Book 3: 3rd World Products, Inc (18 page)

Selena stopped struggling and looked outside. The stepfather had stood Billy up at the top of the steps and was apparently laying down some new rules of conduct. What I saw on Billy's face made me think he'd probably be a hard learner.

The father brought Billy back inside some minutes later and pointed at Billy's chair at their table. Billy very carefully took his seat with only a few surreptitious and malevolent glances at us. His mother dipped her napkin in her water and dabbed at Billy's face for a moment before he viciously swatted her hand away.

She tearfully looked at her husband as he said, “Billy, if you ever swing at your mother again for any reason, you'll get
ten
licks for it on the spot. You
understand
me, boy? Ten hard ones, whenever and wherever. Now let her wipe your face."

"I can do it myself,” said Billy. He grabbed the napkin and wiped his eyes.

Selena couldn't contain herself. She stepped a pace toward them and said, “Big man. Beating a little boy."

The father looked at her, then at me. I said, “Sel, unless you're planning to take him on all by yourself, I suggest that you sit down and let those people work this out without any more of your comments."

She whipped around to face me and almost yelled, “
What?
You think he was
right
to do what he did?!"

"Do you see any blood? Any broken bones? The kid got a spanking, Sel. That's all. Just a spanking. It's more common than you seem to think. Now let them alone."

Toni slid out of the booth and stood up.

"I'm afraid I agree with Selena,” she said.

Faced with a pair of irate amazons, the father also stood up, shoved his chair back, and waited to see what would happen next.

Aw, hell.

With a glance at Steph, I stood up, too, and moved to stand in front of Selena, facing her.

"So call the cops if you really think you have reason,” I said. “Tell them what happened. Make a big stink and have to come back here to go to court
if
they arrest Billy's stepfather. Or do what I think you're thinking about doing and start something. Then you'll be coming back here to go to court
if
you're even allowed to leave town, and that would happen only
if
nobody got seriously hurt in the fight. There's a real good chance that
you'll
be sitting in a jail cell for assault, ladies.
Both
of you. Time lost from work and school and maybe worse and that Mustang out front would be in an impoundment yard somewhere. Ladies, the plain fact is that some people still spank their kids when the kids get too far out of line, and I don't think you'll get far trying to convince anyone around here not to do that."

"But...” began Selena.

"But, nothing. You can also figure that if you start a fight or have Billy's dad arrested over this bullshit, the results are likely to make things even worse for them, because courts cost money, and this is a farm town, like the fat woman said. Farmers can't afford to throw money away on shit like this, Selena. Now back off and drop it. The kid's not hurt."

She stared at me for some moments, then said, “I can't believe that you'd stand for..."

"Then you're wrong. Billy deserved what he got and he's the kind of kid who'll be getting a lot more before he gets smart. If you don't believe me, look at him. I don't even have to see him to know that he's grinning like an idiot, happy as hell to see people fighting over him."

That wasn't the whole truth, exactly. I could see Billy perfectly well in the reflection from one of the shuttered windows, and he was, indeed, grinning like an idiot. His stepfather and mother had been watching us, but at my words they looked at Billy and saw what we saw in his face.

Selena turned to look at Toni, who returned her look with a questioning expression. Selena then turned back to me.

"I think Toni and I should head home now,” she said. Without turning to look at Toni, she asked, “What do you think, Toni?"

Toni looked at Selena, then me, then at Selena again. In a tone lacking conviction, she said, “Whatever you think you need to do, Sel."

Selena turned to see Toni's less than enthusiastic expression and seemed startled that she wasn't being fully supported, but she faced me again and said, “We'll be leaving now, Ed. Enjoy your meal."

That's when the one person that none of us had really expected to hear from slid her chair back sharply and stood up. I turned to see Sally standing at the table.

"No,” she said. “This has gone too far already. Billy, go to the car and wait."

"But Mom...” whined Billy.

It was exactly the wrong thing to say at the wrong time. Sally's open-hand slap on his shoulder nearly unseated him.

Her voice was somehow both tremulous and forceful as she said, “I said
'go to the car'
, Billy.
Now.
"

We simply stared at her as Billy trudged to the door. Once he was outside, she pretty much ordered her husband to go pay the check so they could leave. He looked at the ticket and put a twenty on the table, as amazed as the rest of us. As she came around the table, she turned her attention to us, and Selena in particular.

"You. Your name is Selena, right? Well, Selena, that man's been takin’ good care of me and my boy since my first husband died.
Good
care. He's put up with a lot of shit from my Billy, too, and from me because I didn't do anything to stop it. Now you come along and if it wasn't for your man, here, you'da started the kind of shit that don't never go away in a family. You're like all them other do-gooders that come down here and try to tell us what's right an’ wrong. You got lots of fancy ideas, but you ain't got a lick of common damn sense, so why don't you people just go back where you came from and try to fix some of what's wrong with where
you
live?"

Selena's mouth had fallen open sometime during Sally's diatribe. She closed it, then opened it again as if to say something, then closed it again. Then she said, “I was just trying to keep him from beating Billy..."

Billy's mother barked, “
You
don't
know
what the hell a beating is. I do, and that wasn't no damned beating. Now why don't you all just get back on that thing that brought you here and go the hell away?” She reached in her purse and pulled out a twenty, then said, “I'll even give Selma the money for whatever you ordered. Just to see you all get the hell out of here quicker."

"No need,” I said. “Let's just call the whole thing over and done, okay?"

Sally fixed her gaze on me for a moment, then shoved the bill back into her purse and turned to walk away. When she glanced at her husband, he moved rather quickly to join her. At the door, she glanced back at us as he opened the door for her.

We watched them get into a pickup truck and drive away, then Selena started back toward our booth without a word. Toni glanced at me, shrugged, and moved to catch up with Sel. I stayed where I was.

"Goodbye, Stephanie,” said Selena. “I guess we should give the coins back before we go, so if you'll wait here a minute..."

Steph shook her head. “No. They were freely given. Keep them."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure. I wanted you to have them and I see no reason to change my mind."

Sel and Toni each leaned to give Steph a hug and a thank you, then they headed for the door with just a glance at me, and soon they were pulling away from the restaurant, too. I went back to the booth and sat down beside Stephanie.

"What will you do now, Ed?"

"I have a key. I'll be there when Sel and Toni get there. I'll get my stuff together and give back the key, then we'll head for Spring Hill."

"I see. You don't think there's any other solution?"

"Of course there are others. This is just the most likely one at the moment."

The waitress came out of the back and approached our table.

"Your ladyfriends coming back?"

"I don't think so,” I said.

"You want me to go ahead and fix your order? I kind of put everything on hold to see how things would go."

I grinned at her. “Good thinking. Yeah. I'll stay for dinner."

She seemed relieved. Turning to Steph, she asked, “You still sure you don't want to order something, ma'am?"

"Thanks, but I'm still sure,” said Steph with a smile. “I'm not hungry at all."

When we arrived at Selena's condo, I let myself in and began piling my stuff in the middle of the living room. When the ladies arrived, they found me sitting on the couch, drinking one of my Ice House beers. The other five beers sat on the carpet next to my stuff. Toni said nothing to me and asked Sel where the bathroom was, then hurried off in that direction.

Selena wordlessly looked over the pile for a moment, then reached for the beers. Finding them still cold, she pulled one out of the carton and opened it, then sat on the other end of the couch and looked at me as she took a big sip.

"Where's Stephanie?” she asked.

"With the flitter."

Nodding, she sipped her beer again, then asked, “When did I tell you to get out?"

"I wanted to be prepared. You seemed a little more pissed than usual."

"Than usual? What the hell does that mean?"

"Only that I've seen you pissed often enough to know that you were a little more pissed than you usually get about anything."

After a moment's gaze at me and another sip of beer, she said, “Well, you're right. And I'm still pissed, but Toni seems to be on your side."

"Toni? On my side? How's that?"

"She said the kid reminded her of her little brother at that age, among other things. She also thinks that you did the right thing by keeping us out of trouble. So do I, for that matter. I was ready to pound on that guy."

I sipped my beer and waited for whatever else she might say. After some more sipping and silence, Toni came out of the bathroom and walked into the living room. She looked at the pile of stuff in the middle of the floor, then at us.

"Grab a beer before they get warm,” I said.

She nodded and reached for one, then took a seat in the sofa chair across from us while asking, “Where's Stephanie?"

"With the flitter,” said Selena.

Nodding again, Toni asked, “So, what's happening?"

I said, “Don't know yet, Toni. That's up to Selena. It's her condo."

"Not completely,” said Sel. “You own twenty percent of it."

"So? If you sell it, my name's on the paperwork. I'll get paid."

Toni gave Sel a quizzical look, then gave the same look to me as she asked, “Are you saying you
want
to leave, Ed?"

"Nope. I'm just saying that particular reason for staying won't wash."

"Well, then, what kind of reason
will
wash?"

"I'll know it if I hear it."

Selena said, “I won't apologize, Ed. I acted according to my feelings."

"I know that. I'm not asking for an apology."

Toni asked, “Then what are you asking for? I'm not going to admit you were right, either, if that's what you're thinking. I don't approve of hitting children at all."

"I don't need you to agree with me, Toni. This isn't about that."

"Then what the hell
is
it about, Ed? Tell me.
What?
"

"I just want someone to tell me that we can disagree, sometimes even very strongly, and that because we're friends, we can get past it. I want someone to tell me to put my stuff away before it gets dirty."

Toni just stared at me for a moment, then turned to Selena to see how she was taking things.

Selena said, “Okay. We can disagree. Now put your stuff away, Ed."

"Let's finish our beers first,” I said.

"No laundry in the living room, remember? We agreed."

"Mmm. We did agree on that, didn't we?"

I guzzled the last bit of beer and fielded the bottle to the kitchen trash can. Toni's expression was priceless as she watched the bottle float across the room.

Putting my stuff away took only fifteen minutes or so, but it gave the ladies time to decide how to handle the evening while I was out of the room. When I came back to the living room, the ladies weren't there, but the hot tub's pump was running. I went to the back patio and found Selena adjusting the tub's temperature setting.

As she measured and added chemicals to the water, she said, “I told Toni that we usually don't bother with swimsuits."

"What did she say to that?"

"Nothing, but she looked a little nervous, so I told her that suits were optional."

"I'll wait and see if she's wearing a suit, then."

Selena rinsed the powder off her hands in the tub water, then said, “Not me. It's my tub. See you in a few."

She smiled at me, then headed for the bedroom. I gave matters some thought and decided that I'd see about another beer and wait until I'd had a look at what the others were wearing. There were a few dishes in the sink, so I started washing them to kill some time.

A few minutes later, Selena came out of the bedroom naked and strode to the hot tub, where she carefully hung her towel on the rack before turning to face me. She gave me a big smile and a little wave, then turned to step into the tub. She glanced toward the bedroom door once, then gradually lowered herself into the bubbling water, pulling back only once with a start when the water reached her hips.

"You don't think it might be hotter than absolutely necessary?” I asked.

As she lowered her breasts into the water, she responded, “It's ... supposed ... to be ... hot."

"Uh, huh. Ever wonder why I'm never in a hurry to get into that thing?"

She grinned hugely and said, “It's ... ‘cause ... you're a ...
candy ass
, Ed."

"I'm also the one who isn't gasping for breath right now. Knock it back five degrees. You can boil yourself some other time."

"Candy ... ass,” she repeated, reaching for the temperature control. “Okay ... down ... five degrees. Think you ... can handle ... that?"

"Ask me again when you can form a whole sentence in one breath and unclench your teeth when you talk."

She stuck her tongue out at me. I sipped my beer and pulled the kitchen stool near the sink, then sat on it as I did the dishes. Sure, I could have hopped into the tub with Sel, but I still wanted to see how Toni was going to handle matters.