Tag: fiction

Townies, Cronies and Hayseeds II C3.5

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Privacy security or safeguard diagram or flowchart written on a dry erase board as tips, advice or information on making your personal, sensitive data safe and secure

Brielle had just fed and burped the baby and laid her asleep in her play pin. She then sat down to eat when suddenly, her cellphone began to ring with the song, “These Boots Are Made for Walking” by Nancy Sinatra for her ringtone. She had selected the ringtone specifically as the ringtone for Bill’s number that afternoon because she knew that Bill would call just as soon as he’d gotten home and found that she and the girls were gone, and Brielle’s things were missing.

Grandma Bennett looked at her from across the table.

“It’s Bill, isn’t it?” She asked.

Jesse stood up with a serious look on his face.

“Nobody but.” Brielle replied.

She continued to let the phone ring.

“Well, are you going to answer it?” Jesse asked.

“I don’t know if I should. I left him the new number in case he wanted to talk to the kids.” Brielle said.

“You gave that monster your new number? Brielle, what in the heavens were you thinking?” Grandma Bennett asked in an annoyed tone.

“He’s the girls’ father, Grandma. I can’t just cut him out completely. And you don’t know him. He’s vindictive as hell. He’ll use this to tell the courts that I’m keeping him for seeing the girls- violating his rights as a father.”

“His rights? What about your rights to be safe and not to be harmed? What about the girls’ rights not to be harmed?” Joey asked angrily.

“I know, Joey. But that won’t carry much weight with Bill. He doesn’t care.”

As they talked, Bandit, curled up on the floor under the table, panted and his ears perked up. The phone finally stopped ringing after the sixth ring. Then began ringing again. After Bill attempted to call for the third time, Brielle turned off her ringer.

“You don’t think he’ll show up here, do you?” Amy asked.

“He better not show up here!” Paul thundered.

“Damn right! We’ll give him a welcome wagon he’ll never forget!” Jesse promised in a threatening tone.

Brielle snickered.

“Alright, knock it off!” Grandma Bennett ordered, “You boys stop crowin’! He’s not going to come all the way here.”

“You think not? Grandma, somebody like him could hop on a plane and be here in a matter of hours.” Jerome said.

“I don’t think so.” Grandma said, “I don’t think he’s that stupid.”

“Oh, Lord, I hope not.” Brielle sighed.

“Well, Grandma. We’ve got to go home and retire.” Jesse told Grandma Bennett as he leaned down and kissed her. Each of the guys kissed Grandma Bennett, Brielle and each of the girls and baby before they gathered their wives and children and left for their houses.

Now, it was just Brielle, Grandma Bennett, the girls, and baby in the house. Brielle rose from the table.

“Come on, girls. Let’s get ready for bed.” Brielle called.

After the girls were in bed, Brielle and Grandma Bennett sat up and talked. Grandma Bennett picked up her coffee mug, took a sip, and set it down on a folded napkin on the table.

“So, what happened between you and Bill, Brielle. What did he do this time?” She asked.

“He’s just got a volatile temper. He just can’t control his temper. And he thinks he owns me and the girls. He treats us more like his property than his family.” Brielle explained.

“He hit you again, didn’t he?” Grandma Bennett pressed.

“Yes. He hit me, Grandma. But never again. Because I left for good this time. I need to be happy. The girls need to be happy, and they need to live in peace. I must teach them that it’s not okay for a man to hit you and this is how I do it. I have to be an example for my girls.” Brielle continued.

“That’s right, Brielle. And I’m so proud of you for leaving that scumbag! Just don’t go back to him. Don’t let him talk you into- “

“Don’t worry, Grandma. I won’t. I’m done with him. I don’t even love him anymore.”

“I’m glad to hear it. You deserve better than him, Brielle. You deserve to be happy for once.”

“You’re right. I do. And so, do the girls.”

Brielle than got up, then she turned back around and looked at Grandma Bennett.

“Oh, by the way, do you have this week’s newspaper lying around somewhere? I need to look in the classifieds and the real estate ads. I want to see about buying a place for me and the girls and start looking for a job soon.”

“Sure. This week’s newspaper is lying on the counter. I just got through reading it.” Grandma Bennett answered as she pointed to the counter with the newspaper folded on top of it.

Brielle picked it up and learned against the counter as she read it.

“It says here that there’s a 4-bedroom house for sale a few miles down the road from here. It’s in the country where it’s peaceful and quiet.” Brielle said as she continued to read.

“That’s the old Hancock Place. It’s been up for sale for over two years, and they can’t seem to sell it.” Grandma Bennett told her.

“I wonder why.”

“Because they wanted too much for it. The realtors have since brought down the price a little and they still can’t sell the place.”

“I’d like to call the realtors in the morning to set up an appointment. Then I want to go look for a job. It’s ten o’clock so I need to get to bed so that I can get up bright and early. Thanks again, Grandma.” Brielle said sweetly.

She then leaned down and kissed her grandmother on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Sugar. I’ll see you in the morning.” Grandma Bennett said.

Townies, Cronies, and Hayseeds II C3.4

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Back in California, Bill pulled into the driveway in his BMW. Noticing that Brielle’s vehicle was gone, he got out slowly then paused and stared at the empty space in the driveway with an annoyed look on his face. He then looked around.

Bill took his briefcase out of the trunk. After closing the trunk, he went to the front door, unlocked it, and went inside the house. He dropped his briefcase when he took one look around the house and realized that not even the dog was there. He also noticed that Brielle’s recliner was missing as were the baby’s play pin, toys, and Brielle’s pictures of her family and a few pictures of the girls.

An Unpleasant Surprise

Bill then raced upstairs, into the master bedroom and jerked open the door to the walk-in closet. Brielle’s clothes were missing. He then darted into the bathroom. Sure enough, Brielle’s makeup and toiletries were also missing.

Next, he ran into the girl’s rooms and noticed that they were completely empty, no beds, no vanities, no computers, no desks, no pictures, no toys or nick-nacks. Nothing. He burst into the baby’s room. Again, nothing. Jane’s, Olivia’s, and the baby’s rooms were all empty and bare.

After making a mad dash down the stairs, Bill went into the kitchen and found three cellphones lying on the counter- Brielle’s, Jane’s, and Olivia’s. In a rage, Bill picked up one of the phones and, with a scream of fury, hurled it through the window in the patio door.

A Dear John Letter

He then found a note on the far counter by the stove and picked it up. It read:

“Bill,

I have been doing a lot of thinking over the last few months. Things haven’t been good between us for a long time now and I think that it’s time to end our marriage and go our separate ways. The girls and I deserve to be happy, and we haven’t been because all you do is hurt us. Well, I won’t let you hurt us anymore. I’m determined for us to be happy, and I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ll be much happier without you.

Don’t worry. You can still come see the girls. I won’t keep them from you. But we just can’t live with you anymore. I wish you all the best in life. Know that I’ll always care about you. You’re the father of my children. But I’m not in love with you anymore. Little by little, you killed that love with each slap, each punch in my face, each time you called me a bitch, and each time you verbally assaulted me. And now it stops.

You go on with your life and let me and the girls go on with ours. That’s all I ask of you.

Sincerely,

Brielle

  1. Here’s my new number if you need to talk to the girls.

(323)555-0672”

 

Bill took the letter, crumpled it up, and threw it across the kitchen.

“Goddammit!” He screamed, “That bitch!”

He then picked the crumpled letter back up and straightened it out. Next, he read it again, took out his cellphone and dialed the number written in the letter.

Townies, Cronies, and Hayseeds II C3.2

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Hit the road concept, road – 3D rendering

After the movers left, Brielle left hers and the girl’s old phones sitting on the kitchen counter. She carried the baby on her hip, while calling  and whistling for the dog. Bandit came running, followed the family outside and jumped into the SUV. Then Brielle, strapped the baby in the safety seat before she and the girls got into the Escalade and pulled out of the driveway, leaving Karen and the boys standing there waving at them.

Brielle and the girls waved back as they pulled away and slowly disappeared down the suburban street, toward the freeway, thus beginning a long drive back East.

The girls turned around in their seats and took one last look at the house and neighborhood before Brielle turned a corner and it faded out of sight. Bandit barked, then let up a whimper.

“Seatbelts, girls.” Brielle said in a stern tone.

Leaving the Only Home the Kids Ever Knew

“Sorry, Mom.” Jane said as she sat in the passenger seat and clicked her seatbelt secure. Olivia followed suit in the back seat. Baby Kennedy gurgled and cooed in the baby seat beside Olivia. Bandit sat in the back with his back to the humans in the car, staring out the back window and panting. The dog had always loved to ride in the car.

“I just wanted to get one last look at the house I grew up in. ‘Ya know?”

“I understand sweetie.” Brielle assured.

“As bad as Dad is, I’m going to miss California and our home and neighborhood.” Jane continued as a tear streamed down her cheek.

Brielle reached over and lovingly patted Jane’s knee.

“I know honey. But you understand why this has to be, right?” She said.

“Yes.”

“Okay, girls, now listen. I’m doing this for not only me. I’m doing this for you girls too. It’s like I told you yesterday. When a man abuses you, that’s never okay. It’s never okay when he hits you and it’s never okay when he yells, curses, or talks down to you. None of that is okay! I can’t stress this enough! You girls grew up watching your dad abuse me and enduring abuse from him yourselves. And when you’ve grown up with it, it’s too easy to think that crap is acceptable and normal. It isn’t!”

A Much-Needed Discussion

“I want you teach the three of you that you shouldn’t allow a man or anyone else to abuse you. I also want to teach you that we deserve better than what we’ve been getting, you deserve better. And there are great men out there- loving men who will love you and take care of you. But you must get to know him first. It starts when you are dating, not after you’re already married. You must watch for the signs, and I did not do that because I wasn’t very smart about it. Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

“Yes, Mom.” Jane and Olivia both answered.

Brielle continued to talk as she drove on, pulling onto the interstate and heading east.

“Not every man who shows his teeth to you loves you and has your best interests at heart. Not every man who marries really loves his wife. To some men, men like your father, women and children are possessions rather than individual humans with their own thoughts, feelings, perspectives, opinions, and views. Your dad was very controlling and someone who tries to control you doesn’t really love you. When someone hits you, that’s not love, Jane. When someone tries to control you, that’s not love. Do you hear me, Olivia?”

“Yes ma’am.” Olivia said.

Looking Back and Realizing Her Mistakes

As soon as they reached the east side of Bakersfield, Brielle and the girls stopped for a late lunch. Not wanting to leave the dog in the car, they went through the drive-thru. They bought and paid for the food, then sat in the parking lot and ate. Once they were through eating, Brielle hit Interstate 40 and they were headed east.

By dark, Brielle and the girls were well into Arizona. They had just pulled onto the interstate again after having dinner. The baby had fallen asleep, aided by the hum of the motor and the steady vibrations. Jane and Olivia had their earbuds in and were playing games on their tablets. As Brielle drove, all was quiet, and she finally had time to think.

Brielle was taking a huge step, perhaps, the biggest step she had ever taken. After fourteen years of being verbally and physically abused, Brielle had taken her three children, left her husband, and was moving back east to Tennessee. This was no easy task by any stretch of the imagination, and neither was it an easy decision.

A Hard Decision

It was downright scary. Brielle still cared for Bill, even loved him a little bit. But she had to love herself and her girls more than she did him. She had to do what was best for the three of them. If she did not fart around, she would already be in Tennessee by the time Bill returned home on Saturday.

Brielle could only imagine the look on his face when he pulled into the driveway and realized that Brielle’s escalade was gone. She could also imagine the shock as soon as he entered the house to find them all gone, along with Brielle’s and the girl’s belongings. Bill would shit a gold brick! That much she knew, and it was best to get as far away as she could.

Brielle then thought back. Bill had been a complete psychopath. During the first year of their marriage, he had started out verbally abusing Brielle. Then it escalated to physical abuse. Brielle had finally reached her breaking point. She thought back to her middle and high school days. As she reflected, Brielle remembered how horribly her classmates had bullied her.

She wondered. Why was it that women who were bullied in school always seemed to attract, fall in love with, and marry bullies? She couldn’t understand it. It seemed that no matter what she did, she always attracted more bullies and more abusers. But she finally realized that there were things she had to change within herself before she could stop allowing these types of people into her life.

The Big Realization

After years of wondering if there was something wrong with her, Brielle finally concluded that there was never anything wrong with her. Bill had the issue. Bobby, Rita, and the rest of the creeps who had bullied her in school- they had had the issue! Thanks to Shannon Crooke McGregor and her books, Brielle had come to the realization that each of her abusers were the ones who had the problems.

She then became angry- angry at her abusers for brainwashing her into thinking that she “made” them hurt her. And most of all, angry at herself for allowing it! Brielle was angry at herself for taking the blame for their disgusting behavior! For taking the blame for the battering of her own spirit! And this time, she was done!

She was done with Bill! She was done with every person who’d tried to destroy her spirit in the past. And she was done with being treated like a piece of garbage. Brielle was bound and determined that she was going to be happy for once in her life. More so, her girls were going to see an example of a strong woman. As a mother, Brielle was determined that her girls weren’t going to follow in the footsteps of a weak and powerless woman.

Putting Herself and Her Kids First

Brielle was not only leaving for herself; she was leaving for the welfare of her girls. She wanted to set an example for her young daughters and to send them a message – that they didn’t have to take abuse from anyone, be it a man, a girl pal, anyone. Ever! That it was okay to leave when you didn’t feel safe. And that is exactly what she planned to teach her daughters from here on out.

After spending the night in a five-star, pet-friendly hotel in Arizona, Brielle, the kids, and the dog set out once again. It was Thursday and the sun shone high in the sky…

Townies, Cronies, and Hayseeds II C3

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Chapter 3
The Escape Home

The next day at 8:15, Brielle and the girls watched as Ms. Geneva got into her Mercedes Benz and pulled out of the driveway to go to her weekly Bingo game. She always left early to go have breakfast before her bingo game.

“There, she goes, Mom. She never misses a game of Bingo, does she?” Jane remarked while slightly opening the blinds and peering out the window.

“Perfect!” Brielle said with a smile, “C’mon, girls. Get everything we’re taking to the living room in front of the door, so when the movers arrive, they’ll be able to load everything quickly and we can get out of here before Ms. Nosy Britches gets back. In the meantime, I’ll take the baby and run to the bank. Be sure and keep all the doors locked until I return.

After Karen arrived to watch the kids, Brielle grabbed her purse, phone, and keys, then left. She had never told Bill she had her own bank account. When Brielle had married Bill, she had remembered her mother’s advice. “Even if you’re married, it’s always best to have a secret bank account just in case the shit hits the fan, and you have to bail out.” She had never forgotten it.

A Sneaky Hustle Plan

Therefore, unbeknownst to Bill, Brielle had worked two nights per week at the strip club while he was on his business trips until recently. And Bill had been gone mostly on the weekends. Taking the girls to Karen’s allowed Brielle to work, making about five to seven-hundred dollars a night, one to two hundred to pay Karen, and the rest to stash away in her private bank account. And after having secretly worked for the last ten years, except for the months during her pregnancies, she had saved quiet a bit of money- close to five-hundred thousand dollars to be exact.

Because her husband paid all the bills, including her cell phone, Brielle was able to save and save big. And she was able to plan her escape years in advance. Also, she had money in an old bank account from when she was single and worked fulltime, which was a stash of about twenty-three thousand.

After closing both of her bank accounts and being handed her money in the form of cashier’s checks, Brielle went to the phone company and bought new smartphones and data plans for herself, Jane, and Olivia. She could not take a chance on Bill having someone track the phone. The old phone was already in Bill’s name, which meant he would get the bill, see all the numbers of her incoming and outgoing calls and any text messages. So, who was to say that he could not get her locations too?

Getting the Ducks in a Row

Brielle returned home just before ten o’clock and as the movers were arriving. The movers pulled into the driveway as Brielle was taking the baby out of her safety seat.

After the movers loaded up the huge box truck, Brielle paid them half and would pay the other half once the movers got her belongings safely to her grandmother’s house in Tennessee. Because the movers would have to take the items across the country, the moving was awfully expensive.

Her best friend Karen stretched out her arms and Brielle embraced her. The two besties hugged each other tightly.

“I’m going to miss you all so much,” Karen told her, “But I understand why you have to leave. You deserve to be happy, Brielle. And I want you and these girls to be happy even if it’s in Tennessee. Please be careful. And call me when you get there so that I know you all are safe.”

“I sure will, sweetie. I’m going to miss you too.”

Karen’s fifteen-year-old son, Ryker, hugged Jane. Her twelve-year-old son, James, hugged Olivia.

“I guess this is it,” Ryker told Jane.

“Yeah. I’m really going to miss you,” Jane said in a low voice.

The sadness of Leaving Friends Behind

“Yeah, me too. Have a great trip. And call me,” Ryker chirped.

“I will. You have my new number. Right?” Jane asked.

Ryker dug a folded piece of paper out of his pocket.

“Right here.” He assured.

“Program it into your phone. You’ll easily lose that paper if you don’t.” Jane warned.

Ryker unfolded the paper, took out his smartphone, and did as Jane suggested.

“Got it!” He chirped.

Fourth Novel: “Kids Under the Latch Key”

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book coversThis is a fiction about bullying from the eyes of the protagonist, who witnesses it and the lessons it taught her about the importance of giving people who are different the same dignity as everyone else.

Synopsis:

During the summer of 1987, then sixteen-year-old Grace Bradshaw, her younger brother Max, and neighborhood friends befriend Randy Spence, a twenty-one-year-old mentally disabled man with the IQ of a child.

Because Randy is mocked by many in the corrupt small town, Grace, Max and their neighborhood friends take him under wing and protect him while learning hard lessons about the way most people treat those who are different.

Along the way, Grace, her brother and younger neighborhood friends also learn shocking lessons about good and evil.”

A first-person narrative told by a now middle-aged and widowed Grace Bradshaw McGuire to her adult children, “Kids Under the Latch Key” is a heart-touching story of the summer which prompted her to question God and challenged her initial belief that all humans are inherently good.

Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle!

A Mile in Charlotte’s Shoes- Excerpt from Chapter 1

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Charlotte Hope Covington was born during the summer of 1967- The Summer of Love, in the tiny town of Beulah, Tennessee, delivered by an old-fashioned, patriarchal and country doctor whom allowed her mother, Christie Stapleton Covington, who was married but only eighteen, to lay in agonizing labor for thirty-six hours and endure a brutal delivery even though the better option was to take the tiny baby by Caesarean section. Though Christie was too small in her bones to give birth vaginally, the doctor forced her to give natural childbirth because Charlotte was a month premature and only four pounds. Forceps were used to deliver the tiny baby girl, leaving her little head bruised black from the force of the delivery.

The baby’s father and Christie’s husband, 20-year-old Francis Xavier Covington could not be present when Charlotte was born, for he was in the United States Marine Corps and fighting in the dense rain forests of Vietnam at the time of the birth. It would be another three months before he would return home. Having impregnated his teenaged wife, the night before leaving to go to war, then receiving notice of the pregnancy through written letter, Frank kept a pocket calendar and had long marked out each day as it came closer to the long-awaited due date. Only the baby had come early.

It happened a lot back then- young soldiers impregnating their wives on their wedding nights, which for many of them was the night before they would leave for war. These babies would live for them, carrying on their names should the fates decide that these brave men would never come home.

As each of the two widowed grandmothers looked through the nursery window at the tiny girl-child, they gasped upon seeing the black and blue bruises on each side of her tiny head. The bruises looked like imprints of the forceps used during birth. Martha “Gigi” Stapleton, little Charlotte’s maternal grandmother walked hurriedly to the nurse’s desk and asked the desk nurse to summon the doctor who had delivered the tiny babe. An hour later, Dr. Benoit approached the two young grandmothers and took them into the waiting room.

“I don’t like the look of this! That baby’s little head is bruised! Please tell us she’s going to be alright!” Agnes, the paternal grandmother pleaded in concern.

“We gave her a thorough check as soon as she was born. I think she’s going to be fine.” Dr. Benoit assured the two forty-year-olds.

“Are you positive she’s going to be okay…that something won’t show up a few years from now?” Gigi asked in a fearful tone.

“I’m almost certain, ma’am. I’ve been delivering babies for over thirty years and she’s a little bruised but there’s no damage. The bruises should be completely healed in a week or two. However, I don’t claim to be God, so just keep an eye on her and if she does happen to show any symptoms which aren’t normal, you can have her pediatrician further examine her. Although the birth was a difficult one, she’ll be just fine, ladies. I promise you.” The doctor assured.

The next day, the nurses brought the baby to Christie and placed her in her mother’s arms. Christie, overwhelmed with love for the soft, beautiful but tiny babe, just gazed upon her new daughter’s sleeping face and felt her soft, warm but fragile body through the blanket as she stirred and woke. The young mother just gazed down at her and smiled.

Later, being the first grandchild, the baby was passed back and forth between the two excited, first-time grannies and they each took turns holding her, cooing at her and raining butterfly kisses all over her tiny face before a heavy-set, blonde-haired nurse appeared in the doorway.

“Visiting hours are officially over. Mother and baby need their rest.” The nurse said sweetly. And Gigi handed the baby to the nurse to take back to the nursery. Gigi and Agnes each kissed Christie on the cheek.

“Try to get some rest, honey.” Agnes said lovingly.

“Yes. You’d better rest while you’re still in the hospital. Because once you leave here, you will never rest again.” Gigi half-jokingly warned before waving, blowing an air-kiss and leaving.

After having a difficult time feeding little Charlotte, Christie placed her in her little bassinet, readied her Polaroid camera and took a picture of her. Suddenly, a thick, white square popped out of the camera. Christie detached the square from the camera and began fanning it. After fanning the square for about a minute, the image of the tiny baby slowly appeared and became clear and sharp. Christie then sat the new photo on the rolling bed-table, took out a stationary pad and pen and began to write both excitedly and feverishly. Once the new mom was finished writing, she folded the two-page letter and enclosed it, along with the picture, in an envelope before sealing it.

During the first three days in the hospital, Christie tried hard to get baby Charlotte to nurse from her breast but to no avail. The tiny baby was so weak that she was unable to latch on and suckle hard enough to bring forth the nourishing mother’s milk she needed for sustenance. After three days and a seven-once weight loss, it was realized that the baby had to be bottle-fed.

Dr. Benoit cleared Christie and the baby to return home after a seven-day hospital stay. When Gigi brought the mother and baby home, her sisters, the grandaunts had arrived and were anxious to get their hands on the baby. A house full of excited women and a newborn was a madhouse, but nonetheless joyful. As with every first grandchild, each family member took turns holding baby Charlotte. The grandmothers, the aunts, uncles, everyone got their chance to meet the newest addition to the family. When she was finally passed back to her mommy, Christie could not help but think, “I’ve never even held a baby, never had any experience with one. How can I possibly be a good mother if I haven’t, at the very least, held a baby? How I wish babies came with an instruction manual!”

The baby was two weeks old before Frank finally got the picture and notice of his daughter’s birth in the mail. They had just gotten back to the basecamp the day before after a fierce battle with the Viet Cong. Besides whipping Charlie’s ass, Frank found that he and his buddies had another victory to celebrate. As the men celebrated and Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” played loudly over Armed Forces Radio, Frank wasted no time showing his fellow marines the picture of his newborn baby daughter.

“I’m a father! She’s here! My baby girl is here! I’m a father!” He shouted jubilantly in his southern accent, “Her name is Charlotte!”

The other marines gathered around him, looking at the picture and congratulating Frank while slapping him on the back and playfully ruffling his flat-topped brown hair.

Frank’s best friend, Lance Cpl. Kozlowski shouted as more marines entered the makeshift barracks, “Hey, fellows! Covington’s baby is here!”

“Waahoo!” another marine screamed in the background.

Frank could not wait to get home so he could meet baby Charlotte. Ninety-nine days and a wake-up was what separated father and baby.