“Have you nothing better to do than to go around filming people when they’re at their worst?I just lost my brother and his wife.”People started walking away, but a few stayed.She turned to put on her shoe and leave when she saw her daughter coming down the street.“I’ll get this finished up right now.”
“Mother.The bank called and said you were trying to get into my accounts.I’ve told you before that’s none of your business.Stay out of my information, or I’ll have to have a restraining order put against you.I don’t have time to keep running down here every time you get a burr up your ass about how much money I have in my accounts.”She asked her how much she had in her accounts.“I’m not going to tell you.First of all, I’m a grown woman who makes her own money in life, and secondly, it’s none of your business.I don’t go around asking you how much money you have in your accounts, do I?”
“I’d tell you if you’d ask.I don’t have any secrets to hide from you.”She just looked at her, and Debra had to turn away or feel guilty.She did have her secrets, and she wasn’t going to be blabbing them to her just because she was pissed off.“Why are you keeping me from your accounts?I used to borrow from them all the time.”
“Yes, and you’d make it so that I was short when it came time to cash checks for my rent and food.I don’t like to have you running your nose in what I have in the bank.It’s none of your business.”She pointed out that she was her mother.“Yes, I understand that.You’ve always used that excuse when you want something that I have.Well, it’s not going to work this time.I’m my own person, and you can’t bully me into telling you.Because of you, I’m late going to the house to see what I want to keep or not.”
“Don’t keep any of it.I was just telling someone that Cindy had the worst taste when it came to decorating her home.The utmost worst.”She told her that she always thought she had excellent taste.“You would.You just want to suck up to her.Well, it’s too late for that now.She’s dead, and good riddance to her.”
“Mother!You don’t mean that.”She said that she did, and if she were here right now, she’d tell her to her face, too.“What did she ever do to you?Aunt Cindy was the nicest person in the world, next to Uncle Robert.I think they made a wonderful couple.”
The smack to her face felt good, and Debra was drawing back to hit her again when she smacked her back.Holding her hand to her face, she asked her what she’d done that for and was told that she did it first.Well, that wasn’t going to be all right with her.
“I’m your mother, and by rights I can hit you whenever I want.”She was going to hit her in the face with her fist when Sen told her that she’d better be rethinking where her mind was going because she would give as good as she got.“We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we.And the next time you hit me, you’d better have a gun because I will.Do you understand me?I won’t put up with you hurting your mother.”
“He was right, you are dangerous.”She didn’t know who her daughter was talking about, but she was glad she was finally seeing her for what she was.Debra could be very dangerous when provoked.And right now her daughter was pushing all the right buttons to get herself killed.“Stay away from me, mother.I’ve had enough of you and the way you go around thinking that you can get away with anything.”
“I will hang on to you until I get what I want, and if that means I’m going to get into your accounts, I will.You got more than I did, and I’m not happy.Don’t you remember when you were a child, what happened to you when I wasn’t happy?I miss those days.”She could see fear on Sen’s face and liked seeing it there.“You just give me what I want, and things will go well for you.However, if I find out that you’ve gotten more than me in my own brother’s estate, I will kill you for it.I’m not kidding you right now.”
“Stay away from me.”When she turned her back on her to leave, Debra wanted to kick her down on the ground and beat her.But there were too many people around, and she didn’t want to have to go back to jail.She remembered that as well.Ending up in jail wasn’t anything that she wanted to happen again, either.Her brother had done that to her when she’d beaten Sen one afternoon.She remembered his words well.“You’ll never see her again unless it’s behind bars if you so much as slap her for doing something wrong.”She said she was her kid.“For now, she is.I’m going to make arrangements to have her sent away to boarding school, and while she’s there, you’re going to get your shit together and remember why you have that nice house and car.”
“You have nothing to do with either.”Robert told her that he knew Howard.“Howard who?You think you know everything.Well, you don’t.He wanted me to have this house.”
“You blackmailed him.He gave you the house and the car for as long as you live so that you’d not tell people that he raped you.When we all know the truth, don’t we, Debra?You got yourself pregnant with Sen and decided to blackmail the nicest man I’ve ever known.So you got a house and a car out of him in exchange, he’s never to have anything to do with Sen.Christ, Sen would have been better off with Howard.But you couldn’t just allow him to raise her, could you?You had to have something over him.Well, if you ever hit her again, I’ll contact him and make sure he knows just what sort of mother you have been to his daughter.She’s going to boarding school, and she’ll love it.Anytime spent away from you is a good time, I’m sure of it.”
That had been the last time they spoke, her and her brother.She was never invited to his home again, and when Sen came home from school, she would spend all her time with her uncle.Debra couldn’t do shit about it because he had her in a place that wouldn’t have boded well had she made a fuss.She liked living in the big fancy house with servants around all the time.She didn’t have to do anything at all to stay there either.And you’d think that she was in heaven, but she wasn’t.
The servants didn’t answer to her.They kept the house cleaned up and the food cooked for her, but they didn’t interact with her.She couldn’t even fire them for not speaking to her, either.And they didn’t unless she asked them a direct question about the household.The yard was mowed and trimmed along with the bushes.But as far as living in a great big house with all the servants, it was like living in a prison without anyone to talk to.She thought that was why she went to talk to her daughter so much.At least she would answer her questions when she had them.
She did wonder what ever happened to Howard Bash.He’d been a good time, but that had soured when she tried to get money from him about Sen.He was more than likely dead by now.Good riddens, she thought, and continued home.She was going to find out what happened to him, and then she was going to get more out of him.She needed to get what she wanted, and that was it.
Chapter 3
The house was perfect.She might get rid of a couple of things that weren’t to her taste, but for the house, she was loving having so much space.Debra walked into the bedroom that her aunt and uncle shared and looked at all the boxes.She was donating their things, like clothing, to charity.There were other things like her uncle’s collection of pocket watches that she was going to keep, as well as her aunt’s jewelry collection that she remembered her wearing from time to time.
There were so many good and wonderful memories associated with the house.She remembered Christmases as well as other holidays.If it were something big, her aunt and uncle would celebrate it.Even Taco Day.
But it was the back end of the house that she was most amazed by.They had added rooms on, entire wings of rooms that would hold several families.There were six bedrooms with their own bathroom and kitchenettes.It looked as if they were planning to have people stay with them throughout the summer months as each room was decorated with a spring and summery theme.She did wonder if, at some point, it had been decorated for the holidays that just passed, but she wouldn’t know since she couldn’t ask them.It was things like that she would get the saddest about.Not being able to talk to them as they were no longer around.
It hurt her heart that she had lost them both at the same time.Of course, Aunt Cindy had died first in the accident, but that wasn’t the same thing.They had died together, she supposed, like they would have wanted to, and that was good.But she missed them both so much it hurt her inside.
When the front doorbell rang, she went to answer it cautiously.She didn’t want to encounter her mother today.Yesterday had been bad enough.Today, she wanted to bask in the love that was still around the house.The love that the two people she loved more than anyone else had shared with her.As she opened the door, she had a smile on her face, knowing that the man there wouldn’t cause her any trouble at all.It was Ivan.
“I’ve come by to see if I could help any.The clinic is closed now, and I have all this free time.”She said that she was just going through closets today and taking things out of them.“I can help lift them if necessary.I’m to understand that you’ve decided to donate everything that they wore.That’s the best way to go.I can help.”
“Great.”She led him to one of the bedrooms and told him that everything in the closet had to go; he just had to make sure that he checked the pockets.“I’ve found all kinds of things in the pockets of my uncle’s suits.Some money and some other items that he was fond of carrying, like chewing gum and toffee bits.I remember him always having some when I was a little girl and needing something to tide me over until lunch or dinner.He was a good man, and I’m going to miss him forever.”
“I’m so sorry.I didn’t have anyone in my life like that.My parents weren’t the best people to be around.”She said that she’d heard of them.“I don’t know how you could live in this town and not have heard of them.They were the worst kind of people when we were growing up.My mother killed my father and blamed it on us so that we’d be sent to prison.That’s where she is now.Life without parole.”
“I’m glad that you guys were able to turn out so well.I’ve always heard that you are what you’re made of, but I don’t believe that.If I did, then I’d be a worse person than my mom.She raised me in my formative years.Then I was off to boarding school until I turned eighteen.”He asked her if she’d had a good time there.“Yes.It was wonderful.I have so many friends that I can call on.I wouldn’t, but I could.”She smiled at him.
“I’ll get started.”He went into the bedroom that held all her uncle’s suits and ties.There were quite a few of them hanging in the closet that she wondered where he wore them all.She handed hima box that he could put the things he found in the pockets, and went to her aunt’s closet.She had so many dresses with tags still on them, she wondered if she had a problem with shopping.Obviously, she could afford it.
She realized that she was hungry when Ivan said he’d gone through all the suits.They were laid out on the bed, and he was putting them in the tall boxes as he went.The box was full of candies and some money, and she had to laugh.Someone would have thought it was strange to get a suit with those things inside it.
Since there wasn’t anything in the house they could eat, they decided to order out.There were a number of places that they could pick up from, but only a couple that would actually bring the food to you.So they settled on pizza again.It was that or subs, and that would have been too heavy for lunch.
Eating in the big kitchen, they decided that they had enough work done for the places that would pick up the things that she was donating.The boxes were in the living room now, and it would be easy for them to pick things up.She placed the call for the pickup, and they were on their way in a few minutes.
