“This is so cool.”She could feel his humor, and that made her smile.After taking her table their drinks, she told him what was going on at work.“I don’t know what the police are going to say, but I’m waiting for them to come here.”
“They won’t do anything other than arrest them both if you press charges for assault.That’s entirely up to you.But I’d do it so that the next time she thinks hitting you is all right, she’ll think about the consequences.”She told him that had been her plan, but she was worried about pissing her off more.“It’s been known that pissed-off people make big mistakes.You just do what you want, and I’ll be behind you one hundred percent.So will the department.They’re good friends of mine and will do it for you just because they know me.But as I said, you do what you want.”
“I’m pressing charges.I don’t need to be beaten up, even for a little bit, because she doesn’t know where I live.”He said it would be easy enough for her to follow her home.“That’s what I thought too.Maybe she’s beneath that sort of thing.”
She told him about what she’d said about the house, and he laughed again.When the police arrived, she waited until Janice and Shanda told their side of the story before Mr.Weaver said he’d seen the whole thing.Asking if she wanted to press charges, Janice said no, but she said yes, she wanted to.The two of them were arrested on assault charges and taken away.She felt so good that she said that she could work until closing for Shanda, who was going to miss her shift.Mr.Weaver said they’d be all right and laughed with her.It was good that she’d made friends with him when she’d been hired.
~*~
Janice couldn’t believe that she’d been arrested.She was an upstanding person of the community and didn’t care for being treated like a common criminal.The worst part was that she still didn’t know where Lisa was living, and that burned her toast.She had to know where she was living so that she could serve her with papers about her being a bad parent.Who moved into someone else’s home when she’d had a perfectly good one living with her?It just wasn’t right.
No matter what she did to the woman, she would always bounce back on her feet like nothing happened.She was tired of all this shit going on and was going to have to take steps to get the boy from her.Davy should have been with her from birth, and she nearly had her son convinced when he’d gotten himself killed.
For as much as she wanted to blame that on Lisa, too, there was no way to do it.David had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, they’d told her, and had been killed.She was never going to get over his death, and she didn’t understand why Lisa had.It wasn’t right that she was moving on with her life when she was still grieving about her only child.
Davy living with her would help; she just knew that.He was upset with her now, not wanting to cuddle any time she wanted, but he’d get over that soon enough.A couple of little swats to his ass would have him doing as he was told.Lisa never spanked Davy, and she didn’t understand that either.If they had moved in with her when she wanted, he’d be trained to be her grandson the way that she wanted, and that would have been perfect.As it was now, he was a spoiled little brat who thought that hugging her was too mushy.Whatever the hell that was supposed to mean.
“You’re going to be in here until Thursday.That’s when the judge comes through to see about pretrials.”She said that she wanted out now to set her bail.“There is no bail until you see the judge.Then, after that, you’ll have to have someone bring you the money.We don’t take credit cards, only cash.”
“That’s ridiculous.Even the library takes credit cards for late fees.”He told her that they weren’t the library.“No, I doubt very much you even know what that is.Have you even graduated from high school?Good lord, it’s like talking to a wall with all of you around here.I’m glad that I’ve had no use for you before now.It’s your fault that my son was killed, I’m betting.”
“I knew David.He was a good man.And a better friend to all those who knew him.”She wanted to lash out at him, thinking that her son would lower himself to be friends with the likes of him.Instead of saying anything, she went to sit on the cot.“You have one phone call to make, and then they’ll ask you if you have an attorney.If so, you’d best be calling him instead of anyone else.We won’t be making phone calls on your behalf.”
“You’ll do as you’re told, and I won’t have it any other way.I pay my taxes, and I know that I pay your salary too.When I want something, you’re to jump to get it.”He simply walked away from her, and she wasn’t going to lower herself to calling him back.“Damned police.I have no idea to this day why my son thought that it would be good for him to be a lowlife cop.”
It was a good hour before they came to tell her she could make a phone call.Something about having a payphone was all she was able to use, and she asked them how she was supposed to make that work when she had a perfectly good cell phone that had all her numbers stored in it.They, in the end, let her use her phone, but they didn’t leave her alone with it.She could make one phone call, and then she’d get it taken from her again.Damn it all to hell.She shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place, and now here she was in jail for no other reason than she had a stupid daughter-in-law.
It had occurred to her over the last several months that she should just have Lisa killed.It would solve all her problems, and she’d have her grandson, too.It was beginning to look like she was going to have to do something like that before it was all over, and she didn’t care for it.Getting caught was her biggest fear.Or having Davy find out that she’d done it was something else.He’d never forgive her forhaving his stupid mother killed, so she wasn’t thinking about that too much right now.It wasn’t that she didn’t think about it, but she knew that if it came down to it, she could afford the best there was to do the job.No more pussyfooting around, either.But not just yet.
After calling her attorney, she decided to make another call.But before she could get the phone to work, it was snatched from her like she didn’t have things to get done.Screaming at the officer when he stood over her, smiling, she wanted to hit him right in the face.But hitting someone again, especially a police officer, would get her into more trouble than she was in right now.Besides, they’d all pay before she was finished with them, and she couldn’t wait until they got their comeuppance.
Janice didn’t think of herself as a terrible person.Entitled, yes, but then why wouldn’t she be?She was just one who liked things to go her way.And her way was the only way there was, she thought with a grin.She’d been getting her way since before she’d been in high school, and she liked it.Getting her husband to marry her was the greatest accomplishment that she’d ever made.Now, when she got her grandson to live with her, preferably without his mother, then she’d be two for two in getting what she wanted.
Shanda was just down the hall from her, but she’d served her purpose, so she wanted nothing more to do with her.As she kept yelling for her to get her out, too, she ignored her in favor of making plans about what she was going to do when Davy lived with her.
Now that he was getting older, she decided that she was going to call him David.Davy sounded like a baby’s name, and she didn’t want people to think that she was raising him to be anything but a man.A better man than her husband and son had been for sure.
Dinner was nothing she would have served her dog had she had one.It was some kind of sandwich with a bag of chips.She was told that since she’d been so late coming in, they’d not been prepared for her, so her next meals would be better.It certainly couldn’t get any worse than what they expected her to eat tonight.
Eating the cake over the meal, she decided that someday she was going to run this town, and the police station would be the first to go.There was very little use for it, and she didn’t think that her taxes should go for something so lame as a one-light town having a stationhouse.
They announced that the lights would be out at ten.She wasn’t going to have that, as she stayed up late when she was at home.It was nothing for her to get to bed around the time that the sun was coming up.They’d just have to make an exception for her since she wasn’t going to mess up her schedule just because they thought that lights out meant that she was tired and would be going to bed.Not that she’d be able to sleep on the little bed that she’d had.Janice wondered what she’d have to do to get herself a better bed while she was in jail.Certainly, nothing more than giving out money to the right people.The only thing was, she didn’t think that there were any right people in this place to do anything she wanted.They came to get her tray, and she decided then to have a word with someone about the conditions she was forced to endure.
“What do I have to do to get a better bed?Not to mention better meals.I shouldn’t be in here at all, much less living like the others do.”He said that she had what she got, and that was nothing more than the other inmates had.“But I shouldn’t be here at all.All I did was bloody her lip.It’s not like she needed stitches or anything.I guess next time I’ll have to knock her around more so that I can get what I want.”
Thinking about what she said, she knew the reason why he was looking at her, confused.But she wasn’t going to admit to anything but let him stew about it.After he left her, telling her that lights out was going to be in an hour, she tried to get him to come back so that she could tell him how much that wasn’t going to work for her.The stupid fool just walked away, and she felt her temper getting the better of her.
“You dumb mother fucker, you heard me.If you turn out the lights in an hour, I’m going to have you arrested.”Yes, she thought that had worked out so well for her before.“I want you to leave my lights on until I’m ready to have them turned off.I know my rights.You’ll do as I say or I’ll stop paying my taxes.Then where will you be?”
“Employed,” he yelled back at her, and she could almost see red; her temper was so out of control.“You have a nice night now.”
There was no way that she was going to put up with this.She had paid her taxes when they came due, and she thought that should give her special privileges.Janice thought that when you paid as much as she did in taxes every year, it should come with a get out of jail free card.She didn’t remember the name of the game that had that in it, but she thought that it should be the law no matter what.
When the lights went out, she was plunged into darkness.It had been getting nighttime earlier all the time, and with the sun already gone down, there wasn’t even a flicker of stars that shone into her room.Not that she had a window or anything, but she should have been given more time.As it was now, she had to fumble around in the dark to get her bed made.They apparently couldn’t even be bothered to make her bed for her.
The darkness had never been her friend.She had too many thoughts going around in her head to justify going to sleep.All she could think about was her baby boy and how he’d left her too soon.Crying to herself, she felt her heart break whenever she thought about how young he’d been when he’d left her behind.
She must have dozed off because when the lights came on, she was awakened by it.Wanting to sleep more now that the lights were on, she didn’t get up when her breakfast was brought to her.But the delicious smells had her getting up to see what was under the domed food that was there.
