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Carol's Patch Job Ch. 01

By: CastleStone



Jim Bellows felt like complete shit. The Customs and Immigration people had taken one look at him and just waved him through. Later they would get into trouble for not calling the health department.

"Where the hell is she?  She knows what time my plane was to arrive and she isn't even answering her cell phone!" Jim thought to himself. He didn't want to do it, but he was going to call Carol his seventeen year old daughter and ask her to pick him up. The airport was a nightmare to drive into and he didn't like having to ask her to do it, but he felt so bad that he didn't trust himself to a taxi ride.

"Carol, honey I'm at the airport, International arrivals, and I can't reach your Mom. I'm feeling a bit sick and I was hoping you could come pick me up? If it is too much trouble I can take a taxi."

"Daddy, you sound terrible what's wrong?"

"It's not too bad Baby, but I could use a ride home."

"No trouble, I've got Steve with me and he can come in and get you and I can wait with the car in the loading area. It will be real quick, no trouble, we will be there in a half an hour. You stay in the building and keep warm. We will be there Daddy, don't worry. I've been to the airport before, picking up friends."

"Thanks Baby, love you."

"Love you to Daddy, bye."

"Bye, sweetheart."

Jim hung up his cell phone. He was a bit mad at his daughter and relieved at the same time. There were specific areas that she wasn't supposed to drive to, because he thought they were too tough for a novice driver, the airport being one of them but it was good to know that she had been here before and she should be okay.

"Steve!" she yelled at her brother "We've got to go right now, Dad is in trouble" Carol and Steve were out shopping for a birthday present for their Father. Their Dad was a self-sacrificing man for his family. His children felt it was too much so. Not that he was a soft touch when it came to discipline but any extra time or money he had was for his family first, second, third, fourth and fifth. They figured he put himself about sixth. Jim would scrimp and save. Almost always he would take a bag lunch to work and he was driving a ten year old minivan. Whereas his wife and daughter both had cars only a year old with low mileage. He figured that he wanted them in something safe and reliable. If his minivan broke down, well he had plenty of tools in the back and could normally get it chugging along, again.

Steve heard the panic in his older sister's voice and came running from the food court in the mall. "What's wrong Carol?"

"Dad's sick and stuck at the airport. We've got to go get him, he sounds really bad and out of it! " Jim had a peculiar reaction to extreme illness, he would hallucinate and generally act as if he was extremely drunk. He hated it and often said that, that was the worse part of being sick.

"I heard Mom on the phone last night, she knows what time he was to get in!" growled Steve "Have you tried her cell phone"

"I just did and it went straight to voice mail." Steve's and Carol's Mother, Janice, had a bad habit of ignoring her cell phone and turning it off. She was more than a bit of hypocrite in this matter, because she would raise hell with her kids and husband, if they were even a bit slow in answering her calls to them. 

Carol and Steve were a small bit concerned that something might be wrong with their Mother, but it was sad to say that it was sort of typical of her. Though she had never before blown off picking up her husband at the airport before. If Jim could be described as self sacrificing, Janice could be described as selfish and self-absorbed. Jim frequently defended his wife with his children, saying it was too much of the neighborhood gossip mongers that had changed their Mother in the last six years or so.

A half an hour later, they were at the airport and as was typical of their Father, he was waiting outside for them, so he wouldn't inconvenience them too much. Carol quickly stopped the car and both her and Steve came running up.

"Daddy what are you doing outside?" scolded Carol 

Jim didn't seem to notice his children and was just huddled up on a bench, shivering, staring blankly into space.

"Dad!" yelled Steve with a note of panic in his voice.

"Oh, Carol, Steve you got here so quick it's only been five minutes." responded Jim

Carol grabbed her Father's arm and helped him to the car while Steve carried his Father's heavy suitcases.  Carol was very concerned with how violently her Father was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

Once he was in the car, Carol directed all the heat vents her Father's way, but he was still shivering violently. Steve, reaching from the back seat, felt his Father's forehead.

"Sis, Dad's burning up, maybe we should take him to the hospital?"

"Daddy" queried Carol "Should we take you to the doctor?"

"I just want to go home baby, but I'm so cold; could you turn up the heat?" Now Carol and Steve, with their heavy winter clothes, were sweating in the car because of the heat.

"I'm sorry Daddy, the heater is on full blast."

"Oh, it must be broken. I'll take your car into the dealership, next week. The car is still under warranty." Responded Jim. With that, Carol's Father seemed to return to his daze, huddling back into the front passenger seat, with his physical misery plain to see.

Forty minutes later they arrived home. Carol pulled into the driveway and helped her Father out of the car and towards the front door of their house, while Steve got the luggage.

Just outside the front door, was one of the neighbor ladies. She seemed to be shocked to see them, her eyes were big and her mouth a bit open. In her hands she was carrying a store bought coffee cake.

"Hello Shemp" greeted Carol's Father to the woman and Carol had to hide her grin. Her Father privately called her mother's three neighborhood friends the Three Stooges. Steve thought it was an insult to the Stooges, those icons of slapstick, to compare the ladies to them. So he privately called the ladies the Three Witches. Carol, thought it an insult to witches and changed the "W" to a "B".

The woman in question, real name Nancy, got a puzzled look on her face at being hailed as Shemp.

"What is going on and what is your Father doing home?

"We had to pick him up at the airport, Mother forgot, he's very sick and we need to get him inside."

Nancy being helpful, opened up the screen door, and then opened up the house door. After opening up the house door she called inside "I'm back" and stepped back outside to hold the screen door open for Carol, who had her hands full helping her Father.

Carol stepped into the house helping her Father. While helping her Father through the vestibule and into the main part of the house. She heard her mother say "Marge, I can't believe how big your little brother is and it felt fantastic. I swear he is at least this big." When Carol stepped around the short vestibule wall she saw her Mother holding her hands about ten inches apart.

Carol's mother, Janice, looked up at the shuffling foot steps and was shocked to see Carol, with a furious expression on her face, and her husband Jim. 

"Carol, Jim what are you doing home?" came out a flabbergasted question.

Carol was too busy helping her Father to a chair to give an immediate reply, once he stepped into the warm house his strength had seemed to give out and Carol was straining to set him down lightly.

"Jim, answer my question!" Demanded Janice.

Carol incensed at her Mother's behavior replied. "Daddy called us from the airport, because you forgot to pick him up and he was too sick for a taxi. Now, I know why you forgot to pick him up! Just how big was Marge's brother!" Screamed Carol.

The room got suddenly silent and Janice got red faced and looked at the floor.

Steve came bungling into the room with the heavy luggage, wondering why it was so quiet.

"Steve can you take Daddy's suitcases upstairs and bring down the thermometer?" asked Carol

"Sure Sis"

With Steve trundling upstairs, Carol put her arms around her Father to stop his shivering and give him some warmth.

"Daddy"

No reply

"DADDY!'

"Huh, what is it baby, are we home already?"

"Daddy, what do you think of adultery?" asked Carol while glaring at her Mother.

Jim, being thoroughly out of it, didn't hesitate and just answered the question. 

"Adultery, adultery is a terrible thing, betraying sacred vows, betraying a sacred union. It is a betrayal against both partners of the marriage, even the adulterer; as well as betrayal against the wronged spouse and most seriously against the children of the marriage, since it destroys the marriage. Your mother and I were married in the Church and would never betray our vows." wheezed Jim

"Daddy, can adultery ever be forgiven?" Asked Carol while still glaring at her Mother. 

"Kitten it would never happen to me, I trust your Mother, but I could possibly forgive one or two beddings with a lone man. One might be an accident of too much to drink or the like. Two might be a stupid mistake. But three or more is a pattern and not to be forgiven. When a wife commits adultery it is terribly hard on a man, especially a no longer young man, like me. A loss in confidence for us, makes it damn hard to perform. "

"Well there is always Viagra." Quipped Mary, the last of the Three Bitches.

Janice, Marge and Nancy all turned to glare at Mary for the stupid comment.

"Viagra, Viagra! I wish the stuff worked for me, all it gives me is ferocious headaches! I've tried it twice." wheezed Jim

Jim's wife Janice looked up in shock.

"Most guys up to about the age of thirty-six, have no problems performing. After that age, we need a bit of encouragement. We need reminders that our spouses see as sexual creatures to keep the old magic in the marriage. We can buy our spouses sexy lingerie, we can try new things with our mates, buy flowers, and jewelry to remind them that they are more than a housemate to us. But if they never wear the lingerie, constantly say no to new things and will only have sex in the missionary position. Treating sex as more a chore than an expression of love and passion, then it gets awful hard to perform. Especially if the pus, oops sorry young ears, if the vagina is bit too loose. There is no stimulation to keep the man erect. Men are given just so much to work with, but I understand from reading on the internet, that women have the option of a few different exercises to keep things tight." 

The adult women in the room were looking at Jim in shock after his exposition. Carol was staring at her Father with a mixture of shock and glee. While Steve was thinking "TOO DAMN MUCH INFORMATION" while he was checking his Father's temperature, first with the ear type thermometer. Then because he didn't believe the reading and didn't trust the thermometer, he used the oral type thermometer, ONCE HIS FATHER SHUT UP.

At that point Marge's cell phone rang. "Hello" ........ "Oh, hello Mister Henderson" ............ "Wait you say your filming them, right now? .............. "That's impossible, Jim Bellows is sitting across from me right now in his own home." .............. "Mister Henderson, I suggest you get your facts straight!" With that Marge ended her call.

Janice was staring at Marge through the entire conversation, a sorrowful expression coming to dominate her face.

Marge turned to speak to Janice, she spoke very carefully and quietly as possible, but it was still audible to Carol. "That was the P. , a Mr. Henderson on the phone, he said that he was filming Jim and Miss X right now."

With that Janice put her face in her hands and started to sob.

"Carol" Steve shouted in panic, he didn't call for his Mother but his Sis.

"Dad's temperature is almost 106."

The end of part one. More parts to follow even if you don't like this one, I think I'm a masochist. On second thought I'm married, I must be a masochist. 

Carol's Patch Job Ch. 02



Author's Notes:

Sorry about the delay in releasing the second part, life got in the way. If I do another story, I'll probably have it completely written before I submit. I would like to thank people for the positive feedback. As for those, who sent negative feedback like, and I quote "what can I say its shit". Hah, I'm married that was the response I was expecting. It was the compliments that threw me for a loop.

......................................

"Dad's temperature is almost 106."

Carol immediately called 911 and got an ambulance on the way. She, Steve and Janice used ice and cold wet towels, in an attempt to get Jim's temperature down. Which Jim didn't like one bit. Steve, Marge and Nancy had to restrain Jim a little, in order for the others to cool Jim down. 

Carol insisted on riding in the ambulance with her Father, while all the while glaring at her Mother and visibly daring her to object. Janice was ashen faced the whole time.

They were at the hospital many hours, before the doctors could determine that Jim was suffering from a severe bacterial infection. They started him on extremely strong broad spectrum antibiotics to combat the infection but his outcome was in doubt. If he did live, they mentioned the possibility of permanent damage being done to his brain, heart and other internal organs.

Carol and Steve sat together through all this, praying for their Father. While Janice, Marge and Nancy sat across from them. Every once and while Carol would look up to glare at her Mother, who was just sitting there with her hands and jaw trembling. Marge and Nancy tried to comfort Janice while avoiding Carol's eye.

When not thinking about her Father, Carol thought angry thoughts about her Mother. In Carol's mind, Janice had been an extremely piss poor wife and mother for the past six years, more concerned about friends, gossip, soap operas and her job as an elementary school teacher. Her Father had picked up most of the slack, without a complaint, and Carol had done her most to help her Father. The last two years had been extremely rough on Carol as her Father had been frequently out of town. Because of the slowing economy Jim's former employer had gone out of business, Jim's new job required a lot of travel. Jim hated it, but it was the only position he could land at the time. 

All the hard work and sacrifices the family had to make because of her Mother. Jim had wanted to change jobs years ago, before the economy soured. He had been offered at least two good positions over the years, with better pay. But they would have required the family to make small moves, of up to four hours away, and Janice had refused to even think about it. Even now, Jim could have gotten a better job if they could move, but Janice again put her foot down. So Jim was forced by his new job to spend ten to fourteen days of every month, away from home.

Now Carol knew why her Mother refused to move. Now Carol knew what her Mother was really doing with all those hours she spent with the Bitches. All the late evenings when those four would watch recordings of the afternoon soap operas, at either Marge's or Mary's home. She didn't understand the partial conversation she heard about Mister Henderson, but it didn't matter. Her Mother was a cheat. It was probably Marge's little brother's ten inch thing, that caused Janice's cunt to be loose as her Father had obliquely complained in his speech. 

Carol thought with a bit of sick humor, that it was a tiny bit good that Daddy was sick. Because he never would have made such bold, unflinching statements about adultery and sex, if he was his normal self.

Carol thought about her little sister who, as a reward for good grades, was staying at their cousins house. She didn't know if it was right to hide from Lisa that their Father was in the hospital and might be dying. But no one had the courage to call Aunt Penny's house and tell her, this was supposed to be such a special weekend for Lisa and her three cousins. They had all worked hard to pull up their grades, and had been promised a weekend together of all the pizza, ice cream, and chocolate that they could eat with no bed times until ten pm Sunday. Lisa and her three cousins always had such good times together, but lived over an hour apart. So, it was difficult for the complete set of four to get together at the same time. Such a weekend would bring as much joy to the four, as Christmas had done. Neither Carol, Steve or Janice could bring themselves to spoil such innocent joy with the news that Jim could be dying. But they also knew that Lisa would never forgive them, if she missed her chance to say goodbye to her Father.

Jim was finally admitted to the hospital and moved from the emergency ward to a room with infectious disease decals stuck on the door. The attending physician, Doctor Richards, came out to talk to them.

"I need you to sit down, because I've got some hard words. It is not all gloom and doom but things are chancy right now. We've managed to get his temperature below 104 degrees. Jim has an anti-biotic resistant bacterial infection. The infection is well advanced and it is borderline, whether we've caught it in time. The next twenty-four to forty-eight hours will tell the tale, then we will have to see if there has been any permanent damage. But, there have been many people, even a majority, that have made a full and complete recovery from the same state that Jim is in. Can you tell me, where has Jim been lately? Where he might have picked up the infection from?"

Carol spoke, "Daddy just got back from a week long business trip to Brazil."

The Doctor had turned to ask Jim's wife, Janice, the question and was bit surprised that Janice didn't speak and Carol had answered.

"What does your Father do for a living?"

"He's an engineer and works as sales support for a medical equipment manufacturer."

The Doctor's eyes had gotten big at the reply. "Oh! I'm going to be contacting the CDC about this matter, they will probably be contacting your Father's employer as well as the Brazilian authorities."

"I'm going to permit visitors to your Father's room, but you must wear a mask and gloves at all times. There can only be two visitors at a time, and try and get him to rest as much as possible. He is extremely agitated and delusional."

"Daddy is always like this when he gets sick. He says the nightmares he gets when he is sick are the worse, ever and I've never seen him sicker!"

"Can you do anything to calm him down?" Asked Doctor Richards.

"If we sit with him and hold his hand that normally helps, some."

"Well you can do that, but remember what I said about mask and gloves. The table here, as you can see, has clean gloves and masks. Every time you come out, strip off the gloves and mask and throw them out in the can here, for contaminated waste. Taking off your gloves, try to only touch the cuff of the glove and then use the hand sanitizer here. When you take off your mask, please be careful and touch only the ear loops on the mask. You might then want to go to a rest room and wash thoroughly with anti-bacterial soap. Do not try and save your mask and gloves for your next visit, even if your just going to use the rest room. Since you've been exposed, if any of you start to experience discomfort please come in to be checked out. We might have to start you all on preventative antibiotics, but I would prefer not to. Any questions?"

Both Carol and Steve replied no and thanked Doctor Richards. Doctor Richards gave a puzzled look to Janice, said goodbye and went to see his next patient.

"I'm going in now to sit with Daddy." Steve, can you come back in six or eight hours to relieve me. I'll call my friend Linda, she can borrow my car and drive you here and then drive me home. Mother?"

Janice looked up at Carol, with dread on her face.

"You can do whatever you like, I know you might be too busy with Marge's little brother to come here!"

Steve didn't think his Mother's face could get any sadder or paler, but it did. Janice stumbled back into Marge and Nancy, as if she had been hit. 

To Carol, her Mother had just become completely irrelevant. Her new goal was to care for her Father and to diminish his pain, while still looking after her siblings.

Carol donned a mask and gloves and entered the room. She was sad to see that he was loosely restrained to the hospital bed. It was necessary because he we quite agitated and attempting to thrash about. But it was still very hard to see her beloved Father restrained like that.

"Daddy it's Carol. Daddy, I'm here, everything is going to be okay." She said with tears in her voice. Carol then moved a chair along side the bed, sat down and grasped her Father's hand.

"Shhh, shhh, Daddy. I'm here, we're all safe. There is nothing to worry about, everything is going to be fine."

"Carol Baby?" Her Father said weakly.

"Yes, Daddy, everything is fine."

"Everyone is safe? You've had your dinner and done your homework."

With those questions, Carol had to laugh a little.

"Yes Daddy, we're all safe." The truth. "And, I've eaten dinner and done my homework." White lie, but necessary she thought.

"You go to sleep now."

"Okay, Baby I love you, goodnight Princess."

"Goodnight, Daddy."

With that Jim relaxed and calmed down. The door behind Carol opened and she expected it to be her Brother, making a brief visit before heading home. But, to her surprise it was her Mother.

Janice avoided her daughter's eyes and walked to the other side of the bed. When she got there she loosely grasped Jim's other hand, like she didn't want to upset him or didn't have the right to touch him. Janice's eyes were full of sorrow and pain.

Carol wasn't satisfied with what she saw. How dare she, Carol thought, she should be a quivering, sobbing useless mess on the floor for her betrayal. Then Carol thought, this is all an act, she doesn't love us, she doesn't love Daddy. For six years she's been a useless lump in regards to the family. Just an act, she probably thinks this is how she is supposed to be, just like in one of her damn soap operas. Carol wanted to scream and beat her Mother, but she didn't want to disturb her Daddy or be thrown out of the hospital. Carol decided to settle down and pretend her Mother wasn't even there.

The door opened again, and Steve walked in to stand by Carol's side. He put one hand on Carol's shoulder and with the other he reached out to lightly touch his Father. Steve's face was wet with tears, he was trying to control them but they were still leaking out of his eyes.

"I love you Dad."

"Carol, Marge is going to drive us home. I'll probably be back in about seven hours. Don't forget to call Linda and have her pick me up in about six and a half hours. I love you Carol, call my cell if there is any change. Mother, are you coming?"

Janice got up to leave with Steve.

"I love you too, Steve. See you in seven hours, I'll call if there is any change."

Steve nodded his head. Carol didn't say anything to her Mother. Janice left with her head bowed. 

Steve didn't know what was exactly going on between his Sister and his Mother. But, he had a pretty good guess, because of the partial bits of conversation he had overheard, and it made him sick. But there was no time to worry about it now. First, his Father had to get well, then they would sort out the other. But, he would be keeping a close eye on his Mother.

Carol sat with her Father for over an hour, gently reassuring him whenever he got agitated. But the situation became to much for her and she desperately needed to talk to someone as well as call her best friend Linda. She gently let go her Father's hand and slowly got up. Very, very quietly she said. "I'll be right back Daddy, I love you.

Outside the room, Carol removed her mask and gloves. She was surprised to see her Mother and Nancy sitting on a bench across the hall. Her Mother's face was white and she looked more like the undead in a horror movie than a living person. Nancy had her arms around Janice, trying to comfort her. 

Carol seeing her Mother like that, couldn't help herself and said. "He's still sleeping quietly. I just need to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

In the bathroom she used the facilities and then washed her face and hands. First, she called Linda, waking up her whole family in the process. They were all shocked to hear about Jim's condition and they all offered to come right away, but Carol explained what she needed and Linda immediately agreed. Jim had always gotten on well with Linda's parents and little sister. The two families had shared many joint mini-vacations over the years. Carol frequently called Linda's Mom and Dad, Mom 2 and Dad 2.

Carol knew who she had to call for support and advice, her Father's best friend Ben. Ben was her Father's brother in all but blood. She dialed his cell phone, but there was no answer. She then tried his condo phone. A groggy voice answered.

"Hello, hello?" The voice wasn't Ben's.

"Uncle Mark, is that you?"



Mark was, as her father said "Ben's better half." Ben and Jim had been childhood friends since forever. When Ben had told his family, after graduating from high school, that he was gay they had disowned him. Jim had suspected for over a year, but he didn't care nor did Jim's parents. With no job and with his car taken away, Ben was looking for a cheap flop house to stay. Jim told him, that he knew just the place and drove him back to his home. Jim's parents said that they always thought of Ben as family and it was nice to have another son. 

Ben was extremely smart beyond genius level but with losing his family's support he knew he wouldn't be able to afford college, and it was too late to pick up an academic scholarship for the first year. Jim was supposed to go away to college, but he had a late night discussion with his parents. The next morning Ben was told that the two of them would spend the first two years at the far cheaper, but still good, local community college. Later on they would move on to the State college.

Ben said, "You can't do that for me, you're already giving me a place to stay and food."

Jim's Mom, Grace said. "Shut up Ben, after breakfast, you two drive to college, apply and register for classes. You might even think about taking some classes during this summer term instead of waiting for fall. Finish your pancakes."

Grace looked at Ben expectantly. Ben still wanted to object but Grace's demeanor intimated him. But she also seemed to expect some response. Jim's Father, Frank, leaned over and whispered in Ben's ear.

"Better part of valor Son, say Yes Mom."

Ben looked startled and hesitantly said. "Yes Mom."

"Very good" replied Grace.

Jim, Frank and Grace looked down to resume eating, after a moment so did Ben.

Ben would go on to get a degree in engineering the same as Jim, but he would continue on to get his law degree. He went on to specialize in patent, corporate, and international law in the Pacific Rim. Putting it mildly, Ben was loaded, or more bluntly, Ben was stinking rich. Ten years ago, Ben and Mark met. Mark was a civil engineer with the county and a giant of a man. Two years later, Ben and Mark were bound together in a small but beautiful ceremony. While not officially recognized by the state, they exchanged powers of attorney and made other contractual agreements binding them together. 

After the ceremony, Grace warned Mark that he better treat her son right and then welcomed Mark to the family. Mark was extremely touched, even though he was a large man he was extremely sensitive. But he had to hide his sensitivity for two reasons. First, his sexual orientation and the second, and perhaps worse, the contrast between his large size and his emotional sensitivity. Big men are not supposed to cry. In most ways, Ben was the tougher of the two, even though physically he was quite smaller.

For years Ben spared no expense in taking care of his new parents. Paying for expensive vacations to the same countries that he did most of his business in, such as Japan, Taiwan, China, and Korea. Bills sent to Frank's and Grace's home were some how redirected and quietly paid by Ben. Frank caught on and had a confrontation with Ben. 

Ben's reply "A wealthy and successful son has the privilege, and pleasure to take care of his parents. Isn't that right?"

Frank was momentarily nonplused at Ben's reply. Grace who was witnessing the heated discussion, leaned over and whispered in Frank's ear. "Shut up Frank, and say Yes Son."

"Yes Son."

"Very good. Oh, your new car will be delivered tomorrow." With that he kissed his Mother on the cheek, and walked off grinning, leaving his Father standing there with an open mouth.

Four years later Grace suddenly passed because of a massive heart attack. For the next two months Frank just seemed to wither up, Jim and his family, Ben and Mark, while heart broken because of the loss of Grace, tried to help Frank but not even his grandchildren could lighten his heart. Frank died of a stroke, just seventy days after his wife. Ben insisted on paying for both funerals. There was a wake afterward Frank's funeral, where slides and films of Grace and Frank were shown. Seeing those happy times, seemed to help bring closure for those present. There were no dry eyes, but some of those tears were of joy, that they had known such people. 



"Uncle Mark, Uncle Mark." Carol was crying.

Mark was absolutely terrified to hear Carol on the phone like that. He had known Jim and his family for less time than Ben, but he thought of them as the closest of family and friends. Because of his large size, Mark thought of himself as the physical protector of his family and Carol was, by God, family.

"What's wrong Honey? Where are you I'll come get you?"

"Uncle Mark, I'm at the hospital. Daddy is very sick, he might be dying." With that Carol wailed.

Mark thought to himself. "Oh God, Oh God, got to be calm. Got to help Carol."

"Where's your Mom, Carol?"

"She's outside, but I don't want to, I can't talk about her." Carol cried.

"Daddy is in room 8136, can you and Uncle Ben come here? I need you Uncle Mark."

"I'm on my way Carol, Ben is out of the country, but I'm on my way. I love you, we will make everything all right. If you need me, before I get there, call my cell phone. Bye Carol, hang on, I'm coming."

"Bye Uncle Mark."

Mark hurriedly put on his clothes. Before heading to the door, he grabbed the household checkbook and the emergency credit card. The credit card, arranged by Ben, had a $100,000.00 limit. If money could solve the problem, by God, Mark was going spend like there was no tomorrow.

After a fast drive to the hospital, Mark rushed down the hall towards Jim's room. He was surprised to see Janice and a strange woman sitting in the hall and staring at a door, she seemed to be praying.

Mark nodded his head at the strange woman. "Janice, how are you doing? Is that Jim's room?"

Janice looked up at Mark with eyes full of grief and pain. "Yes, that's Jim's room, Carol is inside."

"I'm here for you Janice, don't worry. You've got my support." With that statement, Janice suddenly looked worse than before. Mark not knowing what else to say to Janice, introduced himself to the strange woman.

"Hello, my name is Mark, I'm a close friend of the family."

"Hello, I'm Nancy, I'm one of Janice's friends and neighbors."

"I'm glad Janice has such good friends like you, at this difficult time." Now Nancy looked suddenly stricken. What the hell is going on? He decided to go into the room and see Jim.

Nancy seeing Mark, going to the door warned him to put on a mask and gloves.

Carol was dozing in the chair, when the door opening, woke her. When she saw that it was Uncle Mark, her eyes filled with relief, that someone else was here to support her and Daddy.




Carol's Patch Job Ch. 02



"Hello Uncle Mark." She Whispered.

"Hello Carol, Honey, how are you doing?"

"Daddy's temperature is staying below 104. I'm much better now that you're here."

Mark knelt down at Carol's side and asked what was going on? 

"You better get a chair and sit down, it is a long story. But, first you got to promise me that you'll tell no one. Not even Uncle Ben or Daddy. I've got to talk to someone but I don't know what I'm going to do yet."

"Shit! What the fuck is going on." Thought Mark.

Mark moved a chair next to Carol and sat down. Carol proceeded to tell Mark what happened ever since her Father's call from the airport. Carol also told her Uncle Mark, that she was sure that her Mother was cheating on her Father.

Mark was shocked at the story and Carol's conclusion. "Carol, are you convinced that your Mother is cheating? She didn't come right out and say it, so maybe you misunderstood?"

"No, I'm sure Uncle Mark. I thought back, and maybe Mom's statement about Marge's brother was innocent. But, as soon as I heard it, I knew, I knew she was cheating. I've thought about it, sitting here, about how could I know. She has been such a lousy Mother and Wife for years, this explains all the time she stays away. This explains how she doesn't care about us, anymore. So, when I heard what she said about Marge's brother, I knew. I all but accused her of adultery, many times, and she never denied it. She just looked more guilty." Carol stated convincingly.

Mark continued to sit down next to Carol for the following two hours. Thinking about Jim and Janice, and how it didn't look good. He was also concerned about his promise to Carol, not to tell anyone. But, he knew what he was going to do. He was going to tell Ben about making a promise with Carol. He was going to explain that it was a bad situation, but he had to promise Carol so she could relieve herself to someone. Ben would understand and trust him to make the right decisions. But, if it got any worse, he would break his promise and bring in Ben.

After two hours, Mark got up because he had to hit the men's room. When he exited the room, he saw Janice and Nancy still sitting in the same place. Now Mark had had a special relationship with Ben's Mother, Grace. They had become the closest of friends, after his joining with Ben. Grace and Mark had shared many confidences. "Heck" he thought with a smile. "she even taught me all the family secret recipes." So, in many ways he thought of himself as Grace's surrogate. That now that she was gone, it was up to him, to do what she would have done, if she was here. With that thought, he crossed the hall to speak with Janice.

Kneeling down in front of Janice, he took her small hands in his. "Janice, Janice?" She tried to avoid his eyes. "Please look at me Janice." Slowly she lifted her eyes to look at Mark. "Janice, can you tell me about it?" Janice's eyes got bigger, and she shook her head no. The way she shook her head was more like a spasmodic nervous reaction than a deliberate act. With sigh, Mark got up. He knew he shouldn't say it while looking down at Janice, but he was so damn mad, he couldn't help himself. "You know, Grace would have kicked your ass."

Janice collapsed into Nancy's arms and sobbed.

Carol, Steve and Mark met the next day to discuss their suspicions regarding Janice. Steve had always been a computer geek. It was decided that he would bug the hell out of Janice, using wireless cameras and microphones connected to one of his computers. He would even get a voice activated recorder and hide it in Janice's car.

Jim got through the medical crisis of the next 48 hours and started to mend. Lisa was never told how close her Daddy came to dying and everyone conspired to make light of his sickness. She was brought in to see her Daddy, for a short visit on Monday.

The CDC and their Brazilian counterpart, had tracked Jim's exposure to a incident in a medical testing laboratory. The management there had known Jim might have been exposed, but they had covered it up. They had been in trouble too many times with the authorities, about sloppy safety procedures. The Brazilian authorities came down hard on them. Jim's employer, kept him on full pay and their was talk of a small bonus or settlement, because of Jim's pain and suffering. The Doctors figured Jim would need two to four weeks in the hospital, with another two to six weeks bed rest at home.

Jim couldn't figure out why Janice would hardly ever sit with or speak to him. She would come to the hospital and then just sit out in the hall. It hurt him terribly, he wasn't that infectious.

A week later, Ben returned from his overseas trip and visited Jim. The next day Mark, with Carol's permission, told the entire story to Ben. It was decided that Carol was going to be the boss of the operation. Ben and Mark would lend support and advice, and if necessary put a stop to things if it got to extreme. They knew, that they could not overcome a lifetime of being told and conditioned, to always be polite to women. They figured the only thing nastier than a mother with vengeance on her mind, was a teenage daughter with vengeance on her mind. Janice and the Three Bitches, were in for a world of hurt.

Steve's bugging of the house provided most of the shocking story. There were still a few things that they needed to know, but they had enough for the confrontation one week after Jim's initial sickness.

One of the more shocking things that they had learned was that in Jim's initial testing they detected some signs that he might be infected with syphilis, besides the nasty bug he picked up in Brazil. Subsequent testing showed no sign of syphilis, but it might have been knocked out by the antibiotics already administered. Jim's Doctor, quietly approached Janice about the matter and Janice promised him that she would be tested.

Marge had an acquaintance, that was a nurse, with the county health department. He agreed to quietly to have Janice tested. Testing revealed that Janice had a well developed case of the infection. The nurse agreed, since Jim was already under treatment, that he would keep it quiet. But, if he was going to take such a risk, then the ladies were going to have to help him out with some bills, for the next couple of months. Also, Janice's lovers were going to have to be tested. Carol's gang were sickened that Janice had cheated on Jim, with more than one lover.

"Mother, I'm going to drive Lisa to Aunt Penny's house for another visit tomorrow. I'll be back at noon. You and your three friends be here. If not Uncle Ben will get a lawyer for Daddy, and we will go to the Sheriff with information regarding bribery of a county health official." 

Janice looked at her daughter in complete shock.

"Do you understand Mother? This is not a bluff"

"Mother, say something!"

"Yes, I understand," whimpered Janice.

Carol, not liking her Mother's appearance, decided to call Nancy's house. From the recording, they now knew that Nancy had tried to put a stop to this farce but Janice had been too much in the clutches of Marge and Mary. When the truth came out, it was Nancy that stayed by Janice's side, while Marge and Mary did their best to bury the situation. Nancy answered right away and came over immediately. Carol told Nancy about tomorrow's meeting and left the house.

The following day Carol and her crew (Ben and Mark), entered the house to confront Janice and the Bitches. Steve knew all the facts, he just couldn't handle emotionally confronting his Mother. The ladies were all seated at the dining room table. Janice and Nancy close together, holding hands. Carol remained standing looking down on the women. The men were at her back, letting her be the spokes person. Carol had decided to try to remain as calm as possible and use as little invective as she could.

"This is what we know, we've got proof and if you want, we'll show it to you. But frankly, I don't want to waste that kind of time with you. If I hear too much denial we will just go to the sheriff, get Daddy a lawyer and start civil proceedings against you, Marge and Mary. Oh, don't look so shocked you two, and no denials!"

"Mary saw a man at the Hilton that looked a lot like Daddy, she told Marge, who went to look herself. They convinced themselves that it really was Daddy. I figure they got bored with their televised soap operas and wanted a real life soap. They then took some really bad photos of the man using their cell phones, and used those photos to convince you Mother, that Daddy was having an affair. They told you that he really wasn't leaving the country. They told you that it was all an act. They convinced you that he was cheating on you. Instead of confronting Daddy, they talked you into having your own affair. Nancy did her best to put a stop to it and have you talk to Daddy, but you've been ignoring common sense and your family for such a long time, that you let Marge and Mary persuade you."

"One thing that has got me confused, is that they had to have more proof than those bad photos. We found the hidden copy of Mister Henderson's report, the copy of your photos and his film of Daddy's look-a-like. No one could be stupid enough to believe that, that was Daddy just by them alone. I think Marge and Mary were so excited, that they might have faked up some other evidence. Well, if necessary we will find out about it in court."

"Marge and Mary, then acted as your pimps and went out to find you a lover, or should I saw fucker. Don't flinch you cheat! But instead of getting you just one, they got you four. It must have been so exciting for them. You do the wicked deeds, with four different men. You did things for your four fuckers that you never did for Daddy! So for his trip to Japan, you had two dates or fucks should I say. Then during his Korea trip, you had another two. It was your last fuck that time, you discovered Marge's brother. He was so good, that you just had to have him again, so while Daddy was in Brazil you had your chance. How many times have you screwed him? How many blow jobs have you given him? How many times have you worn the lingerie Father bought you, but never wore for Daddy, but for Marge's brother Danny. But then, Danny gave you such a nice present, syphilis! It was so nice, that even with your sloppy cunt, you decided to pass it on to Daddy. I guess we won't know for another five months if Danny gave you HIV too. Then we will have to wait and see if you passed it on to Daddy."

Mark and Ben, had been exchanging looks during Carol's diatribe. Both thinking, "I thought she was supposed to stay calm." And also thinking, that they had a barely restrained attack dog. They had a hard time stopping themselves from saying "Chew them up!" 

"I don't know how you could be so stupid, that you would think Daddy was staying in the US? You saw his passport and all the stamps. You took him to the airport. The international airline tickets, those are damn expensive how could you think Daddy faked all that? You know how frugal he is, in regards to himself. That's another question I've got, where does all your income go Mother? I've seen the family checkbook. Daddy deposits most of his pay in there, but you just deposit a little bit of yours. What are you spending all your money on, it doesn't seem to be this family?"

Janice was collapsed on the dining room table, shuddering. Nancy, Marge and Mary were all staring at Carol with shock and fear.

"So to end your little soap opera. You decided to hire a private detective to get the goods on Daddy and then confront him, when he got back from his supposed trip to Brazil. You would humiliate him with my Mother's adultery and kick him out of the house."

"Well this is the way it is going to be. I OWN YOUR ASSES! If you don't do exactly what I say, there will probably be jail time and lawsuits. Marge, Mary be back here tomorrow at two, now get your asses out of my house. Nancy and Mark could you please help my Mother upstairs?"

Marge and Mary quietly slunk out of the house, like a couple of weasels.

Mark jumped at the request, he was surprised to be forced out of his role as a silent participant. Nancy and Mark helped Janice upstairs to her bedroom. Ben followed up carrying a large box. Janice was set on her bed, curling up into a ball.

Carol knelt at the side of the bed, forcing her Mother to look are her.

"Mother, you've got to decide if you want to stay married to Daddy. You have to decide if you want to remain part of this family. If you do want to stay married to Daddy, I'll help you. But you've got to decide. In the boxes here, I've got all the family photos and videos, to help you remember what you've given up in the past few years. A lot of the more recent photos, your not in, because you were to busy with your friends. You make your decision. I still love you. I'm mad as hell, but I love you. If you decide it is time to go, I will still love you. You decide."

Carol got up. "Nancy can you stay with my Mother?" Nancy nodded her head, yes.

"Mother, you stay up here. Nancy can fetch you food from the kitchen. I will be back to talk with you at noon for your answer."

"I love you Mother."



Carol's Patch Job Ch. 03



"Mother, you stay up here. Nancy can fetch you food from the kitchen. I will be back to talk with you at noon tomorrow for your answer."

"I love you Mother."

Carol left the room and Janice returned to her fetal position. 

Nancy thought to herself. "How did I let this happen? I knew things didn't smell right. Mary has always been a backstabbing bitch and Marge, a queen ruling over her little domain. We had some good times, but I didn't let them run my life. Janice is a smart woman, how did she come to let Marge control her like that? I should have forced Janice to confront Jim. I could tell her that you tell Jim or I would. Maybe it is someone else's family, but there are children to protect. Now, this family might be destroyed. Janice has syphilis and is a basket case. Good grief, they might even have HIV."

Nancy called her husband Don and explained how Janice had broken down. She implied the break down was because of Jim's illness. She told Don that she needed to stay with Janice for the whole day and might not be home until late the next day, Sunday. Don understood and agreed to her plan. He would look after the children. Nancy, then went and got a wet wash cloth from the bathroom and started wiping down Janice's face and back of neck.

"Janice, I know you're upset. I know you're sorry and don't know what to do. Everything hurts too much and your too scared to think. Well listen to me, then. I'll help you. You know I tried to stop you. I tried to get you to stop listening to Marge. So you listen to me now. I'll be your coach, for as long as you want me too. You've got to calm down. I'm not going to yell at you. I'm not going to berate you. I'll try to be your shield. Sit up now, we don't have any time to waste. You've got to be strong and rescue your family."

Janice heard the words, "rescue your family". They seemed to resonate within her. If she concentrated on them, it could help turn her self perception from the revulsion at being a villain into maybe a heroine. She would use those words, to help her self grow strong and help her family.

For the entire day, Janice and Nancy talked. They talked about Janice's life with her family before Marge. They talked about Jim's illness. Early in the evening Janice put a random family tape in the VCR, with that going on in the background, she started going through the family albums. Things that she thought of as boring, for the last few years, she now thought of as indescribably precious. The family's daily bike rides, her bike was dusty and hadn't been ridden in years. The inexpensive weekend trips that they use to take once a month. All the little things the family used to do, and still did but without her. 

Six years ago, she was bored with her life. She wanted excitement. Janice had always enjoyed her soaps and bit of juicy gossip but Marge raised it to another level. Janice started to live vicariously through those soaps and nasty, wicked gossip. Much of the gossip being at best highly exaggerated truths to outright lies and distortions. Marge had been the leader, but Janice had willingly followed. The importance of her family had waned, and she had started living a lie. She had a complete imaginary life in her head, until it had led her to disaster, now reality had struck back, hard. She saw herself, if she didn't fix this problem, alone as cackling old woman in smelly old apartment, never leaving her couch and glued to the television. To live a meaningless life and then to be buried, with no mourners and especially no family. She could smell the sour apartment and see the empty graveside. With a sardonic thought, she suddenly saw herself as Scrooge when he was confronted by the Ghost of Christmas Future. Scrooge had redeemed his life, she just hoped she had the chance and strength to redeem hers.

Nancy spent the night with Janice and at noon, they were as ready as they were going to get for Carol's return.

Carol knocked on the door and came in. Janice was sitting washed and neatly dressed, with a determined expression of her face. Carol was surprised at her Mother's expression. It was far different from the previous two days. She had planned this meeting based on her Mother's prior behavior, this new look might force her to change things.

"Hello Mother, Nancy. Thank you Nancy for being here for my Mother."

Nancy nodded her head politely.

"Mother do you have anything to say?"

Janice braced herself took a deep breath and started. "What I did to your Father is terrible and I will never forgive myself. What I have been doing to this family for the past few years, is also terrible and I will never forgive myself. I lived an imaginary life in my head, where I didn't realize what I was doing to this family. I am so sorry and sickened to say, that it has taken something like this to wake me up. I love you all so much. Please, give me another chance? I know I will fall and make mistakes along the way, but I promise you that I will pick myself back up and keep trying. Don't throw me away, don't leave my life." Janice cried a little at the last, but fixed that determined expression back on her face.

"Mother we won't throw you away, we love you. But, do you want to stay married to Daddy?"

"I love your Father. I would love and be so happy to stay married to him. But, I cheated on him six times and gave him an STD, maybe HIV. How can he stay with a woman like me?" She cried.

"I've talked with Marge. Danny's last sexual experience, except for you, was over two months ago. He is the only one, you didn't use condoms with. He has tested positive for syphilis but negative for HIV. Most cases of HIV show up, after three months. The other three men have to be found, contacted and tested but you used condoms with them. I'm praying, but I think you might be alright."

"In regards to your cheating. I had an interesting conversation with Uncle Ben. It turns out. he remembers a particular conversation he had with Daddy about adultery. In the conversation Daddy said that if a spouse commits adultery. Then regretted and truly repented. Promising themselves to never stray again and doing everything in their power to make amends with the wronged spouse, then it is better if the cheating spouse doesn't tell the wronged spouse about the adultery. Daddy said, that if he was the wronged spouse, he would always doubt himself and the marriage. He would think that he wasn't really loved and that he was a terrible lover. " 

"So Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark, Steve and I have agreed to not tell Daddy about your adultery. If he flat out asks, we will have to tell him the truth. But we will try to avoid those situations. We will do our best to cover things up and support you, but we will not tell lies for you. We will though, lie by omission. It is up to you, to make Daddy feel so loved that he never asks. The first thing you have to fix, is you have to spend more time in the hospital room visiting Daddy. He feels terrible that your not coming in to see him and he doesn't understand why. You can tell him that it was the shock of almost losing him, that kept you away; or something like that. If we're asked we can just say shock and not to give the full answer, shock because of your adultery." 

"Now Mother, I want to know why you decided Daddy was cheating on you? It has to be more than those lousy photos."

"It was Mary." Answered Nancy. "She told us, how after your Mother dropped Jim at the airport, Jim would wait for Janice to leave and then catch a taxi to the Hilton. She said that she followed him all the way, for Jim's last three business trips."

"Did either of you read the detective's report?" Both women shook their heads no. 

"I've been feeling so guilty and with Jim obviously not cheating, there didn't seem to be any point." Answered Janice.

"The man you thought was Daddy. Doesn't fly into the Hilton, he drives his own car from his home town during the work week. He is just staying there until he completes his move to this area." The woman pictured is his fiancée and why he is switching jobs and moving here. On top of that, the traffic in the airport is a mess, how could Mary follow anyone through that?"

"After the truth came out, she told us she must have made a mistake and followed the wrong man. Obviously, she lied." Stated Nancy "She was always a twisted bitch and she wanted to have some excitement. We were so concerned about Jim and the aftermath, that we just never questioned such a shaky story. Though we did scream at her for being so stupid."

Janice said, "I want to hurt her but it is my own damn fault for not trusting and talking to your Father."

"Don't worry Mother, I will be dealing with Marge and Mary." Carol stated in a sinister voice with an evil glint in her eye.

"Carol...."

"Don't Mother, they hurt this family. I'm going to hurt them, there will be no discussion!"

"Mother there are certain things that we require of you, to get our support. One, you must get therapy, Uncle Ben will pay for it. We've found a therapist, if you don't like her, you can find your own. Two, unless Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark or I are present you will sever all communication with Marge and Mary. Three, you will encourage Daddy to move. He has always wanted to live further from the city, maybe by Aunt Penny's. Four, you mention to Daddy that if he ever wants to change jobs and move further from this area, you will support him. Five, what do you do with all your pay Mother? Daddy, lives so cheaply. He makes his shoes last until they are falling apart. He's got us in new cars, but he has over 300,000 miles on his minivan. That probably even hurts his job prospects to be so shabbily dressed and drive such a clunker. I know the only two good suits he has, Uncle Ben bought him as a present. You know how much pride Daddy has. He doesn't like to take expensive gifts for himself, from Uncle Ben. Yet he agreed to go to a fitting with Uncle Ben for the suits. He must have been pretty desperate. Most wives, I've talked to and heard about, are very involved in their husband's purchase of clothes and appearance. Where does your money go?"

Janice looked saddened at Carol's question. "You already know, I've been a bad wife and mother. As you said, Jim has his pride about money. He thinks that it is his job to financially take care of the family, to be the bread winner. It has always been difficult for him to ask me to contribute to the household finances. It is sad how grateful he is, for my small contributions. I only give him, maybe ten or fifteen percent of my pay. He never asks me, what I do with the rest. I think, he thinks I spend it on you kids or maybe save if for your college education."

"But he is wrong. I do have a secret saving's account, but it doesn't have very much money. I spend most of my income on clothes and once or twice a week, I go to a very expensive restaurant for lunch."

"Mother you don't have that many clothes. You can't have spent that much money on them."

Janice laughed. "Honey, you've never cared much about clothes. Or perhaps you've been too busy, doing my job to care." Janice looked sad with the last statement. "I like to look sharp, when I go to work. Really too sharp for an elementary school teacher. That purse there, fifteen hundred dollars. The pant suits in the closet, the cheapest one, eight hundred dollars. I don't have a pair of shoes below three hundred. I think, I wanted to dress like the women in my soaps. I loved how, at the expensive shops, they treat you like royalty. I don't exercise, but I go to a fancy spa. Once or twice a month, each visit three to five hundred. That is where all my money goes and I'm so sorry."

"Mother, you've got to stop. Uncle Ben and I've looked at the family finances. We are not in good shape. Uncle Ben and I were hoping that you had a secret bank account with tens of thousands of dollars, maybe over one hundred thousand dollars. Something to help with a move, maybe get Daddy a newer car. Uncle Ben even told me how Daddy, being terribly depressed and embarrassed, asked if Uncle Ben could help him with my college tuition when I graduate high school. Uncle Ben said Daddy cried because he feels like such a failure."

Janice started to cry.

"Mother, I hate to rub it in. But Daddy could have had many better paying jobs over the years if you would have let us move. He hates his job now, but it was the only one he could get. He hates being away from home."

Janice looked up with a stricken face. "I don't know what I can do. I don't know what I can say. I am so sorry. I do have almost ten thousand dollars but it is so little, what with you and Steve being so close to college."

"Mother, I'll talk to Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark. You know how much he loves Daddy. You remember what he did for Grandma and Grandpa. I think he will be happy to help. We will figure out the money problem. What about our other conditions? Do you agree to them?"

"Do you really think Ben and Mark will help?" Asked Janice with hope in her voice.

"Yes, mother I think they will be happy to help and if they don't, I will stop playing pinochle with them." Carol said with a grin. "But what about our conditions?"

"Yes, yes I'll be happy to do them."

"Wait a moment Mother, because I've got a condition of my own." With that Carol stepped out into the hallway and returned with a shopping bag.

"Listen to this Mother, very carefully. MY DADDY IS SECOND TO NO MAN! Do you remember the things he said about love and passion the day he got back? Well I remember them very well. You did things with those four fuckers you've never did with Daddy. The lingerie Daddy bought for you, but never wore for him, YOU WORE FOR THEM! So help me God, if I find out you had them in Daddy's bed, I will belt you silly. You are going to burn the lingerie that you wore for those assholes and buy new for Daddy. Spend some of your savings I don't care! You are going to quit using the spas, but start exercising again. Tighten up that sloppy cunt of yours! You are going to become Daddy's wet dream. All those things you did for those Aaaargh, worthless scum, you are going to do for Daddy and more. I've bought some books, God was I embarrassed. How to sexually please your man, the Karma Sutra and such like. Read them, memorize them, live them. Wake Daddy up with a blow job every morning, if you have to! You're going to let him know that you see him as a sexy man. I hope you don't have to fake it. But if you do, you better be a damn good actress! That is my condition Mother and it is a deal breaker. Daddy deserves to have a passionate love life and if you won't give it to him. I'll have him divorce you and I'll find him a new wife. I still love you and you will stay in my life, but you won't be short changing my Father anymore!"

Janice was shocked speechless. She had planned to make things up to Jim, sexually. But, she hadn't really thought it out and she realized that she hadn't been prepared to go as far as Carol proposed. But on reflection, she realized that Carol was right. She loved and owed it to Jim. If he wanted sexy, he was going to get it. She also promised herself, to think about Danny and the other three with nothing but contempt and hatred. She would try to blot out the memories of having sex with them. Jim would be the best she as ever had. She again owed it to her husband. She also had a premonition, that Jim would discover the truth one day. If she could prove herself to Jim, before that day, they might weather that storm. She cold only pray.

Janice looked Carol directly in the eyes. "You're right and I agree with my whole heart to your condition."

"Thank you Momma. We've got an hour for lunch. Steve is keeping Lisa busy and out of the house. Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark, Marge and Mary will be here at two."

Precisely at two pm, Marge and Mary rang the front door bell. They probably had not wanted to come at all, but didn't dare show up late. They were invited in and asked to sit at the dining room table. Ben and Mark were already in the house, sitting at the table. Carol had told her Mother and Nancy to remain upstairs. Carol again ran the show.

"Hello Marge. Hello Mary. I've got rules and questions for you. You don't follow the rules, I go to the sheriff and we sue you. You don't answer my questions truthfully and the same thing happens. Do you understand?"

Both women nodded their heads.

"We know Mary lied about following my Father from the airport. Do not try and deny it Mary. We don't know if you, Marge, knew it was a lie or not. I'm not going to ask you about that question Marge, because I have no way of knowing the truth. But, with my other questions I will not be as forgiving. First question, we know about Danny, who are the other three fuckers and how do we find them?"

Marge and Mary looked at one another and Marge finally spoke first.

"I found two people and Mary found two. My second one was Tom Williams, he works with me at the hospital. He is an x-ray technician. But he thought your Father was cheating on your Mother and wanted to help."

"Well he didn't really help, did he? He knew Mother was married and didn't care. He just agreed with your sick plan, maybe he just wanted some easy sex? Is he married?"

"No"

"Well, we will deal with him. Mary, what about your two?"

Mary looked up sullenly and didn't answer.

Carol grinned and slowly walked around the table. When she got behind Mary's chair, she suddenly grabbed Mary's hair slammed her forehead against table. Then she yanked back on her hair, causing her neck to arch over the high back of the dining room chair. Carol bent down and using her forearm put a choke hold around Mary's neck, at first squeezing quite tightly and temporarily cutting off Mary's air. Carol let her hold relax and whispered in Mary's ear.

"We know that you are the twisted bitch behind Marge's throne. Uncle Ben has money, and the law on his side. Uncle Mark has new bridges being built with deep piers full of cement. How would you like to be part of a new bridge? You're my bitch now, you will bark when I tell you. I know what you did. If you knew what I fantasize doing to you, you would be crapping your pants. Now answer my question." 

Carol slammed Mary's head into the table again, not as hard. Let go and stepped back to observe Mary.

Mark whispered. "Whoa, someone is channeling Grandma Grace." Ben heard the whisper, looked at Mark with big eyes and nodded his head, yes. Marge attempted to get up from the table. Carol growled at her. Marge sat back down.

"Now Mary, let us try that again. Who are the two fuckers you fixed up with my Mother?"

Mary massaged her forehead tenderly, seeing a few stars. She looked at Carol with a lot of anger in her face, but there was also fear and doubt. Doubt that she had any control of the situation. Doubt, because she was now way over her head and one of her little games was coming back to hurt her, badly.

"The first one is the parcel delivery guy that comes to my office, Ted. I don't know his last name. The other is a guy, I found on the internet. His first name is Jack, I've got his address.

"Very good, we will find them." Carol said with a sinister voice. Ben and Mark, again exchanged looks.

"Next question, where did the fucking take place?"

Marge answered. "Once in a hotel, twice in Mary's house and Danny's three times were at my home."

Janice had already given that information to Carol. But Carol had wanted to make sure nothing had happened in her family home.

"Who else knows about the fucking? Who else was in on it? Who else have you told? We know you like to gossip. Who else?"

Marge hesitantly spoke up. "I told my sister, a friend at work and I might have mentioned something to my husband."

Mary answered as well, she was scared at what Carol might do to her, if she refused to speak. "I told a few people." She wasn't sure how many, she lived for nasty gossip.




Carol's Patch Job Ch. 03



"You will go back to them. You will tell them you got it wrong, you lied, you misunderstood. I don't care what you say or how you handle it, but you will clear my Mother's name. Because if you don't, then one day soon my Father will find out. When that happens, I have no reason to go easy on you. Be aware, I am being very kind to you, right now."

"You will sever all ties with my Mother and Nancy. No communication unless Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark or I; want it."

"The last thing to tell you two. I suggest you start training, in two weeks I'm going to bust you up. Ever since I was ten, Daddy had me taking self defense classes. I've slowed down a bit, but I still spar at least once a month. Get ready, I will find a gym, dojo, boxing ring, hell empty warehouse; but I will find something. The second weekend from now. Mary, your turn will be on Saturday. Marge yours is on Sunday. I will be calling you about the location. You think you can lie to my Mother for your sick fantasies and get away without being hurt. You must be crazy."

Ben whispered to Mark. "Yep, definitely channeling Grace. Maybe we can hire an exorcist?"

Mark whispered back. "But I've missed Grace."

Marge and Mary were frozen with the realness of the threat. They were married women close to forty, in an affluent suburb. They don't get beaten up, like some high schooler. But looking at Carol, they realized that was exactly what was going to happen. They both started wondering if they could talk their spouses into moving.

"In case you two haven't figured it out. This meeting is over. Get out!"

Marge and Mary got up so suddenly, that their chairs nearly fell over. Both of them scrambled out of the house, like they were a couple of mice being chased by a cat.

When the Bitches left, Carol sat down in a chair and collapsed with her head on the table.

"Acting and talking like makes me tired and thirsty."

Ben got up and got Carol a glass of water. The bedroom door opened upstairs and they could hear footsteps coming down.

"Are they gone?" Asked Nancy.

"Yep, Carol scared them away, after challenging them to a duel." Replied Ben.

"A duel?" Repeated Janice, alarmed. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing much Momma, just in two weeks I'm going to kick their asses. They lied to you, they conned you, they hurt your marriage, they hurt you, they hurt Daddy and they're not going to get away with it."

"You can't do that Carol. I can't let you get hurt."

"Don't worry Momma. I've had five years of self defense classes. A mixture of Karate, Judo and good old street fighting. I'm not going to get hurt, they are. I just hope, I don't put them in the hospital. They deserve it, but it makes things messy."

Janice chose to remain silent, but she promised herself that later she would talk further with Carol about her fighting.

"We've got leads on the other three men you were with, Janice. I know an expert who will get us full details. Then Mark and I will deal with them. I've got some ideas."

Carol was worried. "Uncle Ben, are you sure you want to do this? This could ruin your reputation, you might lose your license."

"Don't worry, I think things will be safe. As for my job, I've made plenty of money. If I never work another day if my life, I would still be okay. But these four jokers, knew you were married Janice. I know they thought Jim was cheating too, but they still violated your marriage. We can't let them get away. If Jim ever finds out about this, he needs to know that they paid for their sins. We're not going to kill them or even break their bones, but they're going to feel some pain."

"No", stated Janice firmly. Everyone turned to look at her in surprise. "I hurt Jim with those four, even if he doesn't know it. I hurt my marriage and myself. I've got to be there too. I've got to hurt them. I know I'm primarily at fault, but I've paid and will be paying for the rest of my life. They need to feel some pain and maybe they will never screw with a married woman again."

"Enough of this kind of talk. We can make plans later about the four jokers when we get the all the details. I think it is time that we emotionally relaxed, this kind of stress can make you crazy. And Janice, I don't want to insult you. but don't you think it is time you had a real visit with Jim? 

"You're right Mark. It is past time. Nancy and I were talking about it. She is going to drive me to the hospital."

"Carol, I know I've lost a lot of your respect and love. It is my own fault. But I think you should relax for the rest of today. I've been hiding in my bedroom enough. You've been working yourself silly for the past week and doing my job for the past few years. Please, take it easy for the rest of today."

"Okay Momma, I am a bit tired. You did lose some of my respect, but you're starting to earn it back and you never lost any of my love. I'll stay home and catch up on some homework. Maybe I can get Uncle Ben to do it for me." She said the last with a grin.

Mark and Ben laughed. Everyone got up from the table, when a round of tearful hugs swept the room. Janice again saying how sorry she was to everyone. She and Nancy gathered their purses and coats, then left for the hospital.

Carol went upstairs to lie down, maybe to goof off and watch a little television. Ben and Mark decided to stay and be of help around the house. Mark went to the grocery store and returned shortly. He had purchased the ingredients for Grandma Grace's chicken and dumplings, corn bread and pecan pie.

Steve and Lisa returned from a day at the mall. Ben explained a little to Steve about what was going on and how things were looking better. But Steve didn't really want to know. Steve had been trying to compartmentalize this episode regarding his Mother. He was trying desperately to pretend that it hadn't really happened. This behavior was so obvious to Ben that he kept the conversation very short and ended it, when Steve started getting a look of panic in his eyes.

For the rest of the day and early evening, after Mark's dinner, Ben did indeed help Carol with her homework. He also helped Steve and Lisa. Ben was able to give little bits of advice or direction that greatly helped them do to a better job and complete their homework faster.

After Carol finished her homework; she, Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark sat down to play some three handed pinochle and eat pecan pie. Her Dad and Uncle Ben were complete pinochle addicts from their childhood, they had spread their addiction to Carol, Steve and Mark, plus they were working on Linda.

"Uncle Ben I've talked to Momma about her pay." Carol stated, while they were all sorting their cards, after the latest deal. "It isn't good, she spent most of her money on clothes. She didn't buy a lot but she bought expensive stuff. I can't believe how expensive. So, she doesn't have much money left over, for all the years she has been working. She says she has about ten thousand dollars in a secret savings account. That isn't very much, if we want Daddy to move and get a newer car." Carol mentioned nothing about her own college. She figured that was her responsibility now. 

Ben kept looking at his cards, but spoke acting as if it was no big deal. "Carol Honey, I've got a more money that I could possibly spend. Your Dad has known how it was always his for the asking. But he's got his pride. He looks back at his life, he sees a few small financial mistakes and blames himself, that you're not all living in a mansion. We need to take the financial pressure off of your Dad. Ten thousand dollars isn't going to do it. Well maybe it could, but not to your Dad's way of thinking. You don't know how scared he is about losing his job right now. He sees himself as a sick older man and completely expendable with no financial cushion. Now, don't worry I've had a private chat with his employer. While your Dad doesn't like the job, they are a pretty decent bunch. They are not concerned about civil litigation, they just want to do the right thing for your Father and company morale."

But, your Daddy is feeling pretty weak and vulnerable right now. So I think, we need to increase your Mother's nest egg a bit." Ben looked to Mark, who nodded his head affirmatively. Ben then showed Mark two fingers, while Carol wasn't looking. Mark shook his head and showed three fingers back to Ben, Ben then nodded his head. "So, I think we will be adding thirty thousand dollars to your Mother's account. She can then tell your Dad she was saving it for emergencies and your college."

Carol looked at her Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark with her face full of sorrow, she looked terrible. "I'm so sorry Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark. I know we should be taking care of ourselves..."

"Stop Carol!" Ben had a quite crossed expression on his face, he was pissed. "Carol years ago Jim, Frank and Grace made me part of this family. I then brought Mark in and they accepted him too. Are you saying we're not part of this family and can't help our loved ones? I could just as easily put a million dollars in your Mom's account, the only problem is your Dads' pride. So don't talk about it anymore." Ben took a deep breath and looked down at his cards trying to calm down.

"I'm sorry Uncle Ben, Uncle Mark. Your part of this family, I love you." Carol said tearfully.

Ben looked up. "Don't worry Carol, I'm sorry I yelled. We're all under a lot of stress and worried about your Dad. I'm really sorry I yelled and I love you too.

Mark decided to speak and lighten up the mood. "I've got an idea about a new house. With the housing collapse there are a lot of homes only partially completed out Penny's way. Houses where the frames are up, the roofs are on, but they only have the Tyvek up with no brick or siding to complete the exterior job. Through the county I can find out the current owners and we can make an offer on one of them. We can hire someone to finish the exterior and then we can finish the interior ourselves. There are a lot of homes like that, that have reverted to some financial institution. We should be able to pick up one cheap."

Ben looked at Mark, with a slightly wary expression. "It sounds like a good idea, but what about this plan about us finishing the interior. You want me to paint again, you know how much I hate painting! I'll hire painters."

Mark looked back with grin. "It's about time you did some honest work."

"I'll do all the electrical but I'm not going to do any painting or tile work. And, we will definitely hire a crew to do all the drywalling!"

"Oh, I agree about the drywalling and maybe the insulating too. But you know how much painters charge, we could save a bundle there."

"I don't care. I don't paint. When Jim gets better, the next time he goes on a business trip. Whoosh, I hire crew and get the job done in a week. Painters need jobs too, nowadays. I'll even splatter some drops of paint artistically on my work clothes. Jim will never know the truth. I will not paint. I didn't make a ton of money, so I could do jobs I hate." Ben was giving Mark and evil glare, with his brows crunched down. It kind of gave him a Cro-Magnon look.

Mark and Carol laughed. "Okay you win, but if Jim finds out, you've got to take the heat. Now for this house, we might have a tough time finding a buyer that will offer us a decent price. We might have to use a front company to buy the house and then resell it, when the housing market rebounds."

Ben nodded his head and said with a grin. "No problem, I know all about front companies. But I've never had one of my own. I've always wanted one."

"A car shouldn't be a problem. I can probably dig up a good deal out of the cars seized by the county."

"You know how he'll want another minivan. He thinks minivans are the most functional, practical and wonderful cars on the planet. The man has no taste, maybe we can talk him into an SUV. That's it, we will find him, or create, such a good deal on an SUV, that he can't refuse." Ben chortled.

Carol who was more than a little embarrassed at her Father car said. "Please do, Daddy has no taste. The only good clothes he has, are the suits you picked out for him."

Ben patted her hand. "Don't worry Honey, just let Uncle Ben take care of it."

"Jim always brags about how much more will fit inside his minivan than Janice's or my SUV. Heck, we've even borrowed his clunker when we've gone to auctions." Mark said.

"Like I said, I'll take care of it. We'll make sure we buy him one with a trailer hitch. Then we will all go in together and buy a good utility trailer and keep it at Jim's new house. If he or we, need to haul some big stuff, we've got the trailer. Now enough talking about dumb stuff. Lets play some cards."

At the hospital Janice and Nancy were walking down the hall. They had stopped and picked up some magazines and new books, that Janice thought Jim would like. She was hoping that he would be asleep when she got there. It would make it some much easier for her. He would wake up and see his devoted wife sitting at his side. But if he was awake, she would feel like the cheating bitch she actually was, finally making her appearance to see her sick husband. She didn't know what she would say, if he was awake. As luck would have it, she could hear voices in Jim's private room and one of them was Jim's. Janice decided to wait outside the room and listen.

"I don't want you to worry Jim. All of us at the office and management, are worried about you and will make sure, you're taken care of. Take your time getting better. You've got workman's comp and we will make up the rest, to make sure your receiving full pay, plus the same amount you regularly earn in performance bonuses. Of course, your medical is taken care of. I've talked to some people and it might be three months until you make a full recovery and get your strength back. If it is shorter, that is great. If it is longer, again no problem, don't worry. Now about your pain and suffering. If you want to go the lawyer route, I will understand. But I've got a proposal for you, since the doctors are 99 percent sure that you will make a full recovery. What we're offering is double pay, complete with double bonuses, until you fully recover. Even when you initially come back to work, you will be getting double pay. That will only stop when you're back to 100 percent. Does that sound fair?"

"That sounds very fair to me. So long as there are no sudden jokers in the deck that effect my health. I would like to tentatively agree with your proposal and so long as I make a full recovery; I would very much like to accept. I would also like to tell you how much it means to me for you come here, Mister Wilkins. For the CEO of the company to visit me and give me reassurance, means a lot."

"Jim, call me Brian. I know we've never met much, but we don't stand on a lot of formality at the office. You've done a good job for us and we want to keep you. You've got a real gift for communicating with our customers. Many of them, specifically ask for you. That is why, you've pulled more than your fair share of the business trips. I know that we've compensated you for them with larger bonuses, but I think it is time we raised your base pay too."

Jim looked slyly at his boss. "Are you going to raise my pay before or after I get back to the office?"

Brian laughed. "After you get back, I'm a nice guy but I'm not dumb."

Jim laughed too.

"Jim I left you my card, with my cell number. You need something, that is not getting taken care of by someone else, call me. I will stop by and see you in a week. Take care."

"Thank you Brian, goodbye." 

Brian nodded and left the room.

Janice didn't want Jim's boss to see her. What if he knew she hadn't been coming to visit Jim. She didn't know what she would say. So, when she heard the conversation end, she grabbed Nancy's arm and quickly walked away from Jim's room. When Mister Wilkins had left the room and was out of sight down the hallway. Janice returned to standing outside the door of Jim's room. Janice braced herself to see Jim, she still didn't know what she would say but she had to start seeing Jim sometime. She longed to see and talk to him, but was so afraid. 

Because, visitors no longer needed to put on gloves and a mask, though they were still encouraged to wash up after visiting Jim, Janice could forgo that inconvenience. 

Janice squared her shoulders and entered the room. She looked at Jim in shock and disbelief. He was already fast asleep. He looked so pale and thin, lying there. 

Janice again felt waves of guilt for all her actions. That long conversation he had with his boss, had probably exhausted him. She sat down in the chair, along side the hospital bed, and lightly took Jim's hand in hers. She resolved not to move until Jim awoke and saw her sitting there, holding his hand. She was going to let nothing tear her away from Jim again. Not even her own actions. If necessary, she would handcuff herself to Jim and throw away the key. It might make going to the bathroom, kind of tough though. She thought wryly. Then again, it might be kind of kinky, he might just like that. 

Nancy sat down in a chair along side the wall and started to peruse one of the magazines that they had bought for Jim.

End of Part Three, to be continued...



Carol's Patch Job Ch. 04



Janice squared her shoulders and entered the room. She looked at Jim in shock and disbelief. He was already fast asleep. He looked so pale and thin, lying there. 

Janice again felt waves of guilt for all her actions. That long conversation he had with his boss, had probably exhausted him. She sat down in the chair, along side the hospital bed, and lightly took Jim's hand in hers. She resolved not to move until Jim awoke and saw her sitting there, holding his hand. She was going to let nothing tear her away from Jim again. Not even her own actions. If necessary, she would handcuff herself to Jim and throw away the key. It might make going to the bathroom, kind of tough though. She thought wryly. Then again, it might be kind of kinky, he might just like that. 

Nancy sat down in a chair along side the wall and started to peruse one of the magazines that they had bought for Jim.

Jim felt a hand lightly gripping his own. Probably Carol or Lisa again, it might even be Steve. God, he hated those nightmares. They would really rip him up. It was so idiotic, a bit of human contact seemed to help calm him down some but it was a childish weakness that he didn't enjoy. He felt like such a fool with his children having to hold his hand, like he was a baby. It probably made Steve pretty embarrassed too. But the worse thing was showing weakness to his little girl, Lisa. She shouldn't have her nose rubbed in the reality that her parents could be as weak as anyone else. Well, at least the pain was getting better, his fever was all but gone, but he was so damn weak. He was still stuck using a bed pan and couldn't even wipe his own ass. All he had been able to do lately was sleep and think. Maybe too much thinking or maybe he hadn't been doing enough thinking lately. He certainly hadn't had too much down time in the last four years, to waste on extraneous thoughts. 

Jim slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see his wife. At first it was a pleasant surprise, then it turned kind of sad. He had been doing a lot of thinking lately.

"Hey Babe."

Janice looked up at the voice. "Hey Jim, how are you doing sweetheart?" She asked gently.

Jim was a small bit surprised at the endearment. Janice hadn't been using them much lately. "Oh you know. Could be doing worse, could be doing better. But Doctor Richards says, things are going as expected. Probably spend another two weeks in the hospital. Just because I'm so damn weak and might need some physical therapy. Though, they could send me to something like a nursing home, for that. They want me to stay on the antibiotics for a full month, but the infection seems to be clearing up okay."

Janice had already learned that information from Carol and Doctor Richards, but Jim had no way of knowing.

"I'm glad your getting better Jim. I've been so worried about you." Janice cursed herself for her inane reply. It sounded like something you would say to a close friend and not your beloved husband. But she was so damn afraid and nervous. She felt her sins were written all over her face, plain for Jim to see.

"Janice, where have you been? I've barely seen you at all, since I've been admitted. Why haven't you been coming to see me? I don't like to make you uncomfortable or sad. But all this time stuck in bed has given me too much time to think, and I don't understand your behavior. I love you, but now I'm wondering if you love me? Heck, I'm even wondering if you like me?"

"Oh Honey, I do love you! I'm so sorry I haven't been here. I was so wrong. But the day you came home, left me an emotional wreck. I haven't been doing right by you and the children, but I promise that has changed. I will never leave you alone again and I'll return to being a proper mother. Just give me a chance, you'll see. I love you so much."

"Okay Dear, I will say one more thing about the subject. We are the parents and the adults in our family unit. We don't have the luxury of being an emotional wreck for over a week. We must take care of our children. If one of us falters for some reason, like me getting sick, the other is supposed to try and pick up the slack. You've got to be strong for the children. If you need help, you know that Ben and Mark would be happy to lend a hand. I'm sorry, if that sounded like a lecture. But so many adults behave like spoiled children nowadays, being completely irresponsible. Once you get married, you give 100 percent to your marriage and spouse. If children come along, then you give them 100 percent, too. I'm sorry I lectured, that isn't something one spouse should do to another. I just feel strongly about the issue of adult responsibilities and I've had far and away too much time, staring at the ceiling alone with my thoughts. Well I lectured again, I'm sorry Honey." 

Jim shook his head. "Way to behave like an idiot." He thought. "Now, she won't ever come back for visit again." With so much time to think, Jim knew that there were things wrong in his marriage. While he had been giving as close to 100 percent as he could, it seemed to him that Janice was giving only 40 or maybe 60 percent at most. But now, was not the time to bring that up and confront Janice. Perhaps he would never bring it up. Maybe his sickness would serve as a wake up call and she would straighten herself out on her own. He could only pray.

Janice didn't like to be lectured to, as if she was one of her own elementary school students. But she forced herself to calm down and look squarely at the complete situation. Her terrible behavior, Jim's confinement to bed and she realized that if she took any offense at Jim's behavior, it would be one of the all time dumb things to do. She was still a little bit piqued at Jim for his condescending behavior, but she deserved it, more than he could ever know. She would swallow the hurt to her pride, she deserved worse. And there was worse she thought, with grim humor, for Jim had been completely right in lecturing her.

"Jim, you're right. I've got to do more for the family and you."

"Son of a bitch," Jim thought. "Aliens have come and abducted my wife and replaced her with a pod person. I wonder what you feed pod people. I wonder if they have sex? Thank you Mister Aliens."

Jim swallowed his grin. "Thank you Dear for being so gracious. I know I sounded like a jerk. I think maybe, my feelings have been hurt because I've just missed you so much." 

Jim mentally patted himself on the back. "There you go Jim, apologize, give her some guilt, remind her that you love her and then make it all sound so polite. You deserve an Oscar or maybe a Clio. Boy, aren't pain meds a wonderful thing?"

For the rest of the visit they talked about household concerns and the children. Jim brought up bills, that needed to be paid. Janice said that Ben was giving her a hand with that. She didn't want to admit that it was Carol and Ben doing all the work, but she resolved to sit down with them, review things and take over. That was one of the jobs she was supposed to be doing.

"You've got to be careful with Ben. He has a habit of using the wrong check book."

"We've only got one check book, Jim." Janice was confused.

"Yeah, but Ben has one too, and he gets confused so easily. At least, that is one of the excuses he used with Dad."

"Now, when it comes to my pay. I've arranged with my Boss for direct deposit of all the checks. Workmen's comp, my regular salary and my bonuses will all be directly deposited. It might take a week or two for the comp checks to get started, but we should be okay. You just have to check with the bank to verify the deposits. Any bills you receive, for my medical care, just mail to my office. I've got a card here with the address and department. On top of that, I might be getting some extra money from the company because of pain and suffering. I won't count on that until we actually see it, but it will be nice if it happens."

It was now time for Janice to tell one of her whoppers. "Jim, Honey I'm so embarrassed. I haven't been helping out enough financially."

"That's okay, don't...."

Janice interrupted. "No it is not okay, you don't have to be the sole bread winner for this family. I've got some money in my savings account but it should be far more. I've just squandered too much of my pay on nonessentials, when I should have been helping you more. I've got almost forty thousand dollars in savings, but for all the years I've worked and you paid most of the bills, it should be a lot more. From now on, two thirds of my pay will go straight into the household account." 

Janice felt guilty, that she was keeping a third of her pay, for herself. She knew Jim kept far less of his pay, and he spent most of it on gasoline. But she didn't know how she would be able to manage on less. She would try to be as frugal as possible, maybe she would surprise herself.

Getting sick doesn't seem to be a bad thing now. Janice has some savings and she is going to contribute more. My boss is going to give me double pay for a couple of months. We'll be able to put more money in the kid's college funds, maybe put some in our retirement plans, and maybe I could get myself a newer used minivan. "Whoa Jim, don't spend it, all at once. Just give the van a tune-up, a break job, and maybe new tires." Jim thought.

"Oh Honey, that is great. Forty thousand dollars will be a big help for the kids college fund and our retirement. And I really appreciate you putting in so much of your pay. I'm not going to hold you to that. Because I'll understand if you can't do it all the time, but every thing extra you do, really helps. I love ya, Baby!"

Janice, felt like a complete shit. Jim was so grateful. He didn't ask, what she had been spending all her pay on, for over ten years. She fucks him over, literally and figuratively, and he says thank you. She was a worm and didn't deserve to live.

Janice smiled weakly at her Husband. "I'm glad you're happy. I'm just sorry, I'm not able to do more."

"This is great, don't worry. It is a big relief to me, believe me." Jim gripped Janice's hand as tight as he could. Which wasn't very tight, considering how weak he was.

Since Jim had been focusing on Janice to the left of his bed, Nancy being on the right side against the wall was unnoticed by Jim. She had heard the entire conversation. She couldn't help but think, that Jim was too much of a soft touch and he should take a ruler to his wife's butt. 

It was funny, Jim was well known for his nightly walks through out the neighborhood. Everyone else called it Jim's nightly patrols. Every large neighbor hood had a bully or two. Sometimes they were even the adult homeowners. Jim would walk by these homes letting them know, he wasn't afraid, and that he had his eye on them and their large barking dogs. They always seemed to have mean dogs. No one ever knew, for sure, if Jim had any physical confrontations, but he always had a pair of leather gloves sticking out of his back pocket, even in the warmest of weathers. Frequently he would be seen with a walking stick as well. When asked about the stick, he would say that it made him feel like an English gentleman.

Nancy asked her husband about the gloves and stick. He said the gloves were to protect his hands, when he punched someone and the stick was for the dogs. Janice had told Nancy, that she had asked Jim why he walked at night. He said that he liked walking in the night air and that it was his duty, as the Father, to make sure his family had a safe neighborhood, where they never felt threatened or intimidated.

So here was a guy ready for nightly fist fights and attacking dogs, letting his wife screw him over. Then profusely thanking his wife when she reduced the screwing. Nancy was beginning to think, that Jim needed therapy too.

Jim and Janice chatted for while longer about innocent things. Bringing Nancy into the conversation when Jim realized she was there. But they only talked for a short while longer. Jim recognized that he was getting tired again, and that he could fall asleep at any moment. He urged Janice and Nancy to leave while he was still awake enough, to tell them goodbye. Janice reluctantly left, she wanted to stay the night but she needed to make good on her new financial responsibilities to the family and get to work in the morning.

"I love you, Sweetheart. I'll be back tomorrow evening. You need anything or if you just want to talk, call me."

"Bye Dear," Jim said with a yawn. Janice and Nancy left Jim's room. Janice feeling much better, now that she had started to heal things with Jim. But realizing that she had a hell of a lot of work to do. 

That Monday, Ben had his expert find out full details on all four of Janice's lovers. Tuesday, Ben had the three other than Danny, contacted separately by an intermediary. The man warned the three, that Janice had contracted an STD. He suggested that all of them should see their doctors and be tested. He also warned them that they better do things quickly and share their results with him. If they did not, this private matter would become public when he contacted the county health department. All three men agreed to have tests done the next day and would share their results as soon as they got them.

Ben, Mark and Janice then had to delay their revenge on the four until they got the test results. They could have maybe dealt with Danny, but Janice wanted to save him for last. While they waited, Ben hired some very discrete private investigators to dig up every bit of dirt on the four. They finally got the test results and Danny was the only one with an STD. Janice, Ben, and Mark were ready to start their revenge.

During the next two weeks, Janice visited with her new therapist, Doctor Michelle Ward, twice a week. Doctor Ward, while young, only thirty-two, was quite respected and a successful author of both professional and self-help books. She was a genius, like Ben. He had met her, at the local Swollen Head Society, as he liked to put it. Michelle was widowed quite young, her husband had an unknown heart defect that had suddenly taken his life. For the first three visits, Janice told her story to Doctor Ward. For the most recent visit, even though Doctor Ward used polite language, it felt like someone had torn Janice to shreds. The gist of the conversation, was that Janice had been unforgivably selfish and childish. Not just recently, not just for the past six years, but for her entire marriage. A good example of that, was the way she had kept her income, entirely separate from the household. Squandering her pay on expensive clothes and lunches, and not recognizing Jim's hard work or his shabby attire. Then for the past six years it got worse, with Jim still doing his best, with no thanks to Janice. Janice then believed a completely idiotic story about Jim and let herself be convinced to cheat on him. To compound all that, she cheated with four different men and did repeat business with one of them. This was all said in very polite and civilized language befitting a gifted psychiatrist. But Janice was still ripped up.

Doctor Ward knew what she was doing to Janice but she had decided, that the only way to help Janice was to confront her with the magnitude of her mistakes. Janice was too ready to blame someone else for her failings and had a tendency to hide from them as well. Doctor Ward knew that she was supposed to be coldly analytical with her patients, but she couldn't help but feel, that Janice must have been taking dumb pills for a long time. 

Because of her social meetings with Ben, Michelle knew something about his adopted family. Ben would frequently tell glowing stories about Frank, Grace and Jim. When he talked about Carol, Steve and Lisa; it was more like a proud parent. Janice's report of Jim's diligence and self-sacrifice over the years was also impressive. Doctor Ward couldn't help but be intrigued by such a paragon of virtue. She also wondered if he wasn't a complete chowder head, for letting Janice get away with so much. 

For the same two weeks, in the afternoon after class, Carol would drive herself and her siblings to visit their Dad in the hospital. In the evenings she would either be found sparring in the local dojo or working out in their home gym.

Finally on the Friday, the day before Carol's fight with Mary, Jim was ready to come home. They had prepared the house by getting a hospital bed for the master bedroom. The room was large enough to contain both it and their king size bed. Janice, Ben and Mark went to pick up Jim and deal with any last minute paper work. While the kids stayed at home, hanging a banner welcoming their Father home. Back at the house, Jim very slowly got out of the car and with the aid of a walker, made his way into the house. That little bit of exercise had completely exhausted him. 

Jim stopped at the stairs going up to the second floor. He had no idea, how he was going to find the strength to climb them. With his whole family looking on, especially Lisa, he started up the stairs. Each tread was taking him a minute or two to negotiate, with Jim shaking all the time and visibly near collapse. The family were all holding their breaths, jostling with one another so they could be ready to catch Jim, when he finally fell. Lisa was in complete panic about her Father's weakness and conflicted. She was happy her Father was finally home, but she was angry at the hospital for releasing him, when he was so weak.

Instead of falling, Jim slowly collapsed halfway up the stairs, ending up in a sort of a sitting position on one of the steps. All the while, his family is freaking out and making such noises as "watch it he's falling, Ooh Ooh Ooh, Oh no Oh no, be careful be careful."

Jim finally said. "I'm okay I just need to catch my breath."

At that point Mark and Ben, said the heck with it. Mark grabbed Jim under the arm pits and started up the stairs backwards, and Ben grabbed Jim around the knees and followed him up.

Jim said, "and this will work too."

They placed Jim on the hospital bed, which was located right next to the regular bed, which had further required relocating some of the existing furniture. Janice had insisted, she said she had to be able to reach out and touch Jim during the night. They got Jim undressed and he promptly felt asleep, from all the exercise and stress.

Janice got on the king bed and moved right to the edge of the bed, so she could put her arm over Jim. She said, she just wanted to relax a moment along side Jim, and she would soon be back downstairs. The others all quietly left the room. But, one hour later and Janice still hadn't come down. Lisa peeked in the room and saw her Mother fast asleep, with her arm still wrapped around her Husband. Lisa had known something strange was going on, but nobody would tell her anything. But Daddy was home now and he would make it all better, he always did. 

Saturday was fight day and Mary had been told where to meet. Mark had found an abandoned factory. Because he didn't want anyone to get needlessly hurt, he spent a few evenings preparing the floor. He dug a mass of old shipping foam out of the county recycling center, which he glued to the floor. Then he borrowed four large canvas tarps and placed them on top of the foam. It wasn't a boxing ring or a dojo mat, but it was close.

Marge drove Mary to the match. Mary had been working out for the past two weeks, totally perplexing her husband. He was wondering, if his wife had been replaced by a pod person. She had also tried to take some self defense classes. She had performed miserably. Mary had asked her instructor, what do to if she got in a fight. Her instructor seeing she had no endurance to run, no strength to hit and no idea on how to fight; told her that her only option was to pray for rescue.

Mark, Ben and Janice were there to watch and keep things under control. Janice didn't give a shit about Mary, but she was worried about her baby.




Carol's Patch Job Ch. 04



Carol was dressed in a sports halter and bicycle shorts. Mary was dressed in some stylish sweats, the kind you're never really supposed to sweat in. Carol's plan was to first tire Mary out and completely exhaust her, then she would close in to give Mary a good working over. Carol figured the fight would last about an hour. She would tire Mary out for the first half an hour and then knock the wind out of her and give her some nasty bruises, that she would remember for the rest of her life. Carol wanted to exhaust Mary first, because she didn't want Mary to have a chance to hit Carol back. If Carol came home with any bruises, it would be hard to explain to her Daddy.

Carol's plan lasted for ten minutes. She moved in on Mary with some light open handed slaps and some soft rabbit punches. At the end of twenty minutes, Mary was a sobbing mass on the floor, begging Carol to stop and screaming out how sorry she was. The spectators, were all shocked at the sight and even Janice was thinking it was time to end it. Carol was disgusted, she had hardly given Mary any real damage at all. In three days, Mary would be as good as new and yet here she was sobbing her eyes out. What a wimp! Carol had to do something else to Mary, so she would never forget.

She had an evil thought and started to tell the spectators to all leave, then she realized that it would mess up the tarp and get Uncle Mark in trouble. So instead, she grabbed Mary's hair and started to drag her towards the front office area. Mary screamed at the pain and Carol said.

"Start crawling or get up and walk if it hurts too much, but you're coming with me. Don't worry everybody, the fight is over and we will be back in five minutes."

Carol dragged Mary into a filthy old bathroom and threw her on the floor. She then pulled off her shorts and pissed on her, with Mary screaming all the time and Carol telling her to "shut up".

"You're getting off really light this time. Don't ever piss me off again or I will do more than piss on you."

Carol walked back to the others.

"Time to go home. Marge your turn is tomorrow, see you then."

On the way out, Mark and Ben were clowning around. Waving their hands in the air, with their eyes half closed saying "Adrian, Adrian."

Carol just glowered at them. "I spent two weeks training, for that? Lisa could have done the same thing, with one hand! I didn't even work up a sweat and I know Marge is in even worse shape."

"Don't get too over confident, I know Marge used to be pretty athletic in high school." Warned Janice.

"Okay, so maybe I'll send Lisa and let her use both hands. You promised me Lasagna for dinner, if I didn't put her in the hospital, Uncle Mark. Let's go."

The next day, Marge surprisingly put up a better fight, just like Janice had warned. At the end of forty minutes Marge was collapsed on the tarp, not cowering just completely exhausted. Carol had given her some decent bruises, not as much as she wanted but enough. At the end of the fight, Marge apologized to everyone and told Janice, that she was praying Janice could make things right with Jim.

It was now time to start dealing with the four jokers. Mark and Ben had a friend in the local theater company, thus fulfilling a stereotype that all gay people must have friends in the theater. The lady in question married to a devoted husband (Hah, fooled you) was an expert in make-up. Using padding and her expertise she made Mark appear larger and like a typical thug. Ben was given slanted eyes and given the disguise of a Japanese Yakuza. Janice would go as herself, but Ben gave her a Taser, just in case things got out hand. Their procedure would be, late at night they would approach one of the men, when they were alone and a dumpster was nearby. The dumpster was a very important part of their plan. They would intimidate the man. Threaten him physically, economically, and legally. Janice would go into her psycho remorseful wife role and then they would throw him in the dumpster. Putting some weak zip ties on the dumpster lid handles, thus giving them time to escape and still permitting the man to break free without aid. Janice of course arranged a solid alibi for herself, but Ben and Mark with their disguises, didn't need any.

They saved Danny for last, Danny was going to be special.

Danny was tired, it had been a long day. But for him, every day was long. He supposed beggars couldn't be choosers. But the free apartment he got, as the complex maintenance man, was a long way from everything, including the dumpsters. Late at night, when all he wanted to do was go to asleep and get ready for his second job, it was a pain in the ass. Just after he threw his bags in the trash, he was suddenly surrounded by three figures

Janice had been gleefully waiting for this moment. She had specially prepared the dumpster with four large rats and six Garter snakes that she had caught.

"Well hello Danny remember me?"

Danny slowly turned to face the voice. "Oh shit," he thought. "Marge warned me something might be coming my way and here I stopped being careful. I'm too tired for this tonight."

"Hello Janice, I'm very sorry about the syphilis. You don't know how much I'm praying, that I don't have HIV too. I would hate to have passed something so nasty on to you and your husband. But it has been almost three months now and the test results are still negative."

Janice was taken a back, he was so calm. This wasn't how it was supposed to go at all. It was time for her to get into her role.

"Danny you knew I was married. You helped me to betray my marriage. You might have even known, that Jim never really cheated on me!" She almost screamed.

"Janice you're right. I shouldn't have done it. The last few months have been a bad time for me. I'm sorry."

"Well sorry isn't good enough. I've had you investigated, your old girlfriend has a restraining order out on you. You've got a lot of debt. You lost your job as an office manager. You see this man here, she pointed at the disguised Ben, he is one of my husband's friends from Japan. He tells me that he owes my husband, a debt of honor. Well I'm collecting for my sick husband. I want you to keep your mouth shut about my time with you and I want you out of this state in a week." Janice crowed triumphantly.

"You've got to be kidding me?"

Janice was furious that things weren't going as she had imagined. "Step away from him Ma... Roscoe." Mark stepped back from Danny. Then Janice, just as she had practiced, shot Danny in the groin with the Taser.

Mark and Ben were shocked and scared that Janice had shot Danny. This wasn't part of the plan, but none of tonight was going as planned or like the other three confrontations had gone.

Danny went down in a heap. "SHE SHOT MY DICK!" He thought. He had immediately recognized the Taser, because he had bought one for his ex-fiancée.

The shock lasted for thirty seconds, but he was still incapacitated for another two or three minutes. Before he got back on his feet, he feigned further weakness, and as quickly as he could, he grasped the darts and pulled them from his groin. He didn't want that bitch to shock him again. Luckily the darts had hit him, just below his belt and not where he had first believed.

Mark had mean time, rushed Janice and taken the Taser away from her. This wasn't going as Janice had expected at all.

Danny got back up on his feet, bracing himself for a fight and roaring. "YOU STUPID FUCKING MORONS! I could have you arrested. Don't you think I know who you are, with your lame disguises? Don't make me laugh Mister Japanese Yakuza dude. You're Ben and Mark. On top of all that, you used a Taser on me, you've just spread a shit load of tags all over. I don't care how you bought and activated the gun, I still think they could trace it back to one of you. You geniuses, probably picked this spot because of no cameras. Well guess what, they're hidden and I control the tapes. What a bunch of shit heads."

Janice, Ben and Mark all looked around guiltily, trying to spot the cameras. They didn't try and run, they knew if they didn't diffuse the situation, that they might all end up in jail with Janice's adultery exposed.

"And you, you fucking, cheating, cunt. I'm sorry about the syphilis, but did you ever think about where I got it from. Well I got it from my darling fiancée, that I put through college. Turns out she had been fucking around on me with other college guys, while I was working my ass off. Then, when she got her degree she thought I wasn't good enough for her. Forgetting the fact, that now she was supposed to support me through college. Then that fucking bitch made up some lies about me and got a restraining order issued. That cost me my job. So while I'm really sorry about indirectly giving syphilis to your husband, it doesn't bother me so much to give it to another cheating cunt."

"But you're damn right I knew your husband wasn't cheating. Anyone with a lick of sense would know too. He drives a clunker, he wears his clothes until they are just threads, and you expect him to be staying in the Hilton and faking airline tickets? How dumb could you possibly be? Everyone in your neighborhood admires and respects the guy. I think my sister did this because she was jealous of you. You make twice as much money as she does, you've got three times her vacation time, you've got a husband she calls dead sexy and who travels all over the world. You spend most of your money on designer clothes, that she could never afford. The worse thing is that you've got three kids, that her sterile husband can't give her and the asshole won't let her adopt. I'm not saying she knew Jim wasn't cheating, I'm just saying that maybe she let herself believe, so you would be taken down a peg."

"As for me, I hate cheating cunts. I was planning on telling your husband, but he got back from his last trip so sick, that I decided to wait. I've even got pictures to show him. But according to Marge, you're real sorry and I'm going to keep my mouth shut. Unless I hear about you cheating again."

"The last thing, I can't believe is how righteous you're acting. The guilty but vengeful wife. You were begging me for it girl! You pleaded with me, to meet you at Marge's for those last two times. So don't act holier than thou with me. I saw you naked, begging me to stick it in any of your holes. You're nothing but a cheating skank, no matter what act you're putting on now."

This hadn't gone at all to plan. Janice collapsed down on the ground, just like she had been shot with the Taser.

"I'm going back to my apartment and to bed. I've got another thrilling, well paid day as a security guard to look forward too. Fuck you all." Dan pushed by Mark and Ben, and then walked off.

Mark helped Janice back to her feet and three highly humiliated people slowly walked back to their car. 

Janice thought about how she told Carol that she would pick herself back up during the bad times. Well it was time, she squared her shoulders, shook off Mark's supporting hands and said. "I know, I was a no good cheat. But I rededicate myself to Jim, my marriage, and our family."

Ben and Mark silently exchanged looks over Janice's head. Danny's revelations had seriously troubled them. Were they wrong in giving Janice another chance and what would they tell Carol?

*

End of Part Four, to be continued...

One more part or chapter to go, probably. 



Carol's Patch Job Ch. 05



Author's Notes;

I hope you have enjoyed the story. There is an erotic scene in this chapter. First one I've ever written. I was very tempted to lift one, whole cloth, from someone else's story. File off the serial numbers, change the names, shoot my conscience and I would be in business. This site, of course, is full of well written erotic scenes It is very intimidating to write one, for such an audience. I didn't borrow/steal one, but I was tempted.

Thanks again for reading.

...................................

Janice thought about how she told Carol that she would pick herself back up during the bad times. Well it was time, she squared her shoulders, shook off Mark's supporting hands and said. "I know, I was a no good cheat. But I rededicate myself to Jim, my marriage, and our family."

Ben and Mark silently exchanged looks over Janice's head. Danny's revelations had seriously troubled them. Were they wrong in giving Janice another chance and what would they tell Carol?

Jim slowly mended at home. Two months after he first got sick, he returned to work but only partial days at first. Of even more import to him, he received his first blow job from his wife in eight years. This was to become an almost daily occurrence for him. Sadly, Janice had to tell him that she was experiencing a severe vaginal infection and they would not be able to enjoy any intercourse for at least another month. But she intended to keep her man happy in other ways.

During that time, Mark told Jim about the fantastic deal he had found on a partially built house in Penny's area. Mark was sure, that if they hired some people to complete all the remaining big jobs and then finished the small stuff themselves, that the total price would be less than the current market value of their present home. Janice overhearing Mark's idea, said that it would be nice to be closer to her sister Penny and that she was pretty sure, that she could get a job transfer to that school district.

Jim started talking about getting his minivan fixed up, but Ben said it was a bad idea to put a thousand or more into a car that was so old. The transmission, rear end or engine could go out, at any time with a car, with so many miles on it. He said Jim would be better off, just getting something newer. He said that he had been seeing some fantastic deals on SUVs lately. 

"An SUV is too small, what if I want the entire family to ride in one car?"

"It will be a little cramped Jim, but three can fit in the back seat."

Jim gave Ben a puzzled look, like Ben was being dumb. "Well then, where will you and Mark sit?"

Ben found Jim a fantastic deal on a slightly used minivan, with almost the full warranty remaining.

Three months after Jim's hospitalization, Janice told Jim that her infection was all cleared up and that they could resume screwing around. She wiggled her eyebrows and her hips when she said that.

It had been at least five months for Danny and he was still getting negative test results. He had also heard indirectly from his ex and she was HIV negative, as well. Janice's syphilis infection was gone and she had been receiving negative test results for three months.

Their first night, returning to full sexual relations, Jim decided to return the favor to Janice for all the oral sex, he had been receiving. He started out by giving her a slow sensuous massage. Starting at her feet with Janice on her stomach. He took his time working the erotic oil, that he had purchased especially for that evening, into her skin. Slowly rubbing it into her toes, then instep, heel, Achilles tendon area, calf, back of her knee, and up her thigh. Just when Janice thought he was going to play with her pussy, Jim moved his hands to the outside of her buttocks and slowly massaged up the sides of her back, going up to her shoulders. Then massaging down her arms and back up to her neck. He slowly massaged her neck and scalp leaving his wife as limp as the proverbial noodle. Then he started massaging down her spine, coming at last to her buttocks again. Slowly he massaged by her anus, and lightly blew in that area. Which caused Janice to shiver and curl up her toes. Then moving down to her pussy he started to gently blow and massage her lips there. He continued his ministrations there for twenty minutes. When he asked.

"Dear would you like to turn ov......."

Faster than a cat on a hot plate, Janice flipped over onto her back. "Don't you dare start from my feet again."

"But dear....."

Janice sat up, grabbed Jim's head and then laid back down, pulling his head down into her crotch on the way.

Jim then spent forty minutes paying worship to his wife's vagina by gently kissing and sucking, nibbling at her clit, and at times vigorously fingering her. He wasn't sure how many orgasms he gave her but she was moaning, whimpering and shuddering the entire time.

Finally Janice started to pull forcefully on his hair, trying to move his head up her body. When they were face to face, she kissed him passionately. "Put it in me, now!" She demanded.

To Jim's surprise, she was much tighter than before. Maybe his memory was playing tricks or maybe it was because she started exercising again? Jim pounded into Janice for fifteen minutes, when she said she wanted to change positions. She flipped onto her stomach and rose to her knees. For the next twenty minutes Jim did his best, thinking about icebergs, circuit diagrams, and migratory bird patterns. Janice was moaning and screaming the entire time. "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! AHHHhhhh" Then she would shudder, shiver violently and then she would start it all over again to repeat, and repeat, and repeat...... 

At the end, Janice rose up twisting her torso partially around. She grabbed Jim's head and gave him a tongue searing kiss, that just went on and on. Jim lost it, with a groan and crossed eyes he came in his wife's pussy. Janice collapsed on the bed and Jim collapsed on top of her.

Janice mumbled into the bed. "Jim, when do you think, you'll be ready again?"

"Give me a half an hour and I need a glass of water."

"Okay," and Janice closed her eyes, dozing off. Jim did the same.

An hour later after a short nap, brushing their teeth and four glasses of water; they were back at it.

Meanwhile Carol, who had brought Steve and Lisa back from the mall. Had the two of the them, playing video games with the television abnormally loud. Every time there was particularly loud thump upstairs, Steve would flinch. Lisa started asking what were all the funny noises. Carol explained that it must be the construction down the street, it just sounds like it is coming from upstairs.

"Maybe I should go upstairs and check?" Asked Lisa.

"No, no I'll check, you just keep on with your game."

Lisa was having a ball, she knew what was going on. Just because she was the baby and twelve years old, they thought she was dumb. She was going to make her brother and sister crazy with all her questions, for the next two hours. Lisa put another innocent expression on her face.

"But I need to go upstairs and do my homework."

When Jim returned to work, full time, he was transferred to another department. He still retained the same position, but instead of reporting to engineering, he reported to sales. The VP of sales, when he saw a decrease in revenue, had done a sales analysis and commissioned a report on customer satisfaction. Both local and overseas sales people had been using Jim as a closer with their customers. Jim was an extremely competent engineer. His calm and respectful manner when dealing with customers, and their sometimes aggressively sharp questions, had a habit of during a doubtful sale into a firm buy. On the support end of things, Jim was the paramount field trouble shooter for the company. The VP had talked with the president and CEO, and explained how they had an eight percent decrease in sales and a fifteen percent decrease in customer satisfaction, since Jim had been out sick. It was decided that Jim, was an extremely valuable company asset and that they needed to reward him, so he didn't start looking for another job. It was necessary to transfer Jim to the sales department, so that they could get him out of the fixed pay scales of the engineering group. With a raise in salary, plus an increase in bonus points, Jim was effectively given a fifty percent raise in yearly income. Which put him well into the six figure category, for the first time in his life. He still hated the travel, but the money along with the support he received while he was sick, convinced him to persevere. 

That spring Janice met another local mother, Sally. Sally was the sales manager at the nearby BMW dealership. Janice confessed to her that her taste in expensive clothes had been getting out of hand. Sally, who was also well dressed, had the same addiction as Janice and had been admiring Janice's attire, had an idea.

"You know, we've got an opening in our showroom. We don't have any ladies on the sales floor, since I was promoted. Simply put, there are sales that only a well dressed, attractive woman is going to make. Sometimes it is another woman, who is uncomfortable with a man and wants to have a lady salesperson. Other times it is man, that will change his mind and buy, when the person sitting across from him is an attractive woman. I know you're a teacher, but you could work part time in the evenings, let's say from four to eight, two or three times a week? You could even work full time in the summer if you wanted."

Janice found the offer very enticing. She spoke to Jim and Carol about it. Jim's response was, if it made her happy and the family didn't suffer, it was okay with him. Jim privately thought to himself, since Janice was no longer spending from six pm to eleven pm at Marge's or Mary's house every night, that three times a week until only eight was a cinch. Carol thought it was okay too.

Janice took to sales, like a born salesperson. She didn't see them as customers, but as new friends that she could socialize with. She especially enjoyed talking with other well dressed women. The talk would turn to fashion and where to shop. Bonds would form and then they would not consider buying from anyone else, but Janice. With the men, Janice would innocently flirt. She would still do well selling to them, but her lady customers were her strength.

Janice was really enjoying her part time job. The dealership had an espresso machine and a selection of fine bakery for potential customers. Janice would sit and chat with customers or the staff at the dealership. She looked forward to working there, it felt more like she was socializing in an expensive coffee shop than working. But she did sell cars, boy did she. With her commissions, she was almost making as much as her full time job. When summer came and she started working full time, she nearly doubled her part time income.

That summer their new house was completed. Every time Jim returned from a sales trip. He would find Ben, Mark, Carol and Steve feigning exhaustion. With the real construction people high tailing it down the road. They came close to being caught once or twice, and Jim was really suspicious, but he could never prove he was being scammed. Ben even had a deal with the material suppliers. Jim would be charged sixty to eighty percent of the actual cost, and then Ben would make up the difference. The kitchen, which should have cost Jim and Janice, over twenty-five thousand, cost them sixteen. Ben knew about Jim's improved income, but he just wanted to help his brother and his family.

Jim was happy as a clam. He was living out in the country, making more money, he had his loving wife back and his sex life was better than ever.

Six months after Janice started therapy, she decided to end it. She thought she had learned enough about herself and with two jobs, she really didn't have the time. Also Doctor Ward, could be extremely hard on Janice at times. Janice was just tired of the her polite criticisms, no one was perfect, lighten up.

Instead of going away to a four year university, Carol decided to go to the local college for the first two years. Much like her Dad and Uncle Ben had done. She had some misgivings and wanted to stay close to home.

Janice and Jim got in the habit of going out once a week to romantic places. Janice had forgotten what a good dancer Jim was.

It was the middle of the second summer after Jim's sickness. The kids were at a water amusement park, for a few days. Janice had arranged the trip. It was a happy man that entered the house, with the kids gone they could make as much love as they wanted and not have to watch the noise. He enjoyed Janice's wicked mind. Instead of coming into a house with his wife waiting in a negligee. Janice was severely dressed and sitting at the dining room table, there was a small stack of papers in front of her. 

"Jim, I'm sorry honey, but we need to talk." Janice patted a chair next to her, for Jim to sit down. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Jim I love you, but I don't love you as a wife should love her husband. I love you as family and as a wonderful Father of my children. But I need to stretch my wings a bit. I need more excitement, than the role of a wife and mother gives me. I'm so sorry Jim, I tried so hard." Janice cried, softly.

Jim leaned back and looked at his wife. "Who is the strange person," thought Jim.

Janice had her eyes partially closed and was expecting Jim to lean in and put his arms around her, but it wasn't happening. She looked up to see, and saw Jim leaning back, with a complete look of shock and disbelieve on his face.

Jim felt his heart drop out his chest, go through his asshole and hit the floor. "Janice everything has been so good lately, you must be joking, right?"

"I'm sorry Jim." She slid the stack of papers over to him. These are the divorce papers, I'm asking for very little. I know you've paid for almost everything over the years. I think we should share custody of the children. I've already put a down payment on a condominium." Which was more than true, she had already purchased a condominium from one of her customers. Janice had just finished furnishing it, too. "This is just so hard for me Jim, please understand. I've already moved my clothes out. I've got to go now Jim, this is just too hard." Janice left the house crying. When she got in her car, she stopped crying and took a deep breath, relieved that she had finally done it. "This is really the best thing for us. Maybe in time we will even get back together. But I need this." She started her car and drove off.

Jim left sitting at the table. "What the fuck just happened? What the fuck just happened." Jim whispered to himself, staring blankly at the divorce papers.

Carol, Steve and Lisa came home the next day. Uncle Mark was waiting on the front porch."

"Before you go inside, I've got to talk to you. I've got some bad news."

Carol was having none of that and pushed by her Uncle. She saw her father sitting on the couch, he was highly distraught. Uncle Ben was with him, Uncle Ben looked up at Carol and slowly shook his head.

"That bitch," Carol muttered.

She ran up to her parents bedroom and opened their closets. She saw that all her Mother's clothes were gone. "THAT BITCH!" She screamed.

It was two years after Janice had moved out. "Things had been rocky at first," she thought. "But it was for the best, I've got a good relationship with the kids again and I even see Jim for the holidays. Though it is funny that he hasn't invited me for Thanksgiving yet, it is already November." Janice was meeting Carol at a fancy dining and dancing establishment. Not the usual place for a mother/daughter meeting, but Carol had picked it out. She had joked that maybe they could pick up some men together. Janice and her daughter were escorted to a small elegant booth in the back, just the right place for a bit of private conversation.

"You know Mother, you never really knew how devastated Daddy was, after you left him like that. He was a wreck for the first two weeks and had to take time off from work. He couldn't bear to see you for two months. Uncle Ben and Uncle Mark virtually lived with us for that whole time. You had him completely fooled. I should have warned him, I knew you were planning something. But do to it so suddenly and completely, while he was all alone, that was cold."

"I'm sorry Carol. I just didn't know how to do it any other way. It's not like I took anything from him. I took my part of the retirement and Jim forced me to take twenty thousand more from our savings." She had taken so little, because she knew Jim would take care of the children. Janice also, did have her pride and she knew that most their savings, the kid's college funds, and their private retirement accounts were the fruits of Jim's hard work and careful management. But in the back of her mind, was the possibility that she might want to return home one day, so she also wanted to leave a home that she could return to. 

"Look at the bar Mother. See that group of men, waiting to get their drinks because the waiters are so slow here?"

Janice looked at the bar and saw a fine bunch of well dressed attractive men, standing there. One in particular caught her eye, yum. He was so distinguished and dressed so well, if Carol wasn't here. "My god, that's Jim."

"Yes it is. You took Daddy for granted for far too long. You conditioned yourself to never see him as sexually desirable. Your friends thought he was sexy as hell, but that didn't matter to you. You couldn't see him that way, the grass was always greener somewhere else. Heck, my friends think he is hot. My best friend Linda dreams about him and if he wasn't my Father, I would jump his bones in a heartbeat."

"So this is part of my revenge Mother. I still love you, but you hurt my Father. If he had done something to hurt you, I would have wanted revenge on him as well. You promised me that you would do everything in your power to keep your marriage together. You lied, you gave up after only slightly more than a year and a half. Don't think of this as, I love Daddy more. This is payback. I can't let you get away, without balancing the books for Daddy."

"Keep looking at him Mother. See how well he is dressed. Now that he can afford it and there is someone in the house, that cares how he is clothed. See how almost every woman here is staring at him. See how he is talking at the bar and he has everyone's attention. Oh, see how as he walks back to his table, drinks in his hand, he moves so gracefully. And again, all the women are following him with their eyes, a few deep sighs there too. Doesn't it just a little bit, make you hot for Daddy? I know it does for me, sometimes I'm sorry I'm his daughter."

Janice had to admit, that in this setting with Jim dressed so fine and not seeing him for eleven months. She felt more than a twinge of desire. Maybe she should ask him to dance. Compared to the men she had been seeing lately, he seemed more of a thoroughbred. None of the men she dated, lasted for longer than a month or two, she grew bored with them. She remembered Jim's tight body. Why hadn't she realized what she had, before she let it go. She took a couple of deep breaths, it would be so good. She could make it so good for Jim.

"Why Mother, I do believe you are getting flushed. Is Daddy turning you on?"

Janice realized that for all her love making, in the last year of her marriage, she had just acted and had hardly ever let herself go. She hadn't wanted to recognize Jim's good qualities, because then it would have been harder to have her romantic dreams about other men. Maybe absence does make the heart grow fonder, or maybe it is comparison? She would ask Jim for a dance and seduce him on the dance floor. He probably had a date here, but it didn't really matter. She knew that she looked good and she had gotten quite good at the seduction game. It was time to get back to her marriage. She had always loved Jim and she didn't want to grow old alone.




Carol's Patch Job Ch. 05



"Of course you realize that you will never have him again or grow old with him."

Janice was confused, hadn't Carol arranged all this, to get her parents back together? Janice's eyes still followed Jim.

He walked back to a table and a younger woman got up to greet him. Janice was shocked to see, that it was her old therapist, Michelle Ward. Why, she was only thirty-five or six and Jim was six or seven years older. Michelle took one of the glasses from Jim and gave him a short but passionate kiss on the lips. Jim reached down with his free hand and gently placed it over her belly. She was obviously, at least four months pregnant. Jim and Michelle exchanged looks full of love.

Janice looked at Carol with puzzlement and fury on her face. "What the hell is going on?"

"It has been very hard on me, keeping those two or should I say three a secret. But Steve and Lisa, have been a big help too. Both you and Daddy got in the habit of using us to relay messages. We just encouraged the practice."

"You remember Michelle, or Shelly as she likes to be called, don't you? She became quite intrigued with Daddy, after all your sessions together. But she would never have done anything. I don't know, if you ever noticed but she was the author, of two of those books I bought so long ago, about pleasing your man."

"I met with her myself, after your separation. I needed a recommendation for a therapist for Daddy. It was nothing too serious but he was so hurt and confused. Especially when he found out, about your adultery. Don't look so shocked. Don't you think, that with your sudden separation, that he would wonder. We told you, that we would lie by omission but if he ever asked. Well he did wonder and he did ask.

When I met Michelle, I saw the look of interest in her eyes. Remember how I told you, I would find a new wife for Daddy? You left him with a broken heart, it was my job to patch it. She was young, pretty, wealthy and she had written such marvelous books. I immediately classified her as a prospect. So I resolved to become her friend in order to get her to meet Daddy. I also had Uncle Ben's connivance in the matter. Later she told me, she had made the same decision at the same time. She had always wanted to meet the subject of both Uncle Ben's and your stories."

"She found a therapist in the same building, so she could accidentally meet him, from time to time."

"Well she obviously liked what she saw and she went after him, like a wolf going after a lamb. He had no chance. They were married in May, and it was a lovely wedding. Didn't you get your invitation? Oh, I've got it right here in my purse, better late than never. You sent Daddy such a lovely letter declining, and I've got that here too. You really should read both."

"So now I'm going to be a big sister again, and Lisa is even more thrilled. I think she wants to be in the delivery room and I think Michelle is going to let her. She's calling it a family bonding experience."

"I love you Mother but like I said, I had to balance the books for Daddy. You cheated on him, took him for granted and were flirting with everyman in sight, when you started your new job. You forgot about him, you forgot about us, again!"

"Your family, all of us even Daddy, still love you Momma."

Janice barely heard Carol's last statement. She was locked in misery, she guessed Scrooge really hadn't learned his or her lesson. Her beautiful, elegant condo was now becoming that small, dingy, sour apartment she had imagined years ago. She could see the old harridan cackling away on her ratty old couch. Dressed in old finery. She was so.......

Carol was pulling on her hands. "Momma, Momma we love you. You will never be alone!"

The End

..........................................

Author's Rants;

It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be your standard. Wife gets conned into cheating, husband finds out, wife crawls back, they make kissy face and the end. I swear it was radiation from my new desk lamp, that was changing my keystrokes. Janice wasn't supposed to be such a selfish bitch. That dumb scene, where Danny was confronted. The was supposed to be played straight, where he never saw the con, and Danny was supposed to be a big asshole. The keystrokes changed, I tell you. I hope you liked it. I'm not sure I do. This is the last time I buy a light bulb, with a gamma radiation warning on it. Do I look green to you?