Inferno Pt. 02

Judge Duplantis sat, stone faced, as both attorneys lay out their petitions."

But they have been married for thirty years," she interrupted Jesse.

"That is true, your honor, but they have not resided in the same domicile for over ten years now," Jesse pleaded.

"That doesn't matter," Judge Duplantis snapped. "There should be some remuneration for thirty years of faithful..."

At that, Kenneth laughed, a short, bitter laugh.

"Something funny, Mr. Kay?" Judge Duplantis asked.

"Faithful? If she had been faithful, we wouldn't be here," Kenneth snorted.

"And you, Mr. Kay? I am so sure there were no dalliances on your side, right?" Lori sneered.

"In fact, your honor," Jesse said. "We'd like to present evidence that shows Jennifer Kay did knowingly mislead Kenneth Kay into believing that Jennifer was pregnant with Kenneth Kay's child, prompting the union in the first place.

"Thirty years too late," counselor," Judge Duplantis barked.

"What?" Jennifer yelled when the Judge decided to hold over the decree until she could look over Kenneth's financial records for the duration of the marriage, to set up a fair and equitable settlement for Jennifer Kay. "No, no, you're Honor! All I want is a divorce! I don't want..."

"All rise," the bailiff called out as Judge Lori Duplantis banged her gavel and stood to leave the courtroom.

"See?" Jesse muttered.

"Kenneth, please, believe me, I didn't..." Jennifer begged.

"I was standing right here; I heard everything," Kenneth assured her.

Jacy looked stricken for a long moment, and then glared at the door that Judge Lori Duplantis had gone through.

"So, what do we do now?" Jacy growled at Jesse Johnson.

"I'll schedule mediation with Judge Duplantis' clerk and go from there," Jesse said.

"Kenneth, I am sorry," Jennifer said and would have hugged him if her daughter hadn't stepped in front of her.

"And how long does that take?" Jacy asked, glaring at her mother.

"Week or two," Jesse shrugged.

"Great," Jacy snapped and grabbed Kenneth's hand. "Come on, let's go."

----

Sheriff Dick Davis stood next to Jack Landry, one of the volunteer firemen that were battling the blaze.

"Had to be an accelerant," Jack said. "Fire's burning too hot not to be."

"Can smell the gasoline from here," Dick agreed.

"Real bitch?" Jack said. "There was a 1966 Mustang in the garage. Looks like someone punched a big hole in the tank to make sure it got burned up too."

Sheriff Dick Davis thought about that information for a minute.

"Uh huh," he said slowly.

"Oh my God!" Judge Lori Duplantis screamed as she got out of her Lincoln Town car, watching the final stages of her home burning to the ground.

"This your home, your Honor?" Dick asked."

Yes!" Lori screamed at the imbecile.

After the fire crew had left and Lori had composed herself slightly, Dick asked her to come to the station to give what information she could.

"Kay? Kenneth Kay?" Dick asked when Lori recounted her day.

"And Jennifer Kay," Lori snapped, perturbed that he would leave the woman out of the conversation.

Kenneth Kay, did nine years for aggravated arson?" Dick asked.

Judge Lori Duplantis smiled cruelly at that.

"Good work, Sheriff," she said.

"Bring him in, ask a few questions," Sheriff Dick Davis said grimly.

Kenneth came along quietly, with no resistance.

"I um, I kind of remember the last time had you in my car," Deputy Orville Jackson said.

"Uh huh," Kenneth smiled tightly.

"You and that damned cat," Orville went on.

"Yeah, Pebbles; she was a total pain in the ass," Kenneth agreed.

Dick let Kenneth wait in the interrogation room for thirty minutes before finally coming in.

"Hi," Kenneth said, smiling.

"Hi," Dick agreed.

"Saw you at the wedding; it was a nice wedding," Kenneth offered.

"Oh yeah, yeah, Ann's father, Eric's father in law," Dick said, frowning.

It wasn't supposed to go this way; the suspect wasn't supposed to build camaraderie with him. But Dick decided to build on that camaraderie.

"So, Judge Lori Duplantis, huh?" Dick said, taking a seat across from Kenneth.

"What about her?" Kenneth asked.

"Hear she um, she kind of pissed you off today," Dick asked.

"Didn't make me real happy," Kenneth agreed. "All she has to do is just sign the damned papers and we'd be all done."

"And all of a sudden, her house burns to the ground," Dick said. "And, Kenneth? Here's the real funny thing. It's got your fingerprint all over it. I mean, this is Classic Kenneth Kay."

"Oh?" Kenneth asked.

"Yep, right down to punching a hole in the car's gas tank to make sure it gets it too," Dick said. "Can't blame you, though. I mean, that bitch has had it coming for years now, you know? I mean, like you said, all she had to do was sign, right?"

"Yep, wish I had done it," Kenneth agreed. "But I didn't. I was at Chucky Cheese. In DeGarde? With my two grandsons," Kenneth said and smiled.

"Yeah?" Dick smiled back. "See, Kenneth, funny thing. Chucky Cheese keeps a bunch of video cameras running all the time; can't have that many kids round and some pervert get the bright idea to grab one of them kids, you know?"

"Good, ought to be real easy to prove I was there, then," Kenneth said, still smiling. "By the way, you ever go there? Don't get the special. Save your money and just get the pepperoni."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dick said and got to his feet.

----

The manager was happy to provide the tapes and Dick smiled and laughed out loud when he watched Kenneth and Jacy herding two small African-American boys around.

Jacy mainly just supervised while Kenneth played nearly every game with his two grandsons. The love, devotion, and tolerance were evident on the young woman's face as she put up with the three males.

"Kenneth, come on; I'll bring you home now," Dick said, smiling.

"Oh?" Kenneth smiled.

"Of course, this is going to make my job all that much harder," Dick smiled. "Would have been real easy to prove you were guilty."

"I can't be the only man that that bitches has pissed off," Kenneth offered."

I know; and now I have to interview them all," dick said and opened the rear door for Kenneth.

----

Hey Honey?" Eric asked as he came into the house.

"Yeah?" Ann called out from the laundry room.

"Hey," he said, kissing her, hand immediately going to her round belly. "Car smells like gas; any idea why?"

"Yeah, every time I try filling it up with piss, it won't go," Ann smiled and kissed him again.

"Smart ass; you spilled gas all over it again?" Eric asked.

"Well it's not my fault; they make those hose thingies too fat for my gas tank," Ann complained.

"Baby, I told you; let me know when its close and I'll go fill it up for you," Eric said.

"Uh huh, dinner's in the microwave," Ann said and folded the last of the clothing. "Just hit start."

"Where'd these matches come from?" Eric called out from the kitchen.

"Robbie's birthday; remember? Used them to light the candles," Ann called back.

"These big ones?" Eric asked, showing her the box of fireplace matches."

Yes; he regular ones burn up too fast," Ann complained.

"Okay," Eric shrugged. "Where you want them?"

"Anywhere is fine; just remember where you put them for Sammy's birthday," Ann said. "Honey, hit start on the microwave unless you want to eat your pizza cold."

"Oh, hey, y'all went to Chucky Cheese?" Eric asked, spotting the box.

"No, Daddy and Jacy took the boys; brought us a pizza home," Ann said.

"Cool; that was nice of them," Eric smiled.

Then he remembered something.

"Oh, you hear what happened? You know that judge? The one everyone calls the Ice Bitch? Her house burned down today, believe that shit?" Eric said and waited for his pizza to cook.

""Um, oh, oh yeah, that house on Candy Lane?" Ann asked, pointing in the general direction.

"Yeah, man, she had this real sweet Sixty six mustang; it got burned up too," Eric said, whistling as he tried to handle to too-hot slice of pizza.

----

Judge Lori Duplantis took a leave of absence following the burning of her home. In her absence, Judge Leonard James heard her cases.

"Kay versus Kay," he mused aloud. "Counselors, why was there a continuance on this?"

"We don't know, your honor," Griffin Guillory said.

"I mean, there is no community property to divide, the children are all grown, what is there to contest?" he asked, aggravated.

"We don't know, your honor," Jesse Johnson said. "Both parties are merely seeking dissolution to..."

"Granted," Judge James said, banging his gavel. "God help me, sometimes that woman..."

----

Jacy was quiet as they left the courthouse, quiet as they drove to Clark's for lunch.

"What's wrong?" Kenneth asked.

"Nothing," Jacy mumbled.

"Bullshit; what's wrong?" Kenneth asked again.

Jadia got married, and now Mother's going to get married," Jacy said and wiped at her eyes as the tears began to spill. "But you and me can't 'cause there's some stupid paper says you're my father even though you and I know you're not and I got to just sit there and pretend to be all happy and shit for Mother and for Jadia and I'm not!"

She buried her head in his chest and sobbed all the harder.

"I mean, Jadia's wedding was so beautiful and Mother's even going to have a wedding, I mean, it's just a Justice of the Peace, but still! She gets a wedding. How is that right? The God damn bitch ain't never done a fucking thing for no one but herself and even she gets a wedding but I don't? It's just not fair!" Jacy cried.

"I would," Kenneth admitted, kissing her on the top of her head. "I would beg you to marry me in a heart beat, on bended knee."

"Wouldn't have to beg," Jacy sobbed. "I'd be the happiest girl in the world."

"Baby, I'm sorry," Kenneth said sadly. "I'm sorry I can't give you the big church wedding, with the wedding dress and all of that. But you do know, in my heart, we are married; you do know hat, right?"

"Big deal!" Jacy said bitterly. "I mean, Jadia can look at her wedding pictures; she and Eric have this big old book full of them. You and Mother had a bunch of pictures taken and she's probably going to get a whole bunch more with Michael, God is he a sleaze or what? Everybody's got something, Daddy, something they can look at and say 'See? I'm married!'"

Kenneth had no words, no solutions to his little girl's pain, so, he kept his mouth shut.

Kizzy Clark picked that moment to stick her head in the window.

"Damn it's cold out here!" she announced. "Hey Jacy, what's up"

"Hey Kizzy," Jacy tried to put on a happy face for her friend.

"Chili burger, easy on the jalapenos, root beer float, gives me a smokehouse with bacon and chocolate malt," Kenneth ordered, smiling tightly at the girl.

"Sorry, I guess my hormones are all out of whack," Jacy finally sniffled.

"No, no Sweetheart," Kenneth mumbled. "Hey, sometimes life just isn't fair."

He looked out the window as Kizzy came caroming toward them.

"I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, sure I'm back in Angola," he said and lowered the window for Kizzy.

"It's so real; the noise, the stench, the fear, the anger," he went on after Kizzy had skated away.

"But then, I feel you lying in the bed next to me, I can smell your hair, hear you snoring..." Kenneth went on.

""I don't snore!" Jacy protested.

"You're pregnant, Honey," he smiled. "Of course you snore."

He took a bite of his burger. When he had finished chewing, he swallowed and looked at her.

"Baby, is it fair that I did nine years? Is it fair that I was away from you for so long? No, it's not. I could sit around being bitter about what your mother did to me, what Jadia and Jelissa did to me, how they treated me," he said and took a slurp of his malt.

"Or, I could lay in that bed, feeling you right there next to me, smell your hair, your perfume, your intolerable gas," he said and laughed when she slapped his arm. "And I could be grateful."

"Which would you rather have?" he asked as he finished his burger. ""The man in Angola? The vicious killer..."

"Daddy, you're not a killer," Jacy argued.

"No, no I'm not," he agreed. "But Honey, in Angola, I was."

Jacy's eyes got large as she looked at him.

"You..." she breathed, afraid to ask.

"I survived," he said and started the car.

"Or," he continued. "Would you rather have the man that's grateful, that appreciates every single moment he has with you?"

"I love you, Daddy," she said.

----

Someone sliced the cables on Judge Lori Duplantis' car battery. The following week, a potato was stuffed into the exhaust of her car.

Judge Lori Duplantis opted for an early retirement and stepped down from the bench.

Lori Duplantis did rankle mightily when Jesse Johnson, a man that had no respect for women, in Lori's opinion, was appointed the bench.

Someone hurled a brick through the back windshield as she was driving to the grocery store and Lori ceased her complaints about Jesse Johnson's appointment.

----

"Hey," Ann smiled as she waddled into the kitchen.

"Hey, 'Mommy,'" Kenneth teased.

"Jacy said y'all didn't have no work right now," Ann said and gave Kenneth a loving kiss.

"Nope; no one's building right now," Kenneth grunted.

He was bored out of his mind, waiting for Rayne to call.

(Yesterday, he had been so bored that he dug the old lawnmower out of the garage and cut the grass, even though he knew the pollen would be murder.

Just as he was about to choke on the pollen, a strange car pulled up to the curb.

"Aw, fucking great," Kenneth muttered to himself as Jennifer and Michael Greene got out of the car.

But he was polite and even offered them something cold to drink. Michael immediately requested a beer, but a look from Jennifer changed the request to iced tea instead.

"I um, I bet you're wondering what on earth I'm doing here, huh?" Jennifer finally said, false smile plastered on her face.

"No, not really," Kenneth lied.

"Oh, well, um, uh well, Kenneth, um, it's like this," Jennifer stammered.

Kenneth didn't help by just staring at her.

"I'm here to say I'm sorry," Jennifer finally mumbled.

She stammered, stuttered and mumbled her way through an apology of sorts; Kenneth just continued to stare at her. Finally he smiled almost sadly.

"Sad thing is," he said, taking another sip of his iced tea. "I hear you saying you're sorry, but I can tell you don't even know what you're sorry for."

Michael jumped in to defend his wife; Kenneth just smirked at the man.

Finally, Jennifer and Michael left. Kenneth sat in the kitchen for nearly an hour before he could pull himself back outside to finish the lawn.

Jacy, of course, was livid that her mother would come to her house and ranted and railed until it was bedtime. Even as they lay down, though, she still muttered and mumbled.

"She would do that," she said bitterly. "She would come over and get you all bothered when she knows I can't do anything about that.

"Not all bothered," Kenneth said, kissing Jacy on her neck. "So, if that was her evil plan, it didn't work."

"I mean, get you all hot and bothered... You want to, go ahead but I probably won't..." Jacy said, parting her legs slightly.

"Jacy, I don't want to, all right?" Kenneth smiled and again kissed her neck.

"All I want to do is go to sleep, holding my woman," he assured her and she finally settled down and was snoring in moments.)

"Want some coffee?" Kenneth offered, getting to his feet.

"Ugh!" Ann grimaced and pointed to her belly. "As much as she's jumping up and down? No thanks."

"Her, huh?" Kenneth asked and Ann nodded happily.

"Well, third time's a charm," Kenneth said and noticed that Ann's face immediately lost its smile.

"Forth," Ann said quietly.

She sat up a little straighter in her chair and leaned close to Kenneth.

"I never told you but um," Ann said, and then hesitated.

She took a shuddering breath then looked at him.

"This is, this would have been number four for me," Ann admitted. "I um, see, when me and Jelissa? When we was with Maw-maw, there was this kid down the courtyard and anyway, me and him are doing a couple of joints, then we had a couple of lines and next thing I know he's fucking me and what a needle dick! I mean, I'm like, what? Is it in yet? And then I find out I'm pregnant and Maw-maw's been telling me and Jelissa 'Better not come home all knocked up' and so I went down to the free clinic and sure enough, I'm PG.""

Here," Kenneth said, giving Ann a glass of ice water.

"Anyway," Ann said after taking a gulp of the water. "They don't even say nothing, just take me in the back and lay me on a table and next thing I know, I'm coming out of it and they tell me everything's going to be okay and oh God!"

Ann burst into wailing sobs. Kenneth hugged her and she clung to him for dear life.

"I mean, I knew it was a big, horrible mistake the minute it was over, but by then, it's too late," Ann sniffled when she was able to talk again. "I pray every night, I beg her to forgive me. When Grandpa and Grandma died, I went up to their coffins and I begged them to look for my little girl; the nurse said there was no way to tell if it was a boy or a girl but I just know it was a girl, and when Jelissa died I told her to find my little Jodie and tell her Mommy's sorry and I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Jodie?" Kenneth asked.

"Yeah, when I was in the third grade, some teacher thought that my name had to be misspelled so when she was calling out our names, she called me 'Jodie' and I was like 'Man, I wish I'd been named Jodie; that's a cool name,' so I told my little girl that's her name," Ann smiled sadly.

They sat for a long moment, each deep in thought.

"So, um, what you doing here?" Kenneth finally asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to see you."

Well, Robbie and Sammy are in school and that ass hole, their Bio? He's calling me every ten minutes saying they're his kids and he's got rights even though he ain't never paid a fucking penny in child support and I'm like 'I got to get out of here' so I come over here," Ann shrugged.

"Their what?" Kenneth asked.

"Their biological father," Ann explained. "Eric got him to sign over any claim he might have to Robbie and Sammy, but now he's like I owe him money for his kids and really, I think he's using like meth or something 'cause he don't sound right in the head, you know?"

"I um, I kind of wanted to ask you about that," Kenneth admitted.

"About what?" Ann asked, taking another sip of her water.

"I mean, Robbie and Sammy? Um, they're black and..." Kenneth stammered.

"I think I know where this is going," Ann smiled tightly.

"I mean, this probably sounds stupid as shit, but, you know?" Kenneth said, clearly uncomfortable.

"'One you had black, you don't never go back,' right?" Ann said.

"Well, yeah, and Eric's white, right?" Kenneth said.

"Look, Jelissa brings Cecil over; he's got some killer weed, we all do a couple of joints, he's all like 'yeah, girl, me and your momma getting busy, know what I'm saying?' and I'm totally pissed off at Mother; can't remember about what, but he slaps it in me, humps twice and he's out of there like his ass is on fire and next thing I know, I'm PG again but this time I'm not doing that again; I'm having the baby," Ann said.

"Hmm," Kenneth said.

"Then, few years later, he comes back, gives me a couple hundred, says he'll be paying me child support from now on," Ann shrugged and held up her empty glass.

Kenneth filled up her glass and Ann drinks deeply from it.

"He's all like 'yeah, he's my boy, know what I'm saying?' And promising he'll be around take him places and he's just being so sweet and I'm pretty lonely; it kind of sucks, no one wants to be around you when you got a kid and he's humping on me for all of ten seconds and next thing I know, it's like 'Damn it! Not again!' and I'm pregnant again, but of course, now that he's got what he wants, I can just kiss his ass I'm getting a fucking thing out of him," Ann said and again drained her glass.