Babs’ New Year’s Resolution 82 © Copyright, Beverly Taff April 2021

List of Characters.

Lola Smith Bab’s adopted trans daughter.
Callista Denton (Callie). Transgendered Duchess of Denton.
Margaret Denton (Maggie). Callie’s wife.
Molly Denton Callie’s grandmother
Ellie Denton Callie’s mother.
Bab’s Barbara Smith. Lola’s adoptive ‘Nana’
Olivia Smith Bab’s adopted daughter. (Excellent Artist.)
Angela Smith Bab’s newly adopted daughter
Erica Bab’s foster daughter.
Sergeant Bridie Davies Lady Police detective protecting the girls.
Sergeant Brian Davies. Bridie’s twin brother.
Inspector John, Heading up the anti-rape-gang operation.
Gareth Jenkins, Police office trained in firearms and protection.
Belinda Harrington Lola’s university girlfriend.
Aaron Talbot Surgical registrar – married to –
Shirley Talbot Lecturer at Local university.
Mickey Talbot Aaron and Shirley’s oldest son.
Jessica Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s middle daughter.
Bianca Talbot Aaron & Shirley’s youngest daughter.
Henry Denton Callie’s only son.
Charlotte Denton Callie’s only daughter.
Beverly Callie’s maternal great aunt (Ellie’s paternal aunt)
Wendy Smith Beverly’s Operations Manager for Hull
Louisa Wendy’s Daughter
Griselda & Mia Wendy’s younger twin daughters.
Susan Harvey Prosecution counsel advocating for Erica in court.
Han’s The German policeman’s son whom Erica really fancies.
Uncle Phillip CIA Agent.
Emily Jackson. Texan girls Kidnapped to Holland & Turkey
Sandra Jackson Sister to Emily kidnapped in Texas as a hostage.

Chapter 82

“You can’t all come in at once!” Lola squealed joyously. “There’s not enough chairs.”

“Then let’s wheel you to the visitor suite!” Olivia squealed back as she located a wheelchair from the corridor while the others paused uncertainly in the doorway as they surrounded the nervous police guard.

The commotion alerted the duty nurse who came hurrying down the corridor while demanding order.

“What’s going on here? There should be a security officer here!”

“I am here. You just try to control this lot.” The officer protested.

“It’s okay nurse. They’re my friends!” Lola called out to prevent any misunderstandings. “The surgeon said I can move about but I’m not allowed to walk yet because of the transferred skin.”

“Oh! So the wheel-chair’s serendipity then.” Olivia laughed as she realised she had inadvertently anticipated the issue. “Hop in girl and I’ll wheel you down to the dayroom.”

The nurse had calmed down as she realised the crowd was not dangerous and she confirmed with the police guard that it was okay. He glanced questioningly at Peggy who nodded affirmation that the new visitors were ‘legit’, and Uncle Phillip produced his CIA identity to reinforce the issue.

After identities were checked and double checked by the overwhelmed police guard, he finally agreed to let Lola go down to the visitor room. Olivia assumed control of the wheel-chair and by default led the procession to the visitor room where a ‘horse-shoe’ of chairs were hastily arranged around Lola’s chair.

“So what the hell yo’ bin doin bitch?” Angie squawked in a fake Bronx accent.

“Chasin’ planes momma!” Lola riposted in a similarly light-hearted vein.

“Will you lot cool it!” Babs’ ordered before the play-acting got out of hand.

“Not much trauma here then.” Peggy smirked as she sensed the friendly warmth of the visitors and Lola’s happy response.

The meeting finally came to some semblance of order and Lola explained what had happened. Before the girls could ask further questions, Peggy had to explain that much of Lola’s story was sub-judice and might compromise the case surrounding the attempted kidnapping at the airport.

“How is the girl?” Babs’ asked with advantage of her mature years.

“She’s fine.” Uncle Phillip intervened. “No physical injuries but emotional ones. She’s here in the hospital just under observation until this evening.”

“How would you know?” Lola asked. “It’s police matter isn’t it?”

“Not quite.” Peggy interrupted. “Two of the kidnappers were Guatemalan criminals and they’re wanted in Mexico for other crimes surrounding homicide, trafficking and drugs. Hence the CIA interest.”

Lola pulled a face as she reflected. “Deeper and deeper it seems.”

“The girl is a sister to one of the girls in your case. The gang kidnapped her in the hope of using her as hostage to shut her sister up.”

“But that’s not possible,” Erica spoke up after having been silent until now. “Nearly all the girls were witnesses; I was there with several of them.”

“This kidnap was a vital strand of evidence connecting a powerful politician to some earlier crimes that lead into your case Erica’ before you were abducted. It’s all part of the web.”

Erica paused then nodded her comprehension. Few knew better than her just how big and widespread the case was.

“So which girl is the sister?”

“The American one, Emily Jackson.”

“Oh yes! She’s the one that didn’t attend the hearings in Germany, but she was in Amsterdam and Turkey.” Erica observed. “I wondered about that.”

“Yes. We wanted her as a witness over here. If she had given evidence in Germany, it might have alerted the gang and the politician that we were on his case. Bigger fish to fry and all that.”

“Hope you get the bastard!” Was all Erica could offer.

“Well thanks to your friend Lola, we’ve got hard evidence connecting him to murders, kidnappings, people trafficking, drugs and money laundering; all here in the U.S. as well as across the pond. What do you Brits call it; - bang to rights-.“

“So this puts me in the firing line as well, now, I suppose.” Lola grumbled.

“Afraid so girl, but not for long we hope.”
“Yeeah!” Lola sighed disbelievingly as she raised her eyes skywards and slowly panned her vision from left to right. “Was that another pig?”

“No Lola, that’s a promise,” Peggy intervened. “We arrested him and his entourage an hour ago as they entered the U.S. via Miami airport.”

“We’ll see. I’ll believe it when I see them behind bars.”

“More likely he’ll fry.” Peggy smirked. “As you said, this is Texas after all.”

“Good enough for the bastard!” Erica snarled.

“Amen to that.” Lola agreed.
ooo000ooo

The mood in the room had lightened considerably with Peggy’s news and they were finishing the cookies when another commotion in the corridor alerted them.

Peggy, Uncle Phillip and both the other police guards drew their guns and moved towards the door as the girls and Babs were ordered to step back.

“Halt!” Peggy ordered before she recognised the Jackson sisters with their parents and a huge bouquet of flowers.

“Oh it’s you.” She relaxed as she turned to speak to Lola and Erica. “It’s Emily and her sister from the plane, the girl you rescued. They’re with their parents.”

“You’d better let them in then.” Erica grinned as Lola nodded.

The Jackson Family entered and paused uncertainly at the crowd until Emily Jackson made the introductions. Finally the father spoke to Lola.

“So you’re the girl who saved my daughter Sandra.”

Lola nodded cautiously but remained silent her supersensitive antenna had sensed that the parents were concerned to find two negroes in the group of girls. Finally she replied.

“Yes.”

“Could we speak with you alone?”

“Sorry.” Peggy intervened. “All the girls are under police protection.”

“Any thing you’ve got to say, you can say it in front of my sisters.” Lola enlightened them.
“Oh! – You’re related?” Mrs Jackson almost gasped.

“By adoption; yes. We call Babs’ our Nana. She fostered us, then adopted us for legal reasons. We live as a family. Back in England that is.”

“Ah I see. Well we came to thank you for saving Sandra.”

Lola smiled politely at a loss for words. She could hardly say -‘You’re welcome;’ nor could she just brush it off with an –‘ooh it was nothing’. And a slightly embarrassed silence descended until Babs’ took the bull by the horns.

“We can only be glad she happened to be there at the time. She’s friends with one of the aircraft maintenance engineers.”

“Yes. We went to see the scene of the incident. The maintenance engineer showed us your pick-up. It’s pretty much a write off.”

“Yeah. I’m like a cowboy without his faithful old horse. I’m gonna’ miss my old jalopy. Still it makes little odds at the moment, I cant drive with my hand like this anyway.”

“But you’ll need to in the future.” Mrs Jackson interrupted.

“I don’t see a future in Texas, so hopefully I’ll be going back to England as soon as this business is sorted.”

“Wouldn’t you like to stay here?”

“No thanks,” Lola replied. “I’m going back as soon as the girls case is sorted then, when I have to, I’ll come back for Sandra’s case.”

“The State attorney is trying to combine the cases because they are closely connected.”

“Even so,” Lola shrugged. “I don’t see me ever coming to live here..”

“Why ever not? We could easily sort out the green card and university courses. There’s marvellous opportunities for a girl like you.”

“No thanks, I’m happy back home in UK. Besides, I like living with my sisters, that is when I’m down from Uni.”

Lola’s supersensitive antenna caught the flicker of consternation briefly cloud the mother’s face as she glanced at Olivia and Angela. She easily read the unspoken question. –

‘Why would such a pretty and intelligent white girl want to be involved with n-gg—s?’
Having sensed the prejudice hanging thick in the air, Lola decided the drop her hand-grenade amongst the family.

“Besides having adoptive black sisters, I’m transgendered and that doesn’t seem to fit very well in Texas. I’m safer back home; - you know, life, liberty, ….. happiness and all that.”

Emily’s mother rankled slightly as her father rose to the bait.

“What! You’re saying you’re a boy?”

“No. I’m transgendered.”

“Good god!” I’d never have, -“

“I don’t suppose you would have and besides, if you’re offering me a place at a university, I’ve got a perfectly good one at Cambridge thank-you.”

Peggy decided to intervene before things got rancorous.

“I don’t think we’re here to fall out, I think it’s about agreement and gratitude. So I’m asking you Lola, to be a little more considerate of people’s feelings in Texas. Don’t judge so harshly.”

Lola bristled as she drew breath to snap angrily back but Babs waded in to help Peggy.

“Lola! Cool it girl! I know it’s not in your nature to be aggressive, so don’t get too upset! Besides, you’re still healing girl and that hand does not want to become clenched into a fist or you’ll rip the stitches.”

“We’re hear to say thank you Lola, not argue politics.” Mr Jackson pleaded.

“Well. Like Olivia and Angela being black, I’m also nervous about people discovering I’m trans’. You have to understand. There’s stuff going through the Texas senate even as we speak and it isn’t very trans’ friendly.”

“Point taken.” Mr Jackson conceded. “But we were here to express our thanks for rescuing Sandra.”

“Well you have, you’ve just said it.”

“No. Not like that. Something more substantial; something more material.”

Lola fell silent before asking suspiciously.

“Like what?”

“Well, for starters, we could replace your ‘old jalopy’ as you called it. Not something shiny and new, you understand, our family funds don’t run to that; but a good quality used pick-up perhaps, or an SUV.”

Lola’s silence returned. She had no way of encompassing such a generous offer. Her jaw worked in silent incomprehension for several moments before she found her voice.

“You’d do that? A pickup!” Why? ….. All I did was -.”

“Save our second daughter!” Mrs Jackson replied with a finality that emphasised how much the Jacksons valued their children. “You gave us back Sandra while also ensuring that Emily’s search for justice was not compromised.”

Mr Jackson reinforced the message.

“Truth is Lola, you gave us back both our daughters. There is nothing more precious to us than our children. Isn’t that the same for all parents? The pick-up is small beer compared to that but it’s all we can do; we are not rich.”

Once again Lola fell silent as a lump formed in her throat. She glanced across at her sisters Olivia, Angela and Erica as all four of them recognised and felt the same cruel wave of emotion. None of them had ever had parents that cared as much for them. Each of them was the broken product of a broken family, injured further by a broken care system.

As all four of them each felt the stab of loss the tears started to leak and they instinctively gathered together around Babs’ a though she could somehow remedy the hugely emotional sense of loss. By that same instinct, Babs reached around them like a broody hen gathering in her chicks.

“What’s wrong now? Mrs Jackson whispered nervously to Peggy.

“I’ll explain outside, best leave them be for now.”

ooo000ooo