previous:

The hose flops out of the tub and I hold Happy with one hand and reach for the hose with the other. Happy takes this opportunity to make a break for it but I corral him again and lead him back to the hose and begin to rinse him off. Finally the shampoo is gone, Happy is clean, and I’m nearly soaked. He picks this time to shake off the excess water, so by now I might as well have gotten into the tub with him.

“Happy, SI…!”

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Admin Note: Originally published on BigCloset TopShelf by T D Aldoennetti on Mon, 2008/11/03 - 10:07am, Air Force Sweetheart -- TacPzlSolGp Chapter 10 is revised and reposted on Sat, 2009/12/12 - 05:54 PM ~Sephrena

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Marching down the road with new material:

 

Chapter 10

 

Something attacks my derriere and it stings. I shriek, swat, and spin, figuring I’ll find a bee or wasp or something as I see this looming hulk about to swing at me again. Grabbing the nearest part of whatever it is, I do a back flip with my foot against the perpetrator, throwing him halfway across the yard before I even think.

An instant later, I’m flying after him screaming, “MOM! MOM! Call the police!”

I collide with him as he is getting up, giving him a quick chop as he swings at me, which drops him to the ground again. A couple of easy jabs and he is subdued, gasping for air.

Mom comes out to see why I’m screaming. The moment she sees what I’m doing, she says, “Lucy, stop that! Stop that this instant.”

“Mom, he attacked me when my back was turned.”

“Lucy Ann, you help him up. That’s a friend of Tony’s.”

I turn to the man who is prone at my feet, his eyes bugging out like a fish out of water. “Oh, sorry,” I say. I help him up and press a couple of pressure points to help him breathe again.

After ten or fifteen seconds he gasps out, “Janet, why the h– did you do that?”

“I’m not Janet. Janet’s my sister. Why did you attack me, even if you thought I was Janet?”

He’s still gasping but doing better. “I didn’t attack you; I swatted your behind.”

“That was awfully hard for a swat. And it feels like a cut.” I reach back and rub myself when I bring my hand forward there is a small amount of blood on it. “I’m bleeding! Like I said, why did you attack me if you thought I was Janet?”

“I always do that. It makes her scream,” he mumbled.

“Want me to swat you again so you will scream? I think I’m going to teach her how to do what I just did to you. Maybe then you’ll learn we don’t like it.”

“Okay, Okay. I won’t do it to you again.”

“Nor to Janet,” I reply forcefully.

“Okay, not to Janet. Cripes, who are you, some kind of martial arts instructor?” he complained, half in anger and half in fear.

“How did you ever guess?” I curtsy.

“You mean you are?” he said in stunned surprise.

“Third degree black belt,” I say modestly.

“Cripes. You sure look like Janet, but you don’t act like her. She’s a wuss.”

That ticks me off, and I step towards him. “Do you want some more of it?”

“No, no. Sorry.” He backs up.

“You’d better not do that to my sister again or I’ll come hunting for you.”

“I won’t. Sorry. Cripes. Janet never mentioned a sister. I saw you washing the dog and thought you were Janet. I was going to ask if Tony is here.”

“Then why didn’t you just ask?”

“I…, I….”

“Because you like to hurt girls?” I snarl, getting angrier.

His eyes are wide with fright. “No. No, I…. I guess I just didn’t think. Sorry.”

“Right. You’ll be sorry until you’re out of the yard. If I ever hear about you doing anything to Janet that I don’t like, there won’t be a hole deep enough to hide you, understand me?”

“Yeah. Cripes, all you had to do was tell me you don’t like it.”

Mom jumps in at this point, “Janet has told you. She has told me about you many times. You never stop, even when she tells you to. In fact, you do it even more when she tells you to stop.”

I spin, and he finds himself flying across the yard again, falling to the ground, with me advancing towards him in hunting tigress mode, my eyes fixed on my quarry as….

“LUCY ANN! Stop it.”

“But this creep has been hurting Janet, Mom.”

“That doesn’t mean we have to be as stupid as he is.”

“Aw, Mom, let me break his arm, just this once.”

“LUCY ANN JACKSON!” she yells loudly enough that the neighbors poke their heads up to watch. “You get inside this house right now, young lady! And YOU,” she points at my sacrificial lamb as I figuratively lick my chops again, “You’d better leave. I’m calling Janet and Tony, and telling them what happened here. If Tony won’t do something to stop you, then I’m going to let Lucy go after you each time you hurt Janet. Now get out of my yard. And I expect you to apologize to my daughter.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’m sorry, Lucy.” He is out the gate and into the street as fast as he can limp. The neighbors across the street and next door are still out in their yards watching the whole thing.

“Not this daughter, my other daughter, Janet.” Mom yells after him.

“Yes, Ma’am. As soon as I see her.” He continues to limp away.

The neighbors watch him as he goes to his car and quietly drives off.

“LUCY ANN, you get out here this instant.”

I’m in for it now. I know that voice. I demurely open the front door and step onto the porch.

“Yes, Mom?” I say innocently.

“You clean up this mess out here and put everything away. I’m not going to say I’m happy with what you did, but he did have it coming to him. If he really stops giving Janet a bad time, then it will have been worth it. By the way, where’s Happy?”

I look around, no Happy. “I finished his bath, Mom. I guess he seized the opportunity to escape in the confusion.”

“Lucy Ann, you look a mess. Are you certain you gave Happy a bath, it looks more the other way around.”

“I look down at my soaked blouse and shorts, now complete with grass stains and mud. I begin to wipe off the mud I discover on my arms and legs. I sigh. “I need to do more laundry…, and take another bath,” I say, as I discover mud in my hair.

Mom starts laughing and assists me in putting things away. The neighbors go back inside; the show’s over. Mom phones Janet as I go up for another shower and clean clothes after putting my things from the washer into the dryer in preparation for handling my new contributions. The two bathing suits I carry up to hang over the tub where they can drip dry. Selecting another blouse and shorts, I carry my robe to the bathroom, strip everything off, and throw it into the sink.

I go for a hot shower again, first rinsing off the mud and cleaning myself, then carefully wash my hair again. I pull fresh towels from the bathroom closet and wrap my hair, then pat myself dry. Finally, I’m clean and dry again, except for my hair, and I put on my robe and grab all my dirty clothes from the sink, rinsing the dirt down the drain with plenty of water. My shorts are ruined. There is a gash in them on the right rear portion….

Upon inspection I find the gash in me isn’t all that bad. Curious how it could have happened, I think back to what I saw and realize that he was wearing some kind of ring on the hand that did this. I should have broken his arm. I finish drying my hair and get dressed then take everything down to wash and to show Mom.

“Mom. Look at this. This is where he hit me.” I show her the gash in my shorts. It went all the way through and ruined my new shorts. He was wearing a ring. That’s what did it. I should have broken his arm. Tony has been letting him do this crap to Janet? What’s the matter with him?”

I start my new load of wash and Mom tells me to bring my shorts. We go out to the car and drive to Janet’s.

“That’s the creep’s car, Mom. He must be inside.”

We get out and head for the house. About the time we reach the door I hear a shriek from Janet and I’m through the door and in hunt mode with Mom not far behind me. I find the creep beating on Janet and I play bowling ball with him, the walls are the ten pins and his head is the ball. After two or three strikes, Mom manages to attract my attention. Janet is crying, Tony is nowhere to be seen.

Mom manages to calm Janet down enough to learn Tony has gone back to work for a few hours, some kind of special project that needs finishing. Janet has several cuts on her face from the creep’s ring. She says he would never have tried it if Tony had been home. He starts to wake up and before Mom can stop me I have made two more strikes. Mom says she is going to take Janet to the hospital.

I ask Mom what she wants me to do with the creep.

“Why don’t we take him to the hospital too? The police can handle it from there.

Mom gets on the phone and alerts both the hospital and the police, then we drag the problem to the car and head for the hospital. Janet is holding a washrag full of ice cubes to her face to slow the bleeding.

I occasionally shake my prey, hoping for some sign that he is coming to, so I can work on him some more. We reach the hospital and Mom takes Janet to the emergency room as I drag the creep from the car and start in that direction. He picks that time to try to take me and I quickly put him under, after playing with him for ten or fifteen seconds. He’s a little large for a mouse, but I can’t be choosy. This is the only big game to come along for the last few weeks.

Huffing and puffing, I reach the emergency room doors after a difficult pull of several minutes. He must weigh a ton. A policeman opens them for me. I look at him, “Where were you when he came to?”

“You looked like you were having fun with the lowlife, so I decided to stay out of the way.”

I smile and give him a gentle pat on the face, “I’ve finished playing with him for now, so you can have him.”

The officer laughs and slaps handcuffs on the unconscious creep as I go in to sit down and rest while waiting to find out how much damage he has done to my sister.

A few minutes later Mom comes out and says, “They’re going to take X-rays.”

We sit there waiting together. The creep finally begins to come to and starts yelling and screaming at the officer.

I get up and start in his direction and the officer starts to walk away like he doesn’t see anything. The creep looks and sees me approaching, and suddenly decides it might be better to just be quiet. I almost think he doesn’t like me. I always play nice with my toys. I don’t kill them until they don’t want to play anymore. I stand there trying to decide if I should start playing again and the creep starts pleading with the officer to come back. Finally, the officer turns around and pretends to notice him, while I’m still standing there thinking about all the things I could do to him without causing him permanent harm.

I lean down and quietly say, “A little jab here, a little jab there.… It would only take about twenty minutes of standing by before you would be a permanent vegetable. Just think, you could have the rest of your life to piss and shit on yourself.”

“LUCY ANN, you stop talking like that. I don’t care if you are an Army combat instructor, you will keep a civil tongue in your head, do you understand?”

I attempt to appear contrite, “Yes, Mom. May I just play with it a little longer?” as I reach out and pat his face lightly while he tries to back away through the wall.

The officer has been joined by two more and they all break out into laughter before packing up the creep and taking him out, much to his relief. As they take him past me, I can smell the stench of fear from him.

I can’t help one last nudge, “Merrowww, hissss,” as I wave my hand at him, “Mommm, they’re taking my toy away. I want it back.”

The officers begin to laugh harder and the creep’s face again shows fear. Most of the people in the emergency room also start laughing, having seen Janet’s condition and having heard Mom’s explanation of what happened. They have difficulty comprehending a 220 pound bully’s fear of a possibly 130 pound female, so the little display of his fear they witnessed and Mom’s contrived explanation of my abilities tickled their funny bones more than they could suppress.

I put on a pained expression as I watch the departing officers and criminal.

“Lucy Ann, behave yourself. You’ll just have to find some other toy.”

“Yes, Mom.” I throw one more glance at them as they turn the corner at the end of the hall.

Again everyone breaks out in laughter and some applause. About twenty minutes later the doctor comes out to tell Mom that no major harm has been done. They sutured the cuts as carefully as they could to minimize any scarring. I’m about to get up to commence hunting for the creep but Mom’s hand slams down onto my leg restraining me.

“Mommm,” I whine, “he hurt Janet.”

“Lucy…. I’m only going to say this once. Don’t! If he gets out of jail and comes back to hurt any of us again then you have my permission to do whatever it is you military people do. I don’t want to know. But… right… now… you… will… stop. Do you understand me?”

She used her voice again. I know she means it.

“But, Mommm…,” I whine.

“LUCY!” A number of people who witnessed the fear on the creep’s face and laughed at my previous antics continue to chuckle at this continuing saga.

I frown for a moment, dejected, “Yes, Mom.”

“Now let the Doctor finish that which he is telling us.”

“Yes, Mom.” I sigh and still don’t think it’s fair, but Mom has overruled me. I think the officer would turn his back again just like he did here. I didn’t do any lasting harm to the creep except maybe to his pride. I quickly glance down the hall only to receive a light pinch on my leg from you-know-who. I straighten up and begin listening, trying to appear unconcerned at my lost opportunity to rid the world of a bully.

They let Janet leave about four hours later and we take her home to get a few things, then we all go to Mom’s for the night. Happy is back. He is laying on the porch and when Mom drives up he bounds down to the car, his ordeal with the bath forgotten. Mom tells Janet to use my old room and I clear out the things that I stashed there.

Somebody blabbed. The next morning a reporter from the local paper is at the door and wants to talk with Janet, Mom, and myself. We go into the history of repeated gender-based intimidation and harassment he’s heaped on Janet over time and surmise that there are probably other women to whom he has done it as well. His big mistake was trying it on a black belt. Then we go into how he left this house and went right to Janet’s where we found him beating up on her. After I subdued him, we took Janet to the hospital and brought him along for the police to take in. End of story.

The reporter says the creep tells a different version, saying he was attacked by the three of us and he was only trying to defend himself. We all get a good laugh at that, telling the reporter we have dozens of witnesses who saw his actions on many occasions and more who saw what happened here at this house. We tell him we bet there are many women out there who would testify against him confirming him as a chronic abuser of women.

The reporter thanks us and leaves. Tony finally calls, asking if Janet is here. We tell him yes and tell him why. He is over in less than five minutes. He takes one look at his wife and is ready to go hunting.

“Sorry, I paid for the only remaining license,” I tell him.

Tony tells us that the creep’s, “entire family, the father and two older brothers, are like that. The only thing they respect is force. Any woman who can’t protect herself is subject to their abuse.”

That means Janet is their victim until they are stopped. The phone rings, and Mom answers. A few moments later she hangs up.

Janet and I look at her , “What?”

“That creep made bail.”

“Who was on the phone?”

“They didn’t say. They just said ‘be careful, he made bail’ and hung up.”

Now I’m with Tony, I’m in favor of going on the hunt. Tony says he wants Janet to stay with us for the next few days while he tries to resolve this. We agree.

Life must go on, and I’m running out of time, so we go shopping again to find my trunk, lipstick, and the few other things I still need. We make tracks for the bank where I cash the check. I show my military ID and they compare my photo with myself and my signature with that on my ID. Finally they can’t think of anything else and they give me the cash after a more than valiant attempt to have me open checking or savings accounts. The cash goes into my purse. It is a lot easier since these are $50 and $20 bills instead of $1’s, $5’s and $10’s.

We pick up the lipstick I need (five to eight tubes from each of five different stores), as well as a box of deodorant tubes (one store). Tomorrow we will try for more lipstick, I’m looking at roughly a tube and a half a week just to be safe. I was able to purchase a case of deodorant which is 24 applicators. Both probably far more than enough. I also purchase eight packages of ten soft cotton handkerchiefs at the same store.

Finally! We find my trunks. They have six and they are pretty big. I purchase one for $23.00 plus tax and tell them that if this works for me, I’ll be back for the others.

They look sturdy. Expensive, but sturdy. I’ll try jumping up and down on it a while to see if it holds up, maybe toss it out my bedroom window and see if it survives impact with the ground. They are rated at 350 pounds. That is likely more than sufficient. Then again…. I’ll wait and see, it depends how much I am able to put into each one. At least they are not thin plywood like the Army footlockers, these are made of welded eighth inch aluminum and have aluminum ribs to help give strength.

We drive home. Happy greets us, tail wagging, and we go into the house. I take everything up to my room, put on a movie to study and begin to test pack my new trunk. It holds a lot, so I’m still packing an hour later, when I finally finish. I have about a third of my everyday clothes in the trunk, AND it closes just fine. I start jumping up and down on it to see what happens, which is nothing. After thirty seconds or so I give up, just about the time Mom and Janet come through the door to see what I’m doing.

The trunk is pretty heavy. It’s all I can do to lift it. I’m afraid to weigh it but I need to know. Rather than taking the trunk to the scale, I bring the scale to the trunk. So I’m a wuss — I call it thinking the problem through. I put the scale down and lower the trunk onto it, adjusting it so I can read the scale. 102 pounds, not as bad as I thought. If I can get everything into the six trunks then that would be about 612 pounds. Still well below my flight allowance of 660. Not only that, but after the trunks I will still have an allowance limit of three more items. Neat.

-o~O~o-

Whoa, let’s back that up a little…. Okay, now play again. Ah, raise the eyebrow and lower it again…. Passive face…, indifference…. I know something you don’t. Let’s see that again. Rewind, now play. Oops, not far enough…, rewind…. Play.

Too far, let it play out. Okay, she knows something, he is guessing, but not knowing. He goes to act on his guess and she knows the truth and knows he is spinning his wheels. I like it. Need to remember that one for sure.

“What, Mom?” I call back as I mute the TV.

“Lucy, we called you twice. It’s lunch, come on.”

“Be right down, Mom,” I say, turning off the TV and removing the reels of tape so I can continue later. I try out my ‘I know something you don’t know’ face on Janet later. Her reaction isn’t anything like I expected.

“What?” she throws in my face.

“Nothing.”

“Come on, you look like the cat that ate the canary. What is it?”

“I don’t understand.”

“MOMMM.”

Mom comes into the room, “What’s going on?”

“Lucy is making weird faces at me and won’t tell me what’s going on.”

“Lucy Ann, show me.”

I do, and Mom gives me a strange look. I try to explain the tape and my attempt at duplicating the expressions of the actresses. They want to see the tape.

After I play that portion, Janet tells me, “You need a LOT of practice.” Mom just starts laughing and walks out of the room. Janet then gives me the ‘look’ like the lady did on the tape. I don’t understand. I check myself in the mirror and it looks the same to me. That’s when Janet gives me a woman’s ‘I can’t believe you don’t get it’ look and also starts trying to help me learn.

Quite some time later, “That’s better. At least it’s passable.”

Happy comes in and burrows his head onto my lap under my hand to receive scratches as Janet and I watch the tapes together and she critiques my attempts. It isn’t as easy as I thought. Very tiny differences, almost indistinguishable on my face, totally changes the meaning of my facial expression. At this rate, I may never learn before I leave. Mom calls us down as we are about to play the tape through for the third time.

“Come down here, you two, and help finish preparing supper.”

We shut everything down and go help Mom.

“I’ve been doing all the cooking today, so you two may clean up the mess after supper.”

“Okay, Mom,” we say in chorus.

“Lucy, how did the trunk work out?”

“Great, Mom. If I purchase the other five I will probably be able to pack almost everything and still be under my weight limit. I even have an allowance for three more items. Each trunk will be well under the 120 pound individual piece limit, though not by a lot, so I will be able to take them with me rather than send them by slow boat.”

“Good. Then tomorrow you want to purchase the other five?”

“Yes, I think so,” I nod to her, “The only problem I see now is how to transport my gowns.”

“Well, after you purchase the other trunks we’ll come back and do a test pack. That will tell us a lot. Then we’ll make a list of everything that’s packed in each trunk so you can pack the same way in the future. When you make Lieutenant Colonel, do you get an increase in the weight limit?”

“I think so. I’m not certain. That’s a long way off though.”

“You made Major very quickly, Lieutenant Colonel isn’t that big a step from being a Major.”

“True, but the rapid promotions have occurred as a result of being in Vietnam. Here in the States, things change much more slowly. It takes a combat situation to get things stirred up enough that more allotments come down, Mom.”

“I’m surprised they put women into combat situations.”

“What about nurses, Mom?”

“You aren’t a nurse. You’re an intelligence analyst. The nurses aren’t usually in or near that much combat.”

“Over there they are, even in Saigon. You never know when some bicycle bomb or rocket is going to explode in the middle of the city. The enemy also play chopsticks with their rockets on the bases all around South Vietnam. The whole country is a combat zone. If we ever leave, South Vietnam will be snatched up like a gazelle being eaten by a tiger.”

“I had no idea. Is there that much going on over there? It never makes it into the papers. All I ever see is where some atrocity has been perpetrated by our troops against some peaceful village.”

“Right.” I shake my head. “There are no ‘peaceful’ villages over there, Mom. The communists come in and kill all the leaders, and then they kill all the teachers and bring in political ‘advisors’ to teach Communism to the children. We’ve established hospitals and free medical care for the villagers; the Communists don’t. We have started schools for the children and teach them a lot about the world; the Communists don’t. If it doesn’t forward Communism, it isn’t taught. That may change if they ever take the whole country, but there will be a blood bath of all the intellectuals first. The Communist leaders just want uneducated fodder for their armies so they can take the whole continent. Sorry, Mom, I’ll get down off my soap box.” I frown for a moment, thinking.

“The Communists aren’t all bad, Mom,” I continue. “Once they have a country, things begin to slowly change and, as people, they’re just like us. They’re not educated the same way, but they believe in their country like we believe in ours and they want good things just the same as we do. The standard of living is just so much lower over there that, unless one lives and works in a city, things are pretty rough. There isn’t much medical help, and things which just make us sick over here can kill people over there. It’s really kind of sad.”

“Lucy Ann, I had no idea you had become a philosopher.”

I snort a laugh, “It’s kind of difficult not to, Mom. Just look at what’s happening to me. It really gives me a lot to think about.”

Janet comes over and gives me a hug, grimacing a moment at the pain as her face touches me. Mom comes over and gives me a hug too.

“We’re here for you, baby sister,” Janet says.

Mom adds, “Yes, we are. You make a pretty good young lady, Lucy Ann. Don’t you ever let anyone tell you different. Your great, great grandmother would be proud you have her name.”

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To Be Continued….       © 2008, 2009 by T D Aldoennetti & Rénae Dúmas. This work may not be replicated or presented in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder) or her assigned representative. ALL Rights Reserved, including but not limited to ownership of Characters, final content decision, and more. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental. An Aldoennetti Original.