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Wealth Pt. 01

By: JimBob44



Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

*****

Chapter 1

Brother Dominick parked in the rear parking lot of St. Elizabeth Parish's Trauma Center. He admired the five story building; all glass and steel; a truly modern structure.

He could remember when the land he was now standing on had been a field of tall grass. He could remember playing in the undeveloped land with his older brother Anthony and their cousins Chris Dumas and Terry Fontenot. Cowboys and Indians. Army. Bad guys and Good guys.

On the rare occasions that the parish would cut the grass, they'd play football. They'd round up five or six guys from the neighborhood and get a real rough and tumble game going. They'd keep score, of course, but would forget what the score had been the next time they'd meet.

He sighed, mopped the heavy beads of sweat from his forehead and walked to the building.

"I am really getting too old for this," he thought to himself as he rode the elevator to the fifth floor, to the administration offices.

"Miss Lambert?" he asked an effeminate man.

"Is she expecting you?" the man lisped and Brother Dominick fought down his repulsion.

"No, no, please just ask her if I could have a moment of her time," he asked. "If she's too busy, I'll gladly make an appointment.

Inside her office, Paula Lambert tried unsuccessfully to put her hair back into the thick bun that her lover, Terry Dayton had so effortlessly given her that morning. Finally she gave up and whipped her head around to shake it out.

"Mith Lamberth," Grover, her assistant lisped into the intercom.

"Yes?" Paula asked, fighting her annoyance.

She didn't have a problem with Grover's homosexuality; she was homosexual. It was his flamboyant mannerisms that got under her skin. She didn't shy away from it; if asked, she openly admitted to being in a loving relationship with another woman. But she did not flaunt her homosexuality, did not demand that others tolerate her lifestyle.

"There'th a Bwother Dominick would like a moment of your time," Grover sneered.

"Brother... Send him in," Paula said, getting to her feet.

"Hello, Miss... Oh my goodness!" Brother Dominick said, and then broke into a large smile as he confronted a former student of St. Thomas Aquinas.

"Hi!" she gushed and gave the large man a tight embrace.

"Oh my goodness, now I KNOW it's time for me to retire," he said, easing himself into a soft chair.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, taking the other visitor's chair.

He launched into his spiel, a plea for money for the school.

"We generally have two or three students that are charity cases," he said. "But with..."

He looked pointedly around the room.

"The addition of St. Elizabeth's Trauma Center," he went on. "We now have twelve applicants that qualify for assistance; our parish is growing. Unfortunately, though, some are finding that, while we are growing, their paychecks are not."

"Okay," Paula said, got to her feet and pulled a large binder off of a shelf that stood behind her desk. "How much do you need?"

"Well, each student is ten thousand..." he intoned.

"Okay," Paula said and quickly scribbled out a check. "Really wild you would show up today; just yesterday our head accountant was telling me we needed to look into some charitable causes."

"Each dollar that you can give will be put to good use," Brother Dominick went on.

"Oh, and here; get them some uniforms, okay?" Paula said and wrote out a second check from her own checkbook.

"Thank you," Brother Dominick smiled as she slid both pieces of paper across the desk.

"A hundred..." he gasped, looking at the checks for the first time.

"And if you go to Young Insurance, right down the street," Paula smiled as the man's eyes goggled at the amounts she'd written. "You'll find five more graduates of St. Thomas; go Avengers! See what they're willing to do, huh? Remind them that this hospital is one of their biggest customers."

"Oh thank God I'm already in the hospital; I'm sure I'm having a heart attack," he gasped as he again verified; one check for one hundred thousand dollars and a second check for ten thousand dollars.

"I was mowested by a pwiest," Grover sneered as Brother Dominick left Paula Lambert's office.

"Really? That's not the way he tells it," Brother Dominick said to the ridiculous young man.

In a trailer only nine streets away from the Trauma Center, eighteen year old Anita Michelle Lopez sat, unaware that her life had just gotten better. She lazily scratched at a pimple, trying to find something to watch on the old television.

Most days, the television could pick up the four major networks that were broadcast out of Lafayette, Louisiana, as well as the independent station, Channel 12 out of DeGarde. On a cloudy day, the signal from Channel 26 out of Elgee would bounce off of the cloud cover and they could get that station.

But it was a cloudless day and for whatever reason, NBC wasn't cooperating, so she could only get ABC, CBS, FOX, and Channel 12.

"What's on?" her mother, Louisa Lopez asked as she waddled her three hundred and two pound bulk through the living room toward the kitchen.

"Nothing," Anita mumbled.

"Oh, hey, there's that 'Cast Iron Stomach' show," Louisa said.

"Yeah, but it's a rerun," Anita complained.

"Oh? Which one this is? Louisa asked.

"That one where he's at that 'Back Yard Barbeque,'" Anita said, dropping the remote onto the table in disgust.

"Ooh, right down the street? Which I'd know he was there, I'd have gone there," her mother said.

"And done what? Huh? And done what?" Luther Knox demanded.

The thirty five year old Louisa glared at her fifty two year old boyfriend as he scratched his immense belly.

"Anything that man wants," she sneered.

"Where you going?" Luther demanded as Anita walked to the door.

She didn't answer him; he was not her father. Instead, she simply shrugged; a movement that made her braless breasts jiggle in the loose tee shirt she wore.

The sweltering June heat almost pushed her back into the trailer, but Anita remembered she had two dollars she'd stolen out of her older half-brother's wallet the other day, so decided to go down to the Time Saver convenience store for an Icee.

Her tee shirt hung down below the far too short shorts she wore, But Anita didn't care about her appearance. Most people rarely noticed her, with her long, frizzy black hair, sharp nose and heavily acned skin. If they did notice her, it was below her neck.

Her breasts were large orbs; she wasn't sure how large. Her last bra had been a size thirty four Double D and she hated wearing it because it was too snug. Her waist was thirty inches around, and her hips flared out to a very womanly thirty five inches. Her legs were well muscled from hours of walking and were well tanned from hours in the sunlight.

Standing at five feet, three inches, the same height of her mother, her physique was an attractive one. As was the physique of many other girls in the neighborhood and in her school where English was not the primary language of most of the student population.

Because of her face, which was not ugly, but certainly was not beautiful, Anita did not garner much attention.

"Hey girl," Anita called out to a neighbor as the girl walked out of the convenience store.

"Hey," the girl called back, and then got into her boyfriend's car.

"Who's that?" her boyfriend asked, looking at Anita's chest.

"Shit, some girl, goes to my school," the girl shrugged.

The frozen drink machine was still broken, so a dejected Anita walked back to her trailer.

Marco, her half-brother, was sitting in her chair, openly gawking at the television as the girls from Shapes Fitness Center did their daily thirty minute exercise show. The camera operator was obviously male; the camera spent a great deal of time focused on Lycra-covered crotches or rear ends.

"You need to do that," Marco sneered, grabbing a painful handful of Anita's slightly pudgy middle. "You getting kind of fat there."

Louisa had to break the two combatants apart. Marco was fortunate their mother stepped in when she did; he was definitely getting the worst of the fist fight.

In his office at DeGarde High School, Dr. Desmond, the principal of the public high school, was finishing the tuna salad his wife had prepared for him. She hated the smell of tuna fish, so she often dumped the entire can into the mixture, which is why it took him so long to eat the simple meal.

The inside phone line rang and he answered.

"Same as last year; my Bulldogs emerge victorious over your pathetic little Avengers, you wash my car," he said in way of greeting.

"Uh huh, and who's car got washed the last three years in a row?" Brother Dominick laughed.

Brother Dominick got down to business; because of Paula's incredible generosity, and because of the generosity of other donors, he now had a largess of funds.

"Two eighth graders," Dr. Desmond said, rapidly flipping through his files on the nearly obsolete computer.

He located the files he wanted, two twin girls that would benefit much more from St. Thomas Aquinas' curriculum.

"And..." he mused, searching through his seniors data.

"Anita Michelle Lopez; does okay in classes, never been in trouble, just a real good kid," he declared.

"Okay, post their files to..." Brother Dominick said, knowing full and well that Dr. Desmond would have to fax the files over.

"You son of a bitch; quit messing with me, huh?" Dr. Desmond laughed.

A few moments later, the seven students' files came over the fax machine.

"You're the only reason I even keep that fax machine, you do know that, huh?" Brother Dominick confirmed receipt of the files.

"And you're the only reason I keep mine," Dr. Desmond said. "Everyone else is happy with regular mail these days."

Chapter 2

Even at seven ten that August Monday morning, the humidity was sweltering. Anita stood and waited for Bus one fifty six that would take her to her new school. She turned whenever a car passed, not wanting any of her friends to see her in her St. Thomas Aquinas High School uniform.

She would have been shocked, and more than just a little hurt to find out that none of her friends or acquaintances would have cared one bit.

The bus ground to a halt and Anita let the three younger students get on before her.

"Good morning," the white haired man smiled.

"Morning," Anita agreed.

The bus looked brand new; Anita would have been shocked to find out it was actually thirty one years old. The seats were upholstered; there were no torn seats, there was no foam rubber hanging out. The windows were all intact; none were broken, none refused to close fully. There was no gang graffiti scrawled on any of the seats, rear of the seats, or sides of the bus. There was no stench of cigarette smoke, or marijuana smoke.

She sat down and again was gripped with fear.

Suppose she didn't like the new school? Suppose she didn't fit in?

"You going there 'cause you too stupid for DeGarde," Marco had taunted.

"Make better grades than you," she shrilled, ready to fight.

Suppose Marco was right, though? Suppose she was too stupid for this school?

The bus lumbered through the streets of DeGarde, then Bender, picking up students. Soon, the bus was packed with screaming, squealing, laughing teenagers.

Outside of St. Thomas Aquinas, Antoinette 'Toni' Delacroix stood with her boyfriend, Boyd Eastman, and greeted returning friends.

"Look!" the eighteen year old girl shrieked. "There's Susan!"

"Uh huh, and there's Jeremy; stuck up her butt," Boyd sneered, slouching against the wall.

"Susan!" Toni called out, waving.

"Susan!" Boyd imitated Toni.

Susan Couvillion, an attractive brunette looked over and waved back.

"Oh shut up!" Toni laughed, slapping Boyd's arm.

The two girls hugged and kissed, then, holding hands ran back to where Boyd slouched. They chattered animatedly while keeping an eye out for other friends.

"Hey, Boyd, how's it going?" Jeremy Leblanc, a very pudgy eighteen year old boy asked.

Boyd sneered at the unpopular boy, and then turned his back to him.

"Caitlin! Over here!" Toni called out.

"Hey, girl!" Caitlin Weinstein, a slender freckle faced red head called back.

"Aw yeah, check out that!" Jeremy said as students spilled off of Bus 156.

Boyd swiveled his head in time to see an impressive set of breasts heading their way.

"Fuck! Look at the tits on that bitch!" Boyd agreed.

"Shut up!" Toni screamed at her boyfriend.

She knew she was flat chested; knew the only reason she wore a bra at all was because the Students Handbook demanded it.

Toni's blonde curls was cut short, providing a cute cap surrounding her round face. Her light blue eyes, snub nose, and generous mouth had many declaring that Antoinette Delacroix was the prettiest girl in St. Thomas Aquinas High School.

At five foot four, she was the perfect height to be a cheerleader, and because of her slender build, she was often the cheerleader at the top of the human pyramid, the girl that was tossed into the air. She had a twenty nine inch chest, a twenty four inch waist, and a thirty inch rear end.

"Uh huh, and look at all the zits too," Susan came to her friend's defense.

"Bag over her head," Boyd said, and then nodded in greeting to Sherman Loomis.

Susan pointedly turned her back to Sherman Loomis and the tall African American male simply shrugged his shoulders.

Anita clutched the paperwork and looked around.

There was no loud music blaring or thumping. The exterior walls of the building were clean, free of graffiti. There was no smell of cigarette or marijuana smoke. There were no fist fights; there were no knives being pulled out, no one screaming, no one crying.

Sister Lucy and Sister Beatrice were out in the parking lot, directing the human traffic. Anita cautiously approached Sister Beatrice; she looked less formidable.

"Seniors are in room two ten, second hallway," the woman smiled, pointing to the entrance of the school.

"And locker number...?" Anita asked, but Sister Beatrice was already speaking with another student.

The hallway was yet another culture shock to Anita. The walls gleamed white; the lockers were painted Cardinal Red. The floors were a black and white checkerboard pattern, and looked freshly waxed. All the light fixtures worked and had fluorescent bulbs in them, all lighted.

She found her locker, 118, and the hasp worked. The door swung open noiselessly, and the lock actually secured the door.

She found the homeroom and saw that the clock inside the room was working and she still had another twenty minutes before class. So she looked at her schedule and found her second class and her third class.

The gymnasium, she deduced, must be the second building, but the clock in the third classroom told her she did not have time to go looking.

She again entered room 210 and took a seat at the rear of the room.

Outside, Sister Lucy was grateful to hear the first buzzer sound. The cacophony of students was beginning to grate on her nerves.

"Come on, come on, let's go," she ordered, waving the students on. "Five minutes, let's go."

Toni glared white hot hatred as Boyd made a point of going up to the new girl and greeting her. Sherman Loomis, already on Susan's grudge list, also greeted the new girl.

Sister Andrea came in just as the last bell buzzed and launched into the same lecture she had given to the class of two thousand and twelve, the class of two thousand and eleven, the class of all the way back to nineteen eighty seven; Senior year was a time of celebration, but it was also a time of very serious reflection and very serious decision making.

"Class of two thousand thirteen yeah!" Brett Bowman called out, eliciting a cheer from nearly everyone in the room. 

"Yes Mister Bowman, not even ten minutes into the new school year and you have your first detention," Sister Andrea declared.

"Is that a record?" he asked, smiling as he accepted the Detention slip.

"No, gave one to a student in the parking lot before the first bell even sounded," Sister Andrea admitted. "Better luck next time, Mister Bowman."

"I'll work on it," he promised.

Anita blushed hotly as Sister Andrea introduced her to the class, and then appointed Pam Hutchinson as her 'buddy,' a friend to show Anita around.

Pam Hutchinson, an unpopular girl, unpopular because of her nearly one hundred and forty pounds of excess fat, unruly brown hair, and overbearing, self-centered personality, silently thanked Sister Andrea. Maybe this would be the year she would get a friend.

The buzzer for First Period sounded and the students filed out of the class. Pam took Anita's papers and squinted at the page.

"Oh, okay, you've got World Economics first period; I've got Calculus, that's such a hard class; I really don't know how I'm going to do in tat class, but oh well, what are you going to do?" Pam bubbled as she looked at Anita's paperwork.

"Oh, excuse me," Toni said as she rudely bumped into Anita, shoving her out of the way.

Pam unwittingly blocked Anita's punch, a punch that would have leveled Toni.

"Okay, I'll come get you after my Calculus class lets out," Pam said, making sure that Anita and whoever was listening know that she had Calculus class.

"Hey, Bitch, do that shit again, I fuck you up, feel me?" Anita hissed at the smirking Toni, very quickly flashing her blade.

Toni stared in open mouthed shock; no one had ever dared speak to her like that. And no one had ever brandished a weapon of any sort before.

Anita took a seat at the rear of the class; keeping the smug little blonde beauty and any friends the blonde girl might have out where she could see them.

"Money, huh?" Coach Fred Dumas called out, hitting the 'play' button on his boom box.

Pink Floyd's song 'Money' came thumping out.

"Hey, I know that song," Jeremy Leblanc said.

Anita struggled to keep up, scribbling as fast as she could. The teacher was able to talk about his subject, did not have to stop to break up any fights, and did not have to yell to be heard over the students.

Her head was buzzing when the bell sounded, but she still kept a wary eye on Toni.

Earth Sciences also kept her busy; Mr. Cousins obviously had a real love of the subject.

In Physical Education class, Anita found out that the class was not just a time to socialize, to score drugs, to have sex. It was actually a time to put on the polyester red gym shorts and gleaming white tee shirt that had 'St. Thomas Aquinas' emblazoned across in big red letters, and run around the gymnasium, chasing after a ball.

She found out that she was actually pretty good at basketball. She found out that the blonde bitch was also pretty good but because they were on the same team, she couldn't use that as an excuse to knock the bitch on her ass.

Shamefaced, Anita simply took off her P.E. uniform and put on her school uniform, not having towel or soap to shower.

The cafeteria was another shock; they got into line and were served. There was no concession stand selling hamburgers, tacos, pizzas. They were given a carton of milk; there was no soda machine visible anywhere. Anita watched as Pam purchased a second milk.

"We get this every day?" Anita asked Pam as she scooped up the red beans and rice.

"No; Tuesday's spaghetti day and Wednesday's..." Pam launched into the foods of the cafeteria.

Anita listened; it was obvious that Pam missed very few meals.

"Fridays are the worst, though," Pam said. "Tuna salad? They ought to just call it pickle salad, I swear!"

At a table not far away, Boyd unwittingly put Anita further on Toni's grudge list by asking everyone at their table if they'd witness how Anita's breasts bounced when she ran in Physical Education class.


Wealth Pt. 01



"Girl better watch it," he guffawed. "Give herself a black eye, huh?"

Chapter 3

Anita smirked as she handed in her homework assignment in Economics class; the assignment had silenced Marco once and for all.

"Supply and demand," she had asked him. "The price of green beans goes up, what happens to the supply of lima beans?"

He had stared at her.

"Come on, smart guy; you're so smart, tell me. Green beans go up too much, what happens to the lima bean crop?" Anita demanded.

"Um..." Marco stammered.

"Oh, maybe economics is too hard for you since you've never had a job," she sneered. "Let's try some Algebra, huh?" 

"Yeah, I did all right in that class," he preened.

"X plus Y squared is eleven and Y is four, solve for X," she said.

"Ha ha, God, you're so stupid," he crowed. "Really? They got you studying that shit? Y is four so eleven minus four is..."

"But Y is squared," Anita corrected.

"Right and eleven minus four is seven, so X equals seven, dummy."

"Marco, you not listening," Luther laughed.

"Four times for is sixteen, so sixteen plus seven is twenty three, wow, Marco, you right; X has got to be seven, thank you," Anita sneered.

"Fucking bitch, shut up!" Marco screamed, punching Anita in the breast.

Luther quickly lumbered over and held Anita back from slashing her brother's face with her blade. Louisa was none too happy with her boyfriend, not missing the fact that Luther held Anita back from harming her brother, hands firmly cupping Anita's breasts. 

"Socialism, huh?" Coach Dumas asked the class when all the homework had been gathered. "As Margaret Thatcher said, 'the problem with Socialism is, sooner or later, you run out of other people's money.'"

"But the rich need to pay their fair share," Anita responded, parroting what she'd heard out of Luther's mouth, out of her mother's mouth, out of their political candidates' mouths for years.

"Oh that is like such bull!" Toni snapped.

"Yeah, you would say that, fucking rich bitch," Anita sneered.

"And that's one detention, Miss Lopez; we do not use language like that in my classroom," Fred called.

"Oh, like just go back to DeGarde, stupid bitch," Toni sneered at Anita.

"And one for you, Miss Delacroix," Fred said. "Oo wee, I'm on a roll; anyone else want one?"

"May I?" Toni asked, pointing to the dry erase marker on his desk.

"Depends," Fred said. "What you going to do with it?"

"Show her something," Toni said.

She drew five circles on the board, putting a star in one of the circles.

"Okay, like you got this business and it like has a hundred people working there and they like make like ice cream, okay?" she asked Anita.

"Ice cream?" Fred smiled.

"And it like sells its ice cream to these like other people," Toni said, pointing to the other circles.

"And they're making a lot of money, right?" Anita asked.

"I'm not finished," Toni snapped.

She erased one of the circles.

"And these people like go out of business, but the ice cream place still needs to like pay the same bills, you know? Like payroll and taxes and cost of goods so they like go up on their prices and..."

"And that's not fair," Anita said.

"And it's like too high for these people so they buy their ice cream from like China and..." Toni went on and erased a second circle.

"Love me the Chinese ice cream," Fred agreed.

"And they like have to go up even more and so these people quit selling ice cream and like start selling frozen yogurt which is so gross," Toni said and erased a third circle.

"Raspberry with chocolate syrup," Caitlin corrected.

Gross," Toni smiled, shaking her head.

Toni looked at Anita.

And they like go up even more and now on one buys their ice cream 'cause it's like so high and they go out of business," she said and erased the circle with the star in the center. "And all their employees are now out of like their jobs and there's like the milk people and the chocolate people; they're not making money either, 'cause the ice cream people are gone."

She put the dry erase marker on Fred's desk.

"Still like think they need to pay their fair share?" Toni asked.

Anita had to shake her head no.

"Because like, they are. They are paying their fair share," Toni concluded and sat back down.

"And that's exactly where Germany found itself in the post-World War One era," Fred said, launching into his lecture.

And yet another of her long held beliefs fell to the wayside. In Earth Science, Mr. Cousins had forced Anita to rethink her position on global warming.

The man didn't deny that the earth was slowly warming. But he did point out that there was absolutely nothing man could do to reverse the process.

"Twenty five thousand years ago, the earth was a solid ball of ice; you saw that really cute movie?" he asked, pointing to a drawing of the Earth covered in ice. "So what happened to the ice? Were we flying around, driving around back then? Were we spewing carbon monoxide into the atmosphere back then?"

"So we don't need to recycle?" Anita asked.

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying," Mr. Cousins smiled. "Just because we can't stop it doesn't mean we need to make it worse."

In Physical Education class Anita ran around, chasing after the basketball. Afterward, she grabbed her threadbare towel and cheap bar of soap and followed the others into the showers.

"Damn," Toni smirked to Susan, and gestured toward Anita's profusion of hair.

"Really!" Susan said and pointed to her own hairless pussy.

"Ever heard of a razor blade, huh?" Caitlin asked, showing Anita her own landing strip of red hair.

"Yeah, tried that once; fucking itches," Anita admitted.

"Baby oil on it," Susan offered.

"Yeah but you don't like have to rub it in for like an hour afterward," Toni teased.

"You don't?" Susan feigned innocence.

"No," Toni laughed.

"Then why you do me for that long?" Susan asked.

"Oh you bitch!" Toni squealed.

Wednesday's meal was tacos, but this was made with ground turkey instead of greasy low grade ground beef. If Pam could have gotten seconds and thirds, she would have.

After school, Anita let her bus driver know she had earned herself a detention, and then reported to Sister Lucy's classroom.

Sister Lucy's idea of serving out detention was to sit quietly for one hour. Not talking, not studying, not reading, and not playing on your phone. Sitting. For an hour.

If a student asked to be excused to go to the restroom, Sister Lucy would point to a metal wastebasket. In her forty four years of servitude at St. Thomas Aquinas, only three students had actually used the wastebasket.

Anita was sure she would go insane before the unbearable hour was up. Toni likewise fidgeted in her seat, watching the clock slowly drag its way around the dial.

"And, think you two can refrain from mane calling in the future?" Sister Lucy finally asked.

"Yes ma'am," both Anita and Toni said.

They left the classroom.

"Listen, like I'm sorry," Toni said, resting a hand on Anita's forearm. "I think we like really got off on the wrong foot somewhere."

"You know what? I'm sorry too," Anita agreed.

"Friends?" Toni asked.

"Sure," Anita gratefully said, holding out her right hand.

Toni stepped up and kissed Anita, squarely on her lips.

"Good," she giggled. "I like hate being all like not nice to people."

Toni even drove Anita home. If the girl thought ill of the dilapidated trailer Luther and Louisa rented, she said nothing. She just gave Anita another kiss on the lips and told her she'd see her tomorrow.

Both Luther and Marco, however, did notice the Lexus automobile and peppered Anita with questions about the car and the car's owner.

"Uh yeah, Marco; she does have a boyfriend and he can kick your ass, Anita said.

"Fuck, Luther, like I know what she paid for it?" she snapped at Luther.

Anita was grateful for the somewhat healthy meals St. Thomas Aquinas fed her; her suppers were usually from a nearby fast food restaurant. The electric stove in the trailer was normally used to reheat food and only two of the burners actually worked. The back one had two settings only, off and very high.

After their meal was shoveled down, Anita cleaned the table and began her homework.

That night, after dragging the razor over her legs and underarms, Anita gritted her teeth and hacked away at her dense growth of pubic hair.

Susan was right; baby oil did help. Anita did giggle to herself; maybe it would have been fun to have someone else rub the oil into her skin for her.

Chapter 4

Toni obviously took the word 'friend' very seriously. The moment Anita stepped off her bus, Toni was there. She gave the girl a quick kiss, grabbed her hand, and pulled her to where she and Boyd and Caitlin and Susan were lounging.

Once there, Toni did not let go of Anita's hand.

Boyd tried to insinuate himself into the conversation, mentioned several times that he was the quarterback for the St. Thomas Avengers, flexed his muscles several times for Anita's benefit.

Toni glared at her boyfriend, but did notice that Anita did not respond to Boyd's blatant flirting. She squeezed Anita's hand a little tighter in appreciation. Anita looked over from her conversation with Susan and smiled at Toni.

Pam looked over as she lumbered down the steps of bus one sixteen and frowned. Her new friend was now with the cheerleaders. That meant, yet again, she no longer had a friend.

Anita saw Pam and waved the girl over, though.

Within minutes, Caitlin, Susan, Toni, and Boyd were sorry Pam the Ham had waddled over; she was doing her best to monopolize the conversation.

Jeremy Leblanc, however, found out that he and Pam had a few things in common, including a love of caramel popcorn.

"There's this place, 'Popcorn Heaven' in the Galleria?" Pam enthused. "In Houston? They make the caramel popcorn right there, in front of you; I always like get two or three pounds every time I go there; any of y'all ever go to the Galleria?"

"Right in front of you, huh?" Jeremy asked.

The first buzzer sounded and Toni finally let go of Anita's hand as they raced into the building, out of the unbearable humidity.

In Physical Education class, all groaned as Coach Francesca Cuccione brought out the dreaded volleyballs.

"Oh quit your whining, a little sweat never killed anyone," she ordered and herded the protesting girls outside.

"Pam, I swear to God, you fall on me I'll kill you," Susan threatened as she took her place next to the large girl.

"Boo!" Toni complained when she and her new best friend were put on opposite teams by Coach Francesca.

The twenty four year old woman smiled; just yesterday, the two girls had been ready to kill each other. Teenagers were so fickle, so flighty.

Friends or not, Toni and Anita both played to win and the competition was fierce.

"Yay!" Toni cheered when Coach Francesca blew the whistle the final time and let the hot, sweaty girls go inside.

"Yay!" Anita groaned.

"Yeah, like we won!" Toni said.

Anita peeled her shorts off, baring her bald crotch and staggered into the showers.

"Ooh, nice," Toni commented, brazenly looking at Anita's crotch.

"You do the baby oil thing?" Susan asked.

"Yeah, but had to rub it in myself," Anita said and the girls laughed.

"I've been thinking about doing that," Pam said, trying to horn into the conversation.

They entered the cafeteria and Anita noticed Boyd and a few other football players sitting at one of the tables, already eating their lasagna lunches.

"Listen, like, I know he's your boyfriend, but..." Anita hissed to Toni.

"Like don't worry about it," Toni hissed back.

The got their trays and walked right past Boyd's table and sat down with Jeremy Leblanc.

"Can we sit here?" Susan sweetly asked the profusely blushing boy.

"Hey," Pam said, taking the seat next to him.

"Hey, ass wipe, that's my seat," Boyd growled at Jeremy.

"That's rude, Boyd; like there's a seat right there," Toni said, pointing to a seat next to Pam.

"Oh, hey listen," Toni said, ignoring Boyd. "Like this Saturday? My daddy needs his cars washed; like can you make it?"

"Oh, Barry's having another car wash?" Caitlin asked, excited.

"Barry? Uh, don't you like mean 'Mr. Delacroix' there, bitch?" Toni asked the smiling red head.

"Maybe to you," Caitlin said smugly. "Remember? I'm his next wife."

"Oh this I got to hear," Pam said, preparing to interject her own story.

"We're all like at my house, you know, it's just like a sleep over and stuff," Toni said.

"And Toni's got like a million cats," Susan said.

"Shut up, it's like three cats; just three," Toni corrected.

"I had this sleep over once, my cousin and..." Pam started.

"And Susan's like uber-allergic," Jenee," a pretty half Asian, half African American cheerleader said.

"But we didn't know that," Caitlin agreed.

"Hell, I didn't even know I was," Susan said. "Never been that close to one before."

"And she starts turning blue," Alexis, another blonde cheerleader said. "And she's laying there, gasping and can't breathe."

"My cousin's nineteen, but she's already a junior at UNC," Pam said.

"And like Caitlin runs to get my daddy," Toni said.

"And knocks on his door and when he says 'who is it' instead of saying 'Caitlin' like any normal person would," Jenee picked up the story.

"She like says 'your next wife' like a big goof ball," Toni said.

"God! He is so hot!" Caitlin whooped.

"What'd your mom say?" Anita asked Toni.

"They're like divorced," Toni shrugged.

"But Ms. Stacy was pretty pissed off," Alexis said.

"But what happened to Susan?" Pam asked, finally realizing that no one was interested in her story.

"Her? She died," Alexis shrugged.

"Who's Ms. Stacy?" Anita asked.

"Yep. I'm dead," Susan agreed.

"Her dad's girlfriend," Alexis said.

"Like started stinking," Toni said.

"Even worse than she usually does," Jenee said which earned her an elbow punch from Susan.

"Yep, buried her in the back yard," Caitlin said.

"No, really, what happened?" Anita asked.

"They'd just opened that hospital, that Trauma Center?" Susan said. "Thank God."

"And Barry..." Caitlin said.

"Mister Delacroix," Toni corrected her friend.

"Called Susan's mom then drove her to the hospital," Caitlin finished.

"And two thousand dollars later, I'm all better," Susan declared.

"Well, like wouldn't go that far," Toni teased.

"Hey Toni? Eat me," Susan said.

"Like anyway, you come?" Toni asked Anita.

"Come for what?" Anita asked, having forgotten what had begun the conversation.

"The car wash," Toni laughed.

"Oh, I uh, I don't..." Anita hemmed.

"Oh but you have to!" Toni whined.

"No way to get there," Anita admitted.

"Tell you what, like you just spend the night at my house and we'll go," Toni declared.

"This Saturday?" Pam asked, scraping the last of the lasagna from her plate.

"Yeah, Barry likes us to get there by ten," Caitlin said.

"Mr. Delacroix," Toni corrected, shaking her head at her friend's smirk.

"Oh darn, I can't," Pam said. "Me and Jeremy's going to the Galleria."

No one told Pam, she wasn't invited.

"Oh well, maybe next time," Jenee said magnanimously.

"So bring like your bathing suit; you got a bathing suit, right?" Toni asked Anita.

"Yeah, why?" Anita asked.

"Barry likes us out there in our bikinis," Caitlin said.

"And he like pays us fifty dollars each," Jenee said.

"Fifty... To wash a car?" Anita asked, sure they were making that up.

"He's got like twenty cars," Toni said.

"Twenty?" Anita said, shocked. "Why's he got so many cars?"

"Her daddy owns Superior Motors," Alexis informed Anita.

"That fine ass car place? On fifty two?" Jeremy asked.

"Uh huh," Caitlin said, scraping the last of her lunch off the tray.

The next morning, Anita packed her bikini, even though it was a little too small for her, her best sleep shirt, and a pair of shorts and a tank top, along wither flip flops.

Louisa complained when Anita asked her to make her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her lunch.

"What? I'm not paying all that money for them school lunches just so you can eat a peanut butter sandwich," the woman shrilled.

"You're not paying a penny for that lunch," Anita wanted to say, but saw that she only had five minutes to get to the bus stop anyway so hustled out the door.

"Mr. Hardy, I'm not riding the bus home tonight," she informed the old man that drove their bus.

"Oh? You not in any kind of trouble again, huh?" the man asked.

"No sir," she smiled.

Louisa had not asked, Luther had not asked, they both just grunted to acknowledge that they'd heard her when she let them know she was spending the night at a friend's house.

"No, sir, I'm spending the night at a friend's house," she said.

"Good, good. Pretty girl like you, you ought to have you plenty of friends," he said and swung the door of the bus closed.

Toni greeted Anita with her usual kiss, directly on the lips, and took the duffel bag and locked it in the trunk of her car.

Anita noticed, with some satisfaction, Boyd was with the group of football players, apart from the cheerleaders group.

She groaned inwardly; Pam, however, was standing right on the periphery of the cheerleader group.

"Like, why you like her?" Toni asked Anita.

"I don't, I mean, not really, but Sister Andrea assigned her to be my buddy," Anita hissed.

Anita, Toni, Caitlin, and Jenee were tolerant of Pam's barging into the conversations, tolerant of Pam's boastfulness. If they said they had one pencil, Pam said she had two. If they said they had one notebook, Pam said she had two. If they said they had one pimple, Pam had two.

Susan, however, was unwilling to tolerate it for very long.

"Hey, Pam? Shut up. God, not every conversation's all about you, huh?" she snapped, and then went back to telling Alexis about Sherman Loomis' shortcomings as a boyfriend and lover.

Chapter 5

Anita wasn't sure what she had expected; Toni drove a nice car, and Anita was sure that the earrings the girl sported, and the crucifix she wore on the dainty chain were real diamonds. She had been sure Toni would live in a nice house, but the three story house was overwhelming to her.

The rich chocolate brown brick was offset by stark white columns and a gleaming white double door. The brass handles glittered in the afternoon sunlight. The nine windows that she could see were all sparkling clean. The grass was clipped short; the shrubs were trimmed and shaped, the flowers bright and healthy.

Toni screeched to a stop in front of the garage doors and hopped out of her car.

Inside was just as intimidating to Anita; there were no stale smells, no sour odors. She was sure the St. Elizabeth Trauma Center did not smell as clean as the Delacroix house did.

"Ola Mees Toni, these you friend?" a very short woman, long black hair pulled into a severe bun asked.

"Yes Miss Alverez; this is Anita Lopez; she like goes to my school," Toni smiled. "Anita? This is Miss Alverez; she's like our housekeeper."

"Ola," Miss Alverez said. "GO wash up, banana bread and meelk in breakfast nook, okay?"

"Ooh!" Toni enthused and pulled Anita into a small half bathroom.

The thick slab of bread was still warm and Anita used the fork to eat it. Toni did not use the fork, simply broke off pieces of the bread and dunked it into the ice cold milk.

"Next time just like use a bowl, huh?" Anita teased her friend.

"Like, shut up," Toni smiled.

Anita picked up the small plate and her empty glass, but Miss Alverez suddenly appeared and took those from Anita's hands.

"Go, go, I geet these," she said.

"Thank you," Anita said.

"Yeah, thanks, Miss Alverez," Toni said and pulled Anita to the stairs.

Toni's room was exactly what Anita would have expected. A large, fluffy looking bed, massive chest of drawers and matching dresser and even a matching desk. The furniture did not look as if it was made of pressboard or cheap veneer. The small vanity had a mirror; Anita could see the small light bulbs that surrounded the mirror.




Wealth Pt. 01



"Be right back," Toni said and dashed through a door.

An orange tabby lazily came out from under the bed, gave a soft 'meow' at Anita, and then decided that he wanted to get on the bed. A second cat, a gray tortoiseshell, came out from under the desk and made a bee-line for Anita's legs.

A moment later, Anita heard a toilet flush. Toni came into the bedroom and shook her head.

"Like, should have known Buttons would be all over you," Toni said, then fished her cell phone out of her purse.

"And there's Pumpkin; he's like the absolute laziest cat in the world," Toni fussed, rubbing the orange cat's belly.

"Thought you had three of them?" Anita said.

"Yeah, but like Boopsie won't come out; she's like hiding in the closet," Toni said, pointing to two louvered doors.

Buttons tired of rubbing Anita's sock clad legs and began to circle Toni.

"No," Toni told the cat. "No, nuh uh, go away, like be all nice to her even though I'm right here? I don't think so, Missy."

Toni held her cell phone up.

"Give me your phone number; like I know we can't text in school, but on the weekends, you know?" Toni said, poised to start tapping.

"Don't have one," Anita admitted.

"What? I like thought they gave y'all cell phones, I mean, my daddy's all like 'they can pay for their own,' but..." Toni said.

"No, no, I mean, Luther and my mom got one, but..." Anita said, blushing hotly in embarrassment.

"Oh," Toni said and dropped her phone into her purse.

She kicked off her shoes without unknotting the laces and then wiggled out of her skirt. The blouse followed, and then she shimmied out of her panties and bra.

"Thank God," she sighed, rubbing her small breast buds. "Like hate wearing a bra; I mean, what's the point? Huh? Ain't like I got nothing to hide anyway, right?"

"Uh huh," Anita said, fishing her shorts and tank top out of her duffel bag.

"Now, you," Toni said, fishing a pair of shorts out of the chest of drawers. "You like really HAVE to wear a bra. How long you been wearing one?"

"Since fourth grade," Anita admitted. "Hated it; all the boys would run up and pull on the strap, you know?"

Toni did not bother with panties or bra, just wiggled into shorts and tee shirt.

Anita heard a sound come from Toni's purse. Toni fished her cell phone out, read the screen and whooped.

"Susan's old lady and stepfather are like going to Mumphrey," Toni said excitedly.

She leaned close to Anita and whispered, even though they were alone in the bedroom.

"Susan's Sister Kay? Like got busted big time bringing in like this huge bag of cocaine in from Mexico," Toni confided. "So once a month, they like drive out there, spend the night, and then drive back like the next day."

"Oh, okay," Anita shrugged, failing to see how this affected them.

"Part AY!" Toni whooped and tapped out a response.

She laughed a minute later when Susan's response popped up.

"Susan says 'who says you're invited?' She's so mean," Toni laughed.

Toni tapped a quick response, and then hit the number one on her touch screen.

"Daddy? Hi, listen, we're all spending the night at Susan's house, okay?" Toni whined into the telephone, affecting a little girl voice.

"No, Daddy, I won't forget; ten o'clock; we'll be there," she said, still speaking in her little girl voice.

"Okay, love you Daddy," she said and again dropped the phone into her purse.

"Come on!" she said happily, ran over and gave Anita a quick kiss on the lips, then yanked open the closet doors. A black and white cat came scrambling out.

"You better not have liked peed in my shoes again, you better run, Missy," Toni threatened the cat.

She slipped on some canvas sneakers. Anita could tell, as casual as the sneakers looked, they were expensive shoes. Toni's shorts and tee shirt also looked casual, comfortable, and expensive.

"Hold still," Toni said, brandishing a lint brush.

"Susan's like so allergic to Pumpkin, Buttons, and Boopsie," Toni explained as she carefully brushed Anita down.

She finished, after spending what Anita thought was far too long on her rear end and underneath her breasts. She handed the lint brush to Anita.

"Here, get me; make sure you like really get the back too, okay?" Toni demanded.

"Mees Toni?" Miss Alverez said from the doorway. "Deener, it ready okay?"

Anita followed Toni back down the stairs. Instead of going to the breakfast nook, Toni walked into the formal dining room.

The meal that sat on the table looked fancier than any meal Anita had ever eaten before.

"Water or...?" Miss Alverez asked.

"Water's fine," Anita mumbled, intimidated by the three forks and large butter knife on the linen napkin, the crystal goblet, the salad bowl.

"Iced tea," Toni said, taking her seat. "We got that sugar free?" 

"What else we got, huh?" Miss Alverez asked.

She returned a moment later, poured Anita's water and Toni's iced tea.

"Heavenly Father, we thank you for this meal; may it fill our bodies the way you fill our souls," Toni said aloud. "Thank you for the friends to share this meal with and may all the children in the world get enough to eat tonight, amen."

She then picked up the warm roll and slapped an obscene amount of butter on the bread.

"And God bless the cook," she said loudly.

"Thank you Mees Toni," Miss Alverez called out from the kitchen.

After the dinner and the small chocolate pie, Toni informed Miss Alverez that they were going to spend the night at Susan Couvillion's house.

"So no greets tomorrow?" Miss Alverez said. "Good, I sleep late."

"Uh huh," Toni smiled.

"You eat like that all the time?" Anita asked, actually feeling a little sick from all the food.

"Yeah, I guess," Toni shrugged, looked both ways, and then opened a door.

Anita looked at the walls which were covered by maps of various waters. She recognized the Gulf of Mexico, only because it said 'Gulf of Mexico' in bold letters at the top of the map.

"Daddy's like really into deep sea fishing," Toni informed Anita as she located a large cardboard box in the corner.

"Wow," Anita said, having never been in any waters other than a bath tub or swimming pool.

Toni again looked around, then pulled two large bottles out of the box, then carefully closed the box again.

"Blackberry brandy," she whispered to Anita. "My mom like made a whole bunch of it and gave it to Daddy."

She pulled Anita out of the office, closed the door, and then scampered upstairs, Anita right behind her.

She then stuffed the two bottles into a large bag and carefully laid a nightshirt on top of the two bottles.

"And," she said, locating her skimpy bikini and dropping those into the bag.

"Ready?" she smiled and lugged the bag to the door.

"Hmm," she mused as the clinking of glass could be heard.

She wrapped one of the bottles in the sleep shirt and the other bottle in a pair of shorts.

Again, Anita traipsed behind Toni as Toni scampered down the stairs and out the side door of the house to her car.

A short drive later, Toni pulled up to a small house. Anita could see Alexis' motorcycle and Jenee's car. At the house next door, she saw Caitlin's car.

"Caitlin like lives right next door," Toni said, pulling the bag out of the car.

Inside the small house, Taylor Swift was blaring and Susan, Alexis, and Jenee were dancing while Caitlin bustled around, cleaning up.

"Hey, Anita!" Susan greeted the girl. "Oh please, pretty please, see if you can get Pam here, huh?"

"Hey Susan, eat me, huh?" Anita smirked back.

"Oh, okay, get Toni's head out of the way," Susan shot back.

"Hey!" Toni protested.

"God, Jenee, you sure your momma's black?" Alexis teased.

"And half white, don't forget that," Jenee said.

"Oh well that explains why you can't dance, huh?" Alexis said.

"Bitch Oh I know you didn't just say that!!" Jenee laughed.

Caitlin fussed at whomever had put her glass directly on the wooden table, instead of on a coaster.

"Caitlin's like the momma around here," Toni whispered loudly to Anita.

"Well someone has to be," Caitlin fussed.

"Hey Susan," Toni sang out and pulled the two bottles of brandy from her bag.

"Aw fuck yeah!" Susan whooped. "There's this shit I been wanting to try..."

She ran out of the living room. A moment later, Susan returned, holding an enema bag and nozzle.

"What the..." Caitlin said.

"Called 'but chugging,' read about it on the 'Net," Susan said, pouring the contents of one bottle into the pink bag.**

"EW, oh Susan!" Jenee cried out as Susan stuck the nozzle into her mouth.

"What? It's brand fucking new; don't worry about it," Susan protested.

Thus saying, she shoved her shorts down, then reached behind herself and jammed the nozzle into her rectum.

"Here, hold this," Susan demanded, thrusting the bag at Jenee.

Jenee took the bag, and then nodded in comprehension as Susan pushed her hands up above her head.

"And... Release the Kraken!" Susan announced and took the clip off the hose.

What's that supposed to do?" Anita asked.

"Supposed to get you like super fucked up," Susan laughed, bending forward slightly.

"If there's a way to get fucked up, Susan's like got to try it," Toni informed Anita.

Susan's brown eyes suddenly shot wide open and she looked stricken.

"Aw shit, shit, shit!" she cried out. "Aw fuck! I got to take a major dump here!"

She jerked the nozzle out of herself and Toni quickly grabbed the spraying nozzle and held it up. Alexis pushed Jenee's hands down and Caitlin clipped the end of the nozzle closed.

"Way to go, Susan!" Caitlin shrilled. "Got that all over the carpet!"

Susan waddled back down the hall, shorts still bunched around her thighs. Caitlin disappeared into the kitchen then came back with a large can of rug cleaner and a scrub brush.

"All right, let's try that shit again," Susan said, coming back sans shorts.

"Better yet, take it into the bathroom, huh?" Caitlin snapped, scrubbing frantically at the carpet.

"Yes Mother," Susan taunted and the other four girls followed Susan into the small bathroom.

Susan knelt down and presented her rear end.

"Want to get it wet again?" Jenee asked.

"Fuck right!" Susan grimaced. "Thing's been up my butt."

"Here," Toni said, fishing a bottle of hand lotion out of the cabinet.

She greased up the nozzle, and then stuffed it into Susan's rectum.

"And... Release the Kraken," Jenee said and unclipped the hose.

A moment later, Susan whined, "Take it out!"

"No, hold it," Toni ordered.

Jenee maliciously squeezed the bag and Susan groaned.

"All right, hold it in as long as you can," Toni ordered, clipping the end of the hose.

Susan moaned, but did not move from her kneeling position.

"Watch, bet Alexis has got to be like next," Toni whispered softly into Anita's ear.

Alexis must have heard Toni because she wiggled out of her shorts and panties and draped herself over the edge of the bathtub, next to the groaning Susan.

"Me next," she ordered.

"Want to get it wet?" Jenee teased, holding the nozzle out.

"That's okay; you can," Alexis said.

Chapter 6

Anita came to, needing to urinate. She sleepily wondered why she was nude, when she'd had packed a sleep shirt.

She carefully stepped over Toni's slumbering form, stepped around Susan and Alexis, then scurried down the hall to the small bathroom.

The bathroom was a disaster area. A dark purplish liquid was congealing on the seat and rim of the toilet, the pink bag lay on the floor, slowly oozing it's purplish liquid onto the floor. The bathtub appeared as if someone had sprayed the walls with the same liquid and there was a few clumps of feces on the floor of the tub.

Anita grabbed a can of bathroom cleaner, sprayed the seat and rim of the toilet, counted to five, then wiped both rim and seat clean.

"Clean enough," she declared and flopped down on the seat.

She looked up into the mirror that hung over the sink. That too was filthy and her reflection looked back, quite haggard looking in the dim light of the bathroom.

"Good God," she muttered; there was a hickey on the inside of her left breast.

She had a vague recollection of bending over the tub, a vague recollection of someone shoving the nozzle of the enema bag up her tightly clenched anus.

Anita had a vague recollection of her and Toni kissing, a little more than their usual friendly pecks.

She blushed hotly as she remembered Toni's tongue entering her mouth.

"Hurry up," Susan mumbled, scratching at her crotch.

"Look at this," Anita said, showing Susan the hickey

"Uh huh," Susan shrugged. "Show it to Toni, huh?"

Anita wiped herself, and then bent to clean up the bathroom while Susan emptied her bladder noisily.

"Fuck, got to shave again, how often you got to shave your beaver?" Susan asked, blatantly cupping Anita's mound.

"Hey!" Anita protested, trying to get to her feet.

"Fuck; leave it," Susan said. "I'll get it later."

"No, Susan; this shit's going to stain," Anita protested.

Susan obviously didn't care; Anita was still cleaning when a nearly comatose Jenee staggered into the bathroom.

"Hey," she mumbled, flopped down and emptied her bladder.

"Hey," Anita agreed

A moment later, she looked and saw that Jenee was slumbering, face smashed against the wall.

"Hey!" Anita shrieked when a hand reached between her legs and tickled her slit.

"Hey," Toni agreed and woke Jenee up so she could use the toilet.

"Oh wow," Jenee said, washing her hands. "No more of that, what'd Susan call it? Butt chugging?"

"Like no kidding," Toni agreed.

Jenee left the bathroom and Toni bent to help Anita clean.

"Good morning," she said.

"Morning; God this place is a disaster," Anita said, scrubbing the tub's floor.

"Hey look at me," Toni demanded as she rinsed a face cloth in the tub's tap.

"Yeah?" Anita asked and pulled back when Toni gave her an open mouthed kiss.

"I love you," Toni said, then sprayed a stubborn stain with the cleaner, and then scrubbed it.

Anita didn't answer, just began cleaning the floor of the small bathroom.

With a wipe to the mirror, Toni declared that they were finished and pulled Anita back to the living room.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine," Caitlin screamed as she banged the front door wide open.

"God damn it, Caitlin!" Alexis screamed.

"You make me happy when skies are gray," Caitlin screamed on, slamming the door shut.

She flopped two boxes of doughnuts on top of a groaning Susan.

"Doughnuts!" Caitlin screamed, and then marched to the kitchen. "And I'll make coffee; aren't I nice?"

"God damn, Caitlin, what's wrong with you?" Jenee cried out.

"What do you mean?" Caitlin screamed.

She stuck her head back in the living room, holding a full coffee carafe of water.

"Oh, you mean, you're hung over?" she screamed loudly. "Gee, wonder how that happened?"

"Whatever, Mother, please stop screaming," Alexis begged.

"What? I'm not screaming," Caitlin screamed. "This is my normal voice!"

"Fuck, what time is it?" Susan groaned, pushing the very warm boxes off of her.

"Seven thirty," Jenee said. "Caitlin? Seven thirty? Really?"

"Hey, Barry wants us there by ten," Caitlin said, sticking her head back into the living room. "Susan, get those off the carpet. And I know y'all; I let y'all sleep until nine, we'll never get there."

"Oh wow, these are good," Anita said, chewing one of the doughnuts.

"Yeah, Meche's is the best," Toni agreed, helping herself to one.

"Never had them; only get the ones they got at Time Saver," Anita admitted.

"Ew, those day old ones?" Alexis asked, helping herself to one.

"Day old? When they're fresh!" Anita agreed.

"Okay, who wants coffee?" Caitlin screamed out.

"Caitlin if you don't stop," Susan warned.

"Get that off the carpet," Caitlin ordered.

"Caitlin; it's my house," Susan reminded her.

Caitlin was right; even after waking them at seven thirty; it was still ten minutes after ten before they arrived at Superior Motors.

"Hi Barry!" Caitlin screamed out as she swung herself off of Alexis' motorcycle.

"Hi Caitlin," he screamed back.

"You," Barry ordered Toni, greeting his daughter with a kiss to the lips. "Are never ever to get on that thing, you hear me?"

"Yes sir," Toni said. "Oh, Daddy, this is like Anita; she like goes to my school."

"Is it Anita, or like Anita," Barry teased his daughter as he shook Anita's hand.

"Like shut up," Toni said.

Anita could see why Caitlin was attracted to the man; he was an older male version of Toni, with a head full of blond curls, bright blue eyes and wide smile. His suit fit his muscular form very well and even to her inexperienced eye, she could tell that the suit cost a good deal of money.

"Barry, you like my bikini?" Caitlin ordered, stripping out of her shorts and tee shirt.

"Very nice," he said which got giggles from the other girls and a beaming smile from Caitlin.

"I bought it for you," Caitlin preened.

"Oh? How'd you know it would fit me?" Barry asked.

Caitlin flung her long red hair back, thrusting her small chest out.

"All right, we'll be pulling the cars up here," Barry announced, pointing to the shaded concrete pad in front of the showroom.

He pointed out their assignments, took one look at Anita as she peeled out of her shorts and tank top and handed her the chamois cloth. Caitlin scowled as Toni got the other chamois cloth.

"By the way, how'd I get a hickey on my boob?" Anita asked Toni as they waited on the first car.

"Same way I got one on my butt," Toni giggled, turning and showing Anita a mark that just peeked out the bottom of her bikini.

After the fifth car had been driven off the pad, Anita turned to Toni.

"Why are we doing this? Them cars are spotless," she asked.

"Uh duh," Caitlin chimed in. "Hot cheerleaders? In bikinis? Washing hot cars? We're advertising."

A gleaming black Maserati was pulled onto the pad and Caitlin looked at the beauty from all angles, and then tried the door handle, which was locked. She turned to peer into the showroom at Barry.

Inside, Barry was showing a screaming yellow Lamborghini to Dr. William Wilson.

"Barry! Come see!" Caitlin screamed, waving at Barry.

Toni looked up from the Ferrari she and Anita were drying off.

"Caitlin, he's like busy, huh?" she demanded.

That wasn't good enough for Caitlin, who screamed and waved again for Barry's attention.

Inside the showroom, Barry nodded to show Caitlin that he'd heard her.

"Barry, I said come see," Caitlin yelled, opening the door of the showroom.

"And I said I'm busy," Barry answered.

Your um, your daughter needs you?" Dr. Wilson asked.

"No, my daughter's like the well behaved blonde in the blue bikini," Barry smiled, pointing to Toni.

"No, I'm his next wife," Caitlin snapped, entering the showroom. "Barry, I want to see that car."

"Well then look at it," Barry snapped.

"No, open it up; I want to see..." Caitlin ordered.

"Oh no ma'am," Barry said forcefully. "You're not getting into a two hundred thousand dollar automobile; you're all wet."

"What? Caitlin screeched, incensed that he would tell her no. She plastered herself to him.

"There!" she said. "Now you're all wet too!"

"Caitlin, damn it!" Barry laughed, pushing her away. "You know how much this suit cost?"

"Know how much this suit cost?" she asked, indicating her bikini.

"Not as much as this one," Barry said. "Get back out there and do your job, huh?"

"I will get into that car," Caitlin promised.

"Your um, your wife's um, she's cute," Dr. Wilson said as Caitlin marched out of the showroom.

"Uh huh," Barry shook his head. Problem is, she knows it."

He looked at the red head through the window as she squirted the car with her hose, washing the suds off of it.




Wealth Pt. 01



Obviously, no one had ever told Caitlin Weinstein that bone thin red heads with a plethora of freckles, protruding ears and pointy nose weren't very cute. She seemed to believe herself to be gorgeous, irresistible.

Caitlin sensed Barry's eyes on her and peered at him over her shoulder. With a playful smile, she stuck her bony rear end in his direction and blew him a kiss.

"That car will be mine," Caitlin mouthed as she pointed to the car that Anita and Toni were drying off.

He smiled and shook his head no. She smiled wider and shook her head yes.

"I'll take it," Dr. Wilson decided.

If a man like Barry Delacroix could land a young cutie like Caitlin, then he, Dr. William Wilson, an even better looking man, a young doctor, should be able to land himself an even hotter, even younger woman. And this car would be part of the bait.

"Very good," Barry said and steered Dr. Wilson toward his desk.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Henry St. Martin said as he entered the showroom after driving an Alfa Romeo onto the pad.

"How's that?" Barry asked.

"Upcoming nuptials?" Henry suggested.

Barry looked at Caitlin and smiled as he saw her laughing.

An hour later, Barry sent Jack Landry out to get the lunch orders from the girls; Caitlin had threatened him with the hose the one time he'd stuck his head out there.

"I'll go get it," Caitlin yelled out, sticking her head into the showroom.

"No ma'am, you are busy, remember?" Barry said.

"Caitlin, put that hose town; don't you dare," he ordered as she stuck her head back into the showroom.

"Stacy know about her?" Henry asked, nodding toward Caitlin.

"Not yet," Bob Robichaux offered as he fixed himself a cup of coffee.

"But you can bet she'll make sure she does next time they see each other," Jack smiled, walking back into the showroom.

"Okay, who's the goofball ordered a hot dog?" Barry laughed as he read through the order.

"The blonde in the white bikini," Jack said, pointing to Alexis.

Barry called Tommy's Po-Boys and placed the order.

He watched the girls as they washed another car. They were all young, vibrant, enthusiastic girls. Three of them were stunning beauties; he knew he was prejudiced, but his daughter was the most beautiful one of them all. Jenee, in his opinion, was what one would term an 'exotic' beauty, with her dark skin and almond eyes and long black hair. Anita, he surmised, was no beauty, but her body was truly spectacular.

And Caitlin. Out of the girls there, Caitlin was the least attractive of them all. But seemed to think she was the most attractive of them all, seemed to believe herself to be the sexiest one of the group.

He got to his feet, gave Caitlin a lingering look, shifted his erection and walked out the rear of the showroom.

Barry returned carrying a cardboard box. Caitlin brought up the hose, grinning maliciously at him.

"Don't you dare; I have your lunch," Barry warned.

"Caitlin, don't you dare," Susan said. "I'm hungry."

"Hmm, let's see, here's like a like ham and like roast like beef, like no PICKLE," he said, handing the po-boy to his daughter.

"Like shut up," she groused.

"Hot dog. Really? A hot dog? Just a hot dog?" Barry teased Alexis, handing her the hot dog.

"It's what I like," she smiled sheepishly.

"Barry handed out Susan's, Jenee's, and Anita's, then turned to enter the showroom.

"Uh -aHEM," Caitlin said. again brandishing the hose.

"Oh, think you're getting anything after that little stunt of yours?" Barry teased.

"Stunt? What stunt?" Caitlin asked, genuinely puzzled.

"I'm in the middle of a sale, sticking your head in and yelling at me?" Barry said, pulling out her hot ham and cheese po-boy.

Jack came out, carrying their cans of soda.

"Diet? Diet? Which one of y'all thinks she needs to be on a diet?" Jack fussed; holding out the offensive can of diet cola.

"Uh, that would be me," Jenee said, pointing to a non-existent roll of fat.

"Jesus, whatever," Jack said.

"Barry, I need to be on a diet?" Caitlin asked, striking a pose.

"Yeah, need to lose enough weight to disappear and not bother me no more," Barry said.

He yelped out when Caitlin gave his back a hard squirt with the hose.

Jack was still laughing when he entered the showroom.

When the last car, another Maserati that Caitlin demanded to be allowed to sit in, which Barry refused her, Barry walked out, holding out their money.

"Fifty... But you bought us lunch," Anita said.

"You don't want it, I'll take it," Susan said.

"Hey Barry, give me your cell phone," Caitlin demanded.

"What? Why?" Barry asked, handing her his cell phone.

Caitlin rapidly tapped out a number and a moment later, Barry heard a chime.

"There, now you got my number and I got yours," she smiled up at him, handing him back his phone.

"Caitlin, like whatever!" Toni screamed.

"Bye, Barry," Caitlin smiled happily, swinging her leg over the seat of the motorcycle.

"Thank you, Mr. Delacroix," Anita said as she and Toni walked to Toni's car.

"You are welcome," Barry smiled, waving to his daughter.

"Now what you want to do?" Toni asked, resting her hand on Anita's upper thigh.

"God, Toni! Really? I got a ton of homework; when in the fuck y'all ever do your homework? Anita exploded.

"We can do it now," Toni said, pulling her hand off of Anita's bare thigh and putting the car into reverse.

Chapter 7

Once at Toni's house, the girls tramped up the stairs to Toni's room.

"Oh wow," Anita said, seeing her school uniform lying on Toni's bed.

The clothes were neatly folded and Anita could see that the stain from Lasagna day had been removed, and the third button, which had been threatening to pop off, was now securely fastened.

"Isn't Miss Alverez like the best?" Toni beamed, opening her backpack.

For three hours, the two sat at Toni's desk, doing homework. Anita noticed, she got a lot more done without the television blaring, without Luther or Louisa tramping heavily in and out of the kitchen, without Marco's constant interruptions to make taunts and insults, without the next door neighbors' loud thumping music, without the next door neighbors screaming fights.

Finally, Anita closed her History book with a satisfied sigh.

"Done?" Toni asked, scribbling out the equation in her Algebra notes.

"Uh huh," Anita sighed in satisfaction.

"Good," Toni smiled and swiveled in her seat.

"Now," she husked, leaning close to Anita. "You want to...?"

Anita looked blankly at Toni.

"My little pussy's been wet all day," Toni husked and gave Anita's lips a teasing lick.

"What?" Anita shrieked, shoving her chair back.

"What?" a stunned Toni looked up at Anita.

"What the fuck's your problem?" Anita yelled.

"What?" Toni asked, still stunned at Anita's reaction.

"'My pussy's been wet?' What the fuck's that all about?" Anita demanded, backing even further away from Toni.

"We... I mean... like Last night, when we..." Toni stammered, tears filling her eyes.

"God damn it! I was like super fucked up!" Anita screamed, blushing hotly in shame.

"I mean, we, oh fuck it! Like never fucking mind, all right?" Toni screamed and dashed into her bathroom, slamming the door behind herself.

After a long moment, Anita gathered her things, stuffing everything into her duffel bag and book bag.

Toni still had not come out of the bathroom when Anita let herself out of the bedroom and walked slowly down the stairs.

"Ola," Miss Alvarez said from the kitchen.

"Ola," Anita mumbled and walked toward the large front door.

"You leaving?" Miss Alvarez said.

"Yes ma'am," Anita said.

"Oh, okay," the older woman said.

"Bye," Anita mumbled and left the home.

She looked up and down the street, trying to gauge where her trailer would be.

"Sun's there," Anita said aloud, turned to the right and began walking.

She was panting heavily in the humidity when she reached Highway 19 and turned to the right again to walk toward DeGarde.

A car horn sounded and Anita looked over as Toni's Lexus pulled up next to her.

"Get in," Toni ordered as the passenger window slid down.

Anita was too hot and tired to argue, just nodded wearily and got into the car.

Toni waited until Anita had buckled up, then silently put the car in drive and sped away from the curb.

Anita grew uncomfortable in the silence and turned to say something to Toni. She saw tears streaming down Toni's face.

"Hey," she said, touching Toni's arm.

Toni jerked the arm away.

"Pull over," Anita said.

"Why?" Toni snapped angrily, stepping harder on the accelerator.

"Pull over," Anita demanded.

"No," Toni sullenly said.

"I said, pull the fuck over," Anita screamed, grabbing as much of Toni's short curls as she could.

Toni slammed on the brakes, jerked the wheel to the right, and pulled into the parking lot of First DeGarde Bank.

"What?" she said coldly to Anita.

"We can't be friends?" Anita demanded. "Huh? Just because I don't..."

"No!" Toni sobbed out. "No, all right? Like I don't want to be friends, okay?"

Ten minutes later, Marco looked up when he heard a car pull up to the trailer. He stood and pulled his tee shirt off, tensed up as much as he could, and walked outside, flexing his muscles.

Anita didn't say anything, just shoved past him, entering the dark interior of the trailer.

"Hey, close that fucking door, huh? Letting all the cold out, boy," Luther demanded.

Marco relaxed his pose when Toni's car backed out, then sped away.

In her room, Anita very carefully secreted the fifty dollar bill into her hiding place. The four crumpled one dollar bills looked shabby next to the crisp fifty dollar bill.

She looked around her room. Her room looked quite shabby. The room, the whole trailer smelled dank, almost moldy, especially when compared to the smells of Toni's home.

"Hey," Luther said, seeming to know that Anita was in the process of pulling her tank top off.

"What?" Anita snapped, putting a protective arm over her bra covered breasts.

"Popeye's; what you want?" he asked, leering at her breasts.

"Two piece white meat," she asked.

"Coupon for eight piece," Luther said. "Mean what sides you want?"

"Them mashed potatoes," Anita asked. "Either that or that dirty rice."

"Yeah, me and Marco want that dirty rice too," Luther agreed.

Eating their dinner, listening to the stereo blaring in their living room that competed with the booming, thumping stereo of Dillard, their next door neighbor's car, Anita was quickly developing a head ache.

The Formica covered table wobbled as Anita cleaned it off. The floor of the trailer sagged when she walked across it to the overflowing garbage can.

Outside, even as darkness began to fall, the heat was still sweltering, and several mosquitoes attacked Anita as she carried the garbage bag to the dumpster.

It had been a few weeks since the dumpster had been emptied; the landlord was behind on his payment to King Sanitation. A few cats crawled among the several bags of garbage the tenants of the park had dropped around the overflowing dumpster and Anita fought down the scream as one cat emerged, holding a still struggling rat in her jaws.

Back inside the dank trailer, Anita's headache worsened. It was hot, it smelled unclean, and the music was unbearable.

She wanted to wash the sweat of the day off her, so gathered up some loose, comfortable clothing and locked herself in the bathroom.

Stripping off the sticky clothing, Anita again saw the hickey on her left breast, touched it softly and felt a tear slide down her face.

In her bedroom, Toni stared up at the ceiling, cell phone to her ear as Boyd went on and on, talking about something Toni had no interest in.

"And then the coach says I should come out next weekend, you know, for their first home game of the season," Boyd prattled on.

"Uh huh," Toni said.

Anita's kisses had been so soft, so lingering. Her touches had been gentle, tender explorations of her flesh.

"And he said that jumping off a building is one of the classes I'll have to take," Boyd interjected; sure that Toni was not listening.

"Well, you'll like do pretty good in that class, huh?" Toni said.

"What'd I just say, huh?" Boyd challenged.

"That jumping off a building is like one of your classes and since you're like a total dumb ass, you'll like do pretty good in that class," Toni said.

"Wow, what's with the fucking attitude?" Boyd asked.

"Been on the phone with you for like what, twenty minutes? And it's like been all about you from the minute I said 'hi;' didn't ask like one thing about the car wash, or like even one thing about me," Toni said, sitting up in her bed.

"I'm sorry, how was the car wash?" Boyd asked.

"Fine," Toni said. "But like Anita and I ain't friends no more."

"What? Why not?" Boyd asked, lightly stroking his cock as he thought of Anita's large breasts.

"She's like this totally selfish bitch," Toni said angrily.

"Hey, you um, you want to go to Manny's? You can tell me all about..." Boyd asked, taking a firm grip of his cock, imagining Toni and Anita in a nude cat fight.

"No; Miss Alvarez's like been working all day on dinner; I can't like just tell her too bad, I'm like going to Manny's," Toni said, walking to the bathroom.

"Then you want to..." Boyd said.

"No; see you at Mass tomorrow," Toni said and ended the call.

"Then how about..." Boyd said, and then realized Toni had hung up on him.

Toni peeled off her shorts and looked in the mirror that hung over her sink. The hickey that was on her left buttock was plainly visible and Toni grew angrier as she remembered Anita's mouth teasing her even as Anita's fingers traced her wet slit. She remembered Anita's teeth lightly grazing her buttocks.

She wished she'd paid better attention in Spanish class; Anita had drunkenly babbled something in Spanish just before applying suction to Toni's buttock. Toni wasn't sure, but it might have been the Spanish word for 'Perfect.'

"I do like have a cute butt, huh?" Toni asked her reflection.

"Mees Toni, deener," Miss Alvarez called out, knocking on the door of Toni's bedroom.

"Be right there," Toni called out and quickly pulled her shorts back on.

In her trailer, Anita's headache was no better; the shower had done little to wash away the pounding. That was largely in part to Luther knocking on the door, demanding to come in to use the toilet.

"Fuck! Use the other one!" Anita had screamed the first and second time.

"Hey, use the other one," Louisa had shrilled the third time Luther knocked on the bathroom door.

"Fucking wobbles all over the God damned place," Luther lied.

"So does that one," Louisa pointed out.

"There! God damn! Go!" Anita screamed, exiting the bathroom.

Anita tried reading the book Miss Campion had assigned for their next book report. The noise level from their next door neighbor car was overwhelming; Dillard's car was nearly directly underneath her bedroom window. 

She sighed, got up and went into the kitchen. From the first cabinet, she took three of the five remaining Ibuprofen tablets and looked around furtively. Luther and Louisa were watching an old movie that Channel 12 was broadcasting, ignoring each other. 

Anita grabbed a can of beer, reflecting that Luther must have found a few cans to recycle; there were two twelve packs of beer in the refrigerator.

She gulped nearly half the can, washing down the three pills. Then finished the can, rinsed it out and put it in with the rest of the recycling.

A half hour later, she guzzled a second can of beer, and then tried to go to sleep. Someone must have said something to Dillard; the volume of his music had dropped off sharply.

In her own bed, Toni tried to go to sleep. Fear kept sleep at bay, though.

Suppose Anita blabbed it all over the school that she was some kind of lezzy? Toni had made love with Susan, Alexis, and Jenee, but they had just as much to lose as she did, if they had blabbed it around. But Anita had nothing to lose. She had not been lifelong friends with half the people at St. Thomas Aquinas. Anita had not known these people since pre-kindergarten at St. Richard's.

Exhaustion finally won and Toni fell into a fitful slumber.

Chapter 8

Barry did notice Toni's haggard look at the breakfast table, but she had looked haggard before on a Sunday morning. He did not want to guess at the cause.

He did not like Boyd Eastman; the boy was an arrogant horse's ass and did not like the familiar way the boy put his hands on his daughter, but Barry had to admit, he would not have liked any boy that went out with his daughter.

Barry drove them to 9:00 am Mass, smiling at the open admiration his Astin Martin DB5 received.

"Superior Motors, right there on Fifty two," he said to one parishioner that wandered over to the automobile.

Toni smiled tiredly at Susan and Alexis and Caitlin and Caitlin's sister, Briah, and Caitlin's mother, Miss Theresa.

"Hey," Boyd said as Toni looked around, debating on where to sit.

"Hey," Toni said, almost dismissively.

She chose to sit with Susan and Alexis; they'd be a welcome diversion from Boyd.

Caitlin looked around until she spotted Barry. She gave him a beaming smile just as Barry's forty four year old girlfriend; Stacy Falgout took a seat next to him.

"That one of your little car wash tramps?" Stacy asked, voice much harsher than she intended.

"Tramps? Uh, my daughter was one of them, remember?" Barry said easily.

"Joking, just joking," Stacy quickly amended.

Barry smirked and nodded to Caitlin, acknowledging that he'd seen her.

When they met, Stacy had said she was not looking for husband number three and Barry said he was not looking for wife number two as he was still reeling from the sudden divorce from his wife of twenty three years.

"That mean we can't fuck?" Stacy had asked as she showed him yet another home.

"No, suppose not," Barry agreed as he looked into a ridiculously small bathroom.

"Good," Stacy said, easing up the hem of her business skirt. "Need to use condoms; that going to be a problem?"

"No, was going to insist on it," Barry smiled, pulling out a three pack of condoms out of his suit pocket.

Lately, though, Stacy was making more and more noises that she did see him as Husband Number Three. Barry could understand that; they'd been together for almost four years now. He did not see the attractive brunette as Wife Number Two, though.

"So, was she...?" Stacy asked as the intolerable organ music filled the chapel.

"Yeah," Barry admitted, having no reason to lie.

But he would have lied if Stacy had asked him if Caitlin had been who he was thinking of the previous evening as he pumped a load of his spunk into Stacy's mouth. There was a broad line between honesty and stupidity.

"And I'm sure she wouldn't spit it out," Barry mused to himself as he stared at the bone thin Caitlin.

After the service, Barry forced a smile to his face as Toni said Boyd would give her a ride home.

"So you want to..." Stacy said.

"It's just Jack and me today," Barry said.

"Oh, okay, I got a bunch of paperwork anyway," Stacy said and gave him a chaste kiss before walking to her Jaguar.

Barry fought hard against the urge to punch Boyd in his smirking face; the boy's hand was far too close to Toni's rear end. Boyd must have sensed her father's eyes, he jerked the hand away.

At her trailer, Luther and Louisa were already getting drunk in anticipation of the afternoon's football games. Dillard was installing another part into his car, which meant he needed to have his stereo at an unbelievable volume, with his sub-woofer thumping and pounding. Anita pulled out the local phone book but there was no listing for Delacroix in the White Pages.

"Fuck!" Anita said dejectedly.




Wealth Pt. 01



There also was no listing for 'Couvillion' and only one listing for 'Weinstein,' an 'Edmund Weinstein' and Caitlin had said her parents were divorced.

"Superior Motors," Anita almost crowed with joy.

She dialed the number for Superior Motors.

"Superior Motors," Jack Landry answered.

"Hi, um, this Mr. Barry?" Anita asked.

"No, hang on," Jack said.

"Hey Barry, it's your next wife I think," Jack said, holding the telephone up.

"Really?" Barry said, stirring a spoon of cream into his coffee.

"Sounds like it," Jack agreed.

"Hello, Barry Delacroix," Barry said pleasantly.

"Hi, um, Mr. Barry? This is Anita? Lopez? I was there yesterday?" Anita stammered.

Barry would not give out Toni's phone number, but did promise to pass along the message.

In her bedroom, Toni sighed. She'd made the mistake of letting Boyd fuck her earlier that summer. Obviously, because she let him fuck her once, he expected her to fuck him every time the opportunity presented itself. She had given in a few times and had wondered what the excitement was about. So she refused more often than she gave in.

Susan said telling Sherman it was her time of the month worked, until Sherman started equating 'time of the month' with blow jobs.

"Shit girl, pussy's out of action but that mouth still working, right?" Sherman said and Susan had to suck cock.

"Sucking's a lot quicker and a lot cleaner," Susan had said.

The thought of sucking Boyd's cock made Toni want to throw up, though.

The thought of lying down on her pretty bed and letting Boyd thrust on top of her also made her want to throw up. It also made her wants to find a sharp knife and stab him. Right in the crotch.

And tomorrow, Anita was going to tell everyone that she had come on to her. Anita could show everyone the hickey on her breast as proof of Toni's attempt of seduction.

The thought made the greasy doughnuts from Meche's jump into her throat and Toni bolted for her bathroom.

She vomited up the four glazed doughnuts and pint of chocolate milk.

"Like you better go; I'm not like sure if I got something like a bug or something," Toni said weakly and a few tears slid down her pretty little face.

Her life was ruined; tomorrow everyone would be laughing at her and calling her 'dyke' and 'lezzy' and she was the head cheerleader and she was supposed to be popular.

"Your um, you got a call," Boyd said, pointing to her purse.

"Thanks," Toni said weakly.

He bent to kiss her and she ducked her head.

"God, like what the fuck? I might have something, like want to kiss me?" she shrilled.

"Bye," Boyd said, slamming out of her room.

She saw that the call was from her father so she called him back.

"Listen to the message?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"Like why? Just call you back," she said.

"That girl, Anita? She called; phone number is..." Barry said.

Toni steeled herself for the call.

"Probably like wants money or something," Toni said angrily.

"Hell low," a male voice answered in what was supposed to be a suave tone but just came off sounding juvenile.

"Hi, this is Toni; may I speak with Anita, please?" Toni said pleasantly.

She had not been the lead in the school play three years in a row for nothing.

"And who's calling?" the voice asked, trying to sound seductive.

"Like she there or not?" Toni demanded, losing patience with the jack ass on the other end.

"Hello?" Anita asked.

"This is Toni; my dad said you like called," Toni snapped.

"Please come get me; I'm losing my mind here," Anita begged.

"And then like what?" Toni snapped.

"Um, hang out, I guess," Anita wavered.

"You going to like spread it all over school what we did?" Toni demanded.

"Toni, I did it too," Anita whispered, making sure that Marco and Luther and Louisa were within sight but out of earshot.

"You sure?" Toni whispered back.

"Please, just come get me," Anita begged.

"I'll be there in what? Like en minutes?" Toni said and ended the call.

Toni gargled quickly with the mouthwash, smirking that her father made Miss Alvarez buy the non-alcoholic brand.

Mees Toni, you maybe staying for lunch?" Miss Alvarez asked as Toni stampeded down the stairs.

"Yes ma'am; I just got to like get Anita, Okay?" Toni called out.

"Good, good," Miss Alvarez said.

Marco again removed his shirt and flexed for Toni's benefit as Anita pushed past him.

"Hi," she said, getting into the car.

"Hi," Toni agreed, wincing against the sonic assault of Dillard's car stereo.

"I know, isn't that like ridiculous?" Anita agreed.

"Like he can even think?" Toni asked as the lanky African American male slid back underneath his car.

"Don't think so," Anita said.

Toni honked her horn and both girls squealed in laughter as the honk made Dillard jerk, smacking his head on the underside of his car.

"Toni!" Anita gasped, laughing.

"What? It was like an accident," Toni mugged innocently.

At Superior Motors, Jack fixed yet another cup of decaf coffee.

"Man, wish Tommy's was open; that was a kick ass roast beef," he mused aloud.

"They are good," Barry said and smiled as a small Saturn pulled into the customer's parking lot.

The smile widened as Caitlin, now in light pink tee shirt and very short blue jean shorts got out of the car.

"Wife's here," Jack observed.

"Next wife," Barry corrected.

"Where's that car?" Caitlin demanded, yanking open the door of the showroom.

"Car? Oh, that Maserati?" Barry asked. "Sold it."

"Really? The black one?" Caitlin asked, mouth open in shock.

"Or it could be in the back," Jack suggested.

"Ah ha!" Caitlin smugly crowed and made a bee line for the rear stockroom of the building.

"Ass hole," Barry mouthed at a laughing Jack.

Barry turned and followed after Caitlin, eyes on her barely perceptible buttocks.

"You did not!" Caitlin exclaimed, spotting the automobile.

"It's open," Barry smiled as she skipped over to the sleek car.

He watched her as she sat in the car, flexing her hands on the steering wheel. He watched as she ran her hands over the leather appointments and adjusted the low slung seat.

"We'd have done the same thing," Jack commented, peering into the rear stockroom.

"Oh, absolutely, and would have been thinking of how many paper routes and yards to cut and other shit to buy it," Barry agreed.

"Or if we could just blow the owner for it," Jack said.

"Uh, no!" Barry laughed. "Maybe you, but since you'd blow them anyway..."

"Whatever, ass hole," Jack laughed.

"Man, wish Tommy's was open," Jack said again.

"Or Clark's; like that Smokehouse burger they got," Barry agreed.

"That car's going to be mine," Caitlin said, coming out of the stockroom.

"Uh huh," Barry said. "And pigs are going to fly out of my ass too."

"So what's for lunch?" Caitlin asked, leaning against him.

"What we were just talking about; nothing's open," Jack said.

"Like wings?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah, but who's got..." Jack asked.

"Best Wings In Bender, right there on nineteen," Caitlin said, reaching out her hand. "Give me some money."

Barry peeled off two twenties and Caitlin skipped out of the showroom to her car.

"She's cute," Jack said.

"Uh huh, and knows it," Barry agreed. "You ever here of this Best Wings in Bender place?" 

"NO, you?" Jack asked as the car sped away.

While Caitlin was racing to Best Wings in Bender, Anita was pushing away from the dining room table, stuffed.

"No, no, I geet eet," Miss Alvarez said, taking Anita's plates out of her hands.

"Thank you Miss Alvarez," Anita said.

The woman smiled in answer.

Toni yanked Anita up the stairs and into her room. She shooed Pumpkin off the bed, then pulled Anita to sit on the bed.

"Listen, I um, like, I probably like, you know, came on way too strong," Toni admitted, brushing a hand through Anita's long black hair.

"Like a little," Anita agreed, getting an odd feeling in her stomach. "I mean, shit! I don't even remember..."

"I kind of like do that, like a lot," Toni admitted in a whisper.

"It's just that, I mean, you know?" Anita said as Toni lay back and pulled Anita down to lay next to her.

"It's just that, like you know, I um, I mean we..." Toni said softly then Kissed Anita's lips.

Toni had kissed Anita quite a few times; she greeted Anita with a kiss when Anita got of the bus at school. Toni kissed Anita, and Susan, and Alexis, and Jenee.

But those were quick little pecks. This was a soft kiss, a lingering kiss.

Toni paused, then bent and kissed Anita again, a soft lingering kiss.

Anita did not scream, did not push her away, did not resist.

"It's just that, like, you know," Toni whispered again and licked Anita's lips.

The odd feeling in Anita's stomach was still there, but Anita fought it down and let Toni thrust her tongue into her mouth. 

In the small restaurant, Caitlin ordered three orders of wings then sent a text message to Barry's cell phone.

At Superior Motors, Barry frowned as his cell phone dinged

He looked at the message, and then called the phone number.

"What?" he asked when Caitlin answered?

"Why didn't you just text me?" Caitlin asked. "Now, you want fries with that?"

"I do not text, I will not text, I will never ever in a million years text, yeah, get fries," Barry answered.

"Oh, yes sir, you will text me," Caitlin affirmed.

The woman behind the counter nodded when Caitlin ordered three fries to go with the wings, and then asked if she wanted drinks. Caitlin again shot a text to Barry's cell phone.

"What did I just tell you," Barry asked when she answered.

"Drinks?" Caitlin asked.

"Soda machine right here, remember?" Barry said.

"Oh yeah, duh!" Caitlin laughed and shook her head for the woman's benefit.

She paid the woman, and then accepted the large bag.

In her small condominium, which used to be apartments before St. Elizabeth Trauma Center opened, Stacy Falgout waited for her fried chicken to reheat in the microwave oven. Sadie, her toy poodle, looked on expectantly.

"Oh, no ma'am, you're not getting any!" Stacy fussed at the small dog. "Oh no ma'am! This is for mommy!"

Sadie started with her shrill barking.

"No, no, no!" Stacy fussed at the animal. "I don't eat your food; why do you think you get to eat mine?"

The microwave dinged and Sadie ran from kitchen to living room to breakfast nook to kitchen, barking incessantly.

Stacy tore off a small chunk of the now steaming chicken and put it into a small bowl.

"Oh, I bet you want some rice too, don't you? Yes, rice is good for my little Sadie, makes her big and strong doesn't it?" she crooned and again Sadie ran from kitchen to living room to breakfast nook, barking excitedly.

Stacy spooned some rice into the small bowl, grateful for the small dog's distraction.

If she did not have the distraction, she would have to stop and look at herself; a middle-aged moderately successful real estate agent, thrice divorced, living in a tiny condominium with her dog, dating a successful man that showed absolutely no interest in taking their relationship any further than casual fuck buddies.

She would have to look at the fact that divorce number one, two and three were her fault and the reason Barry didn't want to progress any further than casual fuck buddies and occasional chaperone was because she had not said she wanted to progress any further.

She would have to look at the fact that she didn't really love Barry, and thought Barry's 'precious little Toni' was a selfish, self-centered little slut.

Husband number one, she had married because she wanted to get out of her parents' home. Momma was a weak-willed, whining woman and daddy was a drunkard that thought nothing of holding his daughter down and fucking her, his own daughter.

Ben had been a nice boy, a bit of a dreamer, that went from job to job, sure that the next job would be the one that gave them the security they needed. Their three year marriage ended when Ben came home from trying to sell insufficient insurance plans door to door, only to find Stacy paying for that month's rent with her pussy.

Husband number two was her landlord and it was he that had suggested that she'd be good at real estate sales.

At first, Harvey had been very encouraging and supportive. She found out that she was fairly good at sales. She was also very good at fucking her clients. Harvey was suspicious when Stacy went from poor to moderate sales to fairly substantial sales and accused her of fucking her clients. They had several screaming fights over his suspicions their four year marriage ended when he showed her a pair of her panties, crotch still sticky with semen, then broke her nose.

He paid for her nose job and their divorce. Stacy ground her teeth in frustration when Harvey Simone died only three months after their divorce, a massive heart attack. His grown children swooped in and picked the carcass clean. What really galled Stacy was they used Carmen Simone, a relative through marriage, and Stacy's biggest competitor, to sell off Harvey's Bender and DeGarde properties.

Husband number three didn't come along for eight years; a gentle, intelligent architect. They met when a law firm wanted to build an office complex. She located the land and even helped procure the permits and zoning variances and he designed the single story building.

They'd lasted almost five years, until Stacy found out that Glen Peters had a serious cocaine problem and had been using credit cards in her name to finance his habit.

Sadie barked, reminding her mommy that she was still waiting for her chicken and rice.

At the showroom, Barry picked the last of the meat from the bone and prepared to throw the bag away.

"Barry, no!" Caitlin called out. "Your change is in the bag!"

Barry dug the change out, smiled and slid the wadded up bills and coins across the desk to her.

"My ex-wife would have just kept it," He commented.

"And that's why she's your ex, not your next," Caitlin said, sliding the change back.

She got to her feet, making sure that Barry's eyes were on her, and then waved in parting.

"Bye, Barry, Jack. Got a bunch of homework," she said.

Chapter 9

Anita looked around as the bus lumbered onto St. Thomas' parking lot. She smiled widely as she saw Toni peel away from Boyd and their friends and walk to where the bus would finally grind to a halt. The small knot in the pit of her stomach was still there, but Anita now welcomed that odd feeling.

"Bye, y'all have a good one," Mr. Hardy cheerfully said to Anita and the other students that crowded to get off the bus.

"Bye," Anita said as she descended the steps.

Toni kissed her quickly, grabbed her hand and pulled Anita to the cluster of friends.

Anita tightened her grip on Toni's hand as the two shared a secretive smile.

Anita had not been able to blame alcohol, had nothing to defend her actions that Sunday after their fight. She had no crutch to fall back on; she had lifted the hem of Toni's tee shirt, exposing Toni's light pink nipples and tiny breast bumps.

"Oh!" Toni had moaned loudly when Anita nuzzled first one, then the other nipple.

Toni's muscular arms held Anita's head firmly while Anita suckled lovingly at Toni's small nipples.

""Mmmph!" Toni grunted as Anita cupped Toni's crotch with her hand.

Anita did not have the excuse of being drunk as she unzipped Toni's shorts and dipped a hand into Toni's sopping wet panties.

"But I want to do it to you," Toni whispered urgently.

"No," Anita whispered back and pushed Toni's panties down to Toni's knees.

Toni kicked shorts and panties off and Anita wiggled between Toni's splayed legs. She playfully pulled at Toni's blonde curls with her teeth, and then softly blew on Toni's puffy lips.

Toni grunted and jerked slightly as Anita's tongue swiped her lips. She combed a hand through Anita's dark hair as Anita then used her thumbs to pry Toni's lips apart.

Toni had almost sobbed in orgasm as Anita glued her mouth to Toni's small clitoris. Then Anita wiggled up and kissed Toni's slack mouth.

"Still think I'm going to snitch?" she softly asked.

She did not have alcohol to hide the fact that she had been attracted to Antoinette Delacroix almost from the first day they met. She'd played games with other girls in the trailer park, other girls at her school, had played games with boys from the trailer park and from her school but this was the first time she'd been the aggressor.

If Barry thought Anita was an intrusion at their dinner table, if Toni's mother resented Anita tagging along when Toni visited, if Miss Alvarez minded having two school uniforms to wash, they never vocalized their disapproval.

Toni's mother and her mother's boyfriend had been a horrible shock to Anita.

"My mom's like super fucked up," Toni had warned Anita as they drove past Elgee to Jack's Creek, Louisiana.

"What you mean?" Anita had asked.

"I mean, like she and Ed live in a shit hole they like made out of recycled shit," Toni said bitterly.

She put her hand on Anita's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I mean, they like don't wear clothes and eat like only raw organic shit and they're just fucked up, all right?" she asked.

She stopped on the side of the road and looked into Anita's dark brown eyes.

"I mean, I'm like so fucking embarrassed you're like going to think I'm like that," Toni admitted, then kissed Anita softly.

"I'm not," she said fervently. "All right? Like I'm nothing like my mom, okay?"

The rusted shack looked like something a group of pre-adolescent boys would construct and declare it their clubhouse. Anita gasped in shock when a blonde woman, hair matted and greasy, stepped out, totally nude, and waved in greeting. The woman's breasts dangled down to her flabby belly, her blonde/gray pubic hair extended from navel to upper thighs, which were painfully thin and quite hairy as well.

Then a balding man, large protruding belly hanging down joined the woman. Anita looked at the man's small penis and heavy balls, and then looked at Toni.

"And here's like Mom and Ed, the Green Team," Toni spat, then pasted a smile on her face.

"Ed's going to try to hug you; just like tell him no, all right?" Toni said, unlocking the trunk of the car.

"Hey!" Darlene Delacroix called out when Toni opened the door.

"Hey, Mom, Ed, this is like Anita; she's like my best friend," Toni said when a still shaken Anita got out of the passenger side of the car.

"Hey, hey, any friend of Toni's is a friend of mine," Ed said, small penis beginning to swell slightly.

"I wish you would call him 'Dad,'" Darlene complained.

"Like have a Dad," Toni said and moved around to the rear of the car.

"No!" Anita said, holding out her hand when Ed approached, arms open wide.

"Hey, hey, just trying to welcome you to the family," Ed whined, but backed away when both Darlene and Toni shot him a glare.

""Oh wonderful!" both Darlene and Ed said when Toni gave them the box of cat feces and the box of coffee grounds.

"Ooh and newspapers!" Ed crowed. "Great! Supposed to be a cold winter!"

"Could try like living in a real house, Toni muttered as Ed carried the stack of newspapers to the rusted shack.

Darlene shot her daughter a glare, but scurried with the used coffee grounds and cat feces to the garden.

"Now, Toni, you drink this much coffee in a month?" Darlene asked as she spread the contents of both boxes around their vegetables.

"No, Mom, like Dad gets that from work," Toni said.

"Your... Barry?" Darlene asked, looking at Toni.

"Yeah, like only Dad I got," Toni said.

"He... Now, why's he..." Darlene asked. "You did tell him it's for me, right?"

"Yes ma'am," Toni said, clutching onto Anita's hand tightly.

"But why's he..." Darlene asked, again spreading the mixture around the plants.




Wealth Pt. 02



Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

Author's Note: Wealth 01 is in the 'Lesbian Sex' category. Most would find it helpful to read Wealth 01 before reading Wealth 02.

*****

Chapter 11

"Hey Daddy," Toni sang out as she approached Barry's office.

"Yeah?" Barry looked up as Toni and Anita stood in the doorway of his home office.

"We're like off to see the Green Queen; anything you like want me to tell her?" Toni asked.

Stacy pursed her lips as she examined a smudge on one of her expensive deck shoes. She did not care for Barry's daughter and thought that the little Mexican charity case Toni drug around with her was probably nothing but a user.

"Hmm? Oh, oh, yeah, tell her and Mister Save the Universe that I have seen the error of my ways and none of the cars I sell run on fossil fuels any longer," Barry smiled and got to his feet, rolling up the chart of the Gulf of Mexico.

Toni stood, waiting for the punch line.

"Nope; they all run on little puppy dogs," Barry concluded and gave Toni a kiss, hesitated for a split second, then gave Anita a chaste kiss as well.

"Whatever," Toni said, rolling her eyes.

"Bye, Mr. Barry, bye Miss Stacy," Anita said, following Toni, who was already dashing out the front door.

Mrs. Alvarez smiled and waved as Anita waved to her.

Anita got into the car and turned to say something to Toni but saw that Toni was already slipping into the depression that sometimes overwhelmed her when she visited her mother.

"It'll be all right," Anita said quietly and touched Toni's hand.

"I like don't know what I'd do without you," Toni said flatly.

"Probably have to take your medication," Anita almost said but bit the words back.

Anita had heard Alexis, Susan, and Jenee say that Toni needed to be on medication. Only Caitlin seemed to know that Toni Delacroix had actually been prescribed medication by a doctor.

But after Toni's rage-filled attack on Anita, screaming and accusing Anita of wanting Miss Terry Dayton's affections, Anita was stunned when, the very next school day, Toni greeted her with a quick kiss and hug, as if nothing had ever happened.

"Told you," Susan said. "Bitch is psycho."

"Susan!" Alexis chided her friend.

To Anita, Alexis smiled sympathetically.

"She gets happy, she gets sad then she gets happy again," Alexis said.

"Sad! She goes fucking nuts," Jenee corrected.

"Hates her meds," Caitlin had said. "Makes her feel stupid."

"Feel stupid?" Susan hooted. "She is..."

"Shut up, Susan," Caitlin snapped.

They all shut up when Toni returned from an impromptu chat with Sister Lucy.

Now, almost two months after that tirade, Anita and Toni had gone through a few blow-ups, a few tears, but nothing like that one screaming fit.

Their business was flourishing; quite often the soaps were being plucked out of their hands as they attempted to put it onto the shelves at T. Dayton's Salon.

"Ooh, is that the Raw Milk and Honey? Don't even bother taking it out of the box; I'll take them all," Daphne Baggett demanded.

"Pumpkin and Spice? Give me three bars of that," another customer demanded. "No, no, give me five; my sister's coming to town and I know she'll steal a couple of them."

Anita's first official purchase with her income from A And A Soaps had been a cell phone. That was the day she learned that there was a difference between advertisement and information

"I'm getting the LG; that one they keep showing on TV," Anita said excitedly as Toni drove them to the PC Nation

Store in DeGarde.

"Why?" Toni asked.

"Because it gets four Gs and you can..." Anita parroted the commercial.

"What's a G?" Toni asked as they parked.

"It's a, it's a, you need it to do downloads and..." Anita had stammered.

"Baby, we like don't even get four Gs out here; three Gs is like the best you're going to do," Toni smiled. "Why not just get one like I got?"

"Because the LG is free," Anita said.

"Uh huh, if you sign up for a two year contract with AT&T, which piggy-backs off of PC Nation's towers here," Toni said as she opened the door to the store. "You'll just be paying an extra forty dollars more a month for two years; do the math."

"That's nine hundred and sixty dollars!" Anita said.

"Yep; like on top of PC Nation's forty nine a month too. Now, this one? Two ninety nine and forty nine dollar month to month, no contract," Toni said, picking up a sleek phone.

"And the new screen's a lot bigger than the old one," a sales person offered.

Toni did show Anita the LG that was advertised. When held up against the phone that Toni had, the one that Toni showed to her, the two were nearly identical.

"Take it," Anita nodded to the girl.

In the car, Toni screamed with laughter when she was the very first person Anita called. All the way to Anita's trailer, they talked with each other on their cell phones, as if they were not sitting right next to each other.

When Anita showed Marco her new phone, Marco sneered.

"You threw away two hundred and ninety nine dollars? On that? The LG is free," he laughed derisively.

"Uh huh, free, with a two year contract with is eighty nine dollars a month. and if you cancel, you pay for the phone, oh, which is, by the way, four hundred bucks, smart guy," Anita sneered. "Do the math."

Now, Anita pulled her cell phone out and typed out a message.

'ILY 1000X' and hit 'Send.'

Toni looked down briefly as her cell phone chimed, then smiled.

"And I like love you a thousand times a thousand," she responded and turned onto the dirt road that would lead them to her mother's home.

At the Delacroix house, Stacy waited while Barry put the coordinates into his GPS system. She did a quick check of her makeup while she waited. Finally, he nodded, indicating

that he was ready.

"Now, is that little red headed freak really going sailing with us?" Stacy snapped, letting her anger bubble out as Barry closed the door to his office.

"Little... Yes, Caitlin's really going sailing with us," Barry said easily as he waved goodbye to Miss Alvarez.

"For Heaven's Sake, why?" Stacy snapped as she decided it was still too warm for her windbreaker.

"Hang on to that; it might get cold out there," Barry cautioned.

"Answer me," Stacy demanded.

"What?" Barry asked as he started the car.

"Why, is a nineteen year old bony red headed slut going sailing with us," Stacy said through gritted teeth.

"Oh," Barry smiled, actually enjoying Stacy's discomfort.

Stacy had finally admitted that she would like to take their relationship up to the next level that she did possibly see Barry as Husband number three. She had been embarrassed and angered when Barry asked which husband she was forgetting, one, two or three?

He had been completely honest with her; he did not see her as Wife number Two, just did not see himself ever getting married again. If she stayed, she would stay with that understanding. If she left, he would miss her, but he would wish her well.

Since that day Stacy had been doing her best to fuck him into changing his mind. It galled her, and crushed her to think that she had wasted all that time on Barry Delacroix, and angered her to no end that she would have nothing to show for her time and investment into Barry Delacroix.

"Well?" Stacy shrilled.

"Well, she was there when Henry and I were talking about taking the schooner out; I invited Dr. Wilson along since he was standing there; he brought his Lamborghini in for an oil change and she said she wanted to go," Barry calmly said, turning onto the road that would take them to the Jazz Beach marina. 

"What was I supposed to do; tell her 'no'?" Barry asked, accelerating.

"Yes!" Stacy shrilled. "That's exactly what you should have told her! And what's the little bitch doing hanging around your showroom for anyway?"

He said nothing, simply smiled at her, which infuriated her into a stony silence.

Barry smiled as he saw Caitlin's small Saturn just ahead of them.

He whipped around the small car, horn bleating, then laughed as he could see Caitlin' sticking her tongue out at them.

Stacy glared white hot hatred at the interloper when Caitlin pulled up and parked next to them at the marina.

"Hi Barry," Caitlin shrilled when Barry got out of the car. "Hi Miss Stacy."

"Hey," Barry responded.

"Mr. Henry says it's slip number forty two," Caitlin informed Stacy.

"I have been on the boat before," Stacy spat at the girl.

If Stacy's anger affected Caitlin in any way, the red head did not let it show, just grabbed a bag from her car, locked the car, and skipped ahead.

"Next one," Barry called out before Caitlin dashed down a wooden walkway.

"Oh, okay, thanks," Caitlin cheerfully called back and raced ahead.

"And that's what a bony red headed slut is doing going sailing with us," Barry wanted to tell Stacy. "She's happy, excited to be going sailing, instead of acting like it's a chore, and having to dress up like she's going on some kind of photo shoots."

"That?" Caitlin gasped when she spotted the two masted boat. "That's your boat?"

"Yeah, got the slip fees and the insurance to prove it," Barry smiled as Caitlin gawked at the Pretty Antoinette.

"I changed my mind," Caitlin said to Barry as she scrambled onto the boat.

"Oh yeah?" Barry asked as he unlocked the cabin.

"Yeah, I don't want that car no more," Caitlin said.

"Oh, good thing; you weren't getting that car anyway," Barry smiled.

"No, I want this boat," Caitlin said. "Now, show me my new boat."

"My boyfriend, all right?" Stacy did scream at the girl when Caitlin clutched onto Barry's arm. "Get your fucking hands off him!"

" Stacy!" Barry barked at her.

" Fuck you; I'm going home," Stacy spat, whirling and climbing back onto the wooden walkway.

"Long walk home," Barry spat.

"Keys, now," Stacy snarled, hand extended.

"Got two choices," Barry snapped back. "You can get on this boat or you can go wait in the office."

Stacy whirled on her heel and stomped off to the Marina's Office.

Barry showed Caitlin the small galley, the two states rooms and the small bunk room underneath the cockpit of the boat.

"Oh, that is so cute!" Caitlin shrilled.

She reached into her bag and grabbed a tube of sun block. She liberally covered herself, making sure to get ears, neck and shoulders.

"Get my back?" Caitlin cooed, batting her eyes at him as she raised the hem of her pink tee shirt.

She pulled her long carrot orange hair out of the way, still smiling over her shoulder at him. He smirked; it was blatantly obvious that Caitlin was just having him apply the lotion so that he could see that she wore no bra underneath the thin pink tee shirt, that her small breasts were bouncing freely.

"Uh huh," he smiled but did smear a good amount of sun block on the freckled back.

" Ahoy there," Henry called out.

"Hi, welcome to the Pretty Antoinette," Caitlin said, immediately assuming the role of hostess. "We have life jackets right there. I have sun block in case you need it and we have..."

"Honey, we've been on the boat before," Shirley St. Martin, Henry's wife said, patting the girl on the arm.

"Oh," Caitlin said, feeling slightly foolish.

"But I don't think we've met; I'm Shirley St. Martin," the older woman smiled warmly.

"Oh, hi! I'm Caitlin Weinstein," Caitlin said, shaking the woman's hand.

"Are you one of Toni's friends?" Shirley asked. "Barry, is Toni joining us?"

"No, well, yeah, I am one of Toni's friends, but no, Toni's not here. I'm..." Caitlin said.

"She's..." Barry said, coming out of the galley.

"...Barry's next wife," Caitlin said with all the confidence of a nineteen year old girl.

"What? Well, good, it's about time someone managed to land this boy," Shirley laughed and greeted Barry with a kiss.

"What?" Stacy yelped.

It had taken Stacy only a few minutes in the dank, fishy smelling and unbearably warm office to realize just how foolish she was being. Leaving her man alone with a nineteen year old girl that had made absolutely no secret of the fact that she was very attracted to her man was romantic suicide.

Stacy had stomped her way back to the Pretty Antoinette, prepared to eat crow.

"Hi, Miss Stacy," Caitlin said calmly. "Life jackets are..."

"I know where the life jackets are," Stacy yelled, made her way to the front states room and slid the door shut with a bang.

"Oh," Caitlin said, all the fun out of being a hostess wearing thin.

"But Honey, has Barry showed you where he keeps the Bloody Mary mix?" Shirley asked graciously.

"Well, yes he has!" Caitlin said happily, bounding into the galley.

"Ahoy there," Dr. William Wilson said.

"Ahoy, welcome to the Pretty Antoinette, hope you brought a windbreaker; it can get cold out there on the open water," Caitlin said, bounding into the role of hostess. "We have life jackets right here and..."

"Bloody Marys if you're interested," Shirley said.

"Hey Cher," Milt Duhon smiled as he approached the boat.

"Hey! I know you!" Caitlin squealed.

She looked right past Milt Duhon at Chelsea Guidry, Channel 12 news reporter and Milt Duhon's girlfriend. "You're Chelsea Guidry! You're the reporter asked that really cute cop if he was single!" Caitlin squealed.

"Oh my God!" Chelsea laughed an embarrassed laugh. "That was like over a year ago!"

"Cute as he was?" Caitlin said. "Girl! I would have asked him the same thing!"

"And I'm..." Milt Duhon said.

"Yeah, yeah, you're the reason my Momma keeps messing up her diet," Caitlin said dismissively. "You're that chef guy."

Henry couldn't help but laugh at Milt's stunned expression. After a moment, the local celebrity shrugged and smiled as Caitlin showed them the life jackets, the sun block she'd brought, and cautioned them about being exposed too long to the sun's harmful rays.

"Anyone else, Honey?" Caitlin called out to Barry as he was unwrapping the tarp from the sails.

"When I become 'Honey'?" Barry asked.

"Two more; oops, see them," Milt said and waved to two blonde girls that were dressed in bikinis that were barely more than postage stamps.

"Hi, welcome to the Pretty Antoinette," Caitlin grumbled to the two interns from Channel 12 as they boarded the sailboat.

"Didn't show them where the life jackets are," Henry commented.

"Hope they fall overboard," Caitlin grumbled to him.

"Caitlin Sweetie, Barry have any lemons?" Shirley asked.

"Oh, yes ma'am," Caitlin said brightly. "Right here."

"Now, help me make some spritzers?" Shirley asked.

Outside of Ed and Darlene's rusted shack in Jack's Creek, Anita tried to avoid breathing through her nose as Ed Byrd, Darlene's boyfriend, prattled on and on about the evil King Sanitation, whose toxic dump site was less than five miles, away from them. The stench of his unwashed body was overwhelming. Unfortunately, as Anita tried to move away from him, Ed Byrd moved closer to her.

"Reduce, recycle, reuse," Ed intoned. "Do they do any of that?"

"I don't know," Anita said wearily.

"And like, I don't care," Toni snapped, earning herself a glare from her mother.

"Well you better care!" Ed said, really warming up to his topic.

"Hey, Ed, we're like going now, okay, like great to see you," Toni said, grabbing Anita's hand.

"But you just got here; y'all don't want no lunch?" Darlene whined.

"Is it like cooked?" Toni retorted.

" And what kind of question is that?" Darlene asked, perturbed.

"Like a normal one," Toni said.

in the car, Anita let out her breath.

"Hungry?" Toni asked.

"Good God no!" Anita complained. "How can you even think of eating? Their smell was..."

"Get used to it," Toni said flatly, pulling into Cowboy's BBQ parking lot. "Ever eaten here?"

"No," Anita admitted.

"Baby back ribs are the best," Toni said, getting out of the car.

"Better than Back Yard's?" Anita said.

"Yeah, they do a wet rub here," Toni said, opening the door of the dilapidated building.

The hostess pointed to the restrooms and Toni and Anita used the facilities.

"I love your hair back like that," Toni said, playfully tugging on Anita's pony-tail.

"Yeah?" Anita asked, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Yeah, shows off your pretty face," Toni said.

"Toni, my face's not pretty," Anita said, looking at herself, but not really seeing herself.

Anita did not see that using better quality soap and not using large amounts of bargain brand cosmetics had cleared up her skin. Anita did not see that eating better, getting more exercise, and just generally being happier had brought a healthy glow to her.

She playfully splashed a little water on Toni.

"Bitch!" Toni laughed and prepared to return the favor.

An extremely obese woman waddled in, ending their horse play.

The hostess showed Toni and Anita to a booth and nodded when the girls ordered unsweet iced tea.

"And see, they got like sweet, tangy, spicy, oh, and here's the one I like always get," Toni said, pulling out the 'Sweet Heat' bottle of sauce.

"This on one or two checks?" a bored looking waitress asked.

"One," Toni said. "I want like a half rack of baby back ribs."

"Sides?" the girl asked.

"Fries, and um, y'all still got them like fried jalapenos?" Toni asked.

"Yes ma'am, you?" the waitress asked Anita.

"Same," Anita decided.

On the Pretty Antoinette, Caitlin pulled Sierra, one of the interns into the galley, out of the sun, and applied a cool compress to the girl's beet red face.

"Sweetheart, you really should have put some sun block on," Caitlin crooned to the slightly older girl.

"But I NEVER burn," Sierra whined.

"Honey, we're out on the open water, there's no protection out here; it bounces off the water too," Caitlin said.

She stuck her head out the boat's cabin.

"Honey? We got a first aid kit?" Caitlin called out.

"Under the sink and quit calling me 'Honey'," Barry called back.

"Call you whatever I want to," Caitlin called back, smiling widely as Shirley laughed out loud at her cheekiness.

Caitlin found the sunburn spray, made Sierra close her eyes and liberally sprayed her.

"Here, drink this; no, no more alcohol for you," Caitlin ordered, pressing a glass of 7-Up into the girl's hand.

""Cathy, come see," Caitlin ordered, sticking her head out the galley.

"Whew," Cathy, the other intern complained as she stepped into the cooler interior of the sailboat.

"Okay, let's see, okay, you're not as bad as Sierra, but you're still getting pretty burnt out there," Caitlin fussed and also sprayed Cathy with the spray.

"Barry, she's a keeper," Shirley commented.

Stacy felt the bile rise up in her throat and she glared at the gray haired woman.

"She's a child," Stacy snapped.

A moment later, Caitlin came back out, followed by two girls that were now covered by the miniscule wraps they'd brought with them

"We're going to need some more of that sunburn spray; used almost the whole thing on them," Caitlin said, playfully nudging Barry away from the tiller. "My turn; how you do this thing?"

Outside of the restaurant, Anita laughed as Toni let out a huge belch.

"Thank you for lunch and thank you for doing that before you got in the car," she laughed.

"Welcome," Toni smiled.

"Now, you like want to go home or..." Toni asked, trailing a finger up the inside of Anita's shorts.

"Or," Anita admitted.

"Good," Toni smiled at her, then started the car.

Miss Alvarez greeted the two girls when they came into the house and asked if Miss Anita was staying for dinner.

"She's like spending the night," Toni said.

"I am?" Anita playfully teased as they closed the door to Toni's bedroom.

"Yes," Toni said and kissed Anita.

She softly pinned Anita against the door and pressed herself against Anita.




Wealth Pt. 02



"Like not letting you go, either," she whispered and thrust her tongue into Anita's mouth.

"Going to have to; I got to pee," Anita smiled as she pushed against Toni.

"Oh, oh, come on!" Toni enthused, pulling Anita toward the bathroom. "Like there's this thing I been like really wanting to try!"

"Toni, I got to like really pee here," Anita whined.

"Wait," Toni ordered, pushing Anita's shorts down her legs.

She pushed Anita onto the commode and knelt down on the tile floor.

"Toni, what are you..." Anita hissed.

Toni put her hand on Anita's crotch and began slowly rubbing up and down Anita's hairless mound

"Damn it, Toni, I really got..." Anita hissed.

"Wait, hold it," Toni ordered.

"Toni, please let me..." Anita whined as Toni's fingers dipped into her pussy.

Toni located Anita's fat clitoris and began stroking it like it was a small penis.

"Oh shit, Toni, please don't," Anita whined, eyes clamped shut.

"You like whine too much," Toni teased.

She pinched down on the nub and Anita gasped and shuddered.

"Now!" Toni ordered and Anita gasped as she let loose with a hot stream of urine.

"Was that like wild?" Toni asked as Anita sat, trying to catch her breath after such an intense orgasm.

"Bitch," Anita said weakly as Toni washed her hands.

"Uh huh, and you like love it," Toni said.

On the Pretty Antoinette, Caitlin hopped around, helping Barry tie the ship to the dock, helped the passengers disembark and thanked each of their guests for coming.

"Thank you; we really enjoyed being on your boat," Cathy said, hugging Caitlin.

Barry smiled; it was his boat.

"Well, the next time we go out, we'll have to invite you," Caitlin said.

She waggled a finger at the still bright red Sierra.

"But next time, you better have sun block, you hear?" Caitlin said.

"It's not your boat!" Stacy snarled at Caitlin. 

Caitlin ignored Stacy which angered the woman even more; the girl helped Barry gather up the garbage and dropped the lemon wedges into the water and separating the recyclable from the non-recyclable items.

"Honey, we're having our annual Cider Press, not this Saturday but next, the first one in November," Shirley said as Caitlin, Barry, and a fuming Stacy finally joined them on the wooden walkway of the marina.

Stacy wanted to scream, wanted to hit Shirley St. Martin. For the past three years, she had been kissing the woman's wrinkled old ass, hoping for an invitation to any of the St. Martins' activities. The opportunity to meet potential customers at any of Mrs. St. Martin's functions was priceless.

"Oh! Can we?" Caitlin gasped, turning to ask Barry.

"Oh, no, no, Honey!" Shirley laughed. "It's for us girls only! These boring old men would just get in the way." "Bye, Barry, bye Miss Stacy," Caitlin called out as she and Shirley walked to the St. Martins' Rolls-Royce.

Caitlin was completely unaware of the grandeur and sheer opulence of the automobile as she and Shirley exchanged phone numbers.

"Bye," Caitlin called out again and got into her shabby little car.

"I absolutely adore her," Shirley declared to Barry, ignoring the tomato red Stacy Falgout.

"See you at work tomorrow, Henry said, starting up the automobile.

Barry enjoyed the silence; normally after a short jaunt on the open waters, Stacy was full of complaints; it was too hot, it was too rough, the food was too salty, the other passengers were boring, or ill-mannered.

"Tell your daughter to move her car; I want to go home," was the only thing Stacy said when they pulled up to the Delacroix house.

Barry was only slightly disappointed; he'd had hoped for some hot and sweaty and nasty fucking. Seeing Sierra and Cathy and Chelsea in their nearly obscene bikinis had given him an almost painful erection. Caitlin had looked at the cloudless sky and had decided to keep her tee shirt, windbreaker, and Capri pants on.

"I'll move it," Barry smiled, infuriating Stacy even further.

Stacy was going to leave anyway, but at least he could act a little upset. She could see the lump in his khaki shorts, knew he had an erection . The least he could do was ask her to stay, ask her to take care of that erection for him. She would have refused, told him to take care of it himself.

Barry located the spare key on his ring, backed his daughter's car far enough for Stacy to get her Jaguar out, waved as she sped away, then parked Toni's car again.

"Hi Daddy; have fun?" Toni mumbled around a thick piece of banana bread.

"Yeah; should have been there," Barry said, looking at the stack of mail.

"Ooh, I've never been on a boat," Anita said to Toni.

"Oh, Sweetheart! I'm sorry," Barry said sincerely. "Why didn't you say something? I would have loved for you to come with us."

Miss Alvarez rewarded Barry with a beaming smile as she put a slice of banana bread and a glass of soy milk on the table for him.

"Next time," Barry promised, touched the girl's shoulder lightly, then wolfed down his warm snack far too fast.

Chapter 12

Thanksgiving Day was cold, cloudy, and dreary.

"Man, I could swear I was wearing shorts like just yesterday," Toni complained.

"Like you like were like wearing like shorts like yesterday, like for sure," BJ, her oldest brother teased his baby sister.

"Like shut up!" she shrilled at him.

" Honey, you know where Miss Alvarez keeps that, oh, what the hell is it called, that thing, you know, you squeeze the bulb and..." Barry called out from the kitchen.

"Like the turkey baster?" Toni asked, entering what was usually Miss Alvarez's domain.

"Yes!" Barry agreed. "That's it!"

"Like her junk drawer is right..." Toni said, pulling the drawer open and immediately locating the baster.

"Wow, you a pretty fart smeller, I mean, a pretty smart feller," Michael, the middle boy of the family teased.

"Like I am so glad Thanksgiving is like only once a year," she snapped at him.

He playfully tugged her hair as she walked past.

"Like your hair like that; it's pretty," he complimented.

"You're still like this big old butt hole," she groused.

"Boys, I really wish y'all would leave your baby sister alone," Barry said as he and Stacy hustled around in the kitchen.

"Uh huh, then she'd never know we were here," Patrick, the youngest of the boys, three years Toni's senior commented.

"And I don't know that she'd really miss y'all all that much," Barry said and basted the turkey.

Toni went up the stairs to her room, closed and locked the door and flopped down on her bed.

Pumpkin came out from under the desk, looked around, then hid back under the desk again. From her spot on the bed, Toni could see Boopsie stick her head out of the closet, then decide she was happy where she was.

Toni dug her cell phone out of her purse and quickly sent Anita a text message, telling her good morning and she missed her.

The two girls had stayed up late last night, texting each other and sending each other pictures of themselves. At first, these had been silly little selfies; making faces at their phones. Then Toni had playfully taken a selfie of herself with her top off. Then Anita had taken one of herself topless as well.

The next selfie showed Toni nude, and Anita responded in kind.

The two eighteen year old girls had then masturbated for their phones, texting each other what they were doing and what they'd love to do to the other if she were there.

The last text to come across was Anita's 'ILY 1000X.'

At her trailer, Anita was very quickly developing a headache. Dillard was out doing something to his car, which meant that he had to have his stereo thumping.

Inside, Luther and Louisa were arguing; that was nothing new, they argued almost non-stop. But now they were arguing about how to cook a pre-cooked turkey breast.

"The fucking thing's smoked; it's already cooked! All you got to do is heat the fucking thing! Jesus fucking Christ, how hard can that be?" Louisa shrilled.

"It's not cooked! It just has smoke flavor added! You trying give us fucking food poisoning here?" Luther screamed back.

They also had frozen macaroni and cheese and canned yams; Luther and Louisa were bound and determined that they would have the traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Marco stuck his head in her bedroom.

"Marco, say one stupid thing and I'll fucking kill you," Anita worned.

"Casa Ole's open; want to have lunch there?" he suggested.

"Uh, and let me guess," Anita sneered. "Aw, girl, I uh, aw believe this shit? Left my wallet at home, feel me? But let me hold a twenty I catch you, feel me? That's all right Marco, I don't think I'll buy you lunch today, but hey, thanks for asking; you have a nice day."

Her cell phone dinged and she smiled softly as her girlfriend's text popped up.

'ILY 1000x1000x1000x1000' she replied and sent it. Her phone dinged and a picture of Toni's blonde pubic mound popped up. A second later, another ding and another picture, this one of Toni's fingers spreading her lips apart.

'Yum yum,' Anita responded, pushing Marco aside so she could lock herself in the bathroom.

"See? Right fucking here, read it! 'Heat And Serve' it says it right here," Anita could hear Louisa scream from the kitchen.

Anita turned on the small stereo she'd bought, put in 'Fading Shades,' a CD that Jenee had turned her on to from a German singer named Sandra, and took a selfie of herself getting ready to take a bath.

She turned the music up a little louder, to drown out any moans and gasps she might let out. She took another selfie of her bending over to turn the water on.

in her bedroom, Toni masturbated as Anita sent her a series of photos of herself taking a bath, pleasuring herself in the hot water.

"Hey, Ann Snot Yet!" Patrick called out from the other side of Toni's bedroom door, calling her by the hated nickname of her childhood. "Dad and Miss Stacy say they've finished burning the food!"

"Like be right there," Toni called back, pulling her jeans up.

She sent Anita a quick text of 'ILY 1000x1000x1000x1000x1000x1000' and dashed into her bathroom.

She studiously washed her hands; Miss Stacy had embarrassed her to no end a few weeks ago by pointedly sniffing the air when Toni had come down after a very satisfying masturbation session. She then sprayed a little of her perfume on herself, then checked her hair and make up.

"Damn it!" she giggled as she left the bathroom, realizing that she had to pee.

Downstairs, Barry sighed impatiently, not bothering to hide his annoyance as Patrick's girlfriend, Debbie 'Don't Touch Me' Peterson shrilled that she could find her seat without help.

"I'm sure you can, but in the meantime, you're cane is whacking the Hell out of my chair and table legs," Barry said, a little more sharply than he had intended, but not as sharply as he would like to.

Patrick, a little more familiar with the layout of the room, had already put his own cane in the corner.

"Here, Debbie, why don't we sit here?" he asked gently, taking her hand and putting it on the back of a chair.

"Thanks," she snarled, dropped her long white cane to the floor and shoved it underneath the table.

"Debbie, listen, so no one trips over that, why don't I put it..." Stacy tried to suggest.

"It's fine where it is," the blind woman barked.

"Okay," Stacy said.

"And as soon as like Toni like gets like here, we'll like say like Grace; you did tell her dinner, right Patrick?" Michael said.

"Yeah I did," Patrick agreed.

"About time; we're dying here," BJ, the oldest boy said when Toni skipped into the dining room.

"And that's for like that Ann Snot Yet thing," Toni said, flicking Patrick in the back of his head as she walked past.

"Ow, fart face!" Patrick laughed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, yay God," Toni said, taking her seat to her father's left.

"That might have been cute when you were four," Barry shook his head. "But at eighteen?"

"And it wasn't that cute when you were four," BJ said.

"Heavenly Father, we thank you for this food, we thank you for our family, we thank you for the many blessings you have bestowed upon us. Please let this food nourish our bodies as you nourish our souls, Amen," Barry said.

"And God bless the cook!" Toni exclaimed.

"Cooks," Stacy corrected, taking her seat to Barry's right.

At her house, Caitlin studiously read her grandmother's notes, determined that the oyster dressing was about as good as it was going to be, and checked on the broccoli and cheese.

"How's it coming?" Theresa Weinstein ,her mother asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

"Okay, I think," Caitlin admitted.

"Need help?" Theresa asked.

"No, no, I got it," Caitlin forcefully insisted.

"Honey, our first Thanksgiving? We all need help," the older woman said.

"That's right," Grandmother called out from the living room. "And your mother needed a lot of help."

"Quiet, horrible woman or I'll double your medication," Theresa threatened.

"You wouldn't dare," Grandmother said.

"No, no, I got it," Caitlin said.

"Smells good, Honey; you're doing fine," Grandmother called out then started coughing again.

"And what about the rolls?" Theresa asked.

"Oh shit!" Caitlin shrilled.

"Uh huh," Teresa said, pulled the prepared tray out of the refrigerator and started putting dabs of butter on the raw dough.

"God damn it, I can't do nothing right," Caitlin burst into sobs.

"No, no, no, it's all right, it's all right," Briah, Caitlin's younger sister assured her sister, hugging her tightly. "No, no, you're doing great!"

"Sweetheart, it's just rolls," Teresa assured the girl.

"No, it's not!" Caitlin wailed. "It's this and that and it's all got to be done at the same time and it's just too much!"

"Which is why we all need a little help from time to time," Theresa said, nudging the two girls out of the way so she could put the rolls into the oven.

Outside of Superior Motors, a college boy and his girlfriend stood peering into the showroom and dreaming of the day they could actually afford one of the sleek automobiles. 

They had both laughed at the note that someone had taped to the glass door on the inside of the showroom.

"It's Thanksgiving.

Go Home And Be With Your Family.

You Can Get Your New Car Tomorrow.'

"I wish!" the young man said, kissed the girl softly, then opened the door to his truck for her to climb up into the cab.

"One day," she assured him.

"Uh huh, Honey, you got any idea what they pay teachers?" the boy smiled and closed her door.

At her trailer, Anita stuffed the unappetizing food into her mouth, swallowing it as quickly as possible.

"Not bad," Luther declared, enjoying the dried out turkey breast

"Fucking dry as a bone," Louisa grumbled.

"What they make gravy for," Luther said.

"Uh huh," Louisa said.

Anita wished she had a car. Then she could have driven herself to Casa Ole, or even over to Toni's house. Toni, and Mr. Barry had invited her to their house for Thanksgiving, but Louisa had thrown a fit, declaring that Thanksgiving was for family. 

"Never even see you anymore," Louisa had complained bitterly. "And when I do see you, you got your face in that damned phone of yours, texting and all that."

"This?" Anita wanted to scream at her mother. "You made me stay home for this? I could have been at Toni's house, eating food that actually has some taste. But no! You had to throw a hissy fit."

At the Delacroix house, Toni gritted her teeth as Debbie insisted on serving herself and managed to get gravy onto the linen placemat, instead of her turkey.

"God, if she would just like let someone help her," she whispered to BJ.

"Uh huh, hey Dad, the giblet gravy is awesome," BJ agreed.

"Thank you, but Miss Stacy's one that made that," Barry agreed.

"Finished getting the table with that gravy there, Debbie? I'd like some of it, if you don't mind," Michael said, tired of Debbie and her attitude, and certainly in no mood to be polite any longer.

Barry glared at his middle son, but everyone else, except for Debbie snickered at Michael's comment.

"Glad you like the gravy," Stacy said, trying to be the very picture of grace and hospitality.

She was trying desperately to show Barry that she could be a homemaker, that she could be the glue that held his family together.

Barry knew what Stacy was attempting to do and knew he should feel more than just a little guilty for using her as he did. But he had been perfectly honest with her from Day One; he was not looking for wife number two. He had been perfectly honest with her when she said she was looking at him as Husband material; he did not see her as Wife material.

He had been perfectly honest last night when she was performing oral sex on him; no matter how many times she sucked his cock, how many gallons of his sperm she swallowed, he did not foresee marriage in their future.

But she insisted on staying, on performing oral sex on him, on getting up at five o'clock to start baking the turkey, insisted on fixing a nice breakfast for him and for Toni.

He looked at Stacy, and did feel a little guilty.

At Grandmother's house, Theresa picked up Bobby, her eleven year old son by one of his ears and snarled, "One word, you hear me? One word telling your sister ANYTHING but how much you liking her food and so help me God, it will be the last thing you ever say, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am," Bobby whined, believing her.

"And here we go," Briah said, carrying the plate of rolls to the table. "Caitlin's fixing Grandmother's plate and then we can eat!"

"Here you go, Grandmother," Caitlin said, carrying the plate of finely chopped food to the hospital bed where her grandmother lay.

"You a sweet girl, Baby," Grandmother smiled. "One day, some man's going to look at you and realize you'll be the perfect wife."

"He can get past this red hair and all these freckles," Caitlin agreed.

"Baby, what you talking about? You're beautiful," Grandmother said, pulled the mask away from her face and prepared to take a bite of her food.

"Mother, we need to say Grace," Theresa snapped.

"Grace," Grandmother said and stuffed the fork into her mouth.

"Well, I guess that's about as good as we're going to get out of you," Theresa snapped.

At the Delacroix house, Michael waited until three o'clock until he could politely make his escape. He offered Patrick and Debbie a ride; Patrick accepted but Debbie snapped that they could get a cab.

"Okay, Debbie, I'm going that way anyway, Debbie, but I can see you think you just got to make a point Debbie, y'all are so independent Debbie but do you think you could just put that militant attitude in your back pocket for a second Debbie and use some common sense?" Michael snapped, earning him a harsh glare from their father. "Seriously, I'm going that way, if you wait on Rapid Cab, it'll be at least an hour, and then he's going to charge y'all seven bucks to go less than one flipping mile; why not just accept a ride, huh?"

"Fine," Debbie snapped.

"Love you, Dad," Michael said and whispered in his ear, "I know you're mad at me, but I just couldn't help it; she's being a bitch for nothing."

"I know, love you, hard headed boy," Barry smiled tightly, kissed his son on the lips, patted his back, and then hugged Patrick tightly.

"Love you, boy, Damn, you're getting big, huh?" Barry said and also kissed his youngest son on the lips.

"Bye Dad, bye Miss Stacy, see you BJ, Ann Snot Yet.," Patrick cheerfully said.

"Shut up!" Toni said, but kissed her two brothers good bye. "Love you."

"Love you too, Baby Sister," Michael smiled tightly as Debbie insisted she could put her own coat on, even though it was giving her trouble. (The right sleeve was pulled inside out, probably from when she took it off.)

BJ left afterward, and Toni beat a hasty retreat to her room.




Wealth Pt. 02



She sent Anita a text; Anita must have had her phone in her hand; the reply was immediate.

"Bye Daddy, bye Miss Stacy, like getting Anita, all right?" Toni called out as she sprinted down the stairs.

Barry pursed his lips tightly as Stacy's smirk.

It had been Stacy that had pointed out to him that his daughter and Anita were lovers. They had just finished a rather energetic lovemaking when Stacy waved at Barry to be quiet.

"What, I don't hear..." Barry said and she waved even harder for him to be quiet.

A moment later, he heard a low moan.

"What do you think..." he asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Uh, what do you think that is?' she smirked. "Uh, had me doing that just ten seconds ago, huh?"

He heard a small gasp and giggle coming from Toni's room and grabbed his remote control and turned on his bedroom television, pushing the volume button hard.

Now he looked at Stacy's knowing little smirk and turned away to wipe the kitchen counter even though he had just wiped it down a second earlier.

"And that's another reason there ain't no ring on that finger; you're a arrogant little bitch," Barry thought to himself.

At the trailer, Louisa looked up from the television set and glared as Anita pulled on her coat.

"Uh, excuse me, where you think you going?" she barked.

"I'm going to work, that all right? We got another order for more soap," Anita lied.

"No it ain't all right!" Louisa shrilled. "God damn! Can't even take one day! One day be with your family?"

"What 'be with my family?' You and Luther watching football! I don't want to watch football. Marco's in his room sleeping; I don't want to be with him! I been with y'all all day and now I need to go make some soap for Saturday delivery! God!" Anita screamed.

"Fine, fine, selfish bitch!" Louisa screamed.

"What? Going doing some work is selfish? How?" Anita asked.

"Rather be doing that than just spend some time..." Louisa shrilled.

"By Mother; I spent all day with y'all," Anita snapped, opened the door, which let a chill blast of air in, stepped outside, and slammed the door closed.

"God damn, break the fucking door why don't you?" Luther bellowed angrily.

Fortunately for Anita, Toni was there in only a few minutes so she didn't have time to feel the bitter cold.

"Hey," Toni said and the two kissed quickly.

"Hey; just get me the fuck out of here, all right?" Anita said, buckling up.

"Luther? Marco?" Toni asked sympathetically.

"Mother; she's all like 'why you can't be with your family' and I'm like 'Why? Y'all are fucking useless' and..." Anita complained.

"Uh huh, and now you like know how I feel when I'm with my mom and her loser boyfriend," Toni said.

Toni gritted her teeth when she pulled up to her home; Miss Stacy's Jaguar was still in the driveway.

"Oh, and how was your Thanksgiving? Did Martha Sewage, I mean, Martha Stewart just make the like best Thanksgiving ever?" Anita asked snidely.

"Like fuck you, okay?" Toni giggled. "Honestly, it like wasn't that bad. Food was real good; she like even made that spinach artichoke dressing stuff there."

"Lucky bitch; we had frozen macaroni and cheese, canned yams, and this pre-cooked turkey and that's it," Anita groused.

"Ew!" Toni said as they entered the ice cold garage.

Two hours later, Toni declared an end to their work day.

"Take me back home, I guess," Anita said somberly. "I need to make up with my mother."

"Oh," Toni said, cuddling up to Anita. "I kind of um, like hoped you'd um, you'd like spend the night."

"Tomorrow night," Anita promised. "Remember? We got them dates?"

"Oh God, Boyd and Brett," Toni grimaced.

"Gee, I hope they'll talk about football," Anita said as she pulled her coat back on.

"You think?" Toni said. "Like I bet they don't! I bet they like talk about you know, like quantum physics and stuff."

"Like Brett could even spell Quantum Physics," Anita giggled as they hustled to Toni's car.

Chapter 13

Just as she had done from the time she could read the tags on the gifts under the Christmas tree, Toni crawled around, gathering up all the presents and distributed them.

"And like here's another one for BJ; like think you got enough?" Toni announced.

"Like I like see like she like hasn't like learned any like new like words yet," Michael said to their oldest brother.

"Like bite me," Toni said and pushed one last package over toward Barry.

"Oh, no, this is Caitlin's she like said she wants to be here when you open it," Toni said and pushed it back under the tree.

Barry fought down his smirk; Stacy had thrown a major fit when she spotted the large gaily wrapped present underneath the tree and saw the tag.

"What is it?" she had demanded of Barry.

"Beats me; came by the other day, dropped it off," Barry had shrugged.

Now, perched on the couch next to him in their living room, Stacy Falgout was doing her very best to demonstrate her matronly skills as she organized the chaos of gift unwrapping.

"Swear to God, pussy must be gold plated," Michael whispered to BJ as they rolled their eyes at Stacy's pathetic performance.

"You ever had gold-plated pussy?" BJ asked.

"Monique," Michael responded immediately.

"Aw, your ass!" BJ laughed out loud and gave his brother a slug on the arm.

When they had been younger and needed a baby sitter, Monique Breaux had been the sitter of choice. BJ had harbored a major crush on the shapely girl. A few years later, he had been crushed when she abruptly moved away and neither her mother or father would tell him where she went.

Twelve years after Monique's abrupt disappearance, Michael had seen Monique as she was coming out of a supermarket in Vicksburg, Mississippi. The only reason he recognized the obese woman with the lifeless strands of brunette and the sunken eyes was because of the girl next to her. The young girl was the spitting image of what Monique had been. There were four other children following behind the large woman that also resembled Monique's former beauty.

But Michael, a burgeoning writer, embellished the incident, creating an elaborate afternoon of wild and kinky sex for BJ's benefit.

BJ knew Michael was lying, but still smiled whenever Michael brought it up.

"Now, BJ, it's your turn," Stacy said, forcing herself to sound cheerful.

"Oh, hey, nice," BJ said after unwrapping a Saints football jersey emblazoned with the number 8 and Manning on the back. "He is still the best quarterback we ever had."

"Damned shame he never had anyone throw to," Barry agreed.

"I thought Drew Brees was..." Stacy said.

"Archie puts Drew Brees to shame," Barry, Michael, BJ and Toni all said.

"Now, how would y'all know?" Stacy demanded. "None of y'all are even old enough to remember when Archie played football. Really!"

"Got like two boys playing, both of them like got them

Super bowl rings," Toni said. "They didn't just like lick that off the wall."

"You have been around Michael too much," Barry laughed at his daughter.

"And now Michael..." Stacy intoned.

While Michael unwrapped a heavy box, Stacy turned to Barry.

"Now, why couldn't Patrick be here?" she asked peevishly.

"Because he and Debbie Don't Touch Me are at her parents' house, making them miserable," BJ answered.

"They spent Thanksgiving with us so it's only fair that they spend Christmas in Jackson," Barry said, perturbed with Stacy.

They'd had this conversation last night as they lay in his bed. She insisted on spending the night, even though he would have been fine without her there. She came out of his bathroom, dressed in only strategically placed bows, asking him if he'd like to 'unwrap' his Christmas gift early.

She was still trying to fuck him into changing his mind, still trying to fuck him into marriage.

Rather than being enjoyable, an intimacy to be shared, sex was becoming a chore for Barry.

At her trailer, Anita Lopez forced herself to smile at the cheap, gaudy baubles her mother and Luther had wasted their money on, thanking them for the gifts.

"Oh no you didn't?" Marco whooped when he pulled out the black suede tennis shoes.

"Those are the ones you wanted, right?" Anita asked him as he quickly bent to lace them up.

"You kidding?" he said.

"Well, how about that?" Luther said, pulling out the fifth of Johnny Walker blue label.

"Mr. Barry says that's his favorite and he's like an expert," Anita said.

"Well, I'm willing to bet it'll be my favorite real quick," Luther agreed.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Louisa chirped as she unwrapped the three cast iron skillets, each just a little larger than the last.

"The two larger ones also have lids," Anita pointed out. "You know how you always watching that Cast Iron Skillet show and saying if you had you a cast iron skillet? Well now you do."

"No, think I'll use them keep my man in line," Louisa said, playfully threatening Luther with the largest skillet.

Anita brought the cheap trinkets to her bedroom, put them on the rickety chest of drawers and flopped on her bed.

Suddenly she remembered that she had homework that needed to be done over the Christmas break and slid open her closet door to retrieve her book bag.

She saw the little black dress, smelled the smells of the Christmas party still in its fibers and smiled.

She and Toni had lugged the three boxes of soaps into the salon then stared at each other.

"You got the heavier coat," Anita finally pointed out.

"Here," Toni said, shrugged out of it and held the heavy coat to Anita.

"I hate you," Anita said, grabbed the car keys out of Toni's hand and braced against the cold December wind that howled off of the Atchafalaya Basin.

She grabbed the heavy box out of the trunk and scurried back into the salon. With a shudder, she handed the box to Toni.

"Miss Selena, this is gift baskets," Anita said, pulling one out of the box and showing her the cellophane wrapped basket. "See, it's got like three bar, the peppermint, gingerbread, and hot chocolate and..."

"And it's like got sample size bars of all our other soaps," Toni chimed in.

"And a peppermint candle," Anita said, proudly pointing to the slender candle. "All organic."

"Yeah," Toni said, giving Anita an affectionate squeeze; the candle had been Anita's idea and Anita was the one that had looked up how to make them and had spend her spare time developing the process.

"How much?" Selena asked.

"What you think? Like fifty..." Toni said.

"Wow, eighty nine ninety nine? Hope you brought us plenty of them!" Selena said out loud.

"Miss Terry here?" Anita asked Selena.

"Yes ma'am, like that's what we said, eighty nine ninety nine; there's like twenty of them," Toni agreed as Selena pushed the button to silently page Terry Dayton.

"Oh, I am so glad to see you; wait right there," Terry said, then turned and dashed back to her work station.

"Miss Terry, this is for you," Anita said, holding out an gift wrapped basket.

"Well, thank you so much," Terry smiled accepting the gift. 

"And these are for you two; Paula and I are having a little Christmas get-together next Saturday night; please tell me you can make it," Terry said, handing Anita the two invitation envelopes.

"Put on your favorite little black dress," Selena said as Terry strode away, Anita still staring transfixed at the gilded invitation in her hand.

Selena leaned forward.

"And that chef guy does that Cast Iron Skillet show; he's doing all the cooking," Selena confided.

"Like let me guess," Toni smiled once they were back in her car, waiting for the heater to chase away the bitter chill. "You like really really really want to go."

"Oh please, can we?" Anita begged.

"Got a little black dress?" Toni asked, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Um, no," Anita admitted.

"Babbage's," Toni announced and drove toward the exclusive department store in Bender, Louisiana.

"Toni! Are you crazy? I can't..." Anita started.

A moment later, Toni looked over and saw Anita staring straight ahead.

"What? What's wrong?" Toni asked her.

"Toni, I can afford Babbage's," Anita whispered.

Now, Anita touched the simple, elegant garment and smelled the evening's festivities on it. The tag said 'Dry Clean Only' but Anita didn't know where a dry cleaner's was. She resolved to look one up on her cell phone.

The party had been at Paula Lambert's condominium and it had been Paula that opened the door. The strawberry blonde smiled and ushered them in. She wore a red Santa dress that ended just below her crotch and everyone kept complimenting her on all the weight she'd lost.

Terry, dressed in floor length dark green velvet gown that had slits up to her waist to allow movement, came, and kissed Anita and Toni on their lips, put her arm around their waists, and personally introduced the pair to each person at the party.

"This is Cindy Broussard-Robichaux and her husband, Paul Robichaux; Cindy just won that election; she's our next parish president, and Paul, as you know, is a very successful contractor," Terry said. Paul, Cindy, this is Anita Lopez and Toni Delacroix; keep your eye on them; they're going to be our next millionaires."

"Chelsea! Chelsea Guidry, this is Anita and Toni; believe me, you want to interview them; they are the next big thing to hit Louisiana," Terry introduced them to the Channel 12 reporter.

Paula took her place at the head of the elegant table, Terry sitting to Paula's right. Anita wanted to swoon; Terry insisted that she and Toni sit next to her at the table.

Sophia Coutre, Paula's attorney, and now Anita and Toni's attorney as well, offered a simple blessing.

Before Toni could stop herself, she loudly announced "And God bless the cook!"

"Amen!" everyone at the table laughed and Milt Duhon beamed at the now furiously blushing teenager.

"Amen," Paula agreed, smiling at the girl. "Sometimes, I get so caught up in my own little world, I just take for

granted all the hard work others put into it. God Bless the cook."

Anita watched the elegance and grace which Terry conducted herself and blurted out, "Were you a model before you became a hair stylist?"

Terry looked startled and for a split second, Anita saw a little girl. Then Terry smiled and grabbed Anita's hand, giving it an affectionate squeeze.

"No Sweetheart; I was a car hop at Clark's Drive-In," she quietly told the girl. "I lived in Section Eight housing with my aunt, didn't ever see any way out of it, then Paula said to me, 'If you could do anything, anything at all in the world, what would you want to do?' and I told her 'I want to open my own hair salon' and so she paid for me to go to school," Terry started her tale.

"One day, this beautiful girl was dragged into my salon by her best friend, and they said 'we want to sell soap' and I said 'okay then, sell soap,'" Terry smiled and used her knife to cut more of the goose breast. "And in three or four years, you'll say to some young lady 'if you could do anything, anything in the world, what would it be?' and you're going to help her do it. Yes, God bless the cook, and the hair stylist, and the soap maker and the candle maker."

Now, a week after that party, Anita smelled the dress and forgot about looking for a dry cleaner.

At the Delacroix house, they were slowly gathering the wrapping papers and making sure to not accidentally grab any gifts hidden in the papers.

"Caitlin's like on her way," Toni announced, much to Stacy's annoyance.

"Thank you so much," Stacy fawned to Barry, holding out her wrist, which now displayed a Rolex watch.

"Welcome; said that Seiko of yours would cost more to fix than it was worth, right?" Barry said, wishing Stacy would go brush her teeth.

"Heeeeey!" Caitlin drawled out, hugging Michael when he opened the door for her.

"Hey, Toothpick," Michael agreed, calling her by her hated nickname.

"Shut up! Was going to tell you 'Merry Christmas' but you can just forget it now!" Caitlin screeched.

"Don't worry," BJ said, hugging the girl. "I won't call you 'Tooth Pick' all right?"

"Well Merry Christmas to you," Caitlin said.

"Even though you are," BJ finished, then laughed when a surly Caitlin slapped him on his arm.

"Did you open it yet?" Caitlin asked Barry as she skipped into the living room.

"No, I was told under no circumstances was I to open that box until you got here," Barry smiled and held out two small boxes to her.

"Oh, Barry, you didn't have to get me anything!" Caitlin protested; her protest being genuine.

Stacy ground her teeth and busied herself with finding those small scraps of paper that fall to the floor when gifts are unwrapped.

"Go ahead, open it," Caitlin urged, taking the seat next to Barry.

"Okay," Barry said, using a crystal letter opener to cut through the paper.

"What is it?" BJ asked.

"Oh my God, where in the world did you ever find this?" Barry asked, stunned.

"Mister Henry helped me," Caitlin admitted.

"What is it?" BJ asked again.

"It's a Service Manual for a Nineteen Sixty Five T Series Bentley," Barry said, carefully undoing the leather strap and buckle that held it closed.

Stacy actually felt nauseous; her gifts of leather attaché case and two silk ties paled in comparison to the girl's

gift.

"That's the car you got out there, right?" Caitlin asked as Barry carefully turned the brittle pages.

"Yes it is," Barry said, still amazed at what he held in his hands.

"You little fucking cunt!" Stacy screamed, launching herself at Caitlin.

Barry stood, putting himself in between Stacy and Caitlin. 

Michael grabbed Stacy around the waist, holding her back.

"Stacy! Really! It is Christmas!" Barry said.

Stacy glared white hot hatred at Caitlin, who just looked back with complete unconcern. Stacy whirled and dashed up the stairs.

"Got any guns up there, Dad?" BJ asked.

"Not yet," Barry said.

"Like, go ahead, I want to see what he got you," Toni finally said after a few moments had elapsed.

"Oh!" Caitlin gasped, looking at the St. Thomas Aquinas class ring.

"Toni said you didn't have one," Barry offered.

"Couldn't afford one," Caitlin admitted.

"But you could afford..." Barry asked, indicating his treasure.

"That's different," Caitlin said, looking into his blue eyes. "That's for you."

"Oh wow," BJ said, sharing a look with Michael.

Now dressed in her long coat, Stacy barged down the stairs and out the front door.

"Hey!" Toni protested; Stacy did not bother closing the door and the bitter December wind blew into the house.

Michael closed the door, shaking his head.

Outside, in her car, Stacy wanted to scream with rage; BJ and Michael's cars had her blocked. But rather than go back into the house and ask them to kindly come move their cars, rather than have to face any of them, she decided to cut across the lawn.

"Are you believing this shit?" BJ asked Michael as they watched the Jaguar become bogged down in the soft earth of Barry's meticulously arranged tulip garden.

"Hey, Dad, how much them tulips cost you?" Michael called out

"I don't know, about a thousand, why?" Barry asked, coming into the foyer.

"What in the world?" he asked as he watched Stacy's tires thrash through his garden.

"My car!" Caitlin cried out as Stacy's car finally gained traction and catapulted forward, smashing into Caitlin's

car.

"I am sincerely sorry about this; I'll get you a loaner," Barry promised.

"Can I have that Maserati?" Caitlin asked, watching as Stacy sped away.

"In your dreams, kid, in your dreams," Barry shook his head as he called 911.

Chapter 14

Sadie had greeted Mommy with yelping barks and whines; she'd been cooped up in the condo's small laundry room all night.

"Not now, Sadie," Stacy demanded, dropping car keys on the counter.

Sadie responded with more yelping whines.




Wealth Pt. 02



"God damn it, not now!" Stacy screamed.

Sadie relieved herself; thoroughly soaking her small pillow.

"Should have grabbed that letter opener," Stacy muttered to herself, picturing in her mind's eye the crystal letter opener that Barry had used to open that damned present. 

In her mind's eye she could envision herself slamming the blade into that bony red head's skull, killing the little slut. She could picture driving it into the throat of that like little like tramp like daughter of like Barry's, could actually picture the girl's horrified look as her life slipped away.

Sadie continued to yelp and whine and paw incessantly at the door of the laundry room as Stacy fixed herself a drink. She poured herself a healthy amount of the Johnny Walker blue label. Normally she left this bottle untouched; this was Barry's bottle. 

"Fuck him," she said bitterly and coughed as the amber liquid burned it's way down her throat.

She stripped out of her clothing and pulled on her old, familiar robe, then ground her teeth in frustration. Barry had given her a very nice, warm robe that even had a hood on it to keep her head warm when she had a wet head from the shower. Of course, she had left it at his house, to wear when she spent the night. She wished she'd had the foresight to grab it before she left his house.

"At least I have..." she thought and looked at her expensive watch.

At the Delacroix house, Sergeant Darren Richards and his partner, Officer Ray Gonzales took the statements of everyone. Darren wrote out the accident report for Caitlin, who was on her cell phone with Young Insurance.

"I'm sorry, hate to call you, I mean, I know it's Christmas," she sniffled into her phone.

"Don't be ridiculous," Julie Chamblee assured the girl. "I'm just glad you weren't hurt when it happened."

"I wasn't even in it when it happened," Caitlin said.

"Well, thank God," Julie said.

"And then she slammed into my daughter's friend's car and drove... You can see the tire marks right there," Barry pointed out to Officer Gonzales.

"Daughter's friend?" Caitlin asked Barry when the police officers left the house.

"Well, yeah, what was I supposed to..." he asked.

"Uh, your girlfriend? Your next wife?" Caitlin said.

"Caitlin, come on, you're being ridiculous," he protested.

"Why?" she asked, staring into his eyes.

"Because, you have any idea; Caitlin, I'm almost fifty. Fifty!" Barry exclaimed.

"And? I'm almost twenty. Twenty! What's that got to do with..." Caitlin asked, putting her hand on his forearm, still looking deeply into his eyes.

"Caitlin, I've got kids older than you!" Barry pointed out.

"So?" she asked. "I won't ask them to call me 'Mom.'"

He laughed at that. She stepped up and kissed him, then stepped back again, still looking intently into his eyes.

"Barry, all I'm asking, all I want is a chance," she said. "All I want is to prove to you I do love you."

"Caitlin," he argued weakly.

"A chance?" she begged. "Please, just give me a chance?"

He drew in a deep breath, then sighed. She squealed happily and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Love you," she enthused and kissed him clumsily.

"I must, no, no, I know I'm losing my mind," Barry laughed as he returned the bone thin girl's hug.

He grew serious and looked into her warm brown eyes.

"But no secrets, you hear? No running around behind anyone's back. I'm going to talk with your mother and your father, all right?" he said sternly.

"Okay," Caitlin said with more confidence than she actually felt.

Her mother, she knew, would not like it one bit but Grandmother would quickly put a stop to Theresa's objections by pointing out that the man that Theresa left Caitlin's father for, the man that fathered Briah, had been sixty three years old when Theresa became involved with him.

But Edmund, Caitlin's father, Caitlin was not sure of what Edmund's reaction would be. In his eyes, Caitlin was still the nine year old girl that had been run over by a drunk driver that swerved onto the sidewalk, putting her into a body cast, forcing her to miss nearly two years of school.

And in her eyes, her Daddy was the single most wonderful man in the world; the man that not only came to get her every other weekend, but also took her little sister with them, even though it was blatantly obvious that Briah was not his daughter. Briah did call Edmund Weinstein 'Daddy' because Briah's own father disavowed any knowledge of her, even though he still sent the five hundred and fifty dollar child support check each month.

If Edmund Weinstein had any resentment toward Briah, or had any prejudice because Briah was half African American, he never displayed it.

And even though she was now nineteen, almost twenty years old, and Briah was almost eighteen, they still spent every other weekend with him; he still rented a two bedroom apartment so that they could have their own bedroom, their own bed.

"Okay," Caitlin agreed again and kissed Barry again.

At the condominium, Sadie's pawing had ceased, now the dog was hurling herself at the door of the laundry room.

"Fine, fine, God damn it," Stacy yelled at the toy poodle, the flung the back door open. Sadie ran outside, did what little business she had and ran back inside.

" Bad! Bad dog!" Stacy shrilled, discovering the wet pillow.

Sadie cowered down and whimpered.

Stacy drank a third glass of Barry's scotch and dropped the soaked pillow into the washing machine, along with the towel she'd used to mob up the excess urine.

A hard knock sounded at her door, prompting Sadie to start her shrill barking.

"Yes?" Stacy snarled , flinging the door open.

"Afternoon, ma'am," Sergeant Darren Richards intoned, almost smiling at the little dog that hid behind her owner, yapping at the two strangers. "Understand you're not having yourself a very Merry Christmas?"

"Oh go fuck yourself," Stacy snarled and moved to slam the door in the police officers' faces.

"Wouldn't do that, ma'am," Officer Ray Gonzales said.

At her trailer, Anita finished scribbling out her homework and sighed. Since their little blow up on Thanksgiving, Anita knew better than calling Toni and telling Toni to come get her. It would just prompt a fight between mother and daughter.

Marco had gone out to show his buddies his new tennis shoes., Louisa was playing with a electronic gadget Luther had given her and Luther was snoring on the couch, having consumed nearly all of the fifth of scotch.

"Man, they give y'all a lot of homework at that school, huh?" Louisa asked, causing the floor of the trailer to sag when she lumbered into the kitchen.

"Yeah," Anita agreed.

"But you learning a lot, huh?" Louisa said, attempting conversation.

"Yes ma'am," Anita agreed.

Louisa grabbed a can of beer, squinted at the clock and decided to make herself a sandwich with some of the leftover turkey breast from their Christmas lunch.

"Want a sandwich? I've fixing me one, you want one?" Louisa asked.

"Sounds great," Anita said, trying to make herself sound cheerful. "I help?"

At the Delacroix house, Barry watched as BJ, then Michael left. Toni was already upstairs in her bedroom, downloading software onto her new laptop computer. Caitlin watched as Barry put on his coat then cleared her throat and looked at her own coat hanging on the coat rack. She smiled as he assisted her in putting her coat on, then leaned back into his big arms. She gave a little sigh of happiness when she felt him kiss the back of her head softly.

Barry got his cell phone out and tapped the screen. He opened Caitlin's car door, then closed it. He walked briskly around his car and got in.

"Hey, Henry, that BMW, the Two thousand four; you got any problem I let Caitlin borrow it for a bit?" Barry asked when Henry answered his telephone.

He smiled as Caitlin buckled herself into the passenger seat, then rested her head on his shoulder.

"Uh huh, Merry Christmas to you too; now, that car?" Barry asked and backed out of the driveway.

"Well, seems Miss Stacy decided to drive through my tulips, yes the ones right in front, yeah, drove right through them, will you stop talking so I can talk?" Barry said as he drove toward Superior Motors.

"Anyway, pulled out of them and slammed right into Caitlin's car; yes that little Saturn of her's; yeah, I agree, it's an improvement, but still the girl needs a, what? Tell Shirley call her on her own phone," Barry said as he pulled onto Highway 52.

"That Shirley? Give me the phone," Caitlin demanded.

"The BMW? Oh, okay, all right, here," Barry said and gave the phone to Caitlin.

Caitlin was still squealing and laughing into his phone when Barry pulled up to the shop. He left her in the car while he went to get the keys for the gate, and the BMW Z4.

At the St. Martin home, Gary St. Martin, the oldest of their four sons screwed up his face in confusion as his usually quite stoic mother squealed and chattered on the telephone like a teenager.

"Who's Mom talking to?" he asked.

Henry smiled as he glanced toward the kitchen where Shirley paced back and forth, talking animatedly.

"Caitlin; she's your Mom's best girlfriend," Henry said.

"Caitlin; that little red head that was at the cider press?" Mattie, Frank St. Martin's wife asked.

"Who's Caitlin?" Frank asked.

"This little red head, can't be more than twenty one, twenty two years old," Mattie sniffed dismissively.

"And showed your mother how to get 'Candy Crush' on her phone," Henry smiled as Shirley rejoined them.

Caitlin had pulled Henry aside at the showroom while Barry was showing a potential customer a Ferrari and whispered to him what she was looking for.

Henry pulled up the London Auction House web site and almost immediately, they found the service manual.

"Here; I got ninety eight bucks," Caitlin whispered, sliding the money over to Henry.

Henry had called Shirley laughing.

"Ninety eight bucks! That won't even cover the shipping!" he'd hooted.

"Get it," Shirley had ordered. "Get it and tell that girl her ninety eight bucks covered it exactly."

"Honey, last bid was six hundred and twelve pounds," Henry had protested. "In American dollars that's..."

"I don't care, you get that girl that book," Shirley had said.

Henry would not call his wife a cheapskate but she certainly did not throw away money frivolously or on whims. Their four boys, when growing up, were denied nothing that they

needed, but had to present a convincing argument to get anything that they wanted.

"Uh, duh," Jack Landry had laughed when Henry made mention of Shirley's demand. "Caitlin's the daughter she never had."

Fortunately, for Henry, he did get the book, at a cost of seven hundred pounds. Shirley had just smiled and shrugged when Henry told her how much it cost them.

At the showroom, Caitlin scrambled out of the Astin Martin and yanked on the heavy glass door of the showroom.

"Shirley says 'Merry Christmas' and she's so glad you like your Christmas present," Caitlin called out as she entered the darkened interior of the showroom.

"She knows about..." Barry asked as he came out of the small office next to Bob Robichaux's garage.

"Yeah, Mister Henry helped me, remember?" Caitlin said. "Now, I'm getting that Maserati, right?" 

"No ma'am," Barry laughed and pointed through the side door toward the 2004 lipstick red Z4.

"That? That's a used car!" Caitlin protested.

"Uh, excuse me? And so is your Saturn," Barry said.

"I will get that car," Caitlin promised, thumping him on his chest.

"And pigs will fly out of my ass too," Barry promised.

"Then we'll have free pork chops but I will get that car," Caitlin said, kissing him on his lips.

"Thought you wanted the boat," Barry reminded her.

"Now? Ooh, it's too cold for that!" Caitlin exclaimed.

"Caitlin Weinstein, you are a mess," Barry laughed as he locked the front door of the showroom and ushered her through the side door.

"Let me get the gate open and you can just drive it on out of here," Barry said, unlocking the gate of the pre-owned car lot attached to the showroom.

She pulled out and sat, waiting for him while he closed and locked the gate, then went to his own car.

"My, damn it; you got my phone!" he called out as she drove away.

By the time he got into his car, started it, and drove away, she was already out of sight.

"Oh, thank goodness," Barry said when he saw the red Z4 in his driveway.

"Forgot your phone, you know that?" Caitlin asked as she got out of the car. 

"How you supposed to text me if you don't have your phone?" she asked, kissing him.

"Told you, I do not text, I will not text, I will never ever in a million years text you," he smiled as she wormed her arms around him, hugging him tightly, right in his driveway, right out in the open, for everyone to see.

At the Bender jail, Stacy Falgout glared in raw bitterness as Sergeant Elise Richards pulled on the vinyl gloves.

"Oh for God's sake is this really necessary?" she screamed.

"Yes ma'am, it is," Elise said calmly.

"And I suppose you get off on this, fucking dyke," she hissed at the uniformed officer.

"Ma'am, my son and daughter are at home, playing with their new pogo sticks, two of my nieces are having their very first Christmas ever," Elise said. "My baby sister is playing with the very first puppy she's ever had in her whole life and I'm missing it because you decided you'd take a swing at my husband."

She leaned close to Stacy.

"So, we can do this the easy way; you cooperate and it'll be over in a minute," Elise said. "Or you can continue to piss me off and make this really hard on yourself; which will it be?"

Stacy gritted her teeth and the body cavity search was over in a matter of seconds.

"Thank you; you can put that uniform on; unless you'd like to put your robe back on," Elise said, throwing the gloves into the wastebasket.

"Thank you," Stacy said grudgingly, slipping into the orange jumpsuit.

"You're welcome, ma'am," Elise said, the picture of professionalism.

At her trailer, Anita took the bread out of her mother's hands and quickly slathered on mayonnaise, brown mustard and then sprinkled a small amount of red pepper flakes onto the bread.

Miss Alvarez made her own mayonnaise with egg whites and olive oil, squeezed in a little lemon juice and then took the pepper mill and put some fresh cracked black pepper in the emollient.

Now, eating the store brand cheap spread, Anita tried to 'dress it up' a little, make it more palatable.

"And," Anita said, layering the turkey onto the bread, spooning a little of the gravy on and sliding it into the oven open faced.

"They teach you that at that school?" Louisa asked, watching with real interest as Anita dug out a can of fruit cocktail and quickly divided the can into two bowls.

"No ma'am," Anita said and pulled the now warm sandwiches from the oven.

She knew her mother would be hurt to find out that a complete stranger was teaching her how to cook, how to eat healthier foods. She knew her mother would be hurt to find out that a complete stranger was washing her clothes, making those small repairs.

"Saw it on that cooking show, one comes on after that Rodney Prejean show," Anita lied.

"What, oh oh yeah, that," Louisa agreed. "That Rodney's a real piece of work, huh?" 

"Oh, I can't stand watch him!" Anita said. "I mean, last week, when he had on that what was it, Gay Uncles That Turn Their Nephews? I wanted to vomit!"

"Yeah, the last one was the worst," Louisa agreed and took a giant bite of the sandwich. "The nephew said his parents left him with his uncle while they went on some trip they won to Cancun; left him there for two weeks! And KNEW the uncle was gay!"

She swallowed the bite.

"Oh, man! That red pepper there kind of sneaks up on you, don't it," Louisa said and gulped her beer.

At her Brand mother's house, Caitlin talked with Grandmother, telling her about Barry.

"Leave your momma to me," Grandmother wheezed.

"Thanks, Grandmother," Caitlin said.

"Uh huh," Grandmother said. "You sure, though? Forty eight? Ain't he kind of young?"

"Kind of... What?" Caitlin asked, mouth open. 

"Oh. Oh, you meant he's YOUR boyfriend; thought you'd picked him out for me," Grandmother smiled. 

Caitlin giggled and squeezed the old woman's hand.

"You giving me a ride in that bad ass beamer, feel me girl?" Briah demanded from the doorway.

"Oh, whatever, girl, and quit being all ghetto; you double Caucasian and you know it," Caitlin said, but did grab her coat. "Now, come on; we still got to go see Daddy."

""Let me grab his..." Briah said and dashed to grab Edmund's gift from under the tree.

"Tell that man I said 'Merry Christmas,'" Grandmother said.

At an apartment building that had seen better days, Edmund Weinstein, a thirty seven year old man with bright red hair and a pale face with a plethora of freckles smiled as he looked at the four presents underneath his tiny Christmas tree. Caitlin and her sister had just called, said they were on their way over.

He remembered Theresa's haughty announcement that she and her boss had fallen in love and her demand for a divorce.

At first he'd thought to fight it, until his father took him out for a beer and asked him, "You really want to hold onto a girl drop her drawers for the first rich man says 'let's screw?' No, no, let him be the one find out what kind of girl he's dealing with, eh?"

Theresa's boss had not wanted a nineteen year old girl with a baby; he had just wanted to fuck a nineteen year old white girl with big tits. Her announcement that she was pregnant nearly caused his forty two year marriage to come to an end; his wife agreed to stay married if Zackary Fielder agreed to fire the 'white slut' and he did so. Caitlin had not understood why, when all of her friends had a mommy and daddy that lived together, why didn't she? And she had not understood why people stared at her and her mommy as they pushed her baby sister around in the stroller. She did understand, though, she was a very lucky little girl; most of her friends only had one birthday party; she had two. Most little girls only had one Christmas tree; she had two.

"Daddy," Caitlin very sadly told her father one day. "Briah doesn't have a birthday party like me."

"What do you mean?" Ed had asked his now six year old girl.

"My birthday, I went to Chucky Cheese and got to play all the games and everything," Caitlin said. "And Briah's now four years old and she didn't get nothing."

"She didn't even have cake? And ice cream?" Ed asked.

"Well yeah, and Momma and Grandmother and me sang but that's it," Caitlin said sadly.

That night, as Caitlin played in her bath, Ed called Theresa.

"You want to what?" Teresa asked.

"Tell Briah I am so sorry I forgot it's her birthday and take her and Caitlin to Chucky Cheese," Ed repeated.

"And you threw that away," Grandmother said, lighting yet another cigarette.

But now Briah knew she was a lucky little girl; most little girls only had one birthday party, she had two. And she and Caitlin even had another bed they could sleep in, and they played Indians when Daddy put the blanket on the floor and put a broom, a mop, and a rake in there and made them a teepee.

"And you threw that away?" Grandmother asked Theresa when Briah and Caitlin told her all about Briah's birthday party at Chucky Cheese and playing Indians and now Briah had a Daddy too and there's a swimming pool and Daddy said he'd teach Briah how to swim and...

Chapter 15

Barry sat with his back to the small stage at the Dead End bar, much to the consternation of the dancer who could tell that the man's suit was an expensive one. She could tell that the trench coat he had laid over the other chair to his left was an expensive coat. But how was he supposed to tip her if his back was to her?




Wealth Pt. 02



There were other patrons and she smiled sweetly as they came up and dropped tips into the jar at the lip of the stage, five here, the occasional ten dollars there, but mostly one dollar bills.

Brooke Robertson smiled vacantly as she again approached the customer; he'd been sitting in her section and waiting for nearly twenty minutes, said he had a friend joining him for lunch.

Barry smiled widely and stood up.

"Mr. Weinstein, over here," he said loudly and waved.

Ed squinted through the smoke and saw a well dressed man, , about his age, waving. He frowned and approached the table.

"Barry Delacroix, Mr. Weinstein; you are Caitlin's father, right?" Barry said, giving Ed a firm handshake.

"Uh yeah, yeah, you said this is about Caitlin?" Ed said, also giving a firm grip.

"Yes, Mr. Weinstein, go on, have a seat; you want anything? They've got the absolute best iced tea anywhere," Barry said, suddenly very nervous.

He routinely made sales that netted Superior Motors tens of thousands of dollars in commissions, brokered deals with European markets that resulted in thousands of dollars in savings, brokered other deals with South American markets that usually garnered him several hundreds of thousands of dollars. And sometimes even lost him just as much. But none of those deals were as important as dealing with a nineteen year old girl's father.

He sat and wondered what his reaction would be if this man would come to him and tell him "I'm dating Toni."

He knew he would not be happy at all. But would he let Toni make her own decisions? She was only eighteen years old, and Barry had to admit, had been very sheltered by him and by her three older brothers.

At the same time, though, Toni did occasionally did display maturity, did display some level headedness. At least she told that Boyd Eastman to take a hike. And she and her best friend, Anita, had an extremely

successful business going.

But dating a man nearly thirty years older than herself?

"Uh, yeah, yeah, give me the iced tea," Ed agreed and then watched Brooke's rear end as the waitress walked away, the bottom of her cheeks very visible in the very short shorts she wore.

"Chicken fried steak is their special today; it's extremely good, comes with skillet gravy, mashed potatoes and green beans," Barry said as Ed's attention was now riveted to the girl that gyrated on stage to Dokken's 'Breaking The Chains.' "Ever been in here before, Mr. Weinstein?"

"No, no, I mean, it used to be that biker bar; hell I was afraid come in here," Ed admitted, blushing in embarrassment. "But, uh, call me Ed, huh?"

"Gentlemen, need a little more time?" Brooke asked, smiling as she leaned over to put Ed's drink down, a maneuver that caused her half shirt to gape open.

"Uh, yeah, yeah, that country fried steak does sound good," Ed agreed. 

"Same for me," Barry said.

"Great," Brooke smiled.

Ed admired the girl's belly, squinting at the rose tattoo that peeked out of her low rider shorts and her navel ring.

"When I was a kid, only ones had tattoos was bikers or sailors; and never even heard of anyone putting an earring anywhere but in their ear, am I right?" Barry commented and Ed nodded in agreement.

Barry sipped his iced tea, stalling for time.

"Got to say, you walked in, I knew right off the bat you were Caitlin's dad, explains where she gets the red hair and freckles," Barry blurted. "But never ever in a million years would I look at you and say 'that guy looks like a Weinstein.'"

"I'm what happens when a rebellious Irish Catholic girl meets a smooth talking Jew on the campus of L.S.U.," Ed smiled, then lost the smile. "Yeah, yeah, you said this was about Caitlin?"

"Might as well get it over with, Barry thought to himself, forcing his face to relax.

"Ed, I've been sitting here wondering how I would react if you told me you were dating my daughter and I've got to admit, I really don't think I'd like it one bit," Barry said.

"You're what?" Ed said loudly.

"But I do think I'd listen to what you had to say," Barry went on.

"You're dating my..." Ed said, getting to his feet.

Barry also stood, ready to back up. Ed's handshake had told Barry that Ed worked with his hands, might be wiry, but had strength. A punch from him would hurt. Barry could probably be the victor in the fight, but at a considerable cost.

"Gentlemen, there a problem?" Officer Mike Stevens asked, walking up behind Ed Weinstein.

"No sir," Barry said.

"Damned right there's a problem!" Ed yelled.

"Y'all need to keep it down, y'all are getting too loud," Brooke said, gently pushing Ed back into his chair.

"You, you're what?" Ed snarled at Barry who slowly got back into his own seat. "you got to be at least thirty, huh?

"Forty eight," Barry admitted.

"Forty eight!" Ed yelled.

"What'd I tell y'all? Y'all are getting too loud," Brooke said, putting the two plates down on the table.

"He's forty eight," Ed snapped at her. "And he's dating my nineteen year old daughter!"

"Older men are sexy as shit," Brooke smiled her vacant smile.

"Listen, believe me, I do understand, I'd be upset too," Barry said.

"Listen, y'all are adults, huh?" Brooke whispered attempting to placate Ed. "Talk it out like adults, all right? I been here since ten thirty this morning and it's already been a long day for me; last thing I need is a fist fight in my section, all right?"

Ed glared at her and she smiled a hopeful smile at him. Slowly, he lost his glare, then nodded his head.

"Thanks," Brooke smiled a genuine smile, then turned to check on another customer.

"You, start talking," Ed demanded and cut a too large chunk of the tender steak.

"That's too big," Barry said, cutting a more manageable piece of meat.

"I'm thirty seven years old; I don't need you telling me how to eat," Ed snapped.

"Toni and Caitlin have been friends since the, I want to say the fifth grade?" Barry said. "Said she had this girl had been in the hospital, someone tried to run her over and she was so cool because she had real long red hair and could she get red hair and anyway, Caitlin came to Toni's tenth birthday party and right away puts BJ, Michael, and Patrick, those are Toni's older brothers, puts them in their place; see they're running around trying to be disruptive, you know how boys are and Caitlin tells them they need to behave or they won't get any cake and from that day on, we all respect the hell out of her."

"You're Toni Delacroix's dad?" Ed said, still chewing the large chunk of meat.

"Yep, that's me," Barry smiled.

Barry cut another chunk of the meat and dipped it into the bowl of gravy.

"Anyway, they've been friends and Caitlin's always been coming around, personally I love it; she's there and she keeps everyone else in line and when Darlene; that was my wife, when Darlene announced she's leaving me, Caitlin called, told me she was real sorry Miss Darlene was leaving me and came and got Toni and Toni went and..." Barry chewed the morsel fully before swallowing.

"And brought her over to my house," Ed said and dumped the bowl of gravy on the rest of his steak and the mashed potatoes, also getting the green beans with the gravy. "I remember that."

"Toni does too," Barry smiled sadly. She's thirteen years old, her whole world's falling apart, and this man made a teepee in the middle of the living room and they were Indians for the whole weekend. It was so silly it was fun."

Barry blew his nose.

"I'm sorry Ed; I never did tell you thank you for that. What could have been the absolute worst weekend of my little girl's life was an okay weekend; she got to be an Indian and be a kid while her mother and I screamed and cursed and threw things at each other," Barry said.

"Welcome," Ed mumbled, slightly embarrassed at seeing another man get teary eyed.

"Everything all right here?" Brooke asked, putting a hand on Ed's shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah, gravy's the best," Ed said.

"More iced tea?" Barry asked.

"Got it, Sugar," Brooke said and gave Ed another genuine smile before walking away.

Barry smiled slightly; the talk was going a little better than he'd hoped. Ed's eyes were firmly on Brooke's figure and not glaring at him.

"Anyway, Darlene and I get divorced and your Caitlin's there, being a friend to Toni, being a help to me, good God, even came over and helped us pack when we sold that house and moved where we are now," Barry remembered. "Anyway, last year, year before? Starts asking me out on dates. At first I'm like 'what is she talking about? I'm a hundred years old; she's a beautiful young lady, I mean, good God is she headstrong, huh? And...'"

"You been sleeping with her, huh?" Ed suddenly demanded, slamming his hand on the table angrily.

"What? No! No, of course not!" Barry denied loudly.

"And here you are; y'all are getting too loud again," Brooke said, putting the two fresh glasses of tea down on the table.

"If I find out you are..." Ed threatened Barry.

"Ed, I give you my word, one man to another, I am not," Barry said, holding up a hand.

After a moment's stare off, Ed resumed shoveling his food down.

"If you're interested, they got a chocolate pie, a caramel pie, and a lemon cheesecake must weigh five pounds," Barry said. "And their coffee is fresh ground when you order it; I'm having the chocolate pie."

"I can't tell you the last time I had cheesecake," Ed said as he scraped the last of the potatoes into his mouth.

"So when you got to be back?" Barry asked Ed as he nodded with his head to Brooke.

"When I get there," Ed said, a little boastfully.

"Two coffees, Ed, you do want coffee, right? And a cheesecake for him and a chocolate pie for me, please," Barry smiled as Brooke quickly gathered their empty plates.

"Well, I can see y'all hated the dinner," she joked. "Hopefully y'all like the dessert."

"I'll try to choke it down," Ed joked back.

Over coffee and dessert, which Ed again ate too quickly, Barry listened as Ed talked about his job as an appliance repairman for Johnson's Furniture and Appliances. Barry could tell that Ed rarely got to talk about his job, so listened patiently, even though he was bored to tears. 

When he finished talking about his job, Ed switched to talking about his courtship of Caitlin's mother.

"Yeah, Theresa Chastaine? Grew up right down the street from me, tells me when we're eight years old we're going to get married and I'm like girls are so yucky," Ed prattled on and whistled as he scalded his upper lip on the hot coffee.

"Anyway, I'm going to join the Marines and so I'm not about to get married, then ten years later, right before we graduate from high school, she comes up and says 'guess what, Daddy' and there goes my plans join the Marines," Ed said, this time blowing on the coffee before sipping it.

"Any idea how that happened?" Barry asked, smiling wryly.

"No, not really, Ed returned the wry smile. "So I go to Vo-Tech at night, working my ass of at Domino's Pizza during the day and Theresa's working at First DeGarde Bank and we're doing all right, you know?"

"Anyway, couple of months later, along comes our Caitlin; named her after my Mom," Ed said. "Six months later, rather than go back to work at the bank, Theresa gets a job as the personal assistant for some big shot lawyer, Zachary Fielder and next thing I know, she's telling me she's in love and see you later, loser."

"Pretty much same words Darlene tells me," Barry said. "Later, loser."

"Guess they think that's cute, huh?" Ed shook his head and gulped the last of his coffee.

"Anything else, Gentlemen?" Brooke asked as Barry finished his pie.

"Think that'll do it," Barry smiled and handed Brooke his American Express card.

"Uh, what's my half?" Ed asked, digging out a very well beaten up wallet.

"I'm one asked you to join me, it's on me, Ed," Barry smiled. "But you've been sitting there with your eyes glued to that girl dancing; why not give her a five or something?"

"I can do that," Ed agreed and walked over to drop the five into the tip jar.

"Hope y'all come back and see me, hear?" Brooke smiled vacantly as she slid the charge slip over to Barry.

"Keep making that pie like that, I know I will," Barry promised.

"And that cheesecake," Ed agreed.

Ed shrugged on his weathered old coat and Barry pulled on his long coat.

"Thanks again, Ed," Barry said, shaking the man's hand.

Outside, Barry walked toward his Astin Martin Db5 and Ed's eyes opened wide.

"I seen that when I pulled up!" he said as he stood next to his beat up old Silverado pick up truck. "That's one of them James Bond cars, right?"

"It is," Barry agreed, holding up the keys. "Want to drive it?"

"Yeah, right," Ed laughed. "You're just trying to sell me one!"

"Hey Ed, no offense, but I KNOW you'd never buy one; it's not your kind of car," Barry smiled.

"What's that mean?" Ed asked, offended.

"It's so completely impractical; this car serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever, other than to go fast and look good," Barry said and pointed to Ed's truck. "That? That's not very pretty, but it's practical. You can use it to go to the store, to the football game, or to move your best friend over the weekend, take it to the beach and don't worry if it gets a little salt water on it; it'll be fine."

"Yep, and it's paid for," Ed said, slapping the side of his truck.

"And you've probably had it for ten, fifteen years, huh?" Barry agreed, still dangling the keys to his car. "But, come on, let's go for a ride. When's the last time you were able to tell your girlfriend you drove a James Bond car?"

"Fine, fine, Graham Johnson can handle the store on his own," Ed agreed.

"All right, take this north, cut over on nineteen and when we get other side of Elgee, right when we cross Norman road?" Barry said, getting into the passenger seat.

"Weinstein, Ed Weinstein," Ed said, flexing his hands on the steering wheel of the small sports car.

He kept a tight rein on the car all the way through Elgee, enjoying the looks others gave the sleek automobile. When they crossed over Norman's Road, Barry nudged Ed.

"Go ahead, let her have it," he encouraged.

It frightened Ed somewhat, how quickly the car responded and how they were traveling along at a conservative forty five miles an hour and then suddenly screaming down the highway at a hundred and nineteen miles an hour, if the digital display was to be believed.

"What's the top speed in this?" Ed asked, hands tense on the steering wheel.

Don't know, never got that high," Barry said calmly. "Highest I've gone is one thirty one."

Ed let up on the accelerator and took the next turn to return to DeGarde.

"This thing is unbelievable," Ed said, slightly awed.

"But serves no purpose whatsoever, other than to look good and go fast," Barry agreed.

"And it does do that," Ed agreed.

At Grandmother's house, Caitlin tried to do her homework, tried to concentrate, but just couldn't.

Suppose Daddy didn't like Barry? Suppose Daddy forbade her from seeing Barry? Barry was quite a bit older than her. It would break her heart to go against her Daddy's wishes,

but hopefully, in time, Daddy would forgive her.

Mom wasn't happy about it, but tightened her face when Grandmother smirked and pointed at Briah and then Bobby.

"How old was Briah's Daddy?" Grandmother asked, taking the mask away from her face long enough to wheeze. "Oh, and what about Bobby's Daddy, huh? A nice young fifty two, right?"

"Okay, Mother, you've made your point Mother, thank you Mother, you can shut up now, Mother, I'll be putting a pillow over your face while you sleep tonight, Mother," Theresa had snapped, stomping away.

"Please God," Caitlin murmured. "Please let him like Barry."

She yelped when her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she asked, holding her breath.

"Didn't like it, but said you are a grown woman and can make your own decisions," Barry said and pulled the phone away from his ear as Caitlin screamed.

"Oh, you're kidding, oh my God, oh that's so great, oh I love you, Oh! I have to call Shirley! Love you, bye!" Caitlin screamed.

Barry shook his head as Caitlin disconnected the call.

"Hmm," Henry said, squinting at Barry when Barry strolled into the showroom. "No bruises, no blood."

"No bullet holes," Jack said.

"Must have gone all right, huh?" Bob Robichaux said.

"It went all right," Barry agreed and watched a Mercedes-Benz pull into the parking lot.

"Oh, I have to call Shirley," Henry mimicked a feminine squeal.

"Oh, Caitlin's already on the phone with her," Barry squealed back. "But here comes a customer, let's try to act professional, all right?"

Chapter 16

Anita grimaced as she chased down the last bite of her peanut butter granola bar with the strawberry protein drink. The combination was not very pleasant.

But when she had brought home a box of Oats n' Honey granola bars, that box had been emptied in less than two days.

"Look! Look! Right here! 'Anita' It has my name on it, right here!" Anita had screamed at an uncaring Luther and Marco.

"What?" an unsympathetic Louisa had demanded. "You been eating our food; we can't eat yours, huh?"

The Cinnamon and the Maple ones had fared no better. The peanut butter ones, however, were largely ignored. So she brought home the peanut butter granola bars.

The protein drinks had also suffered a similar fate. It had taken the ravenous trio only three days to drink all of her chocolate drinks. They didn't care as much for the vanilla ones; she'd actually managed to drink two of the twelve bottles before they emptied that case. But the strawberry ones had only lost five of the twelve. Anita did wonder which one of the trio had tried them and gave it two more tried before deciding they just didn't care for strawberry protein drinks.

Louisa waddled into the kitchen, looked at Anita's outfit and asked, "Where you going so early?"

"It's almost eleven o'clock, Mom; it's not that early," Anita answered.

"On Saturday? Early enough," Louisa grumbled as she peered into the nearly empty refrigerator for something to eat.

Anita used Louisa's distraction to make her escape.

Shortly after A AND A Soaps had begun to make a profit, just as soon as Anita began bringing cash into the house, Luther, Louisa, and Marco began with the 'let me borrow ten, let me borrow twenty' and never repaying these loans. Toni, and Miss Sophia, their lawyer, urged Anita to open her own checking account. That checking account came with a debit card and now Anita never had any cash on her, so the trio could not borrow any money.

Marco still bore the scar on his forearm; he had tried to take Anita's debit card and found out that Anita was still quite handy with her blade and had absolutely no hesitation to use it.

"Ever catch you in my purse again," he hissed hatefully into his now quite frightened face, "I will kill you."

And he knew she meant it.

Luther seemed to know he would get no such warning; she would simply gut him and leave him to die. SO he didn't even attempt to help himself to Anita's purse.

Anita dashed into the bathroom, used her whitening mouthwash, noticing with a smirk that none of the others in the house liked it, dabbed on a little of her perfume, then prayed that Toni would be on time.

"Where you going?" Luther demanded then turned to Louisa. "Where's she going?"

"Don't know, God, I hate them peanut butter bars; why's she get them, huh?" Louisa complained.

Outside, Anita smiled as Toni pulled up just as Anita shut the door of the trailer.

"Dropped off them soaps; believe this? They're like already out of them cherry ones," Toni said as Anita buckled up.

"The other ones are all right?" Anita asked after a very brief hesitation.

Anita had almost said she was tired of soaps, she was tired of candles, she was tired of bookkeeping. She was tired of every spare moment of their lives being wrapped up in A And A Soaps.




Wealth Pt. 03



*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

*****

Chapter 21

Shirley St. Martin smiled as she; Theresa Weinstein and Briah Weinstein stood in the Bridal Boutique of Babbage's Department Store and waited for Caitlin Weinstein to come out. Theresa looked uncomfortable and haggard and Briah looked slightly bored.

Finally, the door opened and Caitlin came out, looking around nervously.

"Oh, my God, that is, oh wow," Shirley said as Caitlin looked at the bridal gown in the mirror.

"God, it is so beautiful," Theresa whispered.

"Aw yeah, girl," Briah enthused.

"But it's two thousand dollars!" Caitlin whined.

"How many times I got to tell you?" Shirley fussed, stamping her foot. "Don't worry about how much it costs! That's not important!"

"Ma'am?" Nicole Dumas asked Briah. "Have you had the final fitting of your brides' maid dress?"

"Yes ma'am," Briah smiled excitedly.

"You have the shoes...?" Shirley asked and Caitlin lifted the hem of the bridal gown to show her that she was indeed wearing the ivory pumps.

"Okay, get out of that; we still have to go to T. Dayton's," Shirley said.

"Miss St. Martin, I get married you buy my dress?" Briah asked.

"Briah!" Theresa snapped, highly embarrassed.

"Honey, if I approve of your young man, I see no reason why not," Shirley said, patting Theresa's arm to let the woman know she wasn't offended by Briah's comment.

Bye, Mrs. Dumas, tell Coach I said 'hi,'" Caitlin said as the four women trooped out of the department.

"And are they really going to the Dead End for their bachelor party?" Briah asked.

"Yes," Caitlin screwed up her face.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Shirley laughed, hugging Caitlin. "We're going to the Hammer in Elgee! Whee!"

"And will you have red wine?" Caitlin teased the sixty four year old woman.

"Oh Honey, you better believe it!" Shirley laughed.

The quartet got into Shirley's Rolls-Royce.

"Mrs. St..." Theresa started.

"Honey, how many times I got to tell you? It's 'Shirley,' all right?" Shirley chided the woman.

"Shirley, I really, I just can't thank you enough," Theresa said.

"Really? It's my pleasure," Shirley said.

At Superior Motors, Henry St. Martin came into the showroom, whistling a happy tune.

"Got them singles?" Jack asked, smiling.

"Singles? Singles! My boy, we're going to the Dead End. Those are the upper echelon of hos," Henry sneered at his friend.

"I didn't know hos had echelons," Bob commented.

"I got fives," Henry said, showing them the bank envelope.

"Marie said if it costs more than forty, I better keep it in my pocket," Bob admitted.

"Forty?" Jack sneered.

"Uh huh, and what'd Melanie say?" Bob smiled.

"Twenty," Jack admitted and the three men laughed.

"Damn it, I wish he'd go down to the light," Henry said as they watched Barry dash across Highway 52 with their lunches from Side By Side.

"Yeah, hate if anything happened to my steak, too," Jack admitted and laughed when Henry punched him.

Four blocks behind Superior Motors, Stacy Falgout was showing Anita Lopez and Toni Delacroix a condominium. In the Lambert Condominiums Association.

"This is a three bedroom two and a half bath unit," Stacy said. "Right across, the woman there did something real interesting. She took the two guest bedrooms, knocked down the wall and made it one long bedroom and expanded the guest bath."

"She also has a hanging bed, oh, and put hardwood floors throughout," Anita agreed.

"Oh?" Stacy asked.

"Yeah, that's like Paula's condo," Toni said.

"You've uh, you've been in her...?" Stacy asked, surprised.

She'd never been in Paula Lambert's condominium; another real estate agent had told her about the renovations.

"Couple of times," Anita agreed, wrinkling up her nose at the lack of counter space and cabinets in the small kitchen. "Kitchen sucks."

"Yeah, that two bedroom one had like a better kitchen," Toni agreed.

"And a better back deck," Anita agreed.

"Y'all want to go look at it again?" Stacy offered.

"What you think?" Toni asked Anita.

"Make an offer," Anita shrugged.

Stacy finally gave in to her curiosity and blurted out, "So why are y'all looking for a condo?"

She wanted to hear the salacious gossip; wanted to hear that Barry finally had enough of his slut daughter fucking around. Or got tired of his daughter and her lover flaunting their homosexual lifestyle in his face. Or even more delicious, that Barry had made inappropriate advances on the very attractive and very shapely Anita.

"Well, like Daddy's getting married and we kind of figured they'd like to have the place like you know, to themselves," Toni shrugged.

"Barry's getting..." Stacy stammered, stunned.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Toni said, embarrassed. "I like thought you knew that."

"It was in the church bulletin," Anita said, also embarrassed.

"Who's he, don't tell me he's marrying that little red headed freak," Stacy snapped.

"Caitlin," Anita confirmed.

"But I like really don't appreciate you like calling her 'freak;' that's so totally uncalled for," Toni snapped.

"You know what? It really was uncalled for and I apologize," Stacy said quickly.

She wasn't sorry in the least, but she also didn't want to lose a ninety three thousand dollar sale.

"They want ninety... Offer then eighty five," Anita said.

"Twenty five percent down," Toni agreed.

"So, how much is Barry chipping in?" Stacy asked as she pulled up the form on her IPhone.

"Uh, none," Toni said, insulted that Ms. Falgout would thing that Barry was paying for her to buy a home.

"None?" Stacy looked up. "You can't tell me your little soap thing's..."

"We're shipping between a hundred to three hundred bars every day," Anita said. "Plus what we sell at T. Dayton's."

"Anita designed like the best web site ever; our very first day it was up we had two hundred and nine orders," Toni smiled proudly at her friend.

"And your mortgage will be through..." Stacy asked as she tapped out the information.

"First Union," Toni said.

"So, when do we find out..." Anita asked.

"Usually a couple of hours," Stacy shrugged.

"Okay, you do like commercial real estate too?" Toni asked.

"Barry says he's taking his garage back," Anita smiled.

In DeGarde's Chemical Dependency Unit, Susan Couvillion sat, bored out of her mind as one of the girls in their group prattled on and on about some insignificant occurrence. So what if her dad used her as a fuck toy? Who cares that her mother knew about it, but instead of stopping it, resented her daughter?

And Susan was very upset; Caitlin, her friend and neighbor was getting married in two days, but she had to be in the CDU for fourteen days before she could request a pass and it had only been eight days.

"Susan!" Dr. Amber Istrey snapped.

"What?" Susan snapped right back.

"What do you think about what Victoria just shared?" Amber asked.

"God, I don't know; it was so fucking boring," Susan said. "I mean, boo hoo, Daddy fucked me, boo hoo, like you weren't already giving up the booty anyway."

The nine girls just stared at Susan in disbelief. Susan looked out the window again, unconcerned, then sat up a little straighter.

"Hey, ain't it about time for lunch anyway?" Susan asked.

At Johnson's Furniture and Appliances, Ed Weinstein smiled as nine wheeled in another refrigerator. The large black man made it look easy, but Ed knew it would have taken him, Brett Johnson, and Graham Johnson working together to get that large unit onto the truck, and they still would have wound up damaging it somehow.

Abraham Darnell Mosely was called Nine because he had been number nine in the long line of children his mother and father had. His younger brother, however, was called Bird, not Ten, because he had always been climbing trees, like a bird when he was a kid.

"They give you any trouble?" Ed asked Nine as the man lowered the refrigerator to the ground and wiggled the hand truck out.

"Nah," Nine laughed. "Your boy come to the door, acting all big and bad, hollering he going fuck me up I coming repo his shit. Then he takes one look at me and tells me where the kitchen is."

Ed moved to open the refrigerator.

"Careful," Nine warned. "Girl told me they ain't had no power about five days."

"Oh, holy shit!" Ed coughed at the stench of rotted food.

"White boys never listen to old Nine," Nine laughed to Brett Johnson, the owner of Johnson's Furniture and Appliances.

"Before you leave, Michelle's got a wedding present for Catherine," Brett smiled as Ed breathed through his mouth as he scooped the food out of the refrigerator.

"Who? Oh, Caitlin," Ed said.

"Damn it, Caitlin; I knew that," Brett said.

At eight thirty that evening, BJ Delacroix gritted his teeth as he knocked on the apartment door of Patrick and Debbie.

"Who is it?" Debbie's harsh voice demanded.

"Land shark," BJ called out.

"Man, love that dumb ass thing," Patrick laughed, opening the door. "You know you can pull that up on Google?"

"Yeah, hi Debbie, great to see you Debbie, have a nice night Debbie," BJ called out as Patrick grabbed his brother's arm.

"Please tell me she fucks like a three dollar crack whore, can suck a bowling ball through a garden hose and thinks getting it up the ass is even yummier than ice cream in bed," BJ asked his brother as they got into BJ's Porsche.

"Okay, yes to all three and you know that's bull shit," Patrick said.

At Superior Motors, Barry waved the three men out of the showroom as he double checked the alarm. Outside, Henry smiled as Caitlin pulled up in her Small Saturn.

"Hey, he's in the back," Henry said, pointing.

"Shirley says she might have one or two glasses of red wine but don't you get any ideas," Caitlin smiled before rapping smartly on the glass door of the showroom.

"Hey," Barry smiled as he unlocked the door.

"You," Caitlin demanded, pushing him hard. "Don't you get no ideas looking at them girls, you hear?"

"What?" Barry smiled. "But you can go to The Hammer and look at them boys?"

"That's different," Caitlin said, holding up her left hand, showing him her engagement ring. "I'm wearing this."

Barry opened the door to a Ferrari and turned on the radio. It was set to a soft rock station out of St. Ann and 'Nights In White Satin' by The Moody Blues was playing.

"And I'm wearing this," Barry said and gave her a soft kiss .

He began to dance with her in the darkened showroom.

"By the way, love your hair like that," he said and gave her another kiss.

"You do?" Caitlin asked, then thumped him on the chest. "Damn it, don't change the subject."

"And what was the subject?" he asked and twirled her as the music reached its crescendo.

"Them little tramps running around there," she reminded him.

"Honey, those little tramps don't hold a candle to you," he admitted and kept dancing with her even though a commercial for a sporting goods store was now playing.

"Please, please promise me, I mean, I know we haven't been..." Caitlin said.

"Baby, I promise," Barry promised. "You have my heart, you hold my heart, and no one else is getting my heart."

"It's not your heart I'm talking about," Caitlin snapped and gripped his half-erect cock tightly.

"The two are connected," Barry said calmly.

"Better be," Caitlin said and released him.

"Love you; now, you and Shirley go have fun," Barry said, reset the alarm, turned off the car's radio, then ushered her out the door as the alarm system began its audible countdown.

In The Dead End, Michael playfully pinched Patrick on his rear end.

"Wow, did you see that?" he said. "That girl just pinched you!"

"Girl had her some big man hands there, bitch!" Patrick laughed.

"Hi Mr. Weinstein," BJ greeted Ed. "Well, I assume you're Mr. Weinstein; you and Caitlin look a lot alike."

"Yep, Ed Weinstein," Ed smiled, shaking BJ's hand. "And you and Barry could be twins, huh?"

"Just about all of us," BJ smiled, indicating his two brothers.

"Come on, this is my favorite waitress's area," Ed said and the four men took a seat at a large table.

"Hi guys, welcome to the Dead End," Brooke said, plastering a smile on her tired face.

She was pulling a double; the money was great but she was exhausted and her feet were throbbing in the five inch heels she wore.

"Beer for me, draft please," BJ smiled.

"Same and y'all got juice boxes?" Michael said, pointing to Patrick. "I'm sure his girlfriend's not letting him drink tonight."

"Shut up," Patrick laughed. "Same."

"Coke for me," Ed said. "I might have a beer later."

"Hey, how you doing?" Brooke smiled, remembering the man that had almost had a fist fight in her section a few months ago.

"I'm good, I'm good," Ed smiled, delighted that the cute girl remembered him. "We're having a bachelor's party tonight."

"Oh?" Brooke asked, groaning inwardly; bachelor parties tended to be loud and rowdy and lousy tippers. "So who's the lucky guy?"

"Our Dad," BJ smiled.

"And this here's the father of the bride," Michael said, putting a friendly arm over Ed's shoulder.

"Aw!" Brooke said, smiling as Ed's eyes got wet.

"Patrick, there's this little red head on stage," Michael said as Angela Brandt danced to Kiss's 'I Was Made For Loving You.' "And she's got this little blonde, blonde's tits are huge, BJ, what would you say? About a size thirty eight double D?"

"Oh at least," BJ smiled.

"And she's spanking the blonde's naked ass, using her bare hand," Michael said.

He pinched Patrick's rear end again.

"Damn, that girl must like you, huh?" Michael said.

"Don't listen to him," Harmony Kohl, one of the dancers laughed. "Here, this is a real girl's pinch."

She gave Patrick a playful little pinch on his rear end.

"Hey," Michael smiled and held out a ten dollar bill for Harmony.

"Hey," Harmony said, giving the table her best smile, while thrusting her thirty six E breasts out.

"He's blind," Michael whispered, nodding toward Patrick. "Just go along with whatever I say, huh?"

"He's what?" Harmony asked, shocked.

"So, what's really going on up on the stage?" Patrick asked Harmony.

"She's gone, man," Michael said as Harmony bolted for the rear of the building.

"But right now, the red head's got the blonde in this kind of head lock, you know, got her thighs wrapped around the blonde's head," BJ said. "Oh, wait, that's not a head lock, never mind. The blonde's just eating her out."

"Y'all that's terrible, cut it out," Barry said, giving his oldest son a slap to the back of his head.

"Hey Dad," BJ laughed and gave his father a hug and a kiss to his lips.

"Hey," Barry smiled.

He kissed his other two sons and gave Ed a one armed hug while shaking his hand.

"Hi!" Brooke said, putting the four drinks down on the table.

"Hi, got three more; here they come," Barry smiled.

"Hear congratulations are in order," Brooke smiled.

"Thank you so much," Barry smiled. "Please set up a tab; it's on me, hear?"

"So when's the big day?" Brooke asked while nodding to Jack, Bob, and Henry.

"Saturday, eleven thirty," Barry smiled.

"Love weddings," Brooke said.

At The Hammer, a small club in Elgee, Louisiana, Caitlin, Briah, Toni, Anita, Alexis, and Jenee all grumbled about having to accept the big '21' with a slash through it stamped on the backs of their hands, letting the servers know that they were under the age of 21. Theresa , Caitlin's cousin Bridget, and Shirley were the only ones that could order alcohol and Bridget and Shirley were drinking red wine, while Theresa ordered a grasshopper and nursed that one drink the entire evening.

"Ladies, I hear this is a special night," Raoul (real name, Ralph) a large muscular black man that wore a small white loincloth smiled, flexing his ebony muscles.

"Oh my God, Susan would love him," Alexis said.

"Fuck Susan!" Jenee said and the girls squealed.

"Yes, Raoul, this beautiful young lady is getting married," Shirley indicated Caitlin.

"Aw," Raoul said. "Well, I hope he knows what a lucky man he is."

"If he doesn't, Caitlin will tell him," Bridget screamed out and the girls squealed again.

In the rear of the Dead End, Harmony wiped her eyes and tried to explain her reaction to her fraternal twin sister, Unity.

"I mean, yeah, I know, I watch what I eat, exercise, my diabetes might never get worse," Harmony sniffled. "But you heard that doctor; diabetes is the number one cause of people going blind!"

"But, Mony, you don't even know why that guy's blind," Unity said.

"I know," Harmony agreed. "But, I mean, really! Find out I'm diabetic, find out I could go blind, and all of a sudden, there's some blind guy out there!"

Angela came off the stage, smiling.

"Bachelor party!" she announced. "Table three; about seven or eight of them; hit them while they still got money in their pockets."

"That's the..." Unity asked her sister.

Harmony nodded, wiped her eyes again and tried to fix her make up.

"Unity put a smile on her face, started up her heavy metal CD, and strode onto the stage.

She nodded in appreciation as two of the guys at Table three cheered her, or at least cheered her music.

"God, that's noise," Barry shook his head as Judas Priest's 'Living After Midnight' boomed out.

"I'll see if she has any Johnny Cash," Patrick said and drained his beer.

"Another one?" Brooke asked Patrick.

"Honey, y'all still doing wings? Place has got the best wings anywhere," Barry asked her.

"Yes sir," Brooke agreed.

"Two orders, y'all want nachos? Anyone eat nachos if I get nachos?" Barry asked.

"I'll help you," Bob agreed as Patrick chimed in as well.

"Damn; they're happy!" Unity told Harmony as she came off stage, a thick wad of bills in her hand.

"Listen, my fifth song?" Harmony said, pulling her raspberry beret on her head and pulling the wayfarer sunglasses out of her locker. "Pause it until I say, okay?"

"Fifth, okay?" Unity agreed.

"Eighties? Eighties!" Michael and Patrick both complained loudly, laughing as 'Sunglasses At Night' by Corey Hart began to play.

"Aw, but this girl's mighty cute," Henry said.

"Hey Patrick, it's your girlfriend," BJ said. "One took one look at your face and ran off screaming."

"Going to have to narrow it down a bit ," Jack said.

"About ten minutes ago," BJ said.

"Going to have to narrow it down a little bit more," Bob said.

"All of y'all, blow it out your ears," Barry laughed, hugging Patrick. "Leave my boy alone, huh?"

Harmony nodded behind her to the gap in the curtain as 'Raspberry Beret' by Prince died down.

"Hey, y'all!" she called out over the din in the bar. "This next song, I need someone dance with me, all right?"

"Aw yeah, Darling, I'll dance with you!" a morbidly obese man said, struggling to get to his feet.

"Sorry, Honey," Harmony smiled as she stepped onto the floor. "I got my eye on a very special man."

"Did y'all, any of you guys put her up to..." Barry complained as Harmony headed straight for their table.

"No," heads around the table shook in denial.

"Hey, Sugar, you come dance with me?" Harmony asked Patrick, blowing hotly into his ear.

"Uh yeah, I uh I guess," Patrick said, blushing hotly.

"All right, I seen that movie 'Scent Of A Woman,' you're supposed to hold onto me, right?" Harmony said and led Patrick to the stage.

"It's about two feet up, all right?" Harmony said and nodded to Unity.

"Aw yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" BJ and Michael screamed out as Billy Squier's 'My Kind Of Lover' boomed out.

"Ow!" Jack screamed out and dropped a ten dollar bill into Harmony's tip jar.

"Whip out your schlong!" " Michael screamed at Patrick.

"If you have one!" BJ followed up.

"Y'all, I swear! Can't take y'all nowhere!" Henry laughed.




Wealth Pt. 03



"I'll take that beer now," Ed told Brooke as she brought their wings and nachos to the table.

Harmony gave Patrick a jammy kiss on his lips, then guided him back to his seat.

"Thanks," BJ and Michael both said, both holding out twenty dollar bills to her.

"Yeah, thanks," Patrick said and fished out a five dollar bill.

"Here," Harmony cooed to Patrick, putting his hand at the top of her thong. "Why don't you put it in there, huh?"

"All right Patrick!" Ed said.

"Oops, getting late," Bob said as he gnawed the meat off a second wing.

"Twenty bucks," Barry said to Henry.

"What?" Bob said

"It's not even an hour yet and you're already leaving," Barry smiled.

"Aw, blow it out your ears," Bob smiled.

"But it is getting late," Jack agreed.

"And twenty bucks," Henry said and Barry and Henry shook hands, laughing.

At the Elgee bar, Caitlin pasted a smile on her face as Raoul thrust his crotch toward her. The girls squealed and screamed encouragement and Raoul smiled as he jumped off the table.

"Really don't see what all the fuss is about, huh?" Shirley laughed and Caitlin laughed and agreed with her.

"And ladies, give a big Hammer welcome to Tony," a man's voice boomed out as a muscular young man, dressed in skin tight jeans and hard hat came onto the small stage. "This construction worker says he has the right tool for any job!"

"Ooh, I wonder what Barry would look like in them tight jeans!" Caitlin said and Shirley and Theresa screamed.

"Ew, Caitlin!" Toni complained, screwing up her face. "Gross; that's like my Dad!"

At the Dead End, Ed savored the taste of his beer and did drink a second one and did a good job of trenching through both wings and nachos.

"Michael , you taking Mr. Saturday Night Fever home?" BJ asked, getting to his feet.

"Yes, go see if Heather needs your help even though we know she doesn't," Michael agreed.

"Hey, I talk with you? Oh, I'm Harmony by the way," Harmony asked Patrick.

"Yeah, here, let me move, um, hope you don't mind but I peed on the seat; that's all right, huh?" Michael smiled.

"Hi, I um, listen, I just found out I got diabetes," Harmony said, sitting next to Patrick.

.""Oh, that's rough!" Patrick sympathized. "My girlfriend's got that."

"And uh, and they said, you know, one of the side effects is you could go blind," Harmony said.

"Yeah, if you're a total dumb ass and don't watch your diet, monitor your blood sugar," Patrick agreed. "That's what happened to Debbie. She was all like 'oh, I don't need to watch the sugar, I don't need to cut back on the carbs, I don't need to exercise, and that's what they make insulin for' and next thing you know..."

"But what's it like? I mean, being blind?" Harmony asked.

"Honestly?" Patrick shrugged. "It's not that bad. I mean, yeah, it's kind of a pain in the ass I can't drive, or sometimes you're watching TV and everybody's screaming and yelling and you don't know what's going on, but really? I went to the Louisiana Center for the Blind, got excellent training..."

"My son went to college..." Barry said proudly.

"You went to college?" Harmony asked, shocked.

"Taught him how to cook, how to clean, swear his place is cleaner than mine," Michael said.

"I mean, all I can think of, I'm going to be totally dependent on my sister for the rest of my life," Harmony admitted.

"Oh that is not true!" Henry shot in. "My godson, this is my godson, by the way, my godson lives on his own, gets himself to work every day, gets himself home every night."

"And does a might mean dance," Ed agreed.

"Harmony, you're up next," Cheryl, an Asian American dancer called out as she led a customer to one of the four Hurricane Rooms.

"Oh, okay," Harmony said.

"Listen, here's his phone number," Barry said, scribbling out Patrick's cell phone number on the back of one of his business cards. "Need more information, give him a call. Or talk to Debbie; she's got diabetes too."

Henry pulled his cell phone out and read a text from his wife and smiled widely.

"Oops, got to go," he said, pulling out the rest of his wad of five dollar bills and jamming it into Patrick's shirt pocket. "Shirley says she had two glasses of red wine and if I'm not home in ten minutes, she's starting without me. Those are all fives, hear boy?"

Henry kissed his godson on the lips, with no embarrassment at all, slapped Barry's back, hugged and kissed Michael and gave a hug to Ed Weinstein.

The kitchen at Side By Side was a controlled madhouse when BJ entered from the rear. Heather stood by the door, directing traffic.

"T Bone, said cut off the horns, wipe its ass and send it out," a petite Asian girl called out. "Baked potato, only butter."

"Hi BJ; Paige, table five," Heather said without turning around as she pointed to a tray for Paige Guidry, an attractive brunette waitress.

"Hi yourself; how's it going?" BJ asked.

"Twenty five minute wait, we're moving," she said, turned around and gave him a soft kiss.

"Any problems?" he smiled and hugged her.

She wiggled out of his grasp as Ernie, the head chef slid out another five plates.

"Polly," she called out as she put three of the plates onto a tray.

The petite Asian stepped up and grabbed the tray.

"Anna!" she called out as she put the other two on a tray and a blonde woman stepped up.

"Had some guy, ate his whole New York Strip, then tried to tell me it was overcooked," Paige said.

"Told him too bad so sad," Heather agreed. "Time to say something is after the first bite, not the last."

At the Dead End, there was nothing left of the nachos and the wings were just a pile of bones.

"And here's your girlfriend again; Dad, you ought to like this shit," Michael said as Harmony, now in gingham blouse knotted under her heavy breasts, blue jeans shorts, and boots, strutted out to Patsy Cline's 'I Fall To Pieces.'

"Here, Michael," Patrick said, counting out five five dollar bills.

"Nuh uh, bull shit. You always all so independent? You go put it in her tip jar," Michael said.

"From where you're sitting, the tip jar's about, what? About ten o'clock," Barry said.

"Yeah, about ten o'clock," Michael agreed. "You hit the wall? You've gone too far."

Patrick extended his collapsible cane, got close, remembered the stage was about two feet up and felt for the jar.

"Right here, Sweetie Pie," Harmony cooed, grabbing his hand and holding it over the jar.

"Thanks," he smiled and she gave him a jammy kiss.

"Looks like the party's breaking up," Brooke said.

"What can I say? We're boring old men," Barry smiled, pulling out his American Express card. "This is for everyone and please add a twenty five percent tip for yourself; you've really been terrific tonight."

"Well, thank you so much!" Brooke smiled happily. "And congratulations again. I just love weddings."

"Oh yeah?" Barry asked her. "Well, father of the bride needs a date, don't you, Ed?"

"Well I uh," Ed stammered, caught off guard.

"Father of the bride asking?" Brooke smiled at the cute red head.

"Damn right the father's asking!" Ed finally found his voice.

"What time's the wedding?" Brooke asked.

"This Saturday eleven thirty, St. Thomas Aquinas; reception immediately after in the hall," Barry said.

"All right, just got to switch my shift; normally I got Saturday day when my ex's got the kids," Brooke agreed.

"Kids?" Barry asked. "How many you got? You can't be more than eighteen, huh?"

"Twenty three," Brooke smiled. "And I have two daughters; one's fixing be five and the other's three, going to be four in about four months."

"Babies having babies," Barry shook his head.

"Miss Rosie; need to switch to Saturday night; that all right?" Brooke asked the heavy set bar owner.

"What? Yeah, thought Graham had Star and Luna this Saturday," Rosy shrugged. "But hey, I know Melinda won't bitch too much."

Brooke ran Barry's credit card, added her tip, and then brought the charge slip and card back to him.

"Thank you again and Ed, I'll see you what? About eleven?" Brooke said, handing Ed a slip of paper with her name, number, and address.

"Ow! Ed! You dog!" Michael slapped the hotly blushing Ed on the back.

"Thank you again, ma'am," Barry smiled, signing the charge slip.

"No, thank you," Brooke smiled and blew a playful kiss at Ed.

Chapter 22

Ed frowned when a strange phone number popped up on his screen, debated for a moment whether to let it go to voice mail or not, then answered it. With Caitlin's wedding just under twenty four hours away, he just didn't know if it would be someone involved with the wedding.

His eyes again filled with tears. His girl, his baby girl was getting married.

"Hello?" he croaked.

"Um, hi? Ed? Hi, this is Brooke. Robertson?" a feminine voice warbled.

"Oh, hey!" Ed cheerfully said, then lost his smile. "Hey, you um, you ain't changed your mind, huh?"

"Huh? No, no, well, maybe," Brooke said. "Graham? My Ex? He's supposed to be getting the kids tonight, but just called, says something came up so I got the girls this weekend; that going to be a problem? I mean, I know this is kind of last minute; swear to God Graham does this shit to me all the time."

"I don't know," Ed said honestly. "Let me call Caitlin and I'll call you right back."

"I mean, I understand if it is; last minute and all, Brooke said.

"Call you right back," Ed promised.

"Hello?" a tearful Caitlin answered on the second ring.

"Aw, don't you start that crying; I'm already crying enough for the both of us," Ed tried to joke but felt a tear trickle down.

"Oh Daddy," Caitlin started to wail.

"No, no, no, no, don't, don't, I need to know something," Ed said, trying to talk over her wails. "My Date? She's got two little girls; it all right if we bring them too?"

"Two little; how old are they?" Caitlin sniffled.

"Um, five and three I think; yeah, five and three," Ed said.

"Oh my God, oh Daddy; you're a life saver!" Caitlin screamed, temporarily deafening her father. "Megan and Britney both got the measles and we need a flower girl and a ring bearer you think they'll do it?"

"I'll see," Ed said.

"Hello?" Brooke asked, picking up on the first ring.

"Think your little girls would like to be a ring bearer and a flower girl?" Ed asked.

"I think they'd love it," Brooke happily agreed.

Graham Johnson, the owner's son, walked by, chatting happily into his cell phone.

"Yeah, no, no, told the stupid cunt I can't get her fucking brats tonight," Graham chortled. "And she's all like 'oh but I got plans' and I'm like 'tough-ski shit-ski."

Ed called Caitlin back and she again deafened him temporarily.

"Okay, you got to pick up the dresses at Babbage's; they're in the Bridal Boutique on the first floor, oh, you'll love it, it's right by the lingerie," Caitlin prattled. "And the shoes are on the second floor; just tell them it's for the Weinstein wedding."

Ed called Brooke, relayed what he could remember of the information, and then hung up.

"Hey, Graham," Ed called out.

"Yeah?" Graham sneered.

The man was almost thirty five, but still affected the mannerisms and attitudes of a teenager. He held Ed, Nine, and Estelle, the cashier of the store in low regard. They were, after all, just employees whereas he, Graham Johnson, was the owner's son, and the store assistant manager.

"Need to take the rest of the day off," Ed said calmly.

"What? Why?" Graham snapped.

"Daughter's wedding," Ed said.

"Oh. Well, need you come in tomorrow," Graham ordered.

"No can do," Ed said. "Remember? My daughter's wedding is tomorrow."

"Fuck! But I'm going sailing!" Graham whined. "We're taking the boat out tonight!"

"Tough-ski shit-ski," Ed smiled.

"Fucking ass hole," Graham snarled.

"Takes one to know one," Ed said calmly and walked out of the rear of the store.

At Superior Motors, Jack made a ticking sound as Barry leaned against his desk, watching traffic drive past.

"Hear that?" Jack said.

"Hear what?" Barry looked around.

"That's the sound of those last seconds of freedom slipping away," Jack said.

Barry laughed and shook his head.

"You're just in a bad mood because Bob's working on Berta's car and you had to get Dr. Biltmore's Astin Martin," Barry said.

"And what a pain in the hiney," Jack agreed.

"Uh huh, give me some of them peanut butter cups," Barry said as Jack popped open his jar of peanut butter cups.

Eight miles north-east, just off of Highway 19, Stacy Falgout felt like crying. She'd made two sales, one for eighty nine thousand and one for seventy thousand even; three percent of one hundred and fifty nine thousand was a pretty good chunk of change for roughly less than one week's work. But she was miserable.

"Our Troubles, we think, of our own making..." Stacy's A.A. sponsor had quoted to her.

That was of little comfort as Stacy listened to Anita Lopez and Toni Delacroix chatter excitedly about what would go where in their new storefront. A man she had wasted four years of her life with was getting married tomorrow. He was happy, he was moving on, and she was miserable.

"Address is Kimble, but we're actually in unincorporated St. Ann," Stacy said but neither girl was listening to her.

"We'll do the closing for both at Richards, Pellichet, and Jones on Wednesday," Stacy pasted a smile on her face as the two girls walked to the door.

"By the way," Stacy asked as Anita prepared to unlock her car door. "Um, why'd y'all ask me to sell you this?"

"Like what do you mean?" Toni asked. 

"Yeah, we told you, Barry wants to start working on that Bentley of his," Anita said.

"No, no, I mean, me. There's all kind of real estate agents out there; why'd y'all ask for me?" Stacy asked.

"Well, like, when we told Daddy he said we needed get you to help us," Toni shrugged.

"Yeah, Mr. Barry said you're the best at this stuff and would make sure we get what we needed," Anita shrugged.

Stacy ducked her head and got into her Jaguar and drove off.

"Was she crying?" Anita asked Toni.

"Kind of looked like it, huh?" Toni agreed. "Come on; O'Neil's like having this big sale. Let's go see what they got."

"We are not getting that ugly wagon wheel table," Anita said firmly.

"Then what about that marble one?" Toni bargained.

"For fifteen hundred?" Anita asked, incredulous.

"I just cannot believe, like Caitlin's getting married tomorrow," Toni said as Anita waited for a pick up truck to pass before pulling out of the parking lot.

Ed looked at the address Brooke had written down, found the apartment complex and looked around. Even as beat up as his truck was, he still locked it; the neighborhood looked run-down.

"Hi!" Brooke smiled up at him when he knocked on a flimsy looking door.

He smirked down at her and she immediately slapped his arm.

"Yes, I know, go ahead and say it; I'm short," she smiled.

Without the five inch heels, Brooke stood at five feet, one inches tall. She was wearing a pair of flip flops that looked as if they'd seen better days, had on a long tee shirt that hid her cut off blue jeans from sight, and had her long blonde hair pulled back in a pony-tail.

"He's here?" a little girl squealed out.

"Yes he's here, go tell Luna," Brooke called out.

"She's in the bathroom," the miniature version of Brooke said, craning to look up at Ed. "We really going to Babbage's? Momma says we can't even afford the socks there."

"Oh shit," Brooke said and made a dash for the bathroom door.

"Yes ma'am; we're really going to Babbage's; Hi, I'm Mr. Ed. What's your name?" Ed smiled.

"I'm Star Robertson," Star said.

"And this mess is Luna Robertson," Brooke said, carrying another miniature version of herself.

"Well, um, it's a bench seat; I'm really not sure..." Ed said.

"We'll take my car," Brooke said, pulling the door of the apartment shut.

"You eat yet?" Brooke asked as they got the two girls into the car seats in the rear seat of the car.

"No, no, you know what? I sure haven't," Ed said.

"We just love going to Clark's," Brooke said.

"Ooh, where them girls go real fast on them skates?" Star called out.

"That's it," Brooke agreed.

Ed wiggled around on the seat; it was wet from something. Judging from the smell, there was a crack in the window's seal and the seat was probably mildewed.

"I'll get this," Ed said.

"Three corn dogs, small fries, three small fruit punch," Brooke said to the girl that skidded to a stop next to their car.

"Can you skate backward?" Star asked the girl.

"Yeah, can you skate backward real fast?" Luna echoed.

"Double bacon burger, large fries, coke," Ed said.

""You have to help me eat them fries," Ed said to Brooke.

"Ooh, look! She's doing it!" Luna cried out as the car hop did indeed skate backward for a moment, smiling at them.

Ed watched as Brooke divided up the fries and helped each girl with their corn dogs and drinks before finally eating her own.

"Thanks," she said as she stuffed several of his French fries into her mouth.

He smiled, noticing that she devoured most of his French fries.

At Babbage's, Ed made Brooke smile gratefully when he offered to carry Star.

"Hey!" Star squealed when Ed put her over his shoulder.

"What? That's not how you carry little girls?" Ed asked.

"No!" Star cried out.

"Oh. How about like this?" Ed asked and moved to dangle Star by her feet.

"No!" Star squealed.

"Then by your pony-tail?" Ed asked.

"No, no, Mr. Ed, like this," Brooke said, smiling as she cradled Luna on her hip.

"Oh!" Ed said and did so.

Brooke smiled as Ed took her free hand in his free hand.

"Hi, here uh, for the ring bearer and flower girl dresses for the Weinstein wedding?" Ed told Nicole Dumas, face still burning from having to walk through the lingerie section.

Nicole grabbed two violet dresses from a rack, looked at Star and Luna, put one dress back then grabbed another one.

"Let's try these on," Nicole said.

"Coming, Mr. Ed?" Brooke teased Ed.

"Hey, you saw how much trouble I had carrying little girls; you really think I know how to dress one?" Ed smiled.

"He thought you carry little girls by their feet," Star told Nicole.

"Yes, my Daddy thought the same thing too," Nicole said.

A moment later, both girls came out and modeled the dresses for Ed and he told them both that they were absolutely beautiful.

"Um, how much are these?" he asked Nicole.

"Mrs. St. Martin's already paid for them" Nicole smiled as the two girls bounded out of the dressing room, back in their shorts and tee shirts.

They rode the escalator, again, Ed carrying Star and Brooke holding the smaller Luna.

"Mommy says we can't afford the socks here," Star told the salesgirl in the shoe department.

"Well, who can?" the girl agreed and found the patent leather shoes for the girls.

Ed watched as Brooke looked at a child's shoe, looked at the price and quickly put it back down again.

"Okay, let's see if you can walk in those," Ed said to Luna.

"I want to jump," Luna said.

"Oh, okay, let's see if you can jump in them," Ed agreed.

Brooke smiled and took Ed's hand in hers.

"Whee!" the salesgirl agreed as Luna jumped a few times.

"Star? Can you jump in yours?" Ed asked as he felt around Luna's foot to check the fit of the shoe.

"And, guess what?" Ed told the two girls when they had their tennis shoes back on.

"What?" Star and Luna said.

"Now we need to get socks," Ed smiled and both girls thought that was just too funny.

"Okay, now, we put Star in the trunk and these bags in the car seat, right?" Ed asked.

"No!" Star squealed as her mother opened the trunk of the car.

"You um, there's two little girls need to take them a nap, You uh I can make us some coffee?" Brooke asked when they returned to the dilapidated apartment complex.




Wealth Pt. 03



Ed was relieved to see his truck was still there and looked relatively unmolested.

"Yeah, I could go for some coffee," Ed agreed and helped get Star out of her car seat, then waited for Brooke to open the trunk.

"He carried Star and their bags up the stairs and waited for Brooke to open the apartment door.

Inside, the apartment was clean, even though it mirrored the exterior. The carpet looked as if a dog had chewed it up, there were gaps in between the sheets of linoleum in the kitchen, and the walls needed a fresh coat of paint.

But the couch in the small living room was clean. The table and four chairs in the kitchen was also clean. And the queen sized bed in the cramped bedroom was made with the pillows and stuffed animals placed neatly on top of the comforter.

"You be here when we get up?" Luna asked Ed.

"You want me here when you get up?" he asked her.

"Uh huh," she agreed.

"Yes sir," Brooke gently corrected.

"Yes sir," Luna agreed.

"Then I guess I better be here when you wake up, Ed smiled.

He took Star's tennis shoes off and Star scrambled under the covers.

"Hey," Brooke said quietly, closing the bedroom door.

"Hey," Ed said quietly.

"Thank you. You were, God, you're just terrific with them," Brooke said and plastered a kiss on his lips.

"He hugged her to him and they shared another kiss.

"I mean, really, when Luna said she wanted to jump instead of just walk, Graham? He would have blown up at her," Brooke said and quickly poured water into a coffee pot that looked like it was ready to give up.

"Graham? Graham Johnson?" Ed asked.

"Yes," Brooke made a face.

"You are kidding!" Ed laughed. "Yeah, you're right; he would have blown up, would have yelled at her."

"You know Graham?" Brooke asked.

"Work for him," Ed said.

"Come on, let's sit on the couch," Brooke said.

"So, how's a beautiful young lady fall for Graham Johnson's line of shit?" Ed asked.

"Got to go back a little bit," Brooke said. "Daddy reads his Bible every night. This is a sin, that's a sin. These start coming in when I'm in the fifth grade..."

She pointed to her chest.

"And of course, it's a sin; I must be sinful, right?" Brooke said flatly, no emotion in her voice. "Spare the rod, spoil the child, right? I told one lie; Michelle Tompkins had a sleep over and I lied and said her mom was going to be there even though she wasn't."

"Girls do that," Ed sympathized.

"Daddy found out Mrs. Tompkins was at the casino, oh, which is, by the way, another sin," Brooke said, some bitterness creeping into her voice. "Beat me with a belt so hard I was bleeding."

"Oh my God," Ed gasped.

"Children's Services takes me away, puts me in a foster home; the Duvaliers were real nice people; you always here about people doing all sorts of ugly stuff but they wasn't like that. What you want in your coffee?"

"Cream; that powdered stuff if you have it," Ed said. "Milk's okay if you don't."

She continued her tale from the kitchen.

"Anyway, after about a couple of months, I go back; don't even remember what happened but Daddy beat me again and this time he knocks out a tooth," Brooke said and carried in two mugs of coffee.

"Good God," Ed said.

She sat down, snuggling up against him slightly.

"And this time I go over to the News in Baylor Lake; they're another real good family too and I'm there about a year but some dumb ass judge decides I'd be better off back home, Brooke said. "And since I'm a little bigger, and these certainly are bigger Daddy decides I'm too old for a belt."

Ed drank some of the coffee; it was terrible.

"And some boy at school asks me out and I told him 'No' I mean he was so gross always rubbing his crotch all over you and I told him no and he calls our house and tells my Daddy he heard I was pregnant," Brooke said, voice again flat. "And Daddy broke three of my ribs and broke my arm in two places."

"Oh dear God," Ed said, horrified.

"So now I'm back with the News and in a couple of months I turn eighteen and the courts decide to emancipate me," Brooke said.

"Oh, well, that's good, huh?" Ed said, not knowing what else to say.

"Not really, all it means is the state to say 'you're old enough; we don't have to pay for you any more.' But the News don't kick me out even though now I'm costing them money. Career Day at my high school; I'm getting ready to graduate and there ain't shit to do and Graham comes up and tells me he can get me on at his store and I go out with him, I mean, shit, he had a Mercedes-Benz for God's sake and we go out; takes me to Manny's, never had it before next thing I know, he's on top of me," Brooke admitted.

"Oh, I think I know where this is going," Ed smiled sardonically.

He remembered Brett, Michelle, and Graham being very upset about some 'trailer park slut' getting pregnant and claiming the baby was Graham's.

"And that's not his Mercedes either; it's his mom's," Ed smirked.

"Know that now," Brooke said.

"Okay, so that's Star," Ed said. "Luna?"

"Gets me my own apartment," Brooke waved her hand around. "Takes me for a tattoo..."

She raised the hem of her tee shirt and pointed to the entwined roses that peeked out the top of her tiny shorts.

"He likes tats on girls; thinks it's sexy as shit," Brooke said. 

"Even gets me a couple of rings; pain in the ass though after Star was born. See I was breast feeding, had to keep taking the ring out," Brooke said.

Ed gave a little groan imagining Brooke's large breasts with nipple rings.

Brooke looked up and smiled softly.

"But all that money he's throwing away on fixing me up the way he wants me to be? He still ain't happy," Brooke said and sipped her coffee. "Main thing he ain't happy about is he wanted me get an abortion but I flat out told him no. And he's supposedly all Catholic and shit."

She put her cup of coffee on a coaster. Ed just held his in his hands.

"And I'm lonely and bored and he's coming around and God damn, don't even look at his kid, but I'm lonely and don't know no one out here and he takes me and gets me that laser hair removal and he's on top of me and next thing I know..." Brooke said, sipping the coffee.

"Mmm," Ed sighed, thinking of her hair removal. "I love a good cup of coffee."

"Yeah?" Brooke smiled.

"Um, but what is this?" Ed asked, indicating his cup of coffee.

"Oh!" Brooke yelped and punched him on the arm.

"Next time, you make it," she said, leaning against him.

"Next time, and the time after that, and the time after that," Ed promised.

"Oh?" Brooke smiled and kissed him. "Think you coming over a lot or something?"

"A whole lot," Ed agreed.

"Uh huh, we'll see," Brooke said and stuffed her tongue into his mouth.

"But anyway, Graham just never was satisfied and tried saying Star and Luna ain't his and had to take him to court," Brooke said.

Ed also remembered how upset Brett had been over some 'trailer park Barbie' suing Graham for child support.

"Fucking slut's dropping her drawers for any dick swinging around," Brett had complained loudly. "Having kids just a way to make a buck, I swear."

Ed's opinion of Brett Johnson dropped a few notches, now that he knew the 'trailer park Barbie' in question.

Brooke Robertson was no slut, she was no gold digger, and she was no opportunist. She had walked right through the women's section and the lingerie section in an exclusive store and had not stopped to look at anything. In the shoe section, Brooke had not looked at any women's' shoes; she had looked at children's' shoes-and had quickly put those shoes down upon seeing their price tag.

If anyone was the opportunist, it was Graham Johnson. He saw a lonely, naive girl with blonde hair, big tits and a sweet smile and no viable future and he snatched her up. He imposed his will on her and then tried to discard her.

"And that's my story," Brooke smiled, running her fingers lightly through Ed's close cropped orange red hair.

She kissed him again.

"So what's yours? What's a good looking man like you need a date for his daughter's wedding? I bet there's a lot of ladies chasing after you," she said and pulled his head down for a kiss.

"Honey, you're the second woman in thirty seven years told me I'm good looking," Ed admitted.

"Oh bull shit!" she laughed. "Seriously, red hair and all them cute freckles? But come on, Ed, tell me. I seen you with two little girls today just made them love you, I mean, really, Luna wanted you to be here when she gets up from her nap, you can't fake that; why are you still single?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean, for the last twenty years, my life has been about making sure Caitlin's all right, that Caitlin and Briah are taken care of..."

"Who's Briah?" Brooke asked, a little jealousy creeping into her voice.

"Hey, you have two daughters? Well, guess what? So do I," he smiled and kissed her.

"Ummm!"Star gasped as she entered the living room and spotted the two adults in a heated lip lock.

"I said give me that nose!" Ed said and bit lightly on Brooke's nose.

Brooke laughed, rubbing the spittle off her nose.

"No, no, you can't have my Mommy's nose!" Star cried out, jumping onto the couch.

"Oh?" Ed said then picked the girl up. "Then I'll eat yours!" 

"No, no, you can't have my Star's nose!" Brooke lightly slapped at Ed.

"But I need to eat someone's nose!" Ed declared. "Let me go get Luna!"

"No, Mr. Ed," Brooke said firmly. "This is my house and in my house there will be no nose eating!"

"Yeah!" Star declared.

"Hi Mr. Ed," Luna said, bounding onto the couch.

"So, what time do y'all eat dinner?" Ed asked.

"Hmm, about six," Brooke said. "We've got chicken tenders and macaroni and cheese; sound good to you?"

"Sounds perfect," Ed agreed. "Well, not as good as little girl noses but..."

"And what did I tell you?" Brooke said, smiling. "No eating noses in my house!"

At Superior Motors, Jack looked up as he spotted Toni's Lexus pull up.

"Barry, looks like your daughters are here," he called out.

"Remember when he only had one?" Henry said.

"Remember when you had none?" Barry asked.

"Hi Daddy!" Toni called out, smiling widely. "We came to like kidnap you!"

"Yeah, we want to take you out to eat," Anita said, smiling.

"And who's paying?" Barry smiled.

"We are!" Toni huffed.

"Oh boy, McDonald's," Jack teased.

"We found this place," Anita said.

"Like the best soul food ever!" Toni said.

"Oh, hey, that little place, aw, damn, Sweet Pea's?" Barry asked, stretching out in the rear of Toni's car.

"Yes!" Toni said.

"Aw man, it's been forever since I've eaten there!" Barry smiled.

"And tonight's fried catfish; I remember that was like your favorite," Toni said.

"Oh, it's not like my favorite," Barry corrected his daughter. "It is my favorite."

"Like whatever," Toni smirked as she parked .

A large black woman waddled over to their table and asked them what they'd like to drink. Sweet Pea's had fried catfish on the menu and it came with a thick slab of corn bread and sweet peas. There was nothing else being served that night.

"And y'all come back tomorrow' we having stuffed bell peppers," the woman said as she put three heaping plates on the table. "Y'all enjoy, all right?"

"Daddy, you getting nervous?" Toni asked.

"No; not really," Barry smiled "She's a wonderful girl."

He looked at her as she nibbled on a steaming piece of catfish.

"You?" he asked and she burst into tears.

"Yes!" Toni admitted. "I don't want you getting married!"

"Everything all right?" the large black woman asked, glaring at Barry with a steely eyed glare.

"Yes," Barry smiled to the woman. "I'm getting married tomorrow and my daughter's just now realizing she's no longer going to have the run of the house."

In Brooke's apartment, Ed sat at the kitchen table, playing 'Chutes And Ladders' board game with Star and Luna while Brooke cooked their dinner.

"You know, you can buy them already made," Ed commented as Brooke deboned a chicken breast, then cut it into strips.

"Uh huh, and it's six dollars more," Brooke agreed. "For six dollars, I get three chicken breasts and three boxes of macaroni and cheese."

"No, Brett," Ed thought to himself as he purposely miscounted so that he would slide all the way back to the beginning. "Brooke is no little gold digging slut."

"Y'all know how to play Dominos?" Ed asked as Star celebrated her win.

"No," both Star and Luna looked at each other.

"Well, do you know how to count to five?" Ed asked.

"Yes!" both girls said and proved it by counting to five, then Star continued on until she reached fifteen.

"Okay, good, I'm going to teach you how to play Dominos," Ed promised.

Ed looked over as Brooke stretched to reach a pitcher on a higher shelf. Her tee shirt rose up and her shorts were firmly entrenched in the crack of her round butt. He resisted the urge to reach out and cup one of the luscious looking cheeks. Instead, he got to his feet.

"Here," Ed said and grabbed the pitcher for her.

"Thanks," she said, smiling. "Peggy keeps forgetting I'm five one and sticks it way up there."

"Who's Peggy?" Ed asked.

"She's the lady lives downstairs," Star informed him.

"Yeah," Luna agreed.

"She comes play with us when Mommy's got to go to work," Star continued.

"Shouldn't that be your Daddy?" Ed thought but said nothing as Brooke found a packet of generic drink mix and made a punch for their dinner.

"Ooh," Brooke smiled as she poured two sippy cups full. "Who likes green punch?"

"I do!" both Star and Luna clamored.

"Ew, green punch?" Ed made a face.

"No, Mr. Ed, you like it," Luna assured him.

Ed signaled to Brooke that he did not want a large portion; he would grab a bite to eat later, so Star and Luna got the lion's share of the food.

"Okay, I'll see y'all tomorrow," Ed said after rinsing his dish clean and putting it into the rickety dishwasher.

Aw!" both Star and Luna whined.

"Can't fake that," Brooke thought and smiled as she rinsed her own plate off.

"Pick y'all up at ten thirty, all right?" Ed said and he and Brooke shared a quick kiss at the door.

"Ooh, Baby, Momma's going to have to take her a special bubble bath tonight," Brooke thought as she watched Ed's tight ass walk away.

Clark's Drive-In provided Ed with a second double bacon burger and Ed did admire the well-muscled rear ends of the girls that whizzed here and there on their skates.

Then he wondered if Star and Luna knew how to skate. They seemed very interested in the girls that skated here; they'd probably love to skate.

He looked over at a mini-van and saw the woman from Babbage's Department Store, the one that had fitted Star and Luna in their dresses. Next to her was a smiling man with a severely receding hairline. Behind them sat five children, all smiling, all chattering excitedly. Ed had a momentary vision of himself, Brooke, Star and Luna, sitting there, eating corn dogs earlier that afternoon, and he smiled at the memory.

One of the children; she appeared to be the oldest, flailed her hands and Ed watched as the saleswoman also flailed her hands. He realized that the child was deaf. The balding man said something and four of the five children raised the volume of their chatter. The woman signed to the blonde girl and she whirled her head around to watch the car hop skate their way, tray laden with three banana splits, two hot fudge sundaes and two ice cream cones, dipped in chocolate syrup.

"Enjoy them while you got them," Ed wanted to tell the saleswoman, feeling a tear trickle down. "Enjoy them while you got them because tomorrow they'll be getting married."

Chapter 23

Michael sighed as he pulled up in front of Patrick's apartment. True, the ride to St. Thomas Aquinas would only take five minutes, but five minutes with Debbie Don't Touch Me was a long five minutes.

"Oh well, maybe she's sick and won't be coming," he said out loud, hoping God might take a hint.

But he would not be so lucky. But Debbie was in a slightly festive mood; at least she wasn't scowling when she came out of the apartment, dressed in a black and white dress.

"You look very nice, Debbie," Michael complimented her. "I like that dress."

"Well, I think they might have one in your size," Patrick said, still fiddling with the cummerbund of his tuxedo.

"Thanks," Debbie said, checking her purse to make sure she had her insulin injection.

"Here, homo, hold still," Michael ordered and fixed the cummerbund for Patrick.

"Thanks," Patrick said.

"Debbie, up front or in the back?" Michael asked, slapping his car for her to locate.

"You two sit up front," Debbie said graciously.

Ed pulled up to Brooke's apartment complex and parked and locked his truck. He smiled widely as one of Brooke's neighbors looked at him, then did a double-take as Ed trotted up the stairs in his tuxedo.

He had worried slightly how Brooke would be dressed; money did not seem to be in abundance in the Robertson household and Brooke did work at a strip club. Then he shrugged. Unless her outfit was truly outrageous, all eyes would be on Caitlin anyway.

It was Star that answered the door when he knocked and a nearly nude Brooke barreled out of the bathroom.

"Damn it, Star!" Brooke shrieked. "How many times I got to tell you don't open the door! You never know ... Oh!"

Ed smiled and covered his eyes with one hand (peeking through his fingers )as Brooke, clad in only tiny panties and thigh high stockings, whirled around and dashed back into the bathroom.

"Your mommy's right," Ed said gently to Star as he took her hand and walked to the couch. "I know you knew it was me, but supposed it hadn't been me? It could have been a bad man."

"Then I would have yelled for you to come help me," Star said.

"Hi," a hotly blushing Brooke said, now dressed in bra and slip.

"Sorry; I'm a few minutes early," Ed apologized.

"And I'm running a few minutes late; the burner quit working so had to finish the eggs in the oven," Brooke said, leaned over and gave him a quick kiss.

"But me and Luna ready," Star said.

"I see that," Ed agreed.

Both Star and Luna were dressed in their violet dresses, with their white ankle socks and ivory patent leather shoes. The two girls' hair was also tied back with matching violet ribbons.

"Hi again," Brooke smiled, coming back into the living room, putting on a gold hoop earring.

"Hi; you look beautiful," Ed smiled, admiring the light blue knee length dress and white pumps with their five inch heels.

"Well thank you!" she smiled. "And you look mighty handsome yourself."

He stood up and prepared to pick Star up.

"Of course, I liked what you had on earlier," he said and she slapped his arm.

"I bet you did!" Brooke said.

"But you really do look wonderful," Ed said and kissed her

"I can look at your stove later on, if you'd like," Ed offered as they tramped to the door.

"You know anything about them?" Brooke asked.

"It's what I do at Johnson's," Ed reminded her.

"Uh, duh!" Brooke laughed.

The girls prattled excitedly as Brooke drove to St. Thomas Aquinas.

Inside of the church, Connie Edwards, the photographer and her assistant, Darnell Woods, an effeminate African American male, scrambled around, taking pictures, quickly posing people, then shuffling them out of the way for the next shot. Connie scurried to the vestibule, rapped once, and then entered the room.

"Ma'am?" Connie asked Caitlin as Shirley fussed with her veil. "The flower girl and ring bearer? I believe you said they were your cousins, right? Are they here yet?"

"No, no," Caitlin said. "Megan and Britney got measles so my Dad's girlfriend's daughters are..."

"Your dad... When did your dad..." Theresa spluttered.

"We're here, we're here," Ed called out, carrying Star while Brooke carried Luna.




Wealth Pt. 03



"Oh my god, oh Honey!" Ed said, eyes immediately filling with tears at the sight of his little girl in her wedding dress.

"Daddy!" Caitlin said, smiling, with just a hint of her own tears in her eyes.

"And who are these two little angels?" Shirley asked, smiling at the two girls.

"I'm Star Robertson," Star said. "And this is my baby sister Luna Robertson. She's only three but I'm almost five."

"And I'm Brooke Robertson," Brooke smiled to Caitlin. "Congratulations; I know your father is so proud of you."

"Thank you, and thank you for letting me borrow your little girls for the day," Caitlin smiled and the two women shook hands.

"Ooh, Daddy!" Briah said, playing with Ed's tie. "She's cute! Where'd you find her, huh?"

"He went to where my Mommy works and they kissed and fell in love," Star informed Briah.

"They did? Just like that?" Briah smiled down at the precocious little girl.

"Uh huh, and then he tried to eat her nose and wanted to eat my nose but Mommy wouldn't let him," Star went on.

"Daddy!" Caitlin cried out, close to tears. "You used to do that to me all the time!"

"And me too!" Briah agreed.

"He likes little girls' noses," Caitlin warned Luna.

"Okay, can I have the ring bearer and the flower girl out here, please?" Connie called out, dashing back into the room.

Connie handed Luna the basket and handed Star the pillow with the two 'rings' sewn to it.

Connie peered through her viewfinder and smiled; she didn't have to pose them or direct the two girls. They were already posing for the camera.

She snapped off three quick shots and they seemed to sense to move naturally for her.

"Oh my God," Connie muttered watching the two girls. "They're naturals."

"And how about the father of the bride; that's you, right? Father of the bride, you're the step mother? Here, right here," Connie rattled off grabbing Ed and Brooke and putting them on either side of Caitlin.

"But I'm not, we're not..." Brooke tried to object as Connie snapped off a quick photograph.

"Ma'am, one more time but try not to talk, okay?" Connie directed and Ed shrugged at Brooke.

"Don't do that, please," Connie said to Ed. "Try smiling; this is supposed to be a happy day, remember?"

"Mother of the bride; is there a step father?" Connie called out, quickly moving Brooke and Ed aside.

"No, there's not," Theresa spat.

""Attitude like that, I bet there's not," Connie thought to herself but smiled graciously.

"And grandmother; you're the grandmother right?" Connie said pushing Shirley next to Caitlin.

"No; we're best friends," Caitlin corrected and the two women mugged for a quick photograph, showing all their teeth in an exaggerated smile.

"Silly, silly, silly," Connie chided as the two women giggled to each other.

"No, here's the grandparents," Ed said, hustling his mother and father into the small room.

"Oh, okay, well, no kidding; I should have known that, look at that red hair," Connie said, arranging them with Caitlin.

"Okay, I'm going sit out there, all right?" Brooke told Star and Luna. "Y'all behave for Mr. Ed, all right?"

"And no eating noses!" Brooke waggled a finger at Ed.

She kissed him and Connie snapped off a quick shot of the intimate moment before dashing back out of the room.

"Good God, really, Ed; just how old is she anyway?" Theresa sneered at Ed after the door had closed behind Brooke.

"Who you?" Bobby, Caitlin's brother, acting as one of the ushers demanded as Brooke looked around the church.

"I'm um, I'm with Ed," Brooke said.

"Who?" Bobby sneered.

"Ed Weinstein? Father of the bride," Brooke reminded the impertinent youth.

"Oh, oh yeah, him," Bobby said then pointed to a pew at the rear of the church. "Why don't you sit right there?"

"No sir," Barry said, frowning at Caitlin's brother. "She's with the father of the bride; she sits at the front of the church."

Whatever," Bobby sneered and escorted Brooke to the first pew.

"Hey, Bobby," Barry hissed, grabbing the eleven year old by a few of the hairs at the back of his neck, lifting him onto his tip-toes. "You don't want to be an usher, just say so and I'll get someone else do it, hear?"

"Ow!" Bobby complained, now frightened of the old white guy Caitlin was marrying.

"Now, you going do your job and do it right or am I going to have to get someone else do it?" Barry hissed.

"I'll do it," Bobby said.

"God damned pain in the ass brat," Barry grumbled as he marched back to where his groomsmen were standing.

"Okay, if I could have you, hey guys, if I could just have you..." Darnell, Connie's assistant simpered, trying to get the men to cooperate.

"Guys, come on, let's listen to him, huh?" Barry smiled.

Okay, hey guys, groom first, then best man, that's it, get in the order you're going to be standing at the altar," the man said.

"Perfect, perfect, and now, how about one fun one, huh? Think you guys can get a conga line going? Oh God, that's beautiful! Yes, yes, laugh! This is fun, this is so much fun!"

Inside the small vestibule, Connie had the bride's party do the same thing, making sure she also shot a photograph of the ring bearer and flower girl as they laughed at the silly pose.

"And we're just about ready," Father Jack McNamara smiled as he stuck his head into the vestibule.

"And we're just about ready," the priest smiled at the group of men.

"Oh, well then I guess I better get up there, huh?" Barry smiled as the organ music, which had been playing softly in the background suddenly jumped in volume.

He smiled to himself; since his little 'talk' with Bobby, the youth was acting a great deal more civil.

"Mother of the bride, ready?" Connie said and snapped a photograph of Bobby escorting the woman to the front pew.

She did not snap a photograph of the sour look Theresa shot at Brooke as the young woman sat at the far left side of the pew.

"Grandparents," Connie said and snapped a photograph Mr. and Mrs. Weinstein as they too were escorted by Bobby.

"And flower girl, all you have to do is walk up to the altar and kind of scatter these around, okay?" Ed said, showing Luna what he wanted her to do.

"And ring bearer, you follow behind her, all right?" he smiled, handing her the small white pillow.

"Now?" Luna asked.

"In just a minute," Ed smiled. "But first, let me bite that nose."

"No!" Star said, covering her nose with her hand. "Mommy said no nose biting!"

"And, go!" Ed said to Luna, who immediately began to scatter the flower petals, even before leaving the room.

"I'll make sure she's doing it right," Shirley said, stepping out the room.

"And Star," Ed said and Star solemnly stepped out the room.

Shirley did not have to supervise; Luna sensed what she was supposed to do and did it very precisely. There were a few titters and a few 'aw' as Luna studiously scattered the petals. Star followed a few steps behind, keeping perfect pace with her sister.

When Luna reached the altar where a blonde man stood, smiling widely, she stepped up next to Barry. She looked into her basket, noticing that she still had some petals. So, Luna tilted the basket, made a circle of the remaining petals and nodded in satisfaction.

"And this is where the bride goes, okay?" she loudly announced to everyone.

"Okay," Barry and Father Jack McNamara agreed over the laughter of the congregation.

Briah, as Caitlin's Maid of Honor, stepped out of the vestibule and took BJ's arm. Her cousin Bridget stepped up and took Michael's arm.

Alexis stepped up and Patrick took her arm.

Toni smiled as she and Mr. Henry followed. Jenee and Bob Robichaux followed, then Anita and Jack brought up the rear.

"You did fine," Henry praised Patrick as Patrick counted out the six steps from where Alexis released his arm to step behind Michael.

"Thanks Parran," Patrick smiled.

"But your fly's open; everyone's looking at your drawers," Henry whispered.

"It is?" Patrick gasped and reached down to find his fly was securely up where it should be.

"Made you look," Henry laughed.

"Parran!" Patrick laughed.

Then the music reached an intolerable volume and everyone turned to look toward the rear of the church.

"Damn, Dad, switch places?" BJ offered as they watched Ed and Caitlin proceed toward them.

"Blow it our your ears, boy," Barry said.

"And who gives this woman to be married?" Father Jack asked.

"Her mother and I do," Ed said, trying to keep his voice from quivering.

"I love you, Daddy," Caitlin whispered as Ed raised her veil.

Love you too, Sweetheart," Ed choked out.

He then bent and picked up Star in one arm and Luna in the other, and walked to where Brooke waited.

"Big baby," Brooke whispered as he let the tears slide down his face.

"Uh huh, and in twenty years, that Star up there getting married," Ed suggested and Brooke's eyes immediately filled with tears.

"Uh huh, big baby," he said and kissed her.

Father Jack McNamara did ruffle some fathers when he replaced Father Gregory at St. Thomas Aquinas. Father Gregory was a showboat, a ham, was loud and gregarious. Father Jack was a very no-nonsense man and some found him to be abrupt, aloof, and unfriendly.

Barry and the other thirteen people standing at the altar, however, appreciated his fast paced delivery; standing in uncomfortable shoes for a long period of time was not fun.

"And so, Barry Jacob Delacroix, do you take Caitlin Theresa Weinstein to be your lawful wedded wife, to faithfully and quickly respond to all of her text messages with text messages of your own?" Father Jack said.

"Wait, what?" Barry asked, mouth open in shock. "It doesn't say that!"

Caitlin doubled over in laughter as Barry turned to look at her, still in shock. The congregation also joined in on the laughter.

"I paid him twenty bucks to do that," Caitlin laughed.

"Oh, woman, just you wait, you hear?" Barry laughed.

"Who doesn't love a marriage that starts out with laughter?" Father Jack smiled, then continued with the ceremony.

"Friends, family, honored guests, may I present, Mr. and Mrs. Barry Jacob Delacroix," Father Jack said a few moments later.

In a pew nearly halfway from altar to the door, Debbie Peters reached down and grabbed her cane. She began to walk out of the pew.

"Wait," Dr. William Wilson ordered, pulling her back.

"I was..." Debbie snapped angrily.

"Getting ready to step right in front of the bride and groom," he snapped back. "Just wait."

Debbie heard the rustle of Caitlin's dress and so again attempted to step out into the aisle.

"Wait," Dr. William Wilson again ordered and yanked her back. "The rest of the wedding party is still coming; damn, what is your hurry?"

She didn't respond, just stood, tapping her foot impatiently. Then she felt his hand at her back.

"Fine, go," he said and she stomped down the aisle.

Inside of St. Thomas Aquinas Hall, Connie and Darnell ran around, snapping photographs as the guests filed into the hall.

At the far end , the live band that regularly entertained at La Scalia's Lounge played softly. Servers from La Scalia's ran back and forth, making sure that all the food was ready to be served.

Connie nodded to the bandleader as the last of the guests filed in.

"And could we have the bride and groom come for their first dance as husband and wife?" he said into his microphone.

Standing at the periphery of the dance floor, Brooke softly touched Ed's face.

"Stopped crying yet?" she softly teased Ed.

"Probably not," he teased back.

"And now our wedding party," the bandleader called out.

"I'm dancing with you next," Briah ordered Michael as she grabbed BJ's arm.

Caitlin kissed Barry, stepped back then kissed him again, then walked to the bandleader.

"I want to dance with my Daddy," Caitlin told the man and he nodded in understanding.

"And could we have the father of the bride out here?" he asked.

"And here we go again," Brooke smiled as fresh tears came to Ed's eyes.

A few more traditional dances were called out, then the bandleader and Connie nodded to each other and the bandleader announced that the floor was now open to everyone.

"Nuh uh, where you going?" Briah said as Michael turned to go to the bar.

"Get me a drink, not that it's any of your business," Michael snapped back.

"Told you, I'm dancing with you next," she said and pulled him back onto the dance floor.

"You do realize, I'm your boss, right?" he snapped.

"Not here you're not, Michael Aaron Delacroix," she smiled.

"How'd you know..." he asked, surprised.

"Googled you," she smiled, rubbing her lush figure against him.

"Mom, Dad," Ed smiled as he carried Star and Luna over to where his parents sat. "Y'all keep an eye on Star and Luna for us?"

"Let me tell you," Seth Weinstein said, smiling at Luna. "I don't think I've ever seen a better flower girl ever! And I've been around a long time!"

"And I know you were the perfect ring bearer," Mrs. Weinstein smiled at Star.

Theresa Weinstein stepped in front of Ed as he walked back to Brooke.

"They're going to expect the mother and father of the bride to dance together," she said hopefully.

"Why would they expect that?" Ed asked jovially. "We've been divorced twenty years now. Now if you'll excuse me..."

"Oh, that woman's got it bad for you," Brooke smiled as Ed led her through a mid-tempo foxtrot.

"Shame. Afraid I've got it pretty bad for someone else," Ed said.

"Oh yeah? Anyone I know?" Brooke asked, smiling wider.

"Might," Ed said and pulled her close as a slow waltz began. "Got long blonde hair, a wonderful smile, two adorable little girls, and horrible eye sight."

"Horrible eye sight?" Brooke asked.

"Yeah, thinks I'm good looking," Ed smiled.

"No sir, KNOWS you're good looking," Brooke corrected and pulled his face down for a kiss.

As the waltz died down, Michael tried to pull away from Briah.

"All right, we danced, let me go now, all right?" he said.

"Wait, one more thing," Briah said and pulled him to where Henry and Shirley were dancing. "Miss Shirley, you approve of him?"

"Michael?" Shirley asked and reached out to straighten Michael's tie. "Well, since he's my godson, I suppose I do approve of him."

"So when we get married, you buy my wedding dress?" Briah asked, smiling happily.

"When we what?" Michael exclaimed. "Woman, are you crazy?"

"Oh, boy!" Henry laughed. "Might as well give up now, Michael! Saw what your father went through with the other Weinstein girl, huh?"

"I tell you what, Honey," Shirley laughed as Michael stomped toward the bar. "You manage to rope that boy, I will buy your wedding dress."

"Thanks Miss Shirley," Briah said and hugged the woman.

"So let me get this right," Henry said and took his wife's hands to do the cha cha cha. "We now have two girls?"

"Problem?" Shirley smiled.

"Not at all; just making sure," Henry smiled.

Melanie Landry leaned heavily against her husband, leg braces locked in place. He held her and they rocked together.

"I love you," she finally said, pulled back slightly and kissed Jack.

"But father of the bride looks like he could use some help," Melanie said, pointing over Jack's shoulder where Ed was jumping around with both Star and Luna while Seth Weinstein happily danced with Brooke.

"Okay," Jack said and guided her back to where her crutches lay across her chair.

"Love you, Baby Girl," he said and was rewarded by her megawatt smile.

"Can I dance with this wonderful ring bearer?" Jack asked Ed and started jumping up and down like Star was doing.

"Oh, absolutely," Ed agreed and picked Luna up and whirled her around.

"Oh, that looks easier, don't you think?" Jack asked Star and picked her up.

"You don't bite noses, do you?" Star asked Jack.

"No, can't say that I do," he smiled. "Why? Does your daddy bite noses?"

"No, Mr. Ed does," Star said. "He wants to eat them."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the dinner is now ready," the bandleader announced as the rest of the band died down. "Believe it or not, they do let us eat. We'll be taking a thirty minute break. Enjoy."

"What do you want; I'll get it for you," Dr. Wilson said to Debbie.

"I can get it myself," she snapped angrily.

"Bull shit," he snapped back. "I'm not eating anything after you've run your filthy hands all over it. Now tell me what you want and I'll get it for you."

"My hands are not..." she shrilled.

"Hell they're not," he snapped back. "That cane was on the floor, where everyone's shoes have been. Those shoes had to cross a nasty asphalt parking lot to get here. You put your hands on that cane. Again, I'm not eating anything after you've put those nasty hands all over the place. What do you want?"

"Anything not all carbs," she snapped and sat back down.

"Drink?" he asked.

"Water," she said.

"All right, got you some shrimp, some veal, Ceaser Salad, some kind of soup and here's your water," he said a moment later. "Be right back."

A moment later, he sat down next to her and began eating.

"I have a boyfriend," she snapped.

"Good for you," he said. "Give me a minute and I'll see if I can find anyone that gives a damn."

Brooke smiled up at Ed as he held Star in one arm while fixing her plate with the other.

"And you want this?" he asked, pointing to the spaghetti and meat sauce.

"Uh huh," Star said.

"A whole bunch or just a little bit?" he asked.

Brooke followed behind, fixing Luna's plate.

"Daddy, you and Brooke and the girls come sit at our table, okay?" Caitlin said, coming up behind him.

"Honey, what about your mother?" Ed asked. "Don't you think she'd be a little uncomfortable with us there?"

"Daddy, she's a grown woman," Caitlin said forcefully.

"And so are you," Ed smiled and Followed Caitlin to the large table.

"Hello, son," Ed said, putting Star's plate on the table and putting the girl in a seat.

Brooke put Luna into a chair next to Star and Ed turned to Brooke.

"What you want? I'll get our plates," he said.

"Oh no, I'll..." Brooke objected.

"Sit, help the girls; I'll get our plates," Ed said gently.

Brooke sat, eyes watching Ed, then she shook her head and bent to the task of helping Luna with the slippery noodles.

"Whee!" she laughed as Luna simply reached in and grabbed a shrimp.

"Here you are, Sweetheart," Ed said, putting a well organized plate that had a little bit of everything on it in front of Brooke.

Theresa wanted to spit on that blonde tramp's plate, wanted to tilt the plate of the little ring bearer, smear it all over the girl's pretty dress.

"Here," Ed said to Star. "Best way to do that is take your fork, twirl it around like..."

He picked up a small forkful of the noodles.

"And you take a bite of it," he said and brought it to her mouth.

"So, Brooke, how long you and Daddy been going out?" Briah asked as she sat down.

"Uh, including today? This is our second date," Brooke admitted. "I mean, if going and getting our dresses counts as a date."

"We ate at Clark's; it counts as a date, far as I'm concerned," Ed smiled.

"Ah HA!" Theresa wanted to scream in triumph.

The little floozy wasn't Ed's girlfriend; he just picked her up because Caitlin needed a flower girl and ring bearer and she happened to have two daughters. Theresa smiled and began savoring her food.

At another table, Alexis and Toni seemed to be in a race to see who could get drunk the fastest. So, Anita stuck to iced tea and Jenee had already called her father and let him know she and Alexis would be needing a ride home after the ceremony.

"And then, and then, like when Father Jack said..." Toni again erupted in giggles, repeating what she'd said just two minutes earlier.

"Here you go, boy," Henry said, putting down Patrick's plate. "Got you sitting next to a bunch of gorgeous women."




Wealth Pt. 03



"Thank you!" Jenee said.

"Uh, where's Debbie?" Patrick asked.

"Hmm? Don't see, oh, wait, she's over with Dr. Wilson; you want to go sit there?" Henry asked.

"No, like leave him here with the gorgeous women," Toni demanded.

"Thanks Parran," Patrick said to his godfather.

In her small condominium just a few miles away, Stacy Falgout was finding out that what they said in AA meetings was true; head full of AA and a bellyful of alcohol don't mix. She was drunk. She was rip-roaring drunk. She was knee-walking drunk.

But she wasn't enjoying it at all. Sadie cowered in a corner, keeping a wary eye on her momma.

In DeGarde CDU, Susan impassively listened as her mother whined about losing Amber, the middle girl, to a drug overdose.

"Found her dead ass in the bathroom of that titty bar she worked at," Jamie Goodwin snapped. "Running around her ass hanging out, married some old guy twice her age..."

"Honey, please," Sheila said.

"And of course there's Kay; fucking smuggling coke in from Mexico," Jamie went on.

"Jamie, enough!" Sheila snapped.

Susan wondered if she had enough credits to buy a candy bar; the concession stand had 5TH Avenues, her absolute favorite.

"Probably not," she said out loud.

Credits were accrued by participating in group discussions, group activities, initiating discussion topics and one on one sessions with your individual counselors. Telling your counselor that you were just doing time until you could get out probably didn't garner many credits and you needed twenty credits for a candy bar.

Victoria, her roommate, had already accumulated enough credits; Victoria had bought herself a medium Supreme pizza from A Touch Of Cecily. That was a hundred and fifty credits. And the little bitch sat there and ate the whole damned thing, by herself right in front of Susan.

"So where's Kay?" Susan suddenly asked just as Sheila sobbed out about Amber's funeral.

"Uh, parole violation, where you think she is?" Jamie sneered.

Susan shrugged but did notice that her counselor checked something in her notebook. Hopefully it was a credit.

"And of course, next door neighbor's kid's getting married today but we're missing it," Jamie complained to the counselor. "Why? Because of this stupid shit; asked them if we could schedule this shit for later in the day, but no!"

Chapter 24

Brooke looked absolutely shocked when she caught the bridal bouquet. Briah looked absolutely murderous when Brooke caught the bridal bouquet. If Briah could have tackled Brooke to get the bouquet, she would have.

Michael laughed out loud when he somehow managed to catch the garter and taunted Briah by twirling it on one finger. Briah just flung her long black hair back, stuck her tongue out at him, and marched off to get another piece of cake.

Luna and Star practiced walking around with the bridal bouquet, when they weren't busy taking nibbles of the wedding cake.

"I hate to say this, but they're getting just a little cranky," Brooke finally said.

"Oh, no, it's totally fine; I'm getting a little cranky too," Ed smiled.

He picked Star up, walked around telling people good bye, Brooke and Luna following right behind , also telling people good bye, and then they stepped out into the oppressive afternoon heat.

"Whew, hope your air conditioner works," Ed commented as he put Star into her car seat.

"Car cost me four hundred eighty dollars; what you think?" Brooke asked.

Jenee's father, Klaus Wolfe, a half Scandinavian, half South Korean, all American man, smirked as he helped carry/walk a nearly comatose Alexis and a giggling Jenee to his car.

"I am proud you called me; I would not want you to drive the car as you are right now," Klaus said in his very clipped accent. "But believe me, we will talk tomorrow."

"Yesh shir," Alexis said and Klaus shook his head.

"I was speaking to my daughter," he said and poured Alexis into the rear seat of his car.

"Don't you dare puke in this car," Anita warned and Toni leaned over and vomited onto the parking lot.

Inside the hall, Patrick tried to calm Debbie down.

"None of your business where I been," Debbie shrilled at him. "Where were you, huh? Haven't seen you since we got here and you want to yell at me?"

"Wasn't yelling at you," Patrick tried to say, but Debbie was having none of it.

Dr. Wilson smirked and wondered if Patrick could smell his semen on Debbie's breath.

"I have a boyfriend," Debbie had shrilled as Dr. Wilson hustled her into what looked like a broom closet.

"Told you before, I'll see if I can find anyone that cares," Dr. Wilson said and pushed her onto her knees.

Debbie could feel her panties become soaked as the man fucked her face roughly. She was so close to orgasm as this man almost savagely twisted her nipples through her bra.

"God, you ever suck a cock before?" Dr. Wilson taunted and Debbie reached down and rubbed her crotch through her dress and panties.

Now, out in the hall, as the guests were leaving, one by one, Dr. Wilson felt no guilt. All the blind bitch had to say was 'no' and she had not even come close to saying no to him.

And he felt no guilt about stealing a blind man's girlfriend; if the man would just show some backbone and stand up to the bitch, he, Dr. William Wilson, would have had no chance to steal the girl.

Michael and BJ just shrugged and followed behind Debbie and Patrick.

"All right, see you tomorrow," BJ said as he got into his Porsche.

"Uh huh," Michael smirked as Debbie shoved Patrick aside to get into the car.

In their hotel suite in Lafayette, Louisiana, Barry helped Caitlin unzip her bridal gown.

"Barry, I'm... Suppose I suck at this?" Caitlin blurted out, giving voice to her fears.

"Suck at sex?" Barry smiled, easing the gown off her pale, freckled shoulders.

Barry wanted to laugh; in the nine, nearly ten years he had known Caitlin Weinstein, this was the first time he'd ever heard her express any doubt in herself.

"Yes, I mean, hell, I don't even know how to suck a cock!" Caitlin admitted.

"Well, Honey," Barry said, hugging her from behind. "We have the next forty or fifty years to practice."

"Oh God, you plan to live that long?" Caitlin teased.

He kissed her bare shoulder, then bit down lightly.

"Ow!" Caitlin laughed.

He reached around and cupped her bra covered breasts, fondling them through the silky material of her bra.

"I know; they're not really very big, are they?" Caitlin whispered.

"They're perfect," he whispered into her ear. "Perfect handful, perfect mouthful."

He eased the dress a little further down and rubbed her now exposed belly, still standing behind her. Then he traced up and down her spine, finally unsnapping the white bra.

Caitlin let the bra fall to the floor, closing her eyes against the fear she felt. Suppose her scrawny freckled body repulsed him?

"Beautiful, God, you are just so beautiful," he murmured and eased the gown down to the floor, exposing her white garter belt, white thong panties, and white stockings.

He helped her step out of the cloth puddle, then picked up the gown and hung it up in the small closet.

She covered her breasts with her small hands, but Barry gently pulled her hands away from them.

"Oh!" she sighed when her husband bent and took one hard nipple into his mouth and sucked at it.

"Here, help me get undressed," he suggested.

She gave his tie a hard tug and it uncoiled in her hand.

she fumbled with his shirt buttons, kissing his smiling lips every time she managed to undo one, then pulled the shirt open and looked at the mat of light brown hair that covered his chest and belly. She smiled up at him as she rubbed her hands through the crinkly hairs

The belt mystified her and he finally showed her that it was just a tab that stuck into the belt hole.

"Oh, well duh," she laughed, then unzipped his trousers

"Why, Mr. Delacroix!" she gasped. "I do believe you're not wearing any drawers!"

His growing manhood stuck up at an angle, bobbing slightly.

"And I do believe you're happy to see me!" she cooed.

"Very happy," he admitted.

"Well, let's see if we can make you even happier," she said and got down on her knees in front of him.

"Oh Baby, been waiting a long time for..." Barry groaned as her small hands encircled his erection.

Toni and Alexis had told her how to suck cock, even demonstrating on her finger, but Caitlin's finger was nowhere near the size of Barry's now fully engorged cock.

"No teeth," Alexis had warned.

"And make plenty of noise; slobber all over the place," Anita had thrown in.

Toni and Alexis, and Anita had been excellent teachers; three minutes into sucking his cock, Barry was spurting a gluey tasting substance into her mouth.

"And swallow it," Anita had said. "I mean, it tastes like snot, but guys love it when you swallow."

Maybe trailer park boys' semen tasted like snot, but Caitlin could grow to love the taste of Barry's semen.

"Oh God," Barry groaned and sat down on the bed. "Don't know how to suck a cock, huh? I can't wait to see when you do learn!"

He struggled out of his shoes, socks and trousers, then pulled her onto the bed and lay back, pulling her on top of him.

"Love you, love you so much," Caitlin whispered.

"Love you too; I'm the luckiest man in the world," Barry admitted, cupping her bony buttocks.

She wiggled her buttocks against his hands and smiled as he smiled up at her.

"You don't think you sticking that big old thing in there, huh?" she asked, again wiggling her rear end.

"Oh, not right now," Barry said. "Right now, I want to see if my tree fits in your garden."

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she smiled and kissed him, forgetting that Toni had warned her not to kiss after sucking cock.

"Well, right now my tree's just a sprout," Barry smiled and rolled her over onto her back. "But maybe after I get the garden ready..."

He slowly pulled her thong off, exposing her landing strip of orange curls.

"Oh, now that is a pretty garden," Barry praised. "I just got to taste that garden."

He tossed her thong over his shoulder and kissed each breast, sucking lightly on each nipple, then kissed down her belly until he reached her now quite wet slit.

"Oh yeah," he groaned and placed his mouth over her entire pubic mound.

"Oh God!" Caitlin cried out as she felt his tongue lap at her thin lips.

Barry used his thumbs to pull her lips apart and she locked her thighs around his head as he fucked his tongue in and out of her. Then his tongue grazed her clitoris and Caitlin arched her back, trying to shove more of herself into his mouth.

"Uh!" she grunted loudly as Barry stuck a thick finger into her slit.

"Nuh uh!" she cried out as he brought the slick finger to her anus and tickled the tightly clenched orifice.

"He put his lips over her small clitoris and gave it a little 'Blat!' Caitlin's legs splayed out wide at that and she put both hands on the back of his head, trying to push his head into her slit.

"Augh! she cried out and shuddered as his index finger slid into her rectum.

Another 'blat!' and Caitlin thrashed on the bed

Then he bit down lightly on her clitoris and Caitlin bucked her buttocks and shoulders on the bed, bucking in orgasm.

"Plant that tree in my garden, right now," she begged when he relinquished his hold on her pubic mound.

"Yes ma'am," he laughed and slithered onto the bed to kneel above her.

"Love you, oh God, love you so much," she laughed, trying to pull him on top of her.

"Love you too, Sweetheart," he smiled and kissed her.

"Ew, face is all wet," she complained.

Uh huh," he smiled and used a corner of the bed spread to wipe is face.

She tensed up slightly when she felt the head of his cock bump against her pubic mound. He bent and kissed her again and she grabbed his face in her hands and kissed him hotly.

"Oh!" she sighed as his cock head pushed against her pussy lips.

Another sigh from her and he slid his cock into her a few inches and paused.

"God damn, so tight," he moaned.

"I'm too tight?" Caitlin asked, concerned.

"No, no, not too tight," Barry groaned. "Fuck! Just right!"

He slid another couple of inches and again paused, trying to will his excitement down somewhat.

Caitlin looked up at his face and saw that his handsome face was twisted in concentration. She leaned up, which caused his cock to slip a few millimeters out of her wetness.

He smiled when he felt her lips touch his and kissed her back. One of her small hands squeezed his bicep and the other hand reached around, resting on his back.

"I am yours, I am your wife, your lover, your friend, she whispered to him. "And you are my everything, Barry Jacob Delacroix. You are my everything."

"And you are my everything, my love, my wife, you are my everything," he moaned and pushed all of him himself inside of her.

She tensed up, never having felt anything in her pussy before. There was no hymen; probably having been broken by cheerleading drills, but there was still a slight pain, a slight discomfort at first.

"Oh!" she let out a shuddering sigh, then tensed up as he began to pull out of her.

There was less discomfort the second time he pressed their crotches firmly together. By the sixth time the discomfort had completely faded away. By the twelfth time he pushed into her, she was pushing up to meet him.

"Fuck me!" she screamed out and then locked her body tightly as an orgasm rippled through her.

"Fuck!" she screamed, feeling as if her entire body was locked into place and would never unlock.

"Shit!" Barry cried out as her pussy clamped tightly around his cock, squeezing and milking him.

"Aw, fuck yeah, fuck yeah," he grunted as his seed pumped into her pussy.

"God!" Caitlin grunted as her muscles finally became relaxed again.

She felt like a limp noodle as she slumped against the mattress.

"Well, I think that tree fits just right in my garden, she sighed as she felt it grow soft inside of her.

"Uh huh," Barry moaned, trying hard not to fall on top of her.

He rolled to the side, his cock popping out of her with a wet slurping noise.

"Oh! Look at how small it is now!" Caitlin remarked, looking at his slimy cock. "Bet I could get all of it in my mouth now!"

"Only one way to find out," he groaned.

She bent at the waist and took his cock into her mouth and giggled when she was able to fit all of him in her mouth. She bathed it with her tongue and giggled again when she felt it begin to grow in her mouth.

"No, Baby, I don't think you have to worry about me living another forty, fifty years," Barry groaned. "I think you're going to kill me our first night as husband and wife."

"Aw!" she said, releasing his slightly hard cock from her mouth. "How much life insurance do you have?"

"Not enough to make it worth your while," he smiled and pulled her up to lay on top of him.

At his apartment, Patrick wondered what Debbie was so aroused from; they'd already fucked twice and she was doing her best to coax a third time out of his cock; bouncing up and down on him.

But he didn't argue. He began to thrust up into her but that obviously wasn't the right move; she stopped suddenly.

"Don't you dare come yet," she barked.

Patrick didn't say anything, just let her resume at her own pace.

At their home, Anita finally managed to drag Toni from the car to the couch in the living room. Miss Alvarez had given Barry her two weeks notice just before the girls graduated from high school, so she was already gone.

Anita lay Toni on the couch, on her stomach, in case the girl vomited again; she'd thrown up three times already and Anita didn't think there was anything left, but didn't want to take any chances.

"Love you like so much," Toni mumbled drunkenly and Anita just rubbed the girl's back for a minute until she heard a light snore.

"Like love you so much too," Anita whispered, kissed Toni's cheek, and then went upstairs to their bedroom.

Pumpkin and Buttons were on the bed, as far apart as they could be. Boopsie was most likely in the closet again; the door was slightly ajar.

Anita pulled her bridesmaid's dress off, then dropped slip, panties, and bra to the floor.

Standing in only thigh high stockings and four inch ivory heels, she got a devious smile and dug her cell phone out.

Anita put the camera on three second delay, set it on the dresser and stepped back.

The picture was perfect; framing Anita from top of her head to just below her knees.

She smiled as she sent the picture to Toni's cell phone.

Downstairs, Toni did not even budge as her cell phone chimed loudly.

At the miniature golf course in Bender, Louisiana, BJ and Heather let Heather's eight year old daughter, Kelli, run ahead to the next challenge.

"So, uh, how often does she see her daddy?" BJ asked, trying to gauge when they'd be able to take their relationship from heavy petting to actual intercourse.

"Doesn't," Heather said.

She gripped his hand tightly.

"Her daddy doesn't even know he's a daddy," Heather admitted. "It was just one night of drunk fucking and that was it. I wasn't in love with him; hell, I didn't even like him. But I got Kelli out of it and I wouldn't change that for anything."

"Ha! Three tries; you see that?" Kelli crowed.

"Three plus the eight or nine practice swings you took, right?" BJ teased her and the girl looked at her mother, mouth twisted in consternation.

"He's kidding Honey, don't listen to him," Heather laughed and marked a three for hole seven.

"ooh, this one looks hard," Kelli admitted when she got to hole number eight.

"Okay, what's hard about it?" BJ asked. "It's still the same thing; you're trying to get the ball in the hole, right?"

"Yeah, but look," Kelli explained. "You got to get over this stupid water here, then around that."

"Okay, first, get over this stupid water; there's a ramp right there," BJ showed her.

"Very good," Heather complimented him.

"Got a baby sister," he admitted. "Took her here probably once a month when my mom and dad split up. It was real hard on her."

"Now what?" Kelli asked when she did jump the water hazard.

"Okay, holes right there, but this is in front of it so we can't go strait at it, right? so... Hit it, not real hard, just hard enough to get it against this wall so you can see the hole and..."

"Four!" Kelli declared.

"Watch," BJ whispered to Kelli. "Bet it takes your mom forever get this one."

"I heard that," Heather said.

"What was that?" BJ asked a giggling Kelli when Heather dif finally manage to get the ball in the hole. "I lost count after a hundred."

"Shut up," Heather laughed. "Come on, Mr. Big Shot, let's see how many it takes you, huh?"

He took two strokes and shrugged at Kelli and Heather's stunned expressions.

At Brooke's Apartment, Ed lay, stretched out on Brooke's couch. Brooke lay next to him, her back pressed against his torso. He had taken his shoes and jacket off and Brooke was dressed in only bra, slip, and stockings.

In their bed, Star was just beginning to stir from her nap; the need to pee overwhelming her need to sleep.

The sound of the toilet flushing woke Brooke from her slumber and she smiled; Ed's hand was on her belly, just below her navel ring. His other hand was right under her head, cradling her head for her.

"God, I sure could get used to this, she thought to herself, then realized she needed to pee.

"Mommy, I'm thirsty," Star said.

"I'll get it; what you want?" Ed said from behind Brooke. "You want a frying pan?"

"A frying pan? You don't drink a frying pan!" Star exclaimed.

"No, she drinks juice, Mr. Ed," Brooke said and got to her feet.

"Juice? Juice? You're giving a four, almost five year old girl juice?" Ed asked, swinging his legs out and standing up.




Wealth Pt. 04



*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

*****

Chapter 31

Toni Delacroix looked across the street as a Superior Lawn Care, LLC truck pulled to a stop at the empty lot. She did not envy the men; the wind blowing off of the Atchafalaya had to be bone chilling cold.

"Oh, Mama, y'all get cold y'all just come on over here and I'll warm you up," Cheryl, a heavy set woman in her early thirties moaned as the two men got out of the truck and began unloading their equipment.

"Damn, Cheryl, like want a moment alone?" Toni giggled as she double-checked the box's contents with the order form.

"Oh yeah, give me a moment alone with both of them," Cheryl said.

"Um, like think your husband might like mind just a little?" Toni asked, dropped the order form into the box and sealed it, slapping the UPS label on the box.

"Uh huh, if he can get away from his mommy long enough," Cheryl sneered. "And of course, since it's the Holidays? Mommy's Boy is over there almost every night."

The men made quick work of the land across the street and next to the building of A and A Soaps. Then one of the men smiled and nodded toward the A and A Soaps building before getting out a leaf blower and clearing off the parking lot of A and A Soaps.

Toni had no idea who owned Superior Lawn Care, LLC, but the first time the truck had 14pulled up to the lot across the street, they'd gotten some of the grass clippings onto the parking lot. She called the phone number on the side of the truck and a very friendly but professional woman answered.

"Uh, yeah, like your truck was just here and they like got weeds all over my parking lot," Toni had snapped.

"Oh, ma'am, I am so sorry; I will have them go right back out there and clean that up," the woman apologized.

If the men resented Toni complaining, it did not show. They did indeed return a moment later, blew the entire parking lot clean, then one of them stuck his head in and asked if someone would check their work and then call their office and let them know the job was completed.

"I'm like sorry but..." Toni had stammered as she stepped outside.

"Oh no ma'am, you were right, that was completely unprofessional of us," the man said genially.

"Uh, yeah, it looks great," Toni had stammered, pulled out her cell phone and called the number a second time.

Now, Superior Lawn Care, LLC made sure A and A Soaps parking lot was clean before they reloaded their trailer and truck and left for their next assignment.

"Superior Lawn Care, this is Maggie, how may I help you?" Maggie Cox, former dancer and part time prostitute answered.

"Hi, this is Toni Delacroix, like from A and A Soaps," Toni said.

"Yes ma'am?" Maggie asked pleasantly.

"Your guys were like just here, and as usual, they like did a really great job," Toni said. 

Maggie thanked Toni, and then let Anita Lopez know. Anita looked up from her homework and nodded, letting Maggie know she'd heard her.

When Anita had walked away from her relationship with Toni Delacroix, she had simply walked away and left everything but her clothing behind.

Anita did think, briefly, of moving back into the trailer that her mother Louisa and her mother's boyfriend, Luther Knox rented. That idea was out of her head before she reached Highway 52.

Anita lived in one of the rooms of the DeGarde Inn. Her first night there, she had to call the desk and request two more pillows. Two pillows for her head, and one for her to hug to her chest and one to entwine her leg around, just as she did with Toni while they slept.

Even today, there were four pillows on Anita's queen sized bed.

Two weeks after their split, Anita received a phone call from their attorney, Sophia Coutre, and agreed to come to the woman's office after class.

Walking into the woman's office, Anita saw Toni for the first time in two weeks.

"You, uh, you having been in class," she said quietly.

"Like what's the point," Toni said and looked up.

Her beautiful blue eyes were red and raw looking, her pretty round face was blotchy, her curly blonde hair was lifeless.

"What's the point? Toni, we're making straight as," Anita had spluttered.

Sophia Coutre picked that moment to enter the room. For the next forty minutes, she presented documents, Anita signed them, Toni signed them and Polly Chastaine, a pudgy young woman with a severe looking hairstyle stamped them. Anita understood she was relinquishing her rights to a and A Soaps. That was fine; she had never considered the business as hers anyway.

Finally, when her head was aching from the legal jargon and her hand was tired of scribbling 'Anita Michelle Lopez,' Sophia Coutre slid three checks over to her.

"What's this?" Anita asked Toni.

It was Sophia that answered.

"Half the equity in the condominium that you and Ms. Delacroix purchased, half the equity in the building currently held by A and A Soaps, and half the current value of A and A Soaps," Sophia intoned.

The three checks totaled nearly five hundred thousand dollars. Anita looked across the table and she saw that Toni was silently crying.

"I love you so..." Toni whispered. "You're like the best friend I ever had."

"Then why are you doing this, Toni?" Anita asked, her own tears beginning to fall. "Huh? Why are you doing this to me? Why did you cheat on..."

Toni bolted from the room.

Sophia discretely slid a box of tissues, motioning to an uncomfortable Polly to keep silent.

"Any kind of break up is hard," Sophia said gently as Anita blew her nose.

"Yes ma'am," Anita said.

"Keep in touch, please," Sophia said as Anita got to unsteady feet. "Let me know how you're doing."

Anita's first purchase had been a condominium, a condominium right next door to Stacy Falgout, her real estate agent. Her second purchase had been a nine month old solid black kitten from St. Ann's Animal Shelter.

Anita's third purchase had been Superior Lawn Care, LLC.

"Barry, you're daughter's here," Jack had called out when a very nervous Anita came into the showroom of Superior Motors.

But Barry's smile had been genuine and Anita felt a few tears slide down her face.

"Daddy, I need your help," she said, hugging him tightly.

"Anything; you know that," he promised, kissing the top of her head.

But it had been Jack that found the equipment and Mr. Bob that had found the three trucks and their trailers.

It had been Mr. Henry that suggested that she make it a Limited Liability Corporation, rather than a sole proprietorship.

Sophia Coutre had smiled approvingly as she helped Anita set up the corporation. And Barry had smiled widely when Anita showed him that she'd named it Superior Lawn Care, after his business, Superior Motors.

Her first hire had been Maggie Cox, on the recommendation of Sophia Coutre.

"She got popped, third time, for prostitution," Sophia said bluntly. She's a smart woman, a sweet woman, but somehow got it in her head that the only way she's going to make it in life is to fuck and suck. If I can show Judge Robichaux that she's got a real job, instead of dancing down at Club Fantastic, maybe I can keep her out of jail."

Maggie Cox was a blonde in her early thirties that looked as if she'd had a hard life. But as Sophia had said, she was smart and she was sweet. Each person that called Superior felt as if they were important to Superior Lawn Care.

Now, on this cold, blustery December day, Superior Lawn Care, LLC employed eleven people.

Maggie Cox had been Anita's first hire, her brother Marco had been her second hire.

And Marco Lopez had been Anita's first fire.

Marco assumed, that because he was Anita's brother, he was the supervisor, therefore allowed to sit on his fat ass and direct traffic.

Anita pulled up to the job site, saw three men busting their asses, and Marco sound asleep in the truck, AC blowing high.

"He's the supervisor," one of the men shrugged when Anita asked them why Marco was sound asleep in the truck.

"News to me," Anita had said. "Thought I was the only supervisor."

"That's what I thought too," Bobby Gremillion said. "But he says he's your brother so..."

Anita opened the truck, shut off the engine and pulled Marco out by his feet, slamming him onto the ground.

"You're fired," she said. "Hope you got money for a cab home."

She turned to the three men that were trying hard to hide their smirks.

"And any of you give him a ride in my truck? You're out of a job too, understand?" she said and stormed back to her Mustang.

But now, all of her men, and Maggie knew, their boss would not hesitate to fire her own brother, she would not hesitate to fire them either.

In the condo, Snowball, Anita's solid black kitten lay on her lap, purring contentedly while Anita finished her Algebra homework.

"Goodnight, Ms. Lopez," Maggie said as she shut her computer down.

"See you tomorrow," Anita said.

In the condominium next to Anita's, Stacy Falgout writhed underneath Jared Tyler and felt another orgasm welling up.

The young, brash African-American went to her noon AA meeting, even though he proclaimed that he was an addict. He was always hugging the white women that went to the meetings, always trying to pick one of them up.

Precious and Stacy had decided, since Stacy now had six months of sobriety, and had done a good Fourth and Fifth Step, Stacy was ready to start dating again.

"Three reasons for sex," Precious had said. "One, it an expression of love, two, you wanting you a baby, and three, shit girl, it feel good, know what I'm saying?"

"Done right, it feels great!" Stacy had said and the two women laughed.

"But anything else? Like you trying manipulate them? Or you trying use them? Or you charging them money, then you keep them legs closed; ain't got no business doing that," Precious had said.

Stacy, in doing her Fourth Step, had seen that she had used sex as a tool, or a weapon, or a bargaining chip. And while she had not outright charged money for sex, she had used sex to make real estate sales. So what was the difference between standing on a corner, and standing in a vacant house?

Stacy didn't love Jared, and she didn't want a baby; she was almost forty five years old. But it did feel good. His cock was a nice one, almost as large as Barry Delacroix's. He wasn't much on foreplay and his technique left a lot to be desired. But he had one thing Barry Delacroix did not have and that was a very quick recovery time.

Stacy thought of her father, a loud, small minded alcoholic that would barge into her bedroom and jerk her blue jeans and panties down and jam his shaky erection into her. She thought of how horrified he would be to see his darling daughter letting a black boy fuck her.

"Oh!" Stacy cried out loud as an intense orgasm rippled through her.

At Side By Side Restaurant, BJ, dressed in Santa suit, white beard firmly affixed to his face smiled as he sat in the large chair. Michael shook his head as Briah, his fiancé, perched on Santa's lap.

"Take the stupid picture," Briah ordered.

"But you didn't tell Santa what you want," Michael said.

"I already got what I want; I got you," Briah smiled and Michael snapped the picture.

Across the street, at Superior Motors, Barry looked up and smiled as Heather St. Martin's Nissan came to a stop.

"Barry, your granddaughter's here," Bob announced as Kelli St. Martin, Heather's nine year old daughter yanked on the heavy glass door.

"Grandpaw, I got all as and two Bs," Kelli excitedly told him as she scampered into the showroom.

"Well how about that?" Barry said, picking the red headed child up and hugging her. "I am so proud of you! Ooh, that nose is cold!"

"She um, she couldn't wait to tell you," Heather said. "That's all right, huh?"

"Are you kidding? That's more than all right," Barry smiled. "She's my favorite granddaughter, of course it's all right she comes and tells me."

"I'm your only granddaughter," Kelli reminded him.

"Then it's a good thing you my favorite," Barry had laughed. "Be terrible you're my only granddaughter and you wasn't my favorite, huh?"

A few weeks earlier, BJ and Heather had come to the house, bringing Kelli with them. After a few moments, Barry could see that the girl was bored, so he took her out to show her the 1965 T Series Bentley he'd taken apart and was attempting to put back together, using the service manual Caitlin had given him for Christmas the previous year.

"And because it's English, it's all metric, right?" Kelli had asked, looking at the bits and pieces.

"Wow, I don't know a whole lot of eight year old girls would have known that," Barry had said.

"Well, it's because I'm nine," Kelli said, irritated that he would think she was only eight.

Twenty minutes later, Heather had gone out to check on her daughter and found the two of them working on the transmission.

"What's Dad doing?" BJ asked as Heather came back into the house, wiping at her eyes.

"Being a Grandpaw," Heather had choked out.

Now, at the showroom, Heather urged Kelli toward the door.

"Come on, Santa's at the restaurant," Heather had smiled after Kelli helped herself to a few of Mr. Jack's peanut butter cups.

"It's not really Santa," Kelli confided to Barry. "Santa's not real."

"Think she's got any idea?" Jack asked Barry as they watched Heather pull out of the parking lot.

"She'd still be screaming," Henry, Heather's uncle, answered.

At the restaurant, a few slightly tipsy female customers giggled as they whispered naughty things into Santa's ear, then smiled for the camera.

"And what do you want?" BJ playfully snarled at Kelli when she bounded into his lap.

"Nuh uh, you Santa, you got to be nice to me, Kelli corrected him.

"God, you are such a brat," BJ laughed and hugged her.

"Oh, and I got my report card and I got all as and two Bs," Kelli told him.

"Proud of you," BJ said and kissed the girl.

"And for Christmas I want a driver's license and a new car, hmm, how about a Bentley like Grandpaw's got? Oh! Or your Porsche!" Kelli said.

"And you're nine, keep dreaming, kid," BJ laughed.

"And how about a smile for the camera?" Michael called out and Kelli smiled.

"And how about the Mama," BJ requested and Heather smiled.

"And for Christmas I want a new dishwasher," Heather said, then leaned and whispered into BJ's ear. "And you to tit fuck me and shoot that Santa sperm all over my face and then..."

"And what about what Santa wants?" BJ asked.

"Oh? Santa doesn't want that?" Heather smiled.

"Santa wants you to be Mrs. Santa and I want to adopt Kelli and make her a Delacroix and..." BJ said, holding out a three carat diamond ring.

Michael got two pictures; one of Heather's open mouthed shock and one of Heather frantically kissing Santa.

"What's going on?" Kelli asked as Heather now sobbed, staring at her ring.

"Looks like I'm going to be your uncle," Michael smiled. "And Grandpaw's really going to be your Grandpaw."

"So?" Kelli shrugged. "He's already my Grandpaw."

At A and A Soaps, Toni set the alarm then locked the heavy door. She bade Milton and Cheryl a good night, made sure they pulled out of the parking lot ahead of her, and then drove to Patrick's apartment.

"Yeah?" Harmony's voice called out when Toni knocked on the door.

"Toni; I'm here to kidnap Patrick," Toni called back as the blonde dancer opened the door.

A few weeks after Barry's bachelor party, Harmony had been sifting through the rubbish in the bottom of her purse and come across Barry Delacroix's business card. At first she was puzzled; why would she have a business card for the expensive sports car showroom. As a dancer, as a very well-endowed dancer, men quite often put their business cards into Harmony's tip jar at the edge of the stage. She never looked at them, just threw them away.

Flipping Barry's card over, Harmony saw Patrick's cell phone number. She remembered the confident, smiling blind man that had unnerved her, even frightened her. Recently diagnosed with Diabetes, and knowing that one of the possible side effects was blindness, Harmony had approached Patrick and asked him about his blindness.

"Hello?" Patrick had answered.

"Um uh, hi, um, this Patrick?" Harmony had stammered.

"Yes it is," Patrick had answered. "Who's this?"

"This is, um, hi, this is Harmony, I uh, I don't know if you remember me, I uh, I was one of the dancers, um, at the Dead End, your Dad's bachelor party," Harmony had stammered.

"Oh yeah, girl that just found out she's diabetic, right?" Patrick had asked.

"That's right!" she said, happy he remembered her. "So, um, how's it going?"

"Going all right; caught me at a slow moment; don't have too many of those," Patrick had replied.

"Slow moment? What are you doing?" Harmony asked.

"Working; I'm a switchboard operator at the St. Elizabeth Trauma Center," he explained.

Harmony found out he was due to go on a lunch break in forty minutes and raced to the hospital. He impressed her with his competence and ease in navigating the busy cafeteria.

"Hate Fridays, though," Patrick confided. "Fridays they serve this nasty ass tuna fish. They didn't catch it; tuna fish committed suicide it was so embarrassed at how bad it tastes."

"Oh, I'll come get you; Dead End's got catfish; Miss Rosey's the best cook ever," Harmony enthused.

Harmony had forgotten about a tradition at the Dead End. Whenever a dancer brought in a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse, the other dancers flirted outrageously with the dancer's significant other. Blind or not, Patrick was no exception.

"Mine, God damn it, he's mine!" Harmony finally exploded, pushing a giggling Angela and her own sister Unity away.

"I am?" Patrick smiled over the shrieks and hoots and laughter of the dancers.

"Yes, damn it," Harmony declared and kissed him hotly.

Two weeks after that first kiss, Harmony moved into Patrick's apartment.

Now, as he bundled up against the cold December chill, Patrick and Harmony kissed as if they'd never see each other again.

"God, come on, like give it a rest!" Toni demanded.

"Now, no rearranging the furniture while I'm gone," Patrick teased.

"God, I moved one chair, one chair!" Harmony defended.

"Now you like sure about this?" Toni asked as she guided him to her car.

"You know, with Debbie, I kept putting it off and putting it off," Patrick said. "I just never, I mean, it just never felt right, you know?"

"Okay, we're going to David's first," Toni decided.

The jeweler pulled out the engagement rings and let Patrick feel them.

"Ooh, Patrick, this one's like real nice," Toni said, picking up a ring. "See, its like got these sapphires, her eyes are blue and then there's this one diamond..."

"Oh, that is nice," Patrick agreed.

"Twenty nine hundred dollars," David said. "So it's a pretty reasonable one too."

"Now, you want to like look anywhere else?" Toni asked. "I mean, I like really don't think you'll find anything like any better than that and..."

"And I got these matching bands," David said, pulling out the bands.

"Oh, Patrick!" Toni approved. "Like the man's ring is very nice, very masculine."

"And of course, they're all backed with my guarantee; if for any reason she doesn't like it, or even in the off chance she says 'No' you can exchange them for something else, or if she really does say no, I will refund your money," David said.

"Well, you can't beat that," Toni said as Patrick pulled out his credit card.

"I assume this is a Christmas gift," David asked.

"Yeah, but I still got to get something for her too," Patrick said.

"Oh my God!" Toni giggled. "You like really are in love, huh?"

"Brother, that was the best answer I have ever heard," David laughed. "And I've been in this business quite a few years!"




Wealth Pt. 04



Toni found a nice set of sapphire earrings for four hundred dollars and David told Patrick, "Since you're getting the whole wedding set; I'll throw those in, no charge."

"You got it," Patrick said, smiling happily.

Toni agreed to hold on to the rings until Christmas Day; let Harmony think that the sapphire earrings were all she'd be getting. The earrings themselves were a very nice set; even if Patrick somehow changed his mind about asking her to marry him, Harmony Kohl would have no reason to complain.

Then Toni drove home. As she backed her car into her garage, she felt the same weariness, the same loneliness she felt every night when she returned home descend on her.

Toni rarely went upstairs any more, other than to bathe and change clothes. She slept on the couch, back firmly pressed against the back of the couch, remembering when Anita would press herself into Toni's back. Pumpkin liked to sleep on the back of the couch, and Buttons liked to sleep at Toni's feet. Boopsie, Toni wasn't sure where that animal slept. The only time Toni would see the cat was when Boopsie wanted something to eat.

Toni fixed a microwave dinner, reflecting that she needed to go grocery shopping and wishing that Anita had shown her how to cook some of the things she used to cook for them.

Anita would have been happy to show Toni how to cook these things, if Toni had ever shown any interest.

Then after eating an unappetizing dinner, Toni stripped off her clothes, lighted a joint and lazily masturbated while smoking the joint. Each time she neared orgasm, she would stop and pinch her nipples, hard.

Then when she finished the joint, she did allow herself an orgasm.

In her own condominium, Anita slipped into her favorite nightshirt, a short silk blouse that just reached to mid-thigh. Snowball was already on the bed, curled up tight at the far corner. Anita arranged the pillows, then crawled under the heavy blanket.

Within moments, she was hunching her bald mound against the pillow between her legs. Anita squeezed the other pillow to her chest, squeezing as tightly as she could, feeling her hard nipples rub against the silk material of her sleep shirt. She stiffened in orgasm, then slowly drifted off to sleep, clutching the pillow tightly.

Christmas Day 2013 was a cold, blustery day. The first thing Kelli wanted to do when she arrived at Grandpaw's house is go in the ice cold garage and work on the car.

No, the presents could wait; Mom said they had to wait until everyone was there anyway.

"Go ahead," Caitlin smiled and kissed Barry. "I know you can't say no to a red head anyway."

"So, BJ's marrying your mom, huh?" Barry asked as he showed Kelli how to operate the hoist.

"Uh huh," Kelli said.

"And he wants to adopt you and make you a Delacroix; what you think about that?" Barry asked and guided the engine into the car.

"I don't know," Kelli said and hit the 'stop' button when Barry held up his hand.

"Are you a Delacroix?" Kelli asked as she inspected the job she'd done with the hoist.

"Sure am," Barry said, removing the sling.

"Then I want to be a Delacroix too," Kelli decided.

"And that's why you're my favorite granddaughter," Barry said and hugged the girl.

"Uh, I'm your only granddaughter," she reminded him, returning the hug.

Inside the house, BJ stood, dressed in his Santa suit and waited.

"Okay, here they come," Heather called out as she spotted Ed Weinstein, Brooke Weinstein, and Star and Luna Weinstein coming up the sidewalk.

BJ grabbed the large bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Oh no! You're too early!" Caitlin said when Star and Luna burst into the house.

"Ah!" Star screamed as she saw Santa sprint for the side door.

"Ah!" Luna screamed as she saw a flash of red run out the side door.

"He's here! Santa Claus is here!" Star screamed and gave chase, Luna right behind.

Outside, Briah and Michael loudly shook sleigh bells, ceasing just as they heard the two girls screaming.

"Did you see him?" Star screamed at Aunt Briah and Uncle Michael.

"Did you see Santa Claus?" Luna screamed.

"Yeah, he ran right by," Briah said, discretely tucking her bells into her coat pocket.

"And jumped in his sleigh and took off," Michael said, scanning the sky.

"Aw!" Star and Luna whined and looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Santa's sleigh.

"Santa! Come back! We love you," Star cried out.

Inside the garage, Kelli laughed as BJ stripped out of his Santa suit.

"Shush, you," BJ ordered as he quickly pulled on the heavy sweater he'd placed in the garage earlier.

"So, um, I got to call you Dad?" Kelli asked as Barry slid out from underneath the Bentley.

"What you want to call me?" BJ asked.

"I don't know," Kelli admitted. 

"Kelli, I'd be thrilled if you called me Dad, but you're nine years old," BJ said and hugged the girl. "At nine years old, you're old enough to make up your own mind on what you want to call me."

Toni smiled as she saw Michael, Briah, Star and Luna standing outside, looking up at the sky. She grabbed the bag of presents off the back seat and then approached the group.

"Aunt Toni, we seen him!" Star yelled.

"Yeah, we seen him!" Luna echoed.

"Seen who?" Toni asked, giving both blonde girls hugs and kisses.

"Santa!" the girls screamed.

"What? Where? In the sky?" Toni asked, mouth open in shock.

"Hey, nice sweatshirt there," Michael said, tugging playfully on the sleeve of Toni's U.L.D. sweatshirt.

"Well, I am a student; got to show my school pride," Toni said glibly.

"Now that is a great Christmas gift," Barry said, following BJ and Kelli out of the garage. "Now, what's all this yelling about?"

"Mr. Barry we seen Santa!" Star screamed at him.

"Oh my! Well, what did he bring us?" Barry asked.

"I don't know," Star admitted.

Brooke and Caitlin were in the kitchen, preparing brunch for everyone and comparing pregnancy tips and tricks.

"Prune juice is so nasty; I have to cut it with honey, but nothing, I mean absolutely nothing is worse than constipation," Brooke claimed as she whisked the eggs.

"You sure you pregnant? You're not even showing," Caitlin said.

"Oh you liar!" Brooke laughed, lifting the hem of her Christmas blouse. "I'm pooching out so much I had to take my ring out!"

A blast of arctic air cut through the house as Star and Luna led the procession back into the house.

"Well, did you catch him?" Brooke asked her daughters.

"No," Star said sadly.

"Yeah, Uncle Michael said he flew away," Luna said.

"Oh well, listen, y'all ran out of here so fast I didn't even get my Christmas hugs and kisses from y'all and it just won't be Christmas until I get my Christmas hugs and kisses," Caitlin demanded.

"Hey!" Harmony shrilled when she spotted Toni.

"Hey!" Toni called back as the blonde woman bounced over to hug her.

"Look!" Harmony demanded, pulling her long blonde hair aside, showing the beautiful earrings.

"Nice," Toni smiled.

"Yeah, Patrick said you helped him pick them out," Harmony said, hugging Toni again.

In her condominium, Anita stretched out on her leather couch, 'breaking in' her Christmas gift from Honey Childress.

Over the Thanksgiving break, the dormitories of U.L.D. were closed, supposedly for cleaning and the diminutive red head did not have the money to go home. So, Anita invited her to stay at her condo.

"Bring your own pillows," Anita had stated.

"Why you need so many pillows?" the girl asked on her first night there.

So Honey had given Anita a body pillow. Anita had woken up that morning, wished Snowball a Merry Christmas, and unwrapped the various gifts from her employees and the one from her mother, Marco, and Luther. She nodded her head in approval at the sight of the electric skillet.

Then she had unwrapped the large box Honey had shoved into the corner and laughed happily at the sight of the pillow.

"I love you," she said aloud, thinking of the small red head.

Now, sprawled on her couch, Anita pulled the fleece blanket down from the back of the couch and pulled it over herself. She then wiggled out of her fleece pajamas and rubbed herself against her new pillow until she had an orgasm.

"I love you," Anita said again.

In their formal dining room, Shirley St. Martin looked at her four boys, the three wives, and Andy, their youngest son's partner. Gary's wife, Missy, was already making noises about other engagements and obligations and Mattie, Frank's wife would be quick to follow.

"Good God, just go, all right," Shirley wanted to scream at them. "Sorry it's such an imposition to spend a little time with us."

"So, Miss Shirley, how's your little friend doing?" Andy lisped, somehow managing to sneer and lisp at the same time.

"Caitlin? She's doing well," Shirley smiled. "She's due on March twentieth; anyone here know why that date's so significant?"

"And before any of you guess my birthday, which is January ninth, or our wedding anniversary, which is April twenty sixth, you need to remember who Caitlin's best friend is," Henry said.

"Yes, am I the only one here that finds it terribly interesting that a little what? Twenty? Twenty one year old would be running around with a sixty nine year old woman?" Andy sneered.

"Number one, you pompous jack ass," Shirley spat. "I am sixty five, not sixty nine. And number two, Caitlin Delacroix is ten times wealthier than I am so if you're implying she's running around with me because of my money, you are sorely mistaken."

The table lapsed into an uncomfortable silence. Shirley looked up as Henry reached across the table.

"Henry Michael St. Martin, put that down," Shirley laughed as he waggled his eyebrows playfully and poured her a glass of red wine.

Chapter 32

Anita sighed, looked at the menu board of the cafeteria, and then looked back outside to the ice covered ground.

People don't think it gets cold in the Deep South, but it frequently does get cold enough to snow. Three days before the start of the spring semester of the University of Louisiana at DeGarde, it did snow. The next day, the temperature reached thirty six degrees, so the snow began to melt. Then it snowed again, freezing the melting snow into a sheet of ice.

Anita had to laugh when she picked Honey Childress up at Lafayette's small airport and the girl shrieked in disbelief, "I thought I left this behind when I flew out of Kansas!"

Then one of the pipes burst at Murphy Hall, so Honey was staying with Anita while the University scrambled to fix the pipe.

"God, goulash again?" Honey squeaked as she read the menu.

"There ought to be a place..." Anita said, then clammed up.

"Come on. Let's go home; there's still some of that black bean soup and we got to get rid of that ham before it goes bad," Anita said.

At her condominium, Anita cut up some of the ham while Honey attempted to entice Snowball to chase an electric mouse, Maggie's Christmas gift to the beast. Snowball was more interested in looking out the window at the winter landscape.

"I'll get it!" Honey squeaked when her cell phone gave a chime.

"Uh, yeah, it's your phone," Anita said as she flipped the sandwiches in the electric skillet.

"Oh, hey, Murphy's is open again!" Honey said, reading the text message.

"Oh, okay; when you want to go back?" Anita asked.

"Um, after lunch, I guess," Honey said.

"I mean, Honey, you want to spend the night again tonight and go back tomorrow, it's no problem," Anita said, putting their plates on the table.

"No, I kind of want to get my stuff put away," Honey said.

"Oh, okay," Anita shrugged.

She could understand that; here at the condominium, Honey was living out of a suitcase and a backpack.

While they ate, Anita used her laptop to search the St. Elizabeth Parish Government sites, then verified an appointment with Dean Sims via email.

"Oh, I seen that Toni," Honey said around a mouthful of soup.

"Oh yeah?" Anita asked, turning off her laptop.

"Yeah, she's in my World Economics class," Honey scowled.

"Keep doing that, your face is going to freeze like that," Anita teased, pinching the girl's nose.

"My momma used to say that too!" Honey said.

"But good, glad she's back in college," Anita said, picking up their plates.

"Yeah and she's all like 'Hey!' and I'm all like 'Bitch, better get on away from me,'" Honey said.

"Honey, how many friends you got?" Anita asked.

"You," Honey said.

"And?" Anita asked, putting the pot of soup back into the refrigerator.

"That's about it," Honey admitted.

"Then," Anita said, kissing the top of the girl's small head. "Can you really afford not to at least be civil to her?"

"She peed on me!" Honey shrilled in indignation.

"In a stoned stupor," Anita reminded the girl. "You can't tell me you've never done anything stupid when you were high."

"Probably," Honey confessed.

"Now, come on, check the dryer, make sure you got all your clothes," Anita said.

At the Administrative Building, Dean Robert Sims' Administrative Assistant Penny stood in the doorway.

"Why I got to be here?" Penny complained.

"Because I do," was his answer.

"Go on in; he's not busy," Penny said when Anita Lopez entered the outer office.

"That is not true; I'm extremely busy," the man said, putting his Nintendo game console into a desk drawer.

"Then I'll try to make this as quickly as possible," Anita smiled, shaking the man's hand.

Last year, she and Toni and Honey had attended the school fair and Homecoming weekend at St. Thomas Aquinas, greeting former teachers with squeals and hugs and introducing the faculty to Honey.

Then Honey smelled the food trailers and they all had to traipse over to the trailers and gorge on hot dogs and hamburgers and fried cheese sticks until Honey was sick.

Now, in Dean Sims' office, Anita outlined her idea and the man smiled, shrugged, and agreed it was worth a try.

"Why didn't you come to me yesterday?" he asked. "I had to eat that stuff the cafeteria calls goulash."

"That's what made me think of this," she laughed and he smiled wider.

They shook hands again and Dean Sims did admire her tight looking backside in her snug jeans as she left his office.

"It's snowing! Again!" Penny called out and Dean Sims looked out the window to see that it certainly was snowing again.

Anita stepped out of the Administration building and looked up in surprise to see that it was, once again, snowing.

She walked as rapidly as she could on the hard packed snow to the McMillan Building and stamped her feet when she entered the building.

"Ooh, girl, I know, huh?" another Latin girl said. "My feet ain't never warming up, know what I'm saying?"

"I mean, what? I thought we had us some global warming going on," Anita said.

"Oh, we do," the other girl said. "See, because of global warming, they got more humidity and that's what's causing all this snowing."

"So if the world was getting colder, we'd have less snow?" Anita asked and the other girl scowled darkly and walked away.

"Shit, just asking," Anita said and scampered up the stairs to her next class.

Anita saw Merita Ichnov, Professor Jurnigen's Teacher's Aide taping a note to the door of Room 224.

"Aw don't tell me," Anita said, walking up.

"Ja, I mean yes," Merita smiled tightly. "Sum beech wait 'til I'm here then he call and say 'no class is too much ice' and I say 'you couldn't call sooner?' Eh?"

"And now I walk all the way back," Merita continued as Anita wrote down the assignment the note instructed the students to prepare.

"Where you live?" Anita asked as Merita walked away.

Merita named an apartment complex just past Anita's condominium, smiling tightly.

"And you walked the whole way?" Anita asked.

"Normally I ride bicycle but yesterday I hit something under all ice and it break," Merita said.

"Come on, I'll drive you home; I live right by there," Anita offered.

"Thank you!" Merita said happily.

"Was hoping he pay me today, I get stipend and I am out of food," Merita explained, then frowned at the sight of Super 1 Foods empty parking lot. "But is no matter, grocer's is closed, eh?"

"What time is your first class tomorrow?" Anita asked.

"Nine in the morning," Merita said.

"Grab some clothes and your toothbrush," Anita decided, pulling up to Merita's apartment building.

"You sure?" Merita excitedly asked and got out of the car.

She returned a moment later and Anita carefully drove to her condominium.

"Ja, nice," Merita said, looking round. "You wear the nice clothes, drive the nice car, you got maybe Sugar Daddy?"

Anita burst out laughing, shaking her head no as she hung up her coat then held out her hand for Merita's well-worn coat.

"No, no Sugar Daddy," Anita said.

"Oh!" Merita's face actually lighted up. "Sugar Mommy?"

"No, no," Anita said and showed Merita her home office. "I work for my money."

"Then why you in college you making money?" Merita asked.

"Just because I make money doesn't mean I don't need to learn ," Anita said, showing Merita where she could put her small overnight bag.

Outside of Cecil Coutre Hall, Toni gingerly negotiated the steps. Honey Childress, one of the few students that had braved the falling snow to attend class, came scurrying out of the building, hit a patch of ice and skidded down the eight concrete steps on her back.

"Oh! Are you all right?" Toni gasped, walking over to where the dazed Honey lay.

"I think so," Honey said, sitting up.

"I thought you were like used to ice and snow," Toni said.

"Uh huh, and I'm used to falling on my butt all the time too," Honey admitted and accepted Toni's hand to get to her feet.

"You sure you all right; you like need me to get anyone?" Toni asked.

"No, no, I'm just going to go back to my room and thaw out," Honey said.

"Oh, hey, you ever like see Anita?" Toni called out as Honey walked away a little stiffly.

"See her all the time; she's like my best friend," Honey called back.

"Tell her I love her,' Toni whispered, turning quickly and tramping to her car.

In front of BJ's house, Kelli, Star and Luna were making a snowman by scraping the top layer of snow off the layer of ice with an mop bucket. Kelli had to admit, having two cousins was pretty awesome, and especially two cousins that worshipped her. To a five and four year old girl, Kelli, at nine, almost ten years old, was a big person.

"And my Daddy keeps wanting to eat my nose," Luna giggled to Kelli.

"Does your Daddy do that?" Star asked.

"No, my Daddy..." Kelli shot a quick look to where Heather and BJ were sitting, determined that BJ didn't hear her and smiled. "No, my Daddy keeps saying he's going to shave my hair all off."

"Shave it all off!" both Star and Luna screamed.

"You heard her?" Heather whispered.

"Yeah, I heard her," BJ smiled.

"Yeah 'cause it won't do right in the morning; we got to wet it down before we can brush it," Kelli explained.

At St. Richard's, they were already calling her Kelli Delacroix, even though it wasn't official yet. Her first day at the new school, frightened and overwhelmed, and trying hard not to cry, Kelli heard someone shrill, "Kelli!"

Suddenly, Star ran up, hugged her cousin tightly, then ran back to get back into line with her classmates.

"That's Kelli, that's my cousin," Star Weinstein proudly told Jennica Richards, her best friend.

"But we're not supposed to get out of line, are we, Star?" Paris Mouton, their teacher gently but firmly chided the five year old girl.

Kelli blinked back the tears; it wouldn't do to cry. She was a big cousin.

Now, outside of house, the new house that she and mom lived in since her mom and Daddy were engaged to be married, Kelli dumped another bucket of snow on top of the pile they'd already formed.

"Okay Da... Daddy," Kelli called out.




Wealth Pt. 04



"You heard her?" Heather smiled, kissing him.

"Loud and clear," BJ smiled and ran out into the yard.

He put the wax lips, carrot nose, and charcoal eyes and stepped aside as Star, Luna, and Kelli posed with their snowman.

"Remember, you got to send one to Grandpaw," Kelli told her mother as she snapped cell phone pictures.

"First one on the list," Heather assured her.

"And our Daddy and our Mommy," Star said.

"And they're next on the list," Heather smiled. "How about y'all give Mr. Frosty a hug, huh?"

At Superior Motors, Barry laughed out loud as the series of photos came across on his cell phone.

"Okay, help me out here, Jack said, looking over Barry's shoulder.

"Uh huh," Barry said, gripping Jack's shoulder, locking down on Jack's pressure point should Jack say anything stupid.

"Okay, the red head's your granddaughter?" Jack said, wiggling to get out of Barry's grip.

"Uh huh, and the two little blondes are my sisters; they're Caitlin's sisters," Barry agreed.

"And they're all cute as all get out and you're well, you're you and ow!" Jack teased.

"Come on, Jack, let's go home, huh?" Barry said. "We been here all day and hasn't a single person even been by," Barry smiled and looked at the smiling girls and the haphazard snowman again.

"Because everyone's smarter than we are," Jack agreed. "Okay, Caitlin's a red head, Heather's a red head, Kelli's a red head and we know Harmony's a total blonde; think Briah might really be a red head?"

"Oh, I am more than sure that girl's got her some red roots," Barry smiled.

"And they're all gorgeous and you're, well, you're you," Jack said.

"Uh huh, and what about you and Melanie, huh?" Barry smiled as he shut off the lights.

"I got a picture of her making a snow angel," Jack said. "Snowed here when she was about five or six."

"She could move her legs back then?" Barry asked as he locked the door.

"Huh? No, no, she's just lying there flapping her arms, that smile of hers on her face," Jack smiled.

At Johnson Furniture and Appliances, Ed Weinstein laughed as the pictures came over on his cell phone. Nine looked over his shoulder and chuckled.

"Man, you sure? Huh? You sure them your kids?" the burly African American man teased. "They too good looking be your kids."

"Brother if that ain't the truth, huh? Ed laughed.

"My brother, don't you ever forget you a lucky man," Nine said sincerely, putting a beefy hand on Ed's shoulder. "Don't you never forget you are blessed."

In her condominium, Toni lighted a joint and watched through the large front window as the snow gently fell. She wasn't worried about anyone peeking on her through the one way glass as she sat and slowly masturbated, imagining her and Anita watching the snow fall.

Anita would pull her lips apart and pinch down on her clitoris with her thumb and forefinger and that's what Toni did, and shuddered.

When she finished the joint, she reached around under the couch, located the dildo she and Anita had called 'Big Boy' and slowly worked the large circumference latex phallus into her pussy, winching in pain as the fat monster stretched her wide.

A chime sounded, letting Toni know she had a text message.

"Woo hoo," she grunted as she read it. "No class tomorrow."

At her own condominium, Anita and Merita kissed deeply, combing their fingers through each other's hair.

It had started off innocently enough; they had sat and watched the snowflakes softly silently fall. Anita felt Merita's breath on her cheek and turned to say something, accidentally brushing Merita's lips with her own.

Merita murmured something in German and kissed Anita.

When she wasn't combing her fingers softly through Anita's hair, Merita cupped Anita's buttocks, muttering in German. Anita didn't speak German, but it was easy to see that Merita liked Anita's buttocks.

"The bedroom, ja?" Merita begged.

"Ja," Anita agreed.

They heard first one, then the other cell phone chime and heard a second chime on one cell phone.

"No school tomorrow," Anita said, reading her text message.

"Ja and no check tomorrow," Merita said, reading her second text.

"I have plenty of food," Anita said.

"Plenty of food for lover?" Merita asked, kissing her.

"JA, plenty of food for lover, Anita agreed.

In the bedroom, Anita discovered two things. Merita's chest was built up quite a bit with padding; the attractive blonde was nearly flat chested without her bra. And Merita had an anal fixation.

Anita had loved making love to Toni's beautiful rear end, nibbling and sucking and pinching and lightly spanking Toni's luscious rear. Merita was nearly savage in jamming her tongue into Anita's rear as far as she could dig it into Anita's rectum. 

Like her, Merita also shaved her pussy and it was quite stimulating, rubbing her bald mound against another bald mound until they both shuddered in orgasm.

Merita sighed deeply as Anita positioned herself behind, one hand cupping her small breast bump, her leg wrapped around Merita's legs.

Chapter 33

Caitlin pulled her nightgown off, then wiggled her butt against Barry's morning erection. She smiled as he immediately reached for her belly with one hand and her breast with the other. She had been terribly afraid that her pregnant body would turn her husband off, but if anything, he seemed to want her even more.

"It's not snowing, but the snow has turned to ice again; it's too dangerous for you to go into work," she whispered, reaching between her legs to feel his erect cock.

"Oh well, whatever shall we do?" Barry whispered, reaching down and wiggling out of his boxer shorts.

"I don't know about you but I'm horny," Caitlin whispered and groaned as she rubbed the head of his cock against her wet lips.

"You are?" Barry gasped as she rolled around in his arms to face him. "Well guess what? So am I!"

"Really?" Caitlin laughed and pushed him onto his back. "Gosh what you think we ought to do about that?" 

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm going to make love to my beautiful wife," Barry said and groaned as his entire length slid inside of her hot wetness.

"God, you are so beautiful in the morning," Barry said as she shuddered, close to orgasm.

"Oh yeah? What I look like in the afternoon?" Caitlin teased.

"Almost scary," Barry teased back and laughed as she lightly slapped him.

In the small house Barry had helped Ed find, Ed and Brooke were also making love in Brooke's favorite position, doggy style.

"Yeah, so you don't have to look at my face," Ed joked as she almost savagely drove herself backward to meet his forward thrusts.

"No," she wheezed, close to orgasm. "Leaves your hands free to oh damn it!"

She gave a strangled scream as he did reach around and tug at her clitoris ring while the other hand kneaded a heavy breast.

"Now, come on, come in me come on, shoot that hot sperm in my pussy; two little Indians are going to be getting up pretty soon," Brooke begged, growing more frenzied in her thrusts.

Ed grunted and pumped a stream of his sperm into her and she giggled and cooed and finally sighed in satisfaction.

Languidly, she rolled over onto her back, kissed him happily, then found her nightgown and pulled it on.

"Ed, the schools are closed," Brooke said as Ed began to pull out his work clothes. "If it's too dangerous for the buses, it's too dangerous for your truck."

"I bet nine's already there," Ed said.

"And Nine's driving the three quarter ton diesel," Brooke replied.

She got out of bed., hugged him, and then opened the bedroom door.

"And I bet you a million dollars Mr. Brett Johnson's nowhere to be seen today," Brooke said.

"Oh? And when you get a million dollars?" Ed asked, playfully slapping her rear end.

"Day I met you," she said.

Ed mimed vomiting and she laughed, waddling down the hall to the girls' bedrooms.

In her condominium, Anita awoke slowly.

Anita almost felt like crying as she cuddled Toni in her arms. She rubbed Toni's small breasts and pinched one then the other nipple and bit down on Toni's shoulder.

"Is beautiful waking with you," Merita sighed, wiggling her small rear end against Anita's crotch.

Anita almost felt like crying as she realized it was not Toni she held in her arms, it was not Toni's wonderful nipples she was toying with.

"Is beautiful waking with you," she lied and again bit down on Merita's shoulder.

"We make love, ja? I like we make love in morning, here I kiss you," Merita sighed and wiggled around in Anita's arms.

"If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you with," Anita thought to herself and kissed the beautiful blonde softly.

"You so pretty, is beautiful waking with you," Merita smiled, looking deeply into Anita's dark eyes.

In his apartment, Patrick smiled as Harmony fussed.

"Everything's closed, the whole place is frozen over, God damn it, it's a fucking skating rink out there, think he'll take the fucking day off? Of course not! Got to be Super Blind!" she muttered, slamming pans onto the stove.

"You break that stove I won't get my security deposit back," Patrick told her.

"Fuck your security deposit, all right?" she screamed at him. "Why? Huh? Tell me why you got to go into work today?"

"Because it's my job," Patrick smiled.

"Here, hope you choke on it," Harmony snarled, slamming his plate of eggs and grits and bacon in front of him.

"Toast?" Patrick asked.

"No! You want toast, you stay home! Stay home and I'll fix you all the toast you can eat!" she yelled and stomped into the bedroom.

Just as Patrick was putting his plate into the dishwasher, a knock sounded at the door.

"And here's another idiot; makes two of y'all ain't got the God damned sense stay at home," Harmony spat as she opened the door to the smiling face of her brother.

"Uh huh, but this idiot's getting double time for fixing all them frozen pipes, George Papil smiled. "How you been? Haven't seen y'all in a while."

"Shut up; he's right there, take him to work," Harmony snapped.

"Hey, love you," Patrick said.

"Then stay home; it's too dangerous, damn it you can't even see! I can and I can see you ain't got no business going to work today!" Harmony begged, clinging on to him.

"See you when I get home," Patrick said.

"Might not be here," Harmony threatened.

"Uh huh, too dangerous for you to drive anywhere," Patrick said.

George laughed at Harmony's scowl and guided Patrick to his van. On the sides was a large purple butterfly and the words Papillion Plumbing and his office phone number.

"Come on, van's loaded down with everything I could put in it; didn't slide once coming here," George said.

"Please be careful, Harmony called out.

"Going to do doughnuts minute I get out the parking lot; what the hey, only live once, huh?" George teased.

"Ass hole!" Harmony screamed and slammed the door.

"Boy, she was as sweet as pie until you put that engagement ring on her finger," George lied.

"Uh huh," Patrick laughed.

George never took the van above twenty miles an hour but since Patrick only lived a half mile from St. Elizabeth's Trauma Center, within moments, he was pulling up to the gleaming building.

"All right, my man, call my cell when you ready to go home," George said as he pulled up to the side door.

Paula Lambert, the CEO of the hospital stared as Patrick tapped into the corridor.

"Oh my God; you're a life saver," she enthused. "Deidre went home at two o'clock and I've been trying work this damned thing all by myself."

"Could you call my fiancé and tell her all of that?" Patrick smiled as he slid behind the console, switched his head set on and readied himself for the day's incoming phone calls.

"I hope that girl knows how lucky she is," Paula said.

"Don't know about her, but I know how lucky I am," Patrick said and pressed the button to answer the ringing telephone.

In their large bed, Heather grunted as BJ's sperm blasted down her throat, then shook as he bit down lightly on her clitoris.

"God damn, won't kiss me until I brush my teeth, but you'll put your mouth on my pussy first thing in the morning?" Heather laughed as BJ crawled up the bed.

"If your pussy smelled like your breath, I wouldn't do that either," he laughed and laughed louder as she purposefully held him down and breathed into his face.

"I love you," she said and wiggled as she could feel another erection growing between them. "Ooh, is that for me?"

"Well, it isn't for Barak Obama," BJ said and pushed it into her very wet pussy.

"Oh, I'm glad it's not for him," Heather moaned and wiggled on top of him.

"You did lock that door, right?" BJ asked as they quickly got into their rhythm.

"Oh yeah," Heather confirmed.

At her condominium, Toni took stock of her provisions. This ice and snow had better thaw soon or she would be in danger of running out of frozen meals, rum, and marijuana.

But for now, she had enough eggs to make an omelet for breakfast, a fried egg sandwich for lunch, which would give her the opportunity to use up the last two hot dog buns, and another omelet for dinner.

She padded around the kitchen nude and smiled sadly; Anita would slap her on her rump and make her put at least a tee shirt on. And certainly would demand that she put slippers on her feet.

But Anita was not there, so Toni scampered around, completely nude.

She looked through the kitchen window at the solid sheet of white that covered her neighborhood and wondered how her mother and Eddy were doing in their poorly insulated shack.

"How's that global warming working out for you, Ed?" Toni asked aloud as she chopped up the last of her ham for her omelet.

At his rotunda, Patrick felt his wrist and cursed under his breath; he forgot his Braille watch. A quick check of the computer told him it was nearly twelve o'clock.

"So what time you going to lunch?" Harmony asked him

"Hey! What are, how'd you get here?" Patrick asked.

"George came and got me," Harmony said.

She hugged him from behind, leaning over his chair.

"I hate you, I'm so mad at you, I can't believe you'd come into work, you know there's not even twenty cars in the employees parking lot?" Harmony said and kissed his cheek.

"Any of them using my parking spot?" Patrick asked.

"Shut up, God, I hate you," she snapped, slapping him.

Patrick smiled, put the phone system on Auto-attendant and grabbed his cane.

"Cafeteria even open?" Harmony asked, realizing she should have brought their lunch with her.

"Yeah, we still have patients, snow or not," Patrick said as they took the elevator down.

"I really am mad at you," she assured him, hugging him tightly.

"Baby, I know that, but you know how hard it is for a blind man to find a job?" Patrick asked.

"Dedicated as you are? Not very hard at all," Paula Lambert said, stepping off the elevator.

"Shit!" Patrick laughed. "I didn't know she was on here!"

"Who was that?" Harmony asked.

"Woman that runs this hospital; she's my boss," Patrick smiled.

"Hey Baby!" a large black woman called out as they entered the cafeteria. "What y'all want? We got just about everything, ain't no one here, I swear!"

"That's what I told him," Harmony agreed, grabbing two trays. "Told him to stay home."

"Oh, no, we need our Patrick," the woman smiled, patting Patrick's hand. "He keep this place running."

"Woman, anyone can answer a phone and say 'hello' but ain't no one make a biscuit like you," Patrick said.

"Ooh, they got that stir fry, can I have that?" Harmony asked.

"I know that's right!" the woman laughed, scooping up a heaping plate of the stir fry.

At the cash register, the woman grabbed Harmony's left hand, examining the engagement ring.

"Ooh, girl, he give you that?" the woman asked.

"Sure did," Harmony said, snuggling against Patrick. "Christmas day, said if I said yes it would be the biggest Christmas gift ever!"

At BJ's house, Heather again threatened to kill Kelli if the child said one more time that she was bored.

"Hey, you know how to face time?" BJ asked.

"No," Kelli admitted.

Okay, let's see," BJ scrolled down his list of phone numbers.

"Hey, Ed, hi, this is BJ," he smiled when Ed Weinstein answered. "Please tell me you were smart enough to stay home today."

"I'm not, but my wife is smart enough to make me stay home," Ed joked.

BJ instructed Ed on how to find and download the application and within minutes, Kelli and Star and Luna were laughing and squealing and making faces at the small camera on their phones.

"I love you so much," Heather whispered as they sat on the couch and listened to Kelli and her two cousins.

In her living room, Shirley St. Martin lay on her couch and watched her husband as he played Grand Theft Auto with all the enthusiasm of a teenager, screaming, laughing and cursing.

She loved him more today than she did forty seven years ago, when the brash young man had promised her everything and anything she wanted, if only she would marry him.

Mama and Daddy had not approved of the young Henry Michael St. Martin; Daddy thought he was loud, arrogant, Mama Thought he was just a little too sure of himself.

They had wanted her to marry Jamie Campbell, son of James Campbell, and manager of First Union Bank in Bender.

But Shirley had looked into Jamie's eyes and saw a seething contempt of her and her family. In Jamie's eyes, it was fortunate for Shirley that she was attractive; she had very little else to offer.

In Henry's eyes, well, all Shirley saw was her reflection. To Henry St. Martin, Shirley was everything; she was all he saw.

They were coming up on their forty sixth wedding anniversary on April 26; at their twentieth wedding anniversary, Mama had admitted she and Daddy had been wrong; Henry St. Martin was the perfect husband.

"I love you," Shirley said to him and closed her eyes.

Then she saw Mama and Daddy, and just behind them, her five year old sister, Janice.

"Shirley! You're here!" Janice screamed happily and ran up to hug her.

The child's red hair stuck out at all angles; both she and Mama tried just about everything but the girl's hair was just would not be controlled. Shirley recognized the light blue dress Janice wore; Mama had bought it for Janice's sixth birthday, but Janice drowned a few days before her birthday.

So, sobbing, Mama had dressed the girl in that dress for her funeral.

"I been waiting aaaaallll day for you get here," Janice said.

Henry looked over to answer his wife and dropped the game controller.

"Shirley!" he screamed.

On a stretch of Highway between Bender and DeGarde, under the weight of the layers of ice, a St. Elizabeth Public Utilities transformer broke free of its mooring, crashing to the ground with a loud 'boom.' The momentum dragged a second power transformer down and it too crashed with a loud 'boom.'

The sudden surge caused three more transformers to blow and Bender and DeGarde were plunged into chaos.

In the hospital, Harmony screamed as the cafeteria plunged into darkness.

"Lost power?" Patrick asked, noticing that the hums and whirrs of the various machines had abruptly ceased.

"Well, come on," he smiled picking up their trays. "Put your hand on my shoulder and follow me."

"The elevators aren't going to work," Harmony said as he put their trays on the stack and left the cafeteria.

"Good God, we'll take the stairs," Patrick teased her as he easily negotiated the hallway. "It won't kill you."

Harmony trembled as she followed her man. This, this was how his world looked to him. Dark, threatening, foreboding. Yet he navigated through and was happy with his life.

"Here we are," he said and opened the stairwell door.

Inside, the emergency lighting was working and Harmony let out her breath in the garish green lighting.




Wealth Pt. 04



"I, wow, I just don't, oh God, that was so scary," Harmony admitted.

Suddenly, the hospital's emergency generator came on.

"Oh, we can use the elevator now," Harmony said.

"Bull shit; suppose the generator gets overloaded?" Patrick said and began jogging up the stairs.

In her condominium, Anita squealed as the power went out and hoped that the residual heat of the electric skillet would finish cooking the grilled cheese sandwiches.

"Oh, don't worry, I am here, I protect you," Merita teased, hugging Anita from behind. "I won't let bad men get you."

"Shut up," Anita giggled and turned and kissed the woman

In their bed, Caitlin gave a little squeal as the power went out. Barry laughed and cuddled up with her.

"House is all gas; we'll be fine," he assured her.

"Anyway," he said and began stroking her wet slit. "You got something better to do?"

"We been doing that all day," she giggled but spread her legs wide for him.

Chapter 34

Barry held onto Henry St. Martin as the man sobbed. He didn't mind doing it; it had been this man and his wife that had seen the potential of the eighteen year old Barry Delacroix and had urged the teller to go to college. He owed his success to this man and that woman in that coffin.

But the man had four sons and three daughters and one 'friend of the family' or whatever they were calling Andy, their youngest son's lover. At least one of them should be up here, sitting next to their father.

Henry's sons weren't even sitting together, weren't even sharing their grief. Barry wanted to snatch the cell phones out of Andy's, Tara's and Gary's hands and smash them.

"That is your mother! What in the fuck is so important that you have to be on your God damned phones?" he wanted to scream at them.

"And I turned to tell her I loved her too and I could tell she was gone," Henry sobbed for the hundredth time. "And right at that minute, I mean the very second I turned around, the power, everything went off..."

On the other side of him, Caitlin sat and sobbed into her handkerchief. Michael and Briah sat, wiping at their eyes.

"Parran," Patrick said, wiping at his eyes. "Parran, I'm sorry."

Next to him, Harmony stood, looking a little bewildered, a little lost.

"I uh, I didn't really know her, but Patrick says she was the coolest woman," Harmony said.

"Yeah, she was," Henry agreed, hugging his godson tightly.

"I mean, she must have been pretty special if Patrick will actually take off of work," Harmony nudged Patrick.

"Uncle Henry, I'm sorry," Kelli sobbed, hugging the man.

"I know, Sweetie Pie," Henry said, hugging the girl.

Father McNamara quietly approached Caitlin.

"I uh, I understand you've been asked to say a few words?" the man whispered.

"I met Shirley on our first date," Caitlin sniffed from the podium. "We went sailing on Barry's boat."

"Wasn't a date," Barry chuckled lightly.

"Forgot to tell Caitlin that," Henry actually chuckled as well.

"And from that minute, she and I were the best of friends; it just didn't matter that there were a few years between us," Caitlin went on.

"A few?" Andy lisped and Barry felt his anger rise up.

"But that's just what kind of woman Shirley Ann Bordelon St. Martin was," Caitlin said. "Age? Race? How much you got in your bank account? It just didn't matter. If she liked you, she loved you. And she liked me and she loved me and next to my husband, she was my best friend."

A few moments later, Caitlin was wrapping up her eulogy, "Shirley, if my baby's a girl, we're naming her Shirley. If it's a boy, we're naming him Martin. You will never be forgotten and you will always be loved."

Andy made another scathing remark under his breath and Barry again fought down the urge to smash the man's face in.

Anita Lopez finished saying a rosary for the soul of Shirley St. Martin and quietly walked to Henry.

"I am truly sorry for your loss," she quietly said, hugged him and kissed him on his cheek.

She also hugged and kissed Barry and Caitlin , then exited through a side door, avoiding any eye contact with Toni Delacroix.

Stacy Falgout approached Henry, shook his hand and offered her own condolences. She softly patted Barry's arm, then smiled at Caitlin.

"It wasn't supposed to be a date, you witch," she said softly, letting Caitlin know there was no rancor in her words.

"Didn't tell me that," Caitlin smiled softly.

"Congratulations; I hope it's a girl," Stacy said, hugged the girl, then left the church.

Outside, in the brutal chill that still hung over Bender, Louisiana, Stacy fought the urge to go to the nearest bar and get stinking, sloppy , crying drunk.

She hit the number 1 on her cell phone.

"How'd it go?" Precious Jones, her AA sponsor answered.

"I'm the biggest loser in the world," Stacy suddenly sobbed out.

At the University of Louisiana at DeGarde, Dean Sims watched the students begin to line up at the two trailers inside the Quadrangle. The trailers were not even open yet; he checked his watch, there was at least another twenty minutes and yet there they were, braving the cold and lining up. Some were smart and had their girlfriends or buddies camped out on one of the nine benches around the two trailers.

He had been sure Anita Lopez's idea would be a total flop but agreed to let her put two food trailers up. Now he had applications from seven other people that also wanted to rent space on their campus.

"Girl ought to be teaching a class here," the man said and noticed more students racing to get in line.

He nodded in satisfaction; Campus Security had assigned two student officers to keep the throng orderly.

Down in the Quad, Anita let herself out of the 'And the Weiner is...' trailer and nodded with satisfaction as she heard the bolt slide home behind her. Their hot dogs were plumping up nicely under the heat lamps, the homemade chili was beginning to bubble, and the oil for the corn dogs was about ten minutes from reaching the correct temperature. Her friends, Alexis Smith and Jenee Wolfe were inside that trailer, along with Olivia Smith, Alexis' cousin and fellow student at U.L.D.

She knocked twice on the door of the 'Pizzaco' trailer and smiled as Honey Childress tried to make her voice sound manly, threatening.

"Who is it, huh? What you want?" the girl barked from inside the trailer.

"Open the door, you munchkin," she ordered.

"Damn it, don't call me that!" the girl shrilled as she slid the bolt back and allowed Anita entry.

A few months before their break up, Toni and Anita had gone to Casa Ole and Toni had ordered the Mexican Pizza. She ate three bites of it and declared it terrible. Anita, loathe to waste food, slid it over and took one bite and agreed with Toni.

A few days later, Anita carefully fried two corn tortillas, using a spatula to keep the tortillas flat, then topped them with her homemade taco meat, homemade salsa, and grated cheese. Toni wolfed one down and would have gobbled up the second one if Anita hadn't snatched her plate away.

"Now, THAT'S a Mexican Pizza," Toni had declared.

While Honey had been a houseguest, Anita had made four Mexican pizzas, using refried beans instead of meat and Honey, even with her small tummy, managed to eat one, and almost half of a second one.

Now, in the food trailer, a bean pizzaco sold for three ninety nine, a ground beef pizzaco or a chicken enchilada pizzaco sold for four ninety nine, and the fish pizzaco, made with fresh farm raised catfish sold for five ninety nine.

Their ice cold cans of soda sold for seventy five cents and their bottled water sold for fifty cents.

'And The Weiner Is...' sold a six inch all beef frank for one seventy nine, with two heaping table spoons of homemade all beef chili sold for two twenty nine, the corn dog sold for one fifty nine, and their sodas and waters sold for seventy five and fifty cents as well.

Her first day in business, Anita thought maybe she had miscalculated the need for a foods service on campus; they barely made two hundred dollars between the two trailers. Word of mouth, the only advertisement she would utilize, picked up, and the second day they cleared seven hundred dollars. By the end of the week, Lopez Foods Services, LLC deposited nearly four thousand into Lopez Foods Services' bank account.

From his office window, Dean Sims actually heard the rumble of excitement as the flaps for the two trailers went up and the two stands were now open for business.

"But why I can't have..." a Sorority girl was whining to Honey.

"Look behind you, sister, we don't have time for special orders," Honey barked. "Don't want the sour cream? Scrape it off yourself. What you want to drink?"

"Um, you got..." the girl mused.

"Coke, diet Coke, Sprite, Water," Honey said, pushing the girl's beef pizzaco toward her.

"Diet Coke," the girl said and Honey gave her the change. 

"Next!" Honey called out.

Anita couldn't help but smile as she and the other two girls scrambled to keep up with the orders. She had grudgingly hired Honey, but was too afraid to have the clumsy girl around the hot oil or the hot oven, so put her at the cash register.

The girl couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time, but Honey kept that line moving and moving fast.

"Two chicken, one bean," Honey called out while grabbing the boy's two sodas.

At the other trailer, Alexis tried to keep their line moving along as well.

"No, our buns are not gluten free," Alexis said to a student. "Hey, Toni, what up girl?"

Toni Delacroix got two chili dogs, slathered on way too much mustard, then stared at a pimple faced boy until he grudgingly got to his feet and offered her his seat.

At one forty five, over the protests of the few stragglers, the two trailers lowered their flaps and bolted them securely shut. Anita grabbed the roll of receipt tape from the register at Pizzaco, stuffed the money and receipt tape into a bank bag and locked it.

She then ran to the 'And the Weiner is...' stand and repeated the process.

Then she made it to Professor Jurnigen's class with only seconds to spare.

"Ah, Ms. Lopez, how is the minimum wage world treating you these days?" the man sneered.

He was a notorious misogynist who truly felt that women, and men, would be far happier if women would simply accept their place in life, to be subservient to men. It truly galled him that the University even allowed women to pursue academic studies.

"Uh no sir, I make twelve dollars an hour," Anita lied, not wanting any of her fellow students to know that she actually owned the two food trailers.

Merita smirked at this claim but held her tongue.

"And how many hours a week?" Professor Jurnigen asked.

"Uh, about twenty," Anita said.

"Uh huh," the man said and scribbled 12 times 20 then scribbled 8 times 40 and shrugged.

"You do the math, Ms. Lopez; you may be better suited to work full time for minimum wage," the man said as he shut the door then launched into his lecture.

At the Delacroix home, Caitlin waved to the mailman and looked through the envelopes and fliers the man had brought.

Caitlin was puzzled to see a letter from Sophia Coutre's office.

She quickly dressed, then drove to Superior Motors.

"Barry, your wife's here," Jack called out.

The nurse that was pondering the purchase of a Porsche looked up, looked at Caitlin and looked again at Barry.

"Excuse me," Barry smiled and opened the heavy glass door for Caitlin.

"Hi Sweetheart," Caitlin said, kissed him and showed him the letter.

"Well, it's the reading of Shirley's last Will and Testament," Barry said.

"I'll take it," the nurse said

"But why?" Caitlin asked.

"Honey, I don't know," Barry said. "Maybe she left you something."

"Oh! I hope it's that cider press! Remember? I told you? It's been in her family for over a hundred years," Caitlin said.

"Um, you heard me?" the nurse asked.

"Yes ma'am," Barry smiled, kissed his wife, than gave her a little swat to her backside.

The nurse's credit was declined and she left, promising she would have the 'misunderstanding' cleared up.

"Declared bankruptcy last year; you're not clearing that up," Barry said to himself, then looked over at Henry. "You know anything about..."

"All I know is Shirley loved that girl to pieces," Henry smiled sadly.

Two days later, Caitlin thanked Polly Chastaine and entered the conference room to find Gary, Frank, Stephen and Richard, along with their wives and Andy, seated on one side of the massive oak table. None of them returned her friendly greeting and Caitlin shrugged and took a seat. She nodded in thanks as Polly brought in a bottle of water.

"Okay," Sophia Coutre, an attractive woman in her early fifties said as she entered the room. "We're just waiting on Mr. St. Martin, then we can get started."

"I'm here, I'm here," Henry said and sat down next to Caitlin.

"Hi," Caitlin said.

"Hi Sweetheart," Henry said and waited to see if any of his children or their spouses would do anything but look bored.

Sophia read through much legal jargon then finally got to the meat of the will.

"Mrs. St. Martin came to me about three weeks before her passing; said she just knew she wouldn't get to see her baby, wouldn't get to spoil it rotten, Mrs. Delacroix, I assume that's yours?" Sophia said.

"Yeah, I guess," Caitlin said. "I mean, we kept talking about where we'd take her; Shirley just knew it was going to be a girl and..."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, you have a working vagina, good for you," Andy sneered. "Could we possibly..."

"Thank you, Andy, you may wait out in the lobby," Henry snapped.

Andy looked at Richard for support, but Richard stared straight ahead.

"Now, Andy, skip along, now!" Henry snapped angrily.

"Anyway, Mrs. St. Martin made the following addendum and did void her previous will which had been tendered and notarized on September twenty ninth, two thousand and nine," Sophia went on as Andy attempted to slam the door shut, but the hydraulic spring prevented anything but a small 'swoosh' to escape.

"Oh Shirley!" Caitlin sobbed out as Sophia read that Shirley was giving Briah Weinstein twenty five thousand dollars to cover the wedding expenses.

"She told Briah if she could snag Michael, she'd pay for the wedding dress," Henry smiled, sliding a check over to Caitlin.

Caitlin grabbed for the box of tissues instead.

Sophia read about the college trust funds that Shirley had set up for Star and Luna Weinstein, naming Caitlin to be the guardian of their trusts.

"Said they were the best flower girl and ring bearer she'd ever seen," Henry smiled as Caitlin used up more tissues.

"Oh, sister! Turn off the water works; nobody's buying it!" Mattie sneered.

"Thank you, Mattie, you may go wait in the lobby," Henry said.

Sophia waited until the door closed again, then continued to read about the trusts she'd set up for Kelli St. Martin, soon to be Kelli Delacroix, naming Barry Jacob Delacroix Junior as the guardian of that trust fund.

There were various accounts set up for Heather, BJ, Michael, Patrick, and Antoinette Delacroix; Henry smiled. He could see that the remaining six were dying to say something, anything to speed up the process, to get to their inheritance. But they were afraid of being told to leave the room.

"To Caitlin Theresa Weinstein Delacroix," Sophia said. "You will never know the joy you have brought to this old woman's life."

"Oh God," Caitlin sobbed out. "Shirley, you'll never know what your friendship meant to me either!"

She hugged Henry tightly.

"I never told her how much I loved her!" Caitlin sobbed.

"Believe me," Henry sobbed with her. "Believe me, she knew!"

Frank stood and clapped slowly.

"And the Oscar goes to... Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I'm going to the lobby now," he sneered.

Sophia waited until Caitlin was more composed, then continued.

"Oh, I do get the cider press," Caitlin sighed happily.

"She couldn't stop laughing about how it squirted you in the face when y'all used it," Henry chuckled and Caitlin chuckled at the memory.

"My grandmother's brooch," Sophia read on.

"Wait a minute, wait one fucking minute; this bony ass bitch gets the ruby brooch?" Richard shrilled as Sophia named the remaining jewelry items Caitlin was to receive. "I promised Andy..."

"Thank you all for coming," Sophia said and gathered the papers together.

"Wait, what? That's... But there was no mention of Gary, or Stephen, or..." Missy sputtered.

"How very observant of you," Henry said dryly and got to his feet.

"Let me save you the trouble," he snapped. "There's no mention of any of you in my will either. You've siphoned all you will ever get from your mother or me."

"We will fight this," Tara hissed hatefully at Caitlin Delacroix.

"I will provide you with copies of the documents as read today," Sophia calmly offered.

Outside of the St. Martin home, Stacy Falgout took a few digital photographs and smiled when Henry St. Martin pulled up.

"Hi Stacy, thank you so much for coming!" he said.

"Oh no, are you kidding?" she asked. "I, well, our could have knocked me over with a feather when you called me."

She followed him into the house.

"Yeah, well, we had been meaning to sell it for a while now," Henry said and picked up an unopened bottle of red wine. "Now? Too many reminders of her."

Chapter 35

Caitlin Delacroix gasped and shook Barry awake at 12:33 on the morning of March 20, 2014.

Barry kissed her softly, helped her get to the side of the bed, and then dressed her. 

Gasping and giggling, she let him help her down their stairs and put her in the car.

"It's our first baby," Barry happily told the nurse and orderly that met them at the door of St. Elizabeth's Trauma Center.

"Oh how wonderful!" the nurse said as she helped Caitlin out of the car and onto the wheelchair. "Oh don't worry, Honey, we'll take good care of you."

Ed Weinstein jerked when his cell phone chimed merrily. He pulled his hand off of Brooke's swollen belly and reached for the phone. In her sleep, Brooke reached for his hand.

"Well, Father in Law," Barry's happy voice greeted him. "You're about to be a granddad!"

"Caitlin?" Brooke asked, now awake.

"Just brought her in," Ed agreed.

"Oh boy!" Brooke laughed as she wiggled and jerked, trying to get out of bed. "I'm sleeping with a GLF!"

"Here, you goof ball!" Ed laughed and helped his wife to her feet.

Seth and Caitlin Weinstein came to the house so that Star and Luna wouldn't be alone in the house, and wouldn't be frightened when they woke up.

"I think I'll make them bagels and lox for breakfast; what you think?" Seth teased.

"Think that's why I'm Catholic and not Jewish, Dad," Ed said.

"Uh hey, after our great granddaughter's born, uh, why not just stick around, see if they got a room for you?" Caitlin teased her daughter.

"Three more weeks," Brooke smiled.

"Hey, I'm just saying," Caitlin smiled and stretched out on the couch. "What time the girls get up?"

In his car, on the way to the hospital, BJ looked into the rear view mirror at Kelli's laughing face.

"I dare you, I double dare you call Caitlin 'Grandmaw,' you hear?" he smiled.

"Well, she's married to Grandpaw, what's that make her?" Kelli laughed.

"Drop you off right here," BJ threatened and pulled into the parking lot of St. Richard's Elementary School.

"Daddy!" Kelli screeched. "It's still dark!" 

"So? You'll be the first one here," BJ laughed.

"Come on; quit wasting time. Your baby brother or sister's about to be born and you're just fooling around," Heather demanded.

In the car behind them, Harmony slowed and pulled into the parking lot behind BJ.

""We're here?" Patrick asked, confused.

"No, we're at that school, oh wait, he's pulling out again," Harmony said.




Wealth Pt. 04



"I swear to God, she is beyond blonde," BJ said as Harmony continued to follow them.

"And you do not need to tell your Aunt Harmony your Daddy said that, you hear?" Heather said and slapped BJ's arm. "Leave her alone; she's the sweetest girl."

"Oh, no doubt about that; Patrick really found himself a real winner there," BJ agreed.

In their own car, Theresa Weinstein pursed her lips as Bobby complained again about being woken up.

"Man, why I got to go, huh?" he demanded.

"You about to be an uncle; you don't want to be there?" Briah asked the whining twelve year old boy.

"So?" he said petulantly.

"God, I know we don't have the same daddy," Briah rolled her eyes.

In the hospital waiting room, Toni smiled as she saw Michael sitting on one of the couches.

"Hey," she said and he stood and hugged her.

"Dad's in there with her, said it could be hours," he said.

"Like what's wrong?" Toni asked, linking fingers with him.

"It's just that, I mean, God, even at nine months, she's still so skinny," Michael worried.

"Oh my God, you like love her, don't you?" Toni said.

"Well, yeah, I mean, she was your best friend forever and now she's our step-mom and..." Michael answered.

"Hey, God's large and in charge," BJ said, hugging his brother from behind. "Briah know what a big girl you are?"

"Briah knows he's a real man not afraid show his feelings," Briah snapped, giving BJ a hard slap to his butt. "Call my man a big girl again and I will whip out the chocolate on your ass, you hear?"

"Whip out the chocolate," Kelli hooted.

"Oops, you weren't supposed to hear that," Briah smiled. "How you doing Kelli?"

"Great; I got my report card and I got all Bs and I got an A in religion," Kelli excitedly told her.

"Way to go, girl," Briah said, squeezing the girl in a tight hug.

"Proud of you," Toni said, also hugging the girl.

"And I told her, give me two more As on that next report card and I'll give her five bucks," BJ said.

"Oh, I'll take a piece of that action," Michael threw in.

"Me too," Toni said.

"And Patrick and I will too," Harmony said.

"Oh, do not tell Star about any of that," Ed Weinstein begged.

Brooke smiled at Theresa Weinstein's pinched face.

"Oh come on, we're about to be the hottest Grandmaws in town; can't look happier than that?" Brook asked.

Theresa didn't answer, just stomped over to the coffee vending machine.

"God, Brooke, you look beautiful," Toni complimented.

"Oh, you and your size two jeans; whatever, girl!" Brooke laughed.

In his small cottage in Bender, Florida, Henry St. Martin couldn't sleep. With a sigh, he got up, fixed a cup of coffee and went outside on his screened in back porch. The sounds of the Florida night was soothing; that was one of the reasons Shirley had insisted he buy the little bungalow.

He bought it for her thirty two years ago and could count on one hand the times they'd actually stayed in the house. Most of the time, they had simply rented it out.

The coffee mug had a picture of a pelican on it, there was another with a crawfish and he couldn't remember what the other two had. Shirley had seen them at a garage sale in Baylor Lake, insisted that they'd be perfect for the Florida cottage, so he bought the goofy cups. The girl that was selling them for a dollar each did not have change for a twenty, so Henry smiled and told her to keep the change.

He'd found the cups on the shelf in the same box that girl had put them in, and other than sheets and his pillow and some clothes, had left everything else behind.

Henry woke with a jerk; the Florida dawn had broken and the morning birds were chirping merrily. His cell phone gave a soft buzz and he pulled it out of his robe pocket. He read the text message from Barry's cell phone.

'Shirley Janice Delacroix, born 5:58, 6 lbs 3 ozs, all 10 fingers and 10 toes, another red head to love.'

"Well, there you go, Shirley, you got your Janice," Henry said and burst into sobs.

In their home, Bob Robichaux and his wife, Judge Maria Robichaux were already awake, getting their two children ready for another day at St. Richard's.

"Well, how about that?" Bob laughed as he read the announcement.

"Mr. Barry had a baby? Isn't he like old?" Rebecca asked, her small face twisted in confusion.

"Uh, he's three years younger than I am, Missy," Bob said and gave the girl a light swat on her butt.

In his house, Jack rolled over when his cell phone chimed.

"What? What's wrong?" Melanie, his wife asked.

"Oh, nothing's wrong," Jack laughed and read the text message to his wife.

"Oh, isn't that wonderful?" Melanie asked.

In the darkened bedroom, Jack did not see that Melanie did not have her wide open smile on her beautiful face.

In her condominium, Anita heard her cell phone buzz. She pulled her hand from Merita's small breast and disentangled her legs from the blonde's legs.

"Congratulations!" Anita tapped out a response.

A thought hit her and she just had to send a second text.

"When you learn to text?" she asked.

Anita laughed when the response came that it was actually Michael that was sending out all the text messages.

"Come to bed," Merita demanded. "We have the fifteen minutes."

Merita was already rubbing her heavy pussy lips, smiling seductively. Anita smiled and crawled back into bed.

At The Wagon Wheel Day Care, Paula Bernard listened to Melanie's message and blinked. In the three and a half years she'd worked at The Wagon Wheel, Ms. Melanie had never missed a day of work.

Terrie Boudreaux, the dietician listened to the message and agreed with Paula.

"I been here since Day One and ain't never seen that woman not come on in," she said and smiled as Muriel Garcia bounded in.

Terrie started cooking the breakfast for the nine children whose parents paid for that service.

Two months ago, Tiffany Garcia, Muriel's mother, had haughtily informed Terrie that they were now vegan and handed Terrie a list of foods acceptable for Muriel.

"Well, might I suggest you feed her breakfast before you bring her on by, oh, and pack her them snacks and lunches too, 'cause as sure as God made little green apples, I ain't cooking none of this stuff," Terrie had smiled, handing the list back to the incensed woman.

Melanie had backed up her employee.

"Ms. Garcia, Ms. Boudreaux is a certified dietician. All the foods we serve are designed to help their little bodies develop and grow," Melanie had stated.

"So you will not..." Tiffany had huffed.

"Ms. Garcia, this is a Day Care, not a restaurant. Ms. Boudreaux is my employee, not your personal chef," Melanie had said firmly. "You want your child on a special diet, then you're the one that needs to provide that diet."

Tiffany had struggled with it for about a week before deciding that being vegan may be trendy but it was far too much work.

"Where's Miss Melanie?" Muriel asked as she looked around the building.

"I think she had a little tummy ache," Terrie smiled.

At the Weinstein home, Star and Luna Weinstein were thrilled to be aunts and promised their grandparents that they would be wonderful aunts.

"Oh! And I can teach her how to play Dominoes!" Star said as she ate her scrambled eggs.

"Uh, let's let Shirley learn how to walk and talk and all that before we teach her Dominoes, huh?" Seth smiled.

"Now, does your mommy put your hair in a pony-tail, or let you just run around with it like this?" Caitlin asked,

"If it needs washing we put it in a pony-tail," Star admitted.

"Pony-tail it is," Caitlin said, giving the girl's head a sniff.

Seth made both girls laugh and his wife smile when he gave Star's head a sniff and pretended to gag on the stench.

"Oh, wow, better put it in three or four pony-tails," he coughed.

"Hush you, might put yours in a pony-tail, stinky head," Caitlin said and kissed the top of his head.

At Superior Motors, Bob and Jack were not worried about dietary restrictions or hair styles as they tore through a box of Meche's glazed doughnuts.

"Damn it, I know these are horrible, but I just can't help it," Bob groaned.

"Yeah, but we burned up all them calories, putting up them goofy signs," Jack assured him.

Michael Delacroix smiled widely as he spotted the 'It's A Girl!' banner that was strung in front of the building. Across the street, Side By Side restaurant also had a banner proudly proclaiming the birth.

"Well, look who thinks he can just drag his ass in whenever he feels like it," Bob teased.

When Henry had announced his plans to retire, Michael had decided, Side By Side did not need two managers and gladly relinquished the reins to BJ. Henry's desk now had pictures of Briah, and BJ, Toni, and Patrick, as well as Barry and Caitlin's wedding. More than one customer had commented on his good looking family.

"Yeah, yeah, oh, hey, thanks for leaving me one measly ass doughnut," Michael smiled.

"So, tell us all about it, huh?" Jack prompted.

"Six pounds three ounces, huh?" Bob smiled. "Oo-wee, our Rebecca was a little heifer; eight pounds nine ounces."

"Genetics, I'll bet," Jack said, patting Bob's stomach.

"Butt hole," Bob laughed, giving Jack a punch to his shoulder.

"Wow, and y'all actually manage to sell a car every now and then?" Michael smiled.

"Amazing, right?" Jack said. "We're just as surprised as you are."

In the small house that they owned, Melanie sat at the kitchen table and wrote a note on her puppy dog tablet.

"My Darling Jack," she scrawled. "You have been the love of my life since the day you asked me to run off to Mexico with you..."

Jack Landry had come into the bank where Melanie Labbe worked and asked the beauty to run off to Mexico with him. She had counted up the deposit for Huvall's Texaco and smiled and told him they would not get very far.

"Then how about having Mexican with me tonight?" he asked.

She was surprised; most people, looking at the leg braces and the crutches, did not ask the pretty girl for dates.

They had married and did run off to Mexico, for a wonderful Honeymoon. Their joy was tripled when Melanie discovered that she was pregnant.

Then she miscarried. Her doctor was grim, but told the heartbroken couple that Melanie would never be able to bear a child to full term.

"Please find yourself a woman that can give you a son," Melanie wrote.

Their three dogs were a poor substitute for the son that Jack wanted. Their three dogs were a poor substitute for the daughter that Melanie wanted to finger paint with, and take to ballet classes.

"All my love, forever," Melanie signed the note, then stood and pulled herself up in the chair.

She locked her braces in place and twisted the black garbage bag around the ceiling fan.

She knew the fan was sturdy; her big brother David and Jack had attached the fan to a three inch eye bolt that Jack had secured to a joist in the attic.

The bag was cumbersome, slippery, but Melanie finally managed to knot it.

Then she used her crutches to shove the chair backward. Lollypop, their apricot colored poodle yapped, frightened by the chair as it skittered across the linoleum floor.

In her Kindergarten class, Star Weinstein stood in front of the class and announced that her big sister had a baby girl.

"Her name is Shirley and I'm her aunt," the girl happily said.

"Shirley? That's a stupid name," Anthony DeSalvo said.

(Anthony liked Star, a lot.)

"Shut up! It is not!" Star yelled at him. "Miss Shirley was Caitlin's best friend and then she died and now Caitlin's going to name all of her babies Shirley!"

In her fourth grade class, Kelli announced that her Grandpaw had a baby girl.

"Your grandmother had a baby?" TeddiAnn Baggett asked.

"No, no, she's married to my Grandpaw," Kelli said, then laughed.

"But I told my Daddy I was going to call her Grandmaw and he said he was going to leave me here and it was like one o'clock in the morning! He even pulled up in front of the building," Kelli laughed at the memory.

"Oh, that does sound just like Mr. Barry Jacob Delacroix Junior," Sister Rachel smiled. "He was such a character when he was in my seventh grade class. The worst, though, was your Uncle Michael; I almost quit teaching because of that boy!"

"He's marrying my Aunt Briah," Kelli informed the good sister. "He's all grown up now."

In her condominium, Stacy Falgout was not concerned with the birth of Shirley Janice Delacroix; she was too busy emptying her stomach into her commode.

"Oh my God, I better not be..." she said aloud and again felt more of her stomach rush up.

Dr. Mark Farbacher's office had an appointment in one hour's time and Stacy climbed into the bathtub.

"People could tell I was clean and sober when I started using my fair share of soap and toothpaste," Precious would often joke.

Stacy heard her neighbor's door slam shut and actually smiled. When she first met Anita Lopez, she had assumed, just because the girl was Latin, she was lazy and a user. She had no idea how much the nineteen year old girl was worth, but guessed it was well over a million dollars. She had a meeting with a client in the afternoon to show them five homes and two of the five homes were Lopez Properties. Yesterday, she had rented out one of the apartments at Lopez Square.

She laughed, Glen Peters, her ex-husband, and an architect, had submitted bids to design homes, as well as the building for Lopez Square. As usual, Glen had overvalued his worth and Anita simply went on the Internet, found some house plans, then went to Kessling Building on campus, the Graphics Arts building, and found Professor Whitehead to approve the preliminary sketches.

"Tell you what, Ms. Lopez, promise me you'll take at least one of my classes next semester," the old man had fawned over the Latin beauty and had actually blushed hotly when she playfully kissed him.

"But I wouldn't get any work done and you wouldn't either," she teased and counted out five one hundred dollar bills. To pay him for his time.

But she did in fact sign up for his 'Basic Design Principles' class for the Fall Semester.

Glen Peters had called Stacy.

"Why yes I do know Anita Michelle Lopez," Stacy had breezily admitted. "A very smart, very enterprising young lady. You know, when Schaub Building Materials wanted too much for their recycled materials, she is committed to being as green as possible, and by the way, she simply went directly to the manufacturer and arranged for delivery directly to the work sites."

"Think you could help me out here?" Glen had begged. "See, I submitted a couple of bids and..."

"Padded the hell out of them for, let me guess, 'office supplies' and 'incidentals' right? Most of which, we know, will disappear up your nose," Stacy had laughed.

"Fucking bitch," Glen had spat.

Lopez Square had also been designed by the Internet and tweaked by Professor Whitehead. The ground floor had two office suites, both of which were already rented, even though the building would not be ready for another three weeks. The second and third floors had four efficiency apartments and a common laundry room on the ground floor, behind the two office suites. Four of the apartments were also already rented, even though they were not yet completed.

Stacy dressed, drove herself to Dr. Farbacher's office and smiled tightly as she filled out the paperwork.

"I am almost forty six years old; this is the last thing in the world I need," she said to herself.

The nurse called her and she followed the older woman down the maze of halls to a room.

"Still sober?" the nurse asked in a low voice.

"Yes ma'am," Stacy smiled, then smiled wider. "In fact, I just realized! Today I have nine months!"

"Good for you, girl, good for you," the nurse encouraged.

That evening, Jack smiled as he pulled up into their driveway and saw his wife's car. Normally she did not get home until six thirty, sometimes seven o'clock, depending on when the last child was picked up by their parents.

"Hey Sweetheart," he called out. "Hey since you're home early, why don't we..."

One of her crutches lay on the floor, the other was still attached to her forearm by the plastic cuff.

"Melanie, no!" Jack screamed in horror.

Chapter 36

Chelsea Guidry watched as the cameraman counted down from three, her smile already on her face.

"Is it a pizza? Is it a taco? Whatever it is, the students here at the University of Louisiana at DeGarde are crazy about their pizzacos."

The camera panned to show the long line of students and faculty lined up in front of the trailer.

"It won't open for another fifteen minutes, but as you can see, no one wants to be late," Chelsea said.

The attractive brunette when down the line, interviewing the people.

"Aw cher, it's hot and it fills you up," a girl said with a heavy Cajun accent.

"This beautiful woman is Bailey Breaux," Jason Breaux smiled, pointing to a short, slightly pudgy woman with a mop of unruly hair and big brown eyes.

"And this is Jason Junior," Jason went on, pointing to her belly.

"Shut up, it's a girl! He knows it's a girl, he's just..." Bailey squealed.

"And whatever Momma wants, Momma gets and Momma wants two bean pizzacos and a peanut butter and a chocolate chip cookie," Jason smiled.

"You jam the two cookies together like a sandwich," Bailey explained.

Anita had not recognized the phone number on her cell phone, but had answered it anyway. 

"Um, hi, um, this is Sarah Juarez," a woman had stammered. "And I um, I had one of them pizzacos today?"

Anita swore she would kill whomever had given out her phone number.

"And I uh, I saw you don't sell any kind of desserts and my roommate? She says my cookies are the best," Sarah had said.

"How you get that History Channel?" Honey called out from the living room.

"And I asked Dean Sims," Sarah revealed the source of leak.

"Your friend is useless," Merita playfully accused as she grabbed the remote control and found the History channel.

"There's four women here," Anita said, giving her address. "Bring enough samples."

Twenty minutes later, Sarah Juarez, a short Latin woman came in and did a horrible job of presenting the cookies. But Anita had to agree, the cookies were soft, chewy, gooey, and Maggie, who kept claiming she shouldn't, she was on a diet, kept going back for 'just one more.'

Sarah didn't even know how much to charge for the cookies.

"Merita, think you could put that pretty little head to use and help her figure it out?" Anita smiled. "I mean, you do have a Master's in Business, right?"

Chelsea continued down the line, asking questions.

"I uh, Dean Sims says it's owned by one of the students," Professor Huxton stammered, ill at ease outside of his Algebra classroom. "And all the employees are students too and uh, our students are the life of our university, so I believe in supporting our students."

"But do you like the pizzaco?" Chelsea asked.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah, I mean, the salsa is the best! I mean, it's even better than Manny's," the unpopular teacher stammered.

(The moment the segment aired on Performance 12 News at noon, the telephone, email, and facebook page of Manny's Restaurant was flooded.)

"So, is it a pizza? Is it a taco?" Chelsea said, holding up one of the beef pizzacos for the camera. "We may never know, but it's a favorite here."

She took a bite and chewed.

"Son of a bitch! This IS good!" she mumbled around her mouthful.

The next day, Anita scurried into Professor Jurnigen's class and took her seat.

"I saw your little food truck on the news yesterday," he sneered.

"Yeah!" Anita said. "Someone said the salsa's even better than Manny's and now they want a showdown!"

"I uh, noticed that the owner didn't' want to be interviewed; any idea why not?" he asked, the disdain dripping from his lips.