
Ronnie tilted her head to one side and tried to remember if she’d seen a single kid behind Brenda that looked old enough to play with neighbor kids unsupervised and realized that she didn’t think she had.All of the kids behind her had been small, as in not a single one looked old enough to go to school.
She shook her head and decided that wasn’t possible.Well, she guessed it would be, at least physically, but mentally?Who could handle five kids under five?And it looked like she was trying to do it alone.Ronnie tried to remember what the file had said about her living arrangements and couldn’t remember.Surely she would have remembered if it had said there were five kids.Wouldn’t she?
Behind her, the door opened again.
“All right.My mother-in-law is on the way over to watch the kids, but Hailey from next door will be here in just a minute to watch them until she can get here.I’m almost ready, okay?”
“Sure,” Ronnie said.She blinked and went back to watching the street as the door closed behind her again.
Five minutes after that she and Brenda were in her SUV, headed for the jail.
“Thanks so much for helping with this.I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it,” Brenda said, as she sat beside Ronnie.She’d been so easy going and willing, Ronnie had seen no need to cuff her.She hated that some used them no matter what, but she didn’t see the need to steal anyone’s dignity unless she had to.If they wanted to fight or run, then she didn’t hesitate to cuff them, but not when her skip was compliant.That was just one of many points of contention between her and Jack.
“No problem.”Ronnie was silent for several seconds.She wondered if Brenda would get pissed if she asked but finally decided to risk it.“Your file says you were arrested for shoplifting.Can I ask what you stole?”She glanced over at Brenda from the corner of her as a she wondered why this seemingly nice, mostly put together, if a bit frazzled, woman had stolen something big enough to be arrested when she was caught.
Brenda took a deep breath and let it out in a rush.
“It’s embarrassing and stupid.”Brenda’s face went pink, and she turned to look out the passenger’s window.“Do you have any kids?”
Ronnie shook her head.“Nope.I’m not even married.”
“Do you have any pets?”
“A cat, but I’m not entirely sure I’m not the pet and Opie’s not the one in charge.”She couldn’t help but smile at the thought of her baby.
“Oh, a cat is a good example.Does Opie follow you around everywhere when you’re home, having to be in the middle of your business, no matter what you’re doing?”
Ronnie frowned.
“No.And it would be weird if he did.”
“Exactly.Now multiply that by five.All crying ‘mama, mama, mama’ and needing something.They always need something.”She sounded like she was about ready to laugh, or cry, Ronnie wasn’t sure which.“Anyway, it was after a particularly rough day.I was trying to potty train the older twins, Hannah and Savannah, and they were having a hard time with it.I lost count of how many accidents we’d had.On top of it, the younger twins, Tracy and Stacy, were teething.I’d just get one boy down and the other would wake and start screaming.And neither boy teethes easily.The screaming went on for hours.And since they both get rashes when they teeth, I spent as much time doing laundry as anything else.”Brenda took a deep breath and held it for a moment before turning to look at Ronnie.
“I was at my wit’s end.I didn’t know what to do, only that if I didn’t get a break, even a few hours, I was going to end up doing some thing I’d regret.My sleep deprived brain saw two options.Jail or the psych ward.”Brenda fell silent for a moment as she turned and watched buildings seem to pass them.
Ronnie didn’t know if she should give Brenda her sympathy or be in awe of her.Two sets of twins under what?Five?When do you potty train kids anyway?She had no clue and wasn’t particularly interested in finding out.
“Anyway, a grippy sock vacation is a minimum of seventy-two hours and I wasn’t sure if Manny could handle the kids that long so that was out.That left only getting arrested.So, I walked into a store, found the most expensive thing I could that was small enough to fit in my pocket and walked out with it.When the alarms went off, I denied it.I argued, I insisted something was wrong with their system until the police arrived, then I let them cuff me and I got in the car.It was the best night’s sleep I’ve had in four years.”
Ronnie glanced at her passenger again, wondering if maybe the, what was that again?‘grippy sock vacation’ might have been the better option.How desperate did you have to be to think a night in jail was the best night sleep in four years?She wasn’t sure if that was normal or not, even with that many kids around.
“You seemed awful to eager to get out of the house today, even if its only to rebook.Are you having another rough day?”She didn’t know what else to call it.She didn’t think even on her roughest days that she’d rather go to jail than whatever was happening.
“No.Today wasn’t bad.Just normal.It was a good chance to get out for a few minutes without having to take someone with me.”Brenda twisted around in her seat to face Ronnie again.“You know, I don’t even get to pee alone.I always have one or more watching me, staring at me, or insisting on being carried.You never appreciate the small things like peeing alone until you can’t.”She huffed a sigh and turned back to face the windshield.
She hadn’t been sure she’d ever want kids before today but this conversation with Brenda was making her even more leery.
5
“Hey,Giz,yougota minute?”Demon stuck his head into the backroom the club used for all their meetings, most of which Demon wasn’t included in, and wouldn’t be until he was patched in.If he was patched in, not that he was worried about it, but it was a possibility.
The Souls tech sergeant looked up from the computer screen where he was working on something and focused on Demon.He stared for a moment, blinking before the words seemed to register.
“Oh, sure, Demon.What do you need?”
