They were taking people off the string of them into the courtroom one at a time.She wasn’t supposed to go first because of something about her being second to last in being arrested.If they didn’t have time to listen to her today, she’d have to be the first one next time the judge came through, and that just wasn’t going to happen.It was going to be today, by god, or heads were going to be rolling.
“Excuse me, I have important matters that need to be attended to.”The chatty man snorted, and she tried her best to ignore him.“I want to go in there now and have my turn.I’ve been locked up long enough, and I want my son to come bail me out.”
“It’s not your turn.You’ll be gotten to soon, but not next.”The officer said she was fifth in line, and that was the way it went.“When it’s your turn, you’ll have your say.Not that I think anyone cares.You’ve been spouting off your complaints for the last two weeks, and we’re all frankly sick of hearing them.If I had my way, I would have put you first so that you’d be out of my hair, but I don’t make the rules.”
“I make the rules around here, and you’re going to be doing what I said.Put me in line next, or so help me I’ll snatch you bald.Do you understand me?”He said that he did, but just didn’t care what she said.“What a thing to say to me.I demand to be put in front of these others, or so help me, I’ll have your job.”
“Take it.See how much fun it is wrangling inmates like you all day.”He unhooked the person next to her and told them they were next.“You keep bitching like you are, and you’ll be last, not fourth like you are now.”
She wanted her gun.At the very least, she wanted her cane so that she could knock some sense into the man.There was no way that her taxes—if she ever paid them, were paying this man a wage to treat her like this.If she’d had her way, she would have fired him on the spot and done what she wanted.But without her weapons of choice, she was left to the treatment of those around her.Damned people.She hated them all.
When it was her turn to go into the courtroom, the first thing she did was look for her son and his ungrateful family.If they only knew what she did on a daily basis, they’d have a great deal more respect for her.Just as she was going to ask the judge where they were, they lot of them came into the room from the back.She was disappointed to see that milksop of a wife next to her grandson, Charles.Then she saw Mackenzie.
“I don’t want her in here.She’s mouthy and will cause a disruption by pissing me off more than I already am.”The judge told her to watch her language.“I will not.I know my rights.”
“Oh, I’ve heard about you.You’re the woman who keeps calling my office demanding things that are well above the norm for an inmate.”She said that she should have what she wanted, as people knew better than to say no to her.“Well, aren’t you just a bucket of sunshine.The word no is going to be said a lot, I’m afraid to warn you.Now, let’s get down to business.”
“I refuse to listen to you with that thing in here.”He told her that she only had to nod once in a while that she was getting it, and that was his rules.“I don’t care for your rules.I have my own set that are far above anything that you might say to me.”
“This will go a good deal faster if you can keep your mouth shut.”He started reading off all the things that she’d been brought before the court for.Some of them were petty things like not paying her bills on time or at all, but the one about back taxes got her standing up again.“You have something to say about owning the government some money?”
“I don’t have a job, so how do I have to pay taxes to a government that has done nothing for me?”He explained that she had income from her son’s estate.“It’s not his anything.That should have been mine if my stupid husband had done right by me.He left it all to that cur of a son there and only gives me a small stipend each month that I’m supposed to be happy with.”
“You had more than six hundred thousand dollars stashed around your home.And from what I understand, you never paid anything for where you were living, nor anything else that I can find.Did you really tell the paperboy that you were to get the newspaper for free because you paid your taxes?You do know that the government doesn’t have anything to do with the newspaper that you were getting for free, don’t you?”
“I know the laws better than you do.”She saw the shocked look on his face and was happy that she’d been able to put it there.“I want you to demand that my son and so-called wife pay me more money.And while we’re on the subject of money, I want all the money back that I had saved in my condo.They had no right to touch that, as it was mine.”
“You have a lot of demands for someone who is chained to the floor like a convict.Which, by the way, you are.”He laughed at her, and she saw red.Her head was hurting her so bad right now that she couldn’t see straight.Everything was in a haze for her, and she was going to be sick.It would serve them right if she were to just lean over and puke up that sham of a breakfast that she’d had this morning.“I’m taking a twenty-minute break so that you can compose yourself in a better manner.After that, I’m going to figure out the best time to have a court hearing against you.For what I’ve seen of your actions today, it’s left no doubt in my mind that everything that has been said about you is true.”
He was gone before she could form her next demand.The bastard just walked away from her like she was nothing.Well, by god, she’d show him.When he came back, she was going to demand that he do right by her and let her go.She had people to knock around, and they might even end up dead.She’d had enough of being the nice person in all this.
Hanna was told to sit down, and she had to.Not that their ordering her to do so had anything to do with it.She was sick with a headache, and she wanted something for it.She knew what would cure it.A nice fat payday from her son, as well as her guns back.She’d had to work hard at getting them, and she wasn’t happy that someone had taken them from her when she had plans.She was going to make her son do what she wanted, or she was going to simply kill him.Something that she should have done when he was just a baby.Damn it, she just wanted things to go her way for a change.
By the time the judge came back, she was sick.Her chest was crushing her, and she had a feeling that she wasn’t going to be better until she saw a doctor.Damned people would rob her blind, too; she knew how they were.When told to stand up, she couldn’t do it.There was just too much pain in her body for her to do much of anything but be in pain.
“I think I need a doctor.”She slumped forward in her chair, and if not for the chains on her, she would have fallen on her face.As it was, she was having a hard time thinking, too.Just as she was beginning to think that all was lost, she felt herself being laid on the floor.“You’re going to get me dirty, damn it.”
In her mind, that’s what she said, but it sounded gibberish to her.Someone was asking her questions about medications, and all she could think about was that they cost money that she didn’t want to spend.The pain was getting worse, and it was all she could do not to cry.But that would be undignified, so she didn’t let herself do that.But she could feel the tears rolling down her face as someone spoke above her.She didn’t know what they were saying, but for whatever reason, she thought it was important.Closing her eyes against the pain, she felt her heart break.
~*~
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Charles.I want you to know that I did everything that I could to save her.”Charles said that he knew that, too.“I’ve spoken to her doctor, and he said that she was a time bomb just waiting to go off.She should have been taking better care of herself, he told me.”
“She more than likely thought that she’d live forever, knowing her the way that I do.”Charles sat down, then stood up again.“I should do something, but for the life of me, I can’t think of a single thing that needs my attention.It’s like I expect her to come through that door and tell me what an ungrateful cur I am.That was her favorite thing to call me was a cur.I wonder what she was thinking when she didn’t take her meds like she should have been.”
“Like you said, she more than likely thought that she was going to live forever.At least outlive you.”He didn’t know what to say to the older man but how sorry he was.“Had she been in a hospital setting, I might have had the equipment to bring her back.But I fear her quality of life wouldn’t have been all that good.”
“I have to admit that I’m sort of relieved that she’s gone.I know that’s a horrible thing for someone to think about their own mother, but the thought of her not being around bothering me anymore is a blessing.”He said that he understood.“Yes, I suppose you would.You’re a good man, Kahana, and I’m glad that you were there for her when she died.She’s really gone, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s gone.”They talked about the arrangements that needed to be made, and then he asked him if he’d thought about what he was going to do now.“I mean, the trial will still go as planned so that a lot of people can get their closure.Her money will go to compensating those people that she wronged as well.”
“I cut ties with her years ago.I made it legally binding that her debts were her own and had nothing to do with me.I think that made her angriest of all, me telling her that I wanted nothing to do with the debt that she incurred.She believed that she should have been able to charge anything she wanted or deserved back to me, and I wasn’t having it.”
“Smart man.I’m betting that Axel would tell you the same thing.”He said he’d told him about it when they’d been gathering evidence about her activities.“I’m betting that he tells more people about that when he has a chance as well.I know that I would be.”
“Is she really gone, Kahana?I know that I keep asking you that, but I just can’t wrap my mind around her being dead.She’s been a terrible part of my life for so long that I find that I can’t think beyond her being around to upset me again.”He told him that she was well and truly gone.“Good.I’m beginning to feel better about that, too.She didn’t die of a heart attack, but plain and pure meanness.It’s small wonder that she lived as long as she did with as mean as she was.I swear there isn’t a person around that will mourn her passing.”He looked at him.“I’m sorry.I can’t believe I said that to you.”
“That’s all right.I understand.You do realize, for as much as I disliked her, I tried my best to save her the other day.”He said that he did understand that, yes.“Good.I don’t want there to be any question later about how I didn’t try my best.I treated her like every other patient that I see.”
