The Garbage Queens Pt. 02

"Soon," Raoul promised himself, feeling an erection tenting his slacks. "Soon, my little senorita."

The two boys; Raoul knew a man here in DeGarde that would take them. Raoul had not met Andrew Vinmann in person, but they'd communicated a few times on a secure web site.

Cheryl looked over again, but the large man was gone. She shrugged, perhaps whomever he was waiting on had come.

While his niece and nephews were bustling into their school, trying to get out of the brutal cold, Todd was approaching Room 121 in Gilbert Hall on the U.L.D. campus. Turning the corner, he saw Freyja and that handsome football player in a passionate kiss.

Freyja had seen Jack as he came out of Professor Wagner's office. She waved in greeting and he had come over, smiling.

Freyja had not thought, had not remembered that Todd, her boyfriend, had a class in the same building, at the same time. She had just reacted, giving her lover a kiss that quickly became heated.

"Excuse me; you're in front of the door," Todd mumbled.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, little man," Jack smirked, pulling Freyja with him.

"Todd, I uh..." Freyja stammered, heart plummeting.

Todd entered the classroom and sat heavily. The classroom was hot, almost unbearably hot, tut Todd didn't feel the stifling heat.

"Todd, I uh, oh God," Freyja babbled.

"So, you going bring Jack, that's his name, right, Jack? Going bring him to Amelia's housewarming party?" Todd asked.

"Oh Jesus, this is a fucking mess," Freyja moaned. "Todd, please, listen to me."

Todd saw Freyja's lips and jaw moving but didn't hear the words. Finally, her eyes narrowed, her mouth tightened, and she stomped away.

It now made sense; why she'd been unavailable to go to the U.L.D. String Quartet's presentation of Autumn Festival. It made sense, why Freyja suddenly had 'study groups' to study with.

"Paleozoic; why are we studying it?" Professor Timmons cheerfully asked. "I mean, golly, it happened when? Anyone? Anyone tell me?"

While Todd was numbly sitting, not hearing the words, Paula and Kerry were in Dr. Kim Sei Tin's Algebra 101 class, frantically scribbling the formula for X and Y coordinates. Dr. Kim Sei Tin smiled and paused.

"I know, when I get excited, I tend to speak a little quickly," he apologized. "But see? When we understand these, understand their relationship, for example, we're putting in an ice-skating rink right in the middle of the stadium; who cares about football, huh? We want to skate. But how much water will we need? We want it to be, oh, what, a foot thick, so, how much water will we need? See? This can be exciting."

"Except to the football players," a student said and quite a few students laughed.

"Them, hmmph," Dr. Kim Sei Tin smiled. "They can skate too, right?"

"Better than they tackle," another student agreed, and the class erupted in laughter.

"Algebra is exciting, numbers are exciting," Dr. Kim Sei Tin laughed and quickly scribbled out the X and Y formula for filling the stadium to one foot of water. "Oh, wait a minute! Wait one stinking cotton-picking minute here! Did I just slip in the formula for the Z coordinate? Did I?"

"You sneaky, sneaky man," Paula teased, waggling a finger at the handsome young teacher.

"You sneaky, sneaky man," Kerry teased as they trooped out of the classroom.

"Kerry, I swear..." Paula argued, but her argument had no teeth.

"Exams coming up," Kerry needlessly reminded Paula as they stepped into the bitter cold. "Think we'll do okay?"

"What's the lowest score we got so far?" Paula asked.

"Um, I um, eighty-nine?" Kerry guessed.

"We'll do fine," Paula smiled. "Now, English? What the hell is a split infinitive?"

"Well, why don't you ever ask?" Kerry asked as they bustled toward their English class.

At their lunch table, their unofficial table in the U.L.D. cafeteria, Amelia, Kerry and Paula looked around for Todd. Freyja sat, eating her lunch, head down.

"Said he's not hungry," Kerry said when Todd did respond to her numerous text messages.

"God," Freyja moaned.

After her final class, Amelia again verified that the house was ready. FD answered her text message, assuring her that they were finished; she could come get the keys any time.

At the dinner table, Amelia thanked Miss Kelly and Mr. King for letting her stay with them. Kelly gave Amelia a warm smile and Gordon nodded his head.

"Young lady, I told you, what? Two months ago? This is your home," Gordon said. "You don't hear Kerry or Todd saying 'thank you' for having a home, do you?"

"Thank you for my home," Kerry said quickly.

"One, two, three," Todd quietly counted out and he and Mia turned and showed Kerry a mouthful of food.

"Oh Todd!" Kerry squealed.

"Sweetheart, you don't owe us any thanks," Gordon said, frowning at Todd and Mia.

"Anyway, I uh, I guess tomorrow, I'll just go on home, I mean, to my other home," Amelia said.

"Hey Kerry?" Paula said.

"Huh?" Kerry asked, then squealed when Paula also showed her a mouthful of chewed up food.

"Hang on, Miss Kelly and I are coming with you," Gordon said, shaking his head.

The next morning, Amelia again hugged Kelly and Gordon, thanked Mrs. Kim for her meals, then drove to her 'new' home. Holly and Noelle had done an amazing job and had somehow managed to do the work well under the ten-thousand-dollar budget she had agreed to.

The hideous green shag carpet was now a plush strawberry colored short pile carpet. Double padding made the short pile carpet look and feel much more elegant, luxurious.

Three of the walls were painted a stark white, but the fourth wall, the wall that now held cabinets and bookshelves had been done with a coat of gold paint, then sprayed several coats of red lacquer.

The couch, an uncomfortable beige couch had been replaced with a light brown tweed loveseat and two matching chairs. Instead of the coffee table, which had dwarfed the small room, there was a large tweed ottoman.

The loveseat was against the wall, the two chairs flanked the loveseat at a forty-five-degree angle, and between couch and each chair was a honey blonde table, triangle in shape. Each table had a bright red ball lamp with pyramid shaped lamp shade.

From the living room, Amelia stepped into her kitchen. The faded lemon yellow, 'apple sauce' is what her mother had claimed it had been named was now a soft peach color. The white refrigerator and stove and oven looked good against the whitish-gray granite counter tops. The dark, drab cabinets had been replaced with honey blonde wood cabinets. The honey blonde matched the table and chairs and matched the honey blonde cabinets and shelving in the living room.

Amelia smiled; there were nine small pictures, 'Child drawing' of apples, and oranges, onions and bell peppers, a bottle of Tabasco hot sauce and other spices, each in a honey blonde frame. Personally, she would have never picked these pieces of art, but they looked right on her kitchen walls.

The linoleum flooring had been old, faded. The new flooring was a stone pattern, the coloring matching the white-gray counter tops.

"Shit, don't even recognize the place," Amelia said aloud as she pulled her suitcase down the hall.

The hall carpet was the same red color and had been double padded. Amelia felt like taking her shoes off and feeling the luxurious carpet under her feet.

She almost pulled the suitcase into her bedroom. Then she continued, passing the hall bathroom and entering her new bedroom.

A queen-sized sleigh bed looked right at home, with one matching nightstand, low dresser and armoire. The wooden furniture was of the same honey blonde wood tones. Again, the carpet was the elegant red carpet.

The bathroom, which had originally been a second closet had always been too small and cluttered. Now, the bathroom was sleek, clean, open.

The vinyl tub and shower had been pulled out, as had the small commode. The bulky vanity and chipped and stained sink had also been removed.

Now, there was a shower stall with clear plexiglass shower door. The commode was an elongated bowl of sparkling white, and the sink was now a gleaming white pedestal sink with lighted mirror above it instead of the badly tilted medicine cabinet that her dad was always going to get around to fixing, but never did.

Instead of the three wooden shelves in the miniscule linen closet, which couldn't be fully opened if the bathroom door was open, the door and jamb had been removed. There were seven wire shelves, ready for Amelia to put her towels and shampoo and bars of soap and other essentials onto.

The linoleum flooring was now tiles, six by six ceramic squares of white, with the odd square of blood red. Looking again, Amelia saw that her shower stall was lined, floor and walls with three by three ceramic tiles of white, interspersed here and there with a blood red tile. The floor had strips of non-skid rubber for safety.

"This is my home," Amelia said out loud. "This is my home. Mine."

When they stood in the house, Holly and Noelle had suggested a claw foot tub for the hall bathroom. Instead, there was a large tub with whirlpool jets. The rim of the tub was only six inches above the white and pink tiled floor, but the interior was at least two feet deep. Amelia wondered how they had managed that little feat.

Instead of the drab, heavily stained shower curtain and slightly bent shower curtain rod that had been there for as long as Amelia could remember, the tub had clear plexiglass panels, three to the left, three to the right that pulled together and formed a watertight seal.

The commode was another elongated bowl, the vanity had been upgraded to a wider cabinet with at least two feet of countertop on either side of the scalloped bowl sink. To the left of the sink was a cabinet door. Underneath the sink was another cabinet door. And to the right of the sink were three drawers.

The mirror stretched from edge to edge of the cabinet, as did the lighting fixture above the large mirror.

In her old bedroom, Amelia stopped short. Other than the carpeting and the white walls, nothing had been changed in this room. Her desk and chair were still in the corner. Her double bed was the same. Her nightstand was the same. Amelia smiled; apparently Holly, or Noelle had seen that bed and nightstand and desk and chair were honey blonde and had decided that this would be the theme of her home.

Amelia looked again and felt a tear come to her eye. At the foot of the bed was her toy chest. Her old toy chest, with the chipped corner. And sitting with one arm dangling over the chipped corner was Sleepy-Time Baby, the doll she had played with for much of her childhood.

"Where did y'all find it?" Amelia asked out loud.

Then her eyes travelled above her head. The attic. She had not gone up into the attic. The trap door and ladder were right outside of her bedroom, but had always been so heavy, so difficult to pull down, and the steps themselves, her dad had broken two of them when he drunkenly tried to get down the Christmas decorations last year, no two, two or three years ago.

The door swung down easily. The smell of new lumber assailed Amelia's nostrils. She reached over and flicked the switch for the attic light and cautiously made her way up the ladder.

There were cardboard boxes neatly stacked. Amelia smirked; her father had not neatly stacked these boxes. He had dropped them wherever was convenient.

Coming down, Amelia jerked on the door and almost conked herself. It didn't require the force; it swung up easily.

She fished her cell phone out, debated, then hit '9' on her screen. It rang twice.

"Hello?" Tipton bubbled.

"Y'all, y'all just got come see my house," Amelia invited. "I mean, housewarming's tonight, but I just can't wait show it off."

Tipton, with Jamie in tow arrived ten minutes later. They presented Amelia with a bottle of champagne to toast the house.

"How, you, you're not twenty-one, huh?" Amelia asked as she found her parents' old wine glasses.

"Nineteen," Jamie admitted. But my dumb ass brother? He would have been twenty-four. I got his ID."

"Would have been?" Amelia asked as Tipton poured them each a glass of the foaming liquid.

"Overdose," Jamie shrugged, accepting the glass.

Tipton put her arm around Amelia's waist as Amelia took them through the house. Arriving in Amelia's bedroom, she admired the sleigh bed.

"Nice. Think it could fit all three of us?" she asked, then pressed her lips to Amelia's lips.

"Only one way to find out," Amelia said and shoved her tongue into Tipton's mouth.

As usual, Jamie didn't say much. But he didn't need to. He hammered Tipton hard and fast while she licked Amelia's bald pussy. Then he carefully worked his cock into Amelia's greasy rectum while Tipton squatted over Amelia's face.

The sleigh bed held the three lovers as they napped. Finally, Tipton roused them and announced she was going to make lunch.

"So, what time's the party again?" she asked as she padded, nude, from the bedroom.

"Seven," Amelia said, slowly stroking Jamie's hard cock.

"So, we don't need to put clothes on until seven; goody," Tipton said.

While Amelia, Jamie, and Tipton sat and ate lunch cross-legged on the rumpled bed, Derek sat with Bear at the Waffle House on Highway 54. The large man smiled sympathetically as he listened to the young man.

"Shit, son, we all done shit we ain't proud of," Bear said.

"Yeah, but my sponsor, huh?" Derek snapped bitterly.

"Dude, we ain't here because we're well. We're here because we're sick. Carter ain't no different," Bear said gently.

After an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting the previous evening, Carter had invited Derek back to his one room apartment, to talk about the Steps. In his efficiency, Carter pulled up an Internet site and showed Derek a video of himself, being corn holed by Rickie and Barry.

Then he had kissed Derek. Derek had punched the man and stormed out of the apartment.

"My first thought? Use. Man, just go, get fucked up. I mean, shit, what's the point? That shit's always going be there, reminding me what a fuck-up I am," Derek snarled, gripping the mug of coffee tightly.

"What our disease wants us do," Bear agreed.

"But Kirsten said you ain't never turned your back on anyone needs you," Derek said and started to cry.

Monday morning, like clockwork, the Mercedes-Benz SUV turned. Like clockwork, it travelled twenty yards and stopped.

The moment the passenger door popped open, Raoul grabbed the driver's door and yanked it open. Kelly twisted in surprise and Raoul's punch caused her to black out for a moment.

"Stay in the car! You stay in car," Mrs. Kim shouted at the screaming children.

From her crosswalk position, Cheryl saw what happened. She raced toward the large man as he pulled the driver from the car.

Raoul grunted, surprised as Cheryl's plastic stop sign struck him on the head. He turned and swung at Cheryl Kendricks. She again slashed at him with her plastic sign.

Raoul grunted again when Mrs. Kim lashed out with a vicious kick. He turned and punched out, but his punch sailed a good foot over the short woman's head.

Tuff Rickards told Cheryl Marie to wait, stay right where she was and do not move until either he or Grandma came to get her.

"I'll watch her," Ann Broussard promised, clutching tightly on Kathleen and Gloria's small hands.

Tuff nodded his thanks to the small woman and raced to where his mother in law and small Asian woman fought valiantly with the large Latin man. Tuff's flying tackle slammed Raoul into the vehicle. Tuff's first punch broke Raoul's jaw. His second punch broke Raoul's nose.

"Everyone, freeze! Police!" Officer Ritchie Jeffries ordered.

It was just Raoul's bad luck that Ms. O'Brien, the second-grade teacher had asked Officer Ritchie Jeffries to come talk to her class that morning. He had accepted; Tracy O'Brien had big beautiful brown eyes, a shy smile, and the body of a Parasols Model.

Epilogue. Seven years later.

Todd and Kerry walked wearily down the stark white hall of St. Elizabeth Parish Trauma Center. They had both been in the surgery room since seven that morning and the white and black clock over the elevators showed that it was five minutes to four in the afternoon. Todd reached up and pulled his surgical mask off; Kerry's mask dangled around her neck.

"Dr. King?" a voice called out and Todd and Kerry turned to see Paula Lambert hurrying toward them. "Dr. King!"

"Saved us the trouble of coming to find you," Todd smiled wearily.

Paula and Terry, Paula's wife skittered to a stop in front of the two surgeons. Both women had red rimmed eyes.

"Our, our daughter? How is she?" Paula asked.

"The tumor was attached to her brain stem; I told you, where it was located, that really worried me," Todd said.

"But we did get it," Kerry followed. "Now, it's just up to Janice. But she's a fighter; you know that."

"Thank you, doctor," Terry said, hugging Kerry.

"Yes, thank you," Paula said, hugging Todd.

"Welcome," Todd said, flinching slightly as a sobbing Terry hugged him.

"Oh my God, when we found out she had that tumor; our baby, our baby girl," Terry sobbed.

"But I told her, I told her we had the best surgeons in the country right here in our hospital," Paula sobbed, clinging onto Kerry.

Finally, Todd and Kerry reached the elevator. Kerry reached out and pushed the 'Down' button.

"Ready to go home, Sweetheart?" she asked Todd.

"You drive," Todd said. "I am just too wiped."

Seven years ago, Kerry and Paula had approached Todd, asking for his help with their Biology class. Todd saw that Kerry had an understanding of the material, once she removed the 'This is too hard' blockage from her way of thinking. With his encouragement, Kerry switched over to pre-med.

Falling in love with Kerry, after the heartbreak of losing Freyja was not much of a jump. Todd already loved the blonde beauty. He loved Kerry, not just for her physical beauty but for her natural inner beauty as well.

Neither Gordon nor Kelly stood in the way of Todd's clumsy courtship. And neither Gordon nor Kelly would intervene when Todd and Kerry would have the occasional lovers' spats.

"Dad?" Todd said one day as Gordon sat in his home office.

"Uh huh?" Gordon asked, looking up from the weather charts.

"Dad, I uh, I'm thinking of asking Kerry to marry me," Todd confessed.

"And I'm thinking what took you so long?" Gordon said. "What? Waiting for your residency get done?"

Now, in the elevator, Todd turned and kissed his wife on her lips. She smiled and linked fingers with him, leaning heavily against him.

"That one, right there like that, on her brain stem was a bear," Kerry remarked.

"Thank God for the laser," Todd agreed. "Believe me, I would never try that kind of surgery without it."

The ice-cold blast of wind greeted them as they stepped through the rear doors of the hospital. Kerry shivered and clung to Todd.

We drove the Porsche, right?" Kerry asked, scanning the parking lot.

"Bentley," Todd corrected, pointing toward the white luxury automobile.

While Todd and Kerry sat, waiting for their car to warm up, in Clarkston County Hospital, in Myndee, Arkansas, Paula Kim stepped into the nurses' locker room. She smiled tiredly at

Tiffany Berdette, a fellow nurse.

"Hey," Paula said to the blonde beauty as Tiffany shrugged into a threadbare winter coat.

"Hey. You uh, you got go home, or...?" Tiffany asked.

"It's, it's Tuesday, right? Kim Sei Tin's got finals, no, I can come over for a cup of coffee," Paula said, giving her girlfriend a smile.

'Cup of coffee' was their term for fooling around, making love. The two had become fast friends when Paula Kim transferred from the University of Louisiana at DeGarde to Myndee University. Tiffany Burdette was a perpetual student with no declared major, until she found out that her stepfather had emptied out her four-million-dollar trust fund. When that happened, Tiff went from full time cheerleader, full time party girl, part time student to full time nursing student.