Chapter 16: Tempted by the Acid Queen.

On the long walk from the hospital to the restaurant few words were exchanged.  But as they walk through an undeveloped area of the town along the side of the street, Juanita stated that she was now on birth control,  while Rachel was wanting to compare notes to her method of The Pill, but Fernando was not interested in the subject. For a quarter mile around them there was nobody to be seen or heard except for the crickets in the tall uncut grass of the fields and empty strip mall lots about them.

“A shot every three months? I have to take a tiny pill everyday.”, Rachel says.

“Lets not talk about this, please. You both take birth control because you now need it, but because of your age, body size and physical maturity, you need different versions of it. OK?”

“Why not?”, Juanita asks. “I know Cathy uses a patch.”

“Maybe its because I’m not a girl?”, Fernando says as he stops from walking any further. They both stop and turn to face him. “Look, I’m sorry. I know you are doing this for me. But really, some things I don’t want to know about.”

“Well, I thought that it would be nice for you to know the sacrifices I make for you at times.”, Juanita points out.

“What sacrifices? Birth control is being sexually responsible, not making a sacrifice unless you want to have a baby right now!”, Fernando almost yells at her but doesn’t.

Juanita tries her best from not crying from what he told her..

“Now you are just being mean!”, Rachel tells him.

“You getting on my case too?”, Fernando says to her.

“Yes…”, Rachel lets go of his arm and stands in front of him with her arms crossed. “I love you a damn lot but sometimes you can be an asshole at times!”

“And all I asked was to drop the subject. If you girls want to talk about it, do it in my absence.”, he tells her. He was not expecting for Rachel to launch herself at him, knocking him down on his ass. She then turns around and runs as fast as she can, with Juanita right behind her. They get about 100 yards before they stop. They stand next to each other, trying to catch their breathes.

“Why… you… did.. that…”,  Juanita asks between breathes.

“He… Deserved… It…”, Rachel answers as she tries to catch her breathe.

They stay there  recovering, looking back at him. 

“He hasn’t gotten up yet. You think he might be hurt?”, Juanita asks.

“He’s OK. He’s just playing it off to see if we return.”, Rachel tells him.

“How about we just walk back, and if he gets up, we still have a head start on him.”, Juanita says.

“No way. He can catch up to us by flying the distance.”, Rachel throws back at her, adding, “If you want to  check on him that’s on you. I’ll be right here.”

“You live with him, you know.”, Juanita stated to her as if to prove a point.

“So? I’ll deal with him at home as I need too. Besides he cant beat me up if I’m sucking on his dick…”, Rachel throws her point at back at Juanita.

“HMPH!”, as Juanita starts walking back to Fernando. Rachel stands there with her arms cross as Juanita shrinks into the distance. It takes her under a minute to get to him.

“Fernando, you OK?”, Juanita asks.

“You both are dead meat… after the date.”, he tells her but not getting up.

“But I did nothing…”, Juanita says to him.

“You started this discussion turned argument, and you just backed her up after knocking me down.”, he explains as he continues to lay on the ground.

“1… Uhm… Are you OK?”, she asks, getting closer.

“I’ll say yes just to make you happy.”,  he tells her.

“I want to truth not something to make me happy!”, she almost yells at him.

“ You aint getting the truth from me anymore.”, Fernando tells her.

“What do you mean you aint going to tell me the truth anymore?!! Don’t you think that is not fair?!!”, Juanita shouts back at him. “Your doctor told me that you needed a somebody to be caring, understanding, and loving toward you because it more than just sex that you need someone to be there for you…”

“I need no one.”, he tells her.

“Is he alright…”, Rachel approaches from behind Juanita. She stands beside her with her arms crossed.

“So you decided to come back.”, he tells his little sister.

“So, I did.”, Rachel tells him. “Maybe its because I love you too much to care.”

“You know, I am not going to forgive you for what you did…” he started to say.

“What you mean you aint going to forgive me?!!”, Rachel shouts at him, interrupting him from completing his sentence. “I’m Your Damn Loving Little Sister!”

“How about letting me finish!”, he yells at her before sitting up. He puts his arms about his knees, “Damn it, I swear.”, he says to himself.

“How about saying it?”, Rachel ask him, almost demanding for an answer.

Fernando gathered his cane and slowly got back up. They both stand to either side of him. He tries to walk in between them, but Rachel closes the gap between her and Juanita. He side steps her around on the opposite side and takes another step behind her. The cane rises up fast and swift, slapping Rachel hard below her tail. She jumps forward with a loud yelp, rubbing her ass from under her skirt for a while.

“Ever hit me again in intent to harming me or fighting me, I wont be so nice.”, he tells her, putting the cane back to the ground. “Don’t ever do anything to get me mad at you… again.”

Rachel stays frozen in place for a while. “I… wont…”, she reluctantly says.

“Good.”, he says to himself. He continues walking for a while, not saying a word, not wanting to hear a word from them. They arrive at three-quarters point on the block, needing 2 smaller blocks before they reach the restaurant. Several reptiles come out from the bushes and shrubbery of the abandoned and undeveloped block. They all stand in a semi-circle in front of Fernando; Juanita and Rachel get close behind him.

“You’re on our block and now you must pay our toll.”, the biggest one of them says as he says to Fernando.

“Show me a deed, property license or property tax receipt, and maybe I’ll give you something to support your crack habit.”, Fernando sneers at him.

“Don’t start with them…”,Juanita says softly from behind. At the same time, one how approached him takes a step closer.

“I said to hand over your money, Motherfucker…”, he barks out at Fernando.

“Yeah, remember that. It was me and your momma that made your ugly ass.”, Fernando barks back. 

“Yo Rodrguez- he spoke about he doing your mom!”, one of his friends yells.

“MoFo, You’s gonna die for what you sa-*…!”, Rodriguez stated loudly, rolling up a sleeve. He stops in mid-word, as Fernando shoves the tip of his cane with his arm extended up pressing under his chin. In his other hand, Fernando had his Tanto blade out in view- all eight inches of cold hard steel.

“Walk away or lay here bleeding, its your choice.”, Fernando tells him in a cold and vicious tone.

“Take a step forward and you all will be breathing Chemical Death 2000.”, Rachel says as she has her can of mace pointed to the one next to Rodriguez with her thumb on the trigger.

“Look at you fucks. Picking on a handicap kid who’s about to kick your asses because you’re too dumb to pick on a real victim. How about going to the mall and purse snatch a few old ladies…”, Fernando tells him.

Rodriguez slowly puts up his hands.

“Tell your friends to leave.”, Fernando tells him sternly.

Rodriguez slowly turns his head to tell his friends to leave, but instead makes a sudden move to knock the cane out of Fernando’s hand. Fernando lets go of the cane, letting it dangle by the thong around his wrist, reaches forward and grabs Rodriguez by his hair and pulls his head down. The Tanto blade goes to his neck and is held there without cutting him. Rodriguez can feel the sharp blade sting against his skin. Rachel steps forwards and gets the first two behind Rodriguez with the mace. They bend over, crying and coughing as she aims the can to a third.

“I know that lizards can grow back a tail if it gets cut off. Want to find out of you can grow back a head?”, Fernando tells him as he nudges the blade against his neck slightly.

“FERNANDO DON’T!”, Juanita yells.

He can feel Rodriguez shake nervously from where he held him at his scalp. He looks at Rodriguez’s friends. “GET OUT OF HERE!”, he yells at them. They turn around and run away, including the two sprayed by Rachel who left at a slower pace than the others. Once the others were out of hearing range, Fernando draws the blade away from his neck and shoves Rodriguez onto the floor. He then gathers his cane and places its tip against Rodriguez’s chest. “Get the fuck out my face… and I better not see your ass again- GOT THAT!”

Fernando draws his cane away from Rodriguez’s chest. Rodriguez slides on his ass a few inches away from him before turning around, crawling for a couple of steps, then getting up and running away. Fernando sheaths his Tanto blade and hides it on his person.

“You really were not going to kill him, were you?”, Juanita asks.

“Anybody who dares threaten my life or the lives of those I care have just signed their own death certificates with me as their cause of death.”, Fernando tells her as he places the cane’s tip back on the ground. “Lets go.”, he tells them as he starts to walk again. They follow him in his steps.

Another eight minutes of waking, they enter into the Sonia & Bart's Restaurant that many Pouncefeild tweens and teens seem to hang out in. Maybe its because of the Arcade in the rear of the establishment that draws in the crowd, or its cheap prices on great food. The three of them gather about at a booth. Fernando takes to one side followed by Juanita opposite to him and Rachel next to her before switching seats to be by her older brother. Fernando hands out the menu cards that are by the condiments by the wall.

“What shall it be?”, Fernando asks.

The girls remain silent as they read, even though the menu says, “Describe what you want to eat and we shall make it for you.”, along with a long list of suggested food items and drinks.

“I doubt they would have Oysters Rockefeller…”, Fernando says to himself. He put down the menu holding back his frustration from the earlier events.

Juanita puts her menu down, looking at him. “Were you serious on killing that boy?”, she asks.

“What would have wanted me to do?”, Fernando asks.

“We could have given them money if they so demanded it.”, Juanita tells him.

“And supposed it did not end there?”, Fernando asks.

“If we gave them the money, they would have left.”, Juanita stated.

“BULLSHIT!”, Rachel yells, banging her fist on the table.

“What’s all that about?”, Juanita asks.

“Last time I was raped in the park, it started out as a robbery, then it went further! If Fernando would not have been, besides being raped, who knows what would have happened to me!”, Rachel tells her in a very cold tone.

“Six of them, if they would have successfully had disabled me in combat, they would have caught you and Rachel, knocked you and her to the ground, pinned you two there,  taken off your panties and have had their way with you. Then what? All three of us end up in the emergency ward or the morgue? No, I’m not having that. If I have fight to my last dying breathe to protect myself and those that I am with, I will do it.”, he tells her.

Juanita bows her head down.

“I would be very mad at you if something were to have happened to my older brother because you wanted to deal with them in a sensible manner. DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CANT DEAL WITH CRIMINALS SENSIBLY!”, Rachel tells her loudly.

The waiter comes to their table with their food. Juanita and Rachel are having a Swiss cheese burger with a Pistachio Milkshake. Fernando has a Bacon Swiss burger with a ice cream soda. For a while they just look at each other, Rachel starts at her meal first.

“Is there a problem?”, Fernando asks.

“I don’t want to go anywhere after this…”, Juanita says to herself.

- End of: Tempted by the Acid Queen. -