“I don’t even know who you are, and here I am allowing you to help me put together my bed.I must really be tired to have done that.I’m usually very cautious.”He told her how he’d ordered food for the two of them and told her his name.“Knox Erickson.I’m betting you’re one of the Ericksons that pretty much run things around here.”She looked at him oddly.“I’m sorry.That was uncalled for.I’m just really stressed out and hungry.You were right in thinking that I hadn’t eaten all day.”
They got the bed put together in no time at all, and the rental truck was locked up for the night by the time they got all the boxes of things that she’d gotten as well.She’d gotten a lot of things locally for which he was proud of her for and the few things that she’d had to get out of town were things that he knew wouldn’t have been something that the local shops would have sold.The mattress and box springs being one of them.
It took them until ten to get things put away.After eating their subs, they stood around talking about the new job she had, and he was glad that he’d been able to make sure that her background checks had been done in a timely manner.Once he was finished with the last of the boxes, he took them out to the dumpster and tossed them inside.He felt good about helping Elaine and was happy that she trusted him enough to allow him to help.
“I’m afraid it would have taken me days to get things finished without your help.If you’d allow me to pay you something for your help, I’d be appreciative.It was a lot of work that, like I said, would have taken me forever to get finished and cleaned up.”He told her that it had been his pleasure.“I’m sure that it wasn’t.Who wants to spend a Tuesday night unpacking boxes and putting things together?But I do thank you so much.”
“It really was my pleasure.I’ve not done anything like this since I moved into my own home, and it brought back a lot of memories.Good ones.I love to open a box and not know what’s in it until then.Yours were a little less guessing as they had right on the box what was in them.”She said that she’d started out fresh today.“Good for you.It must be nice to wipe the slate clean and start over.Sometimes I think that I’d like to do that, but I have too many memories in the things that I have.”
“I’ve been overseas for some time now and didn’t have a lot to begin with.So this was easy.I made myself a list and stuck to it so that I’d not get too many things that I didn’t need.”He said that he understood that.“I bet you would.I’ve heard from the townspeople that you only came here with the shirts on your backs when you broke down in front of what was then called the Grable Mansion.It’s a beautiful home.”
“My brother and his wife live there now.It’s called the Erickson Mansion.”He told her how Martha Grable had left it to Locke for taking such good care of her when she’d been alive.“He became a nurse so that when she needed him, he was right there for her.Now he’s a doctor and doing very well for himself.Alex is a hoot, and we all love her to pieces.”
By eleven, he was headed home.He’d not meant to stay that long, but the company was good, and they’d gotten a great deal of work finished.Getting him something to tide him over, he opened the lid on the stew and shut the refrigerator before sampling some of it before going to bed.He got himself a bowl of cereal before going to bed, and that was all he’d allow himself.He couldn’t wait until tomorrow night to have some of the best stew in all the counties.
Knox felt good when he got into bed, like he’d used a few muscles that he hadn’t in a while, but didn’t strain himself too much where he’d be sore in the morning.It was a good kind of work thatmade him feel good about himself.And he liked Elaine, too.She was fun to be around.
The next morning, when he got up, he felt a little tender in his shoulders, but was all right after a little bit of walking around and stretching.As soon as he got into his office, he wanted to call Elaine and see if she was sore too, and decided that they didn’t know each other that well for him to be checking on how she slept.He found himself thinking about her all morning and into the afternoon, so much so that he finally broke down and called her.
“I was just calling to see if you’re all right today.I’m just a little sore.”She laughed and told him that she was sore but not too bad right now.“I think that I’d help you again, but try to be in better shape when I do.”
“Same here.But it was nice to be able to get up this morning and not have a mess to deal with, so I can’t thank you enough for your help.The cup of tea helped too, as I usually have one in the morning before I get going for the day.”He said that he did as well; it gave him a little boost when he needed it.“I have to get my books ready for the school year as I’m going to start on Monday.Mr.Sheen said that I could run by at any time and look around the classroom.They’ve been having a sub teach the class for the last month, and he wants to make sure that I have everything I need.”
“I’m going to be heading into town later today.If you need anything, I can pick it up for you.And by town, I mean the next town over.It’s one of the larger cities before you get to the major ones.”He told her the name of the city he was headed to.“I don’t mind picking up anything that you might have forgotten too.”
“I think I’m all right.I do have some things that I need to pick up for the classroom, but I want to check with the school first to see what is there.Thank you, however.”He told her that she had his number if she thought of something.“I do, and I appreciate you calling me.It’s nice to have a friend in town.I’m supposed to meet up with your sisters-in-laws for dinner tomorrow night.I’m both looking forward to that and not.There will be so many of them that I don’t know, so I’m a little nervous about meeting them for dinner.”
“You’ll like them.They’re a little pushy but very good to have in your corner.And I guess you’ve met Shipley.”She said that she had and was happy that she had.“Good.I’ll talk to you later.Don’t forget, you owe me dinner for helping you out.”
“I won’t forget.I’m looking forward to that as well.”When he hung up, he wanted to call her back just so he’d have someone to talk to.Shaking his head, he decided that he’d better get to work on his paperwork or he’d be behind again.He hated to be behind when it came to his job.
Chapter 4
Carrie kept telling herself she’d be all right with her brothers and sisters in the same room, but she didn’t believe herself.They were horrific to her, and everyone knew it.She just wanted today over with so that she could go back to somewhat of a normal life and have some fun for a change.Even going to visit her mom when she wanted to would be something she’d not been able to do because of her family.But she did have a good visit yesterday with her mom.
She not only knew who she was, but she was telling her what she’d had for lunch before she’d gotten there as well.After fixing her hair and making sure that her room was tidy, they sat in the front lounge and talked for about an hour before she began slipping away again.It was the saddest part of her visit when her mom no longer knew who she was, nor was she as nice.Mom could and would get combative if she didn’t know who you were, and you tried to get her to understand.Carrie usually left in tears after that, and it would hurt her to her soul to have to leave her when she kept wanting to know when she was going to get to go home.
The courtroom was packed, and she didn’t understand that.Of course, it took her nearly an hour of waiting for her family’s turn to be spoken to in order to understand that they would have their pretrial one at a time.They had opted to be seen that way, so that’s the way that the court hearing would go when they got around to that as well.The room was silent when they were brought into the room in cuffs and chains.Christ, they didn’t look the same as she remembered them.
“Remember, they can’t get to you.”She was ever so grateful to Zander for reminding her of that.They really couldn’t hurt her the way they were chained up, but that didn’t do much for her fear factor.They’d been beating her nearly all her life, and she didn’t think there was much out there that would stop them when they wanted to knock her around again.When Allen stood up as well as he could, she grabbed Zander’s hand and held onto him.He’d been a good friend to her since this all started, and she knew that he’d keep her safe.
“I wanna know why I’m here.”The judge told him he’d get to that when it was his turn.“No.I want to know now.I’ve been cooped up in that jail for three days now and ain’t nobody telling me shit.”He was told to watch his language.“I’ll do what I want and say it too.Do you know who I am?”
“Allen James Sharp.I know who all of you are.Now sit down and shut up until it’s your turn to have a say.Not that I care what you have to say about the matters that brought you here, you’re going to have a trial when I say so, and that’s final.”Allen told him he was the head of the family and that his word was better than the judge’s.“Better than mine, you say?Well, if that ain’t the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.Sit down before I have the officers sit you down.Now you’ll wait your turn like everybody else has to, and that’s the final word I have on the matter.”
Allen sat down when two officers came to stand behind him.He didn’t look happy, and she was afraid of him again.There was never a time when she wasn’t afraid of him, but when he had that look in his eyes, it meant that he was going to be killing someone or close to it soon.He was a mean mother fucker and didn’t care who he had to kill to get what he wanted, just like most of her family.
Allen and the others had been treating her like a punching bag since she was a toddler.They’d knock her around and then take whatever she had that had meant something to her, like her dolls that she’d gotten for her birthday.They’d destroy them, then blame it on her when she went to tell on them.She soon learned that her mother wasn’t going to stand up to them, any of her children, because she’d been beaten by them as well.Their father had left them all long ago, when she’d been about five and had never returned.She put the blame for the way their mother was on their heads for the way they treated her all these years.The poor woman didn’t stand a chance against the bullies that were her children.
Thanks to the Ericksons, she had a good job, and her mother was in a facility that took great care of her.She wasn’t beaten anymore, and she had three meals a day too.When she’d been taking care of her mom, it had been hit and miss if there would be enough money for her meds, much less food, when they took her social security check every month.Carrie worked three jobs just to make sure that there was electricity in the house, and they’d take that money too.
When it was Allen’s turn finally to talk, all he wanted to know was when he was going to get out of jail so that he could get some money.The judge told him that there wasn’t going to be any money unless he was working, and Allen shook his head.
“I have recourses.”He asked if he meant resources.Allen hated to be corrected, and this time was no different.“I have ways of getting me some money, and I aim to get it.Carrie is going to start carrying her weight, or she’s going to be dead.”
“Did you just threaten your sister, Mr.Sharp?”He said that she’d better come through with it or he was going to make sure that their mother was no longer around.“My god, you’ve just threatened two people in my courtroom, and we’ve barely gotten started.I’ll have you know that you’ll not be harming anyone while in here.”
“I’m not going to be here forever, now am I?When you get up off your ass and let me go, then I’ll be able to knock them around a bit to get what I want.And I always get what I want.Even if I have to knock a few heads together to get it.”He looked at the rest of the family with him until he spotted her.Every muscle in her body tensed up when he glared at her.“There you are.What did you do with our mother?If you put her in a nursing home, you can just get her out again.I want her check monthly, and you won’t be giving it to anyone else that comes around.They’ll know better than to fuck with me.”
