Yawning Abyss

"Wasn't rude. Was totally appropriate," Kaileen said.

"Listen, out here, in Oxmore?" Jason said.

"Oxmore? Where?" Kaileen asked.

"Huh? Oxmore. It's in North Dakota," Jason said. "I'm working on a rig out here. Oil rig."

"You? Working?" Kaileen scoffed.

"Anyway, J.J. told us you won some money?" Jason said.

"Oo-oo-oh! So THAT'S what this is all about," Kaileen laughed a bitter laugh.

"Here, YOU try talking to your daughter," Kaileen heard Jason snap.

"Kayla, why you got be like that? None my other kids do nothing like you, I swear," Stephanie grumbled.

"Fine. Fine, put the donor back on," Kaileen sighed.

"Anyway, listen, out here? Boy, you can tell when it's pay day around here. Every place is packed. Even the Taco Hut and that place is some nasty," Jason said.

"Okay," Kaileen said.

"And I'm sitting there, looking at this and I say, 'hey, know what they ain't got out here? A steakhouse.'" Jason enthused. "But our place? Wouldn't just be a steak house. No sir. See, Ten Bear Lake?"

"Ten what?" Kaileen asked.

"Ten Bear Lake. It's in Minnesota," Jason said.

"Minnesota? Thought you was in North Dakota?" Kaileen said.

"Minnesota's right next door. Anyway, Ten Bear Lake? Damn! Can tell just 'bout every one them girls, their mommies and daddies made sure their little girls took their big titty vitamins. Haw! Bet double D's the smallest they got," Jason enthused.

"Lovely Dad," Kaileen sighed. "Uh, you forget? I'm a girl too? Like I want hear my dad talking 'bout titties?"

"And our steakhouse? These girls? Wouldn't have nothing on, naked as day they was born," Jason continued.

"Okay, regulations?" Kaileen asked.

"Regulations? Well, shit, guess double D would be the smallest we'd hire," Jason said. "Oh! Oh, and get this! Name of the place? Daughters. Huh? Huh? 'Cause every one them girls? Someone's daughter, right?"

"Ew, God, Dad, that is just so creepy," Kaileen gagged. "And no. Regulations. There any laws against nudity? There any regulations about being nude around food? I can tell you; my steak has a hair in it? I'm sending it back. It has a pubic hair in it? I'm suing the place."

"Oh," Jason said, some of the excitement waning.

"And that's why you just a big old loser," Kaileen thought. "Got all these big ideas, then, minute it looks like you might have to do some work? On to the next big idea."

"Listen, uh, send us couple bucks? I'll look up all the regulations," Jason countered.

"Two bucks? I send y'all two bucks, you actually going do some work?" Kaileen asked.

"Well, no, uh, how 'bout what? 'Bout a million? J.J. said you got..." Jason said.

"I'm hanging up now. And lose this number," Kaileen said.

Kailey Stephanie Withers, don't you dare," Jason thundered.

"Oh. My God! That's not even my name!" Kaileen laughed.

Hanging up, and quickly blocking the phone number, Kaileen felt a huge weariness descend. Christmas. On Christmas, the only reason her dad, her parents wanted to talk to her was because they wanted to wheedle a few bucks out of her.

She then felt an icy anger begin to form in her gut. Her computer came to life and Kaileen typed in her password. Then she looked up Oxmore, North Dakota.

"Well, he was right about that; there ain't shit out there," Kaileen said.

"And what I'm do when I graduate?" Kaileen mused, continuing to search for information about Children County, North Dakota.

She giggled as she pulled up the web page for Gold Standard Real Estate, Lilton located in North Dakota.

The day after Christmas, Buddy Jones smiled when his newest, and by far his richest client sauntered into his office.

"Children County, North Dakota; know anyone does law out there?" Kaileen got straight to the point.

Chapter 4—Using friends wisely.

Two days after the spring semester of Myndee University started, Skip sighed, not bothering to hide his annoyance as Lisa Knight demanded an appointment with Dr. Powell. He looked up and blinked when Kaileen Withers strolled into his small office.

"Excuse me, Lisa; need talk to my man," Kaileen gushed and kissed Skip. "Sweetie, I need see Dr. Powell; what you can do for me, hmm?"

"Your, your man?" Lisa asked, mouth open in shock.

"Oh yeah. He might not be the most handsome guy you ever seen, sorry Sweetie, but oh my God! He can fuck, hear that," Kaileen enthused.

"Four thirty work for you?" Skip asked Kaileen.

"Going have to, huh?" Kaileen smiled and gave him another kiss.

"You, you're joking," Lisa sputtered.

"You wish," Kaileen smiled. "Girl, he can fuck. 'Course, you probably don't, so, oh well."

"I, you, you're just saying that," Lisa scoffed.

"Oh. Yeah. You right; I am," Kaileen smiled and left the cramped office.

"I need to see Dr. Powell; it's about my grade last semester," Lisa again whined.

"And why didn't you schedule that meeting, oh, I don't know, uh last semester?" Skip snapped. "Wednesday, twelve thirty; best I can do."

"But I have a lab at that time," Lisa whined.

"Guess you either going have miss the lab, or miss the appointment, Knight," Skip snapped.

"I uh, listen, how about uh," Lisa softened her tone and put her hand on Skip's scrawny arm.

"Withers, Withers, Andrew, I don't have a Kaileen Withers in any of my classes, do I?" Dr. Powell asked, opening the door of his inner sanctuary. "No, Ms. Knight, I will not see you right now; make an appointment with Andrew."

"But it'll only take..." Lisa snapped.

"The answer is N. O. No. Make an appointment," Dr. Powell snapped. "Andrew? Ms. Withers?"

"You do not," Skip agreed.

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to see..." Dr. Powell slammed the door in Lisa's face.

"Listen, I, you like Chinese?" Lisa tried smiling at Skip.

"Kung Pow chicken, extra spicy, fried rice, not steamed," Skip said, writing down his address on a scrap of paper. "Maybe we can come to an agreement about an eleven o'clock appointment tomorrow?"

At four twenty-five, Kaileen showed up, laptop under her arm. Skip whispered about his dinner date with Lisa Knight that evening.

"Knew she wouldn't be able resist," Kaileen smiled. "Good luck, Sweetie."

Dr. Maurice Powell looked questioningly at the attractive girl that sashayed into his office. She gave him her warmest smile and he nodded curtly toward the hard-wooden chair in front of his paper strewn desk.

"I know you're busy, so I'll get right to the point," Kaileen said. "I need some floor plans for some condominiums I'm building in Black Hand Lake, North Dakota."

"Okay," the man said, not budging a muscle.

"What I am thinking is, sixteen units, four to a building. Each should look like an old barn; I seen some show on old barns; they tear them down and then put them back up again somewhere else?" Kaileen said, swiveling the screen of her computer around to face the grizzled professor. "Barnwood Builders or something like that."

"That, Ms. Withers, that's a fairly interesting idea," Dr. Powell admitted, now looking at the drawing of a tall red barn.

"And..." Kaileen said, hitting the space bar. "The front is barn doors; the left one slides completely open for a single car garage, the right one doesn't move; the front door is built into the facade of a barn door."

"Uh huh," the man said, intrigued.

"But Dr. Powell? I don't know how to do this to scale. I don't know how to do the blueprint, hand it to a construction company and tell them, 'Give me bids on building this.' So? I need you to help me," Kaileen admitted.

"When do you want this?" Dr. Powell asked, already typing notes onto his own laptop computer.

"I want it before we go on Spring Break," Kaileen said. "Y'all might be going Fort Lauderdale or Miami Beach; I'm going to Black Hand Lake to get this started."

"And why Black Hand Lake. Why North Dakota at all?" Dr. Powell asked.

"It's a big old gigantic finger to the two worthless creatures brought me into this world," Kaileen admitted.

"Cheaper ways give someone the finger," Dr. Powell said.

"Yeah, but cheaper fingers don't last as long," Kaileen smiled. "And? Oxmore? Lilton? Black Hand? Nothing but trailers. But there's a butt-load of companies either drilling, or doing the electrical, doing the shipping. Can't tell me their executives are happy living in a trailer, right next to their rig hands, right?"

"What's your major, Ms. Withers?" Dr. Powell asked, intrigued.

"Business Administration; got nine hours to graduate," Kaileen said.

"So, do you know why no one else has thought of putting up condominiums in this area?" he asked.

"Ten years ago, there was nothing but cow pastures there," Kaileen said. "Then, someone said, 'hey, bet there's all kind oil right here' and it just kind of blew up from there. Bet they just didn't think it'd last all that long," Kaileen shrugged. "Hell, I don't need it last all that long. Just long enough for me to sell the condos before moving on."

The Thursday before Spring Break officially started, Kaileen again walked into Skip's office. Lisa Knight was already in Skip's office.

"Hey, there's my man," Kaileen smiled and leaned forward to give Skip a kiss.

"Uh, no ma'am," Lisa growled, placing her hand on Kaileen's shoulder. "There's MY man."

"Do what?" Kaileen asked, mouth open in shock. "I, you, you serious?"

"Yes ma'am," Lisa said, possessive hand on Skip's shoulder. "My man."

"Oh. Well, I uh, Good for you," Kaileen sighed. "I mean, Skip, I told you I was busy; this is my last semester and all, but..."

Kaileen dropped her head down. Then, with a heavy sigh, she looked up again.

"I, can I see Dr. Powell?" she asked Skip.

"I, yeah, he's free right now," Skip said.

Behind Lisa's back, Kaileen shot Skip a grin. He looked at Kaileen, then let a smile cross his face.

"Ms. Withers! How wonderful to see you," Dr. Powell greeted the young woman.

He pulled up several sketches on his computer. Kaileen and he discussed each sketch and finally, Kaileen decided on the one that showed a two-bedroom, two-bathroom design, and a three bedroom, two and one half bath design.

"Units one and three will be two bedroom, units two and four will be three bedroom," Kaileen decided. "So, how much?"

"Nothing, Ms. Withers. It was a class assignment," Dr. Powell admitted.

"Oh no, I got pay you something," Kaileen said, small hand going to Dr. Powell's lap.

Five minutes later, Kaileen opened the door of the small office. She popped a breath mint into her mouth as she closed the door.

"You. Take good care of him, you hear?" Kaileen demanded of Lisa. "You don't? I'll be back."

"You don't worry about that," Lisa said smugly.

"I mean it," Kaileen said. "You take good care of him."

Again, Kaileen shot Skip a satisfied little smirk. Skip nodded his appreciation as Kaileen left the small room.

"You stay away from that little tramp," Lisa ordered Skip as she gathered her textbooks. "Hear?"

"You the only little tramp I'll be..." Skip teased.

"Hey!" Lisa mock-complained, then kissed him. "Bye. Love you."

"Love you too," Skip agreed.

Chapter 5—A new land.

From Myndee, Arkansas to Lilton, North Dakota was just over nine hundred miles by automobile. Kaileen did think briefly of flying out of Little Rock to Bismarck, or even Minneapolis, but deduced she'd still have to drive several hours in a rental car to reach Lilton, where the Gold Standard Real Estate office was located.

Kaileen then called Lisa Doucet, the Gold Standard real estate agent and arranged to meet with the woman on Monday. Lisa agreed to have at least three local construction company representatives at their meeting, to look over the plans for the new development.

On Sunday, just as she was pulling her truck into the parking lot of the Ten Bear Lake Motel, Kaileen's cell phone rang. The blue tooth connection routed the call to her truck's stereo speakers.

"Hello?" Kaileen answered.

"Oh, Kaileen! Oh, thank God!" Grandmother said, voice frantic. "J.J.; they kidnapped J.J. and they said they want nine million or they'll kill him!"

"Oh no!" Kaileen gasped, fighting down a giggle at her Grandmother's attempted deception. "Oh my God! Did you call the police?"

"They said not to, or they'd kill him," Grandmother said. "They want the money in small, unmarked bills in a suitcase; they want George to take it to them..."

"Nine million dollars? In small, unmarked bills? It'll take more than one suitcase," Kaileen interrupted.

"However you can do it," Grandmother said. "When we let them know we got the money, they'll tell George where to take it."

"And they want nine million. Not eight, not ten, they want nine million, exactly the amount of money I've got," Kaileen smirked.

"They asked how much I could get," Grandmother justified.

"And you just happened to tell them how much I got. Not how much you got, or Jayanne's got, how much I got," Kaileen said.

"How soon can you get the money?" Grandmother asked.

"Oh, don't worry. Minute they got help J.J. change one of his diapers? They'll let him go," Kaileen said breezily. "Well, got to go; great talking to you."

"Kaileen, that is your brother, your only brother," Grandmother's voice was hard. "Don't you care?"

"Grandmother, I gave y'all plenty money; why you got have mine too?" Kaileen sighed.

"That's my money," Grandmother snarled bitterly. "All them years I..."

"Goodbye, Ms. Morrison," Kaileen sighed and ended the call.

Safely in her motel room, Kaileen allowed herself a few tears. She had freely shared her wealth with her Grandmother and her sisters and brother. Why wasn't that enough? Her parents had not received anything from her; Kaileen figured that put her and her parents at the break-even point.

If Jason and Stephanie had truly been hurting for money, Kailee would have given them some money. But she wasn't going to just fund their carefree, wasteful lifestyle.

The clerk had said there were free movies in the room. Seeing a plaque on the television reminded Kaileen that there were free movies.

"Hit two and..." Kaileen said, reading aloud from the card.

"Amateur, Anal, oh!" Kaileen giggled, feeling slightly guilty.

She selected 'Anal' and settled back to watch the mindless, almost mechanical pornography. After ten minutes, she selected 'Lesbian' and looked up a local pizza place that delivered.

"Not open on Sundays," Kaileen read their web site. "Well, shit!"

Finally, she did find a pizza place that was open, that did do deliveries and settled back to continue watching the lesbian action on her television screen.

Monday morning, Kaileen dressed in a crisp business suit and linen blouse. She styled her hair into a bun and even put on a strand of pearls. The bathroom mirror showed Kaileen that she would fool no one. A twenty-year-old girl stared back at her.

Lisa Doucet was of Native American descent. Her hair was glossy black, her eyes were black pools in her reddish-brown face. And a gash split her face from just above her right eyebrow to just under the left corner of her mouth. Kaileen could see the markings where a less than professional job had been performed, trying to patch the damage to the woman's face.

Lisa Doucet also did a bit of a double-take, looking at the extremely young woman that entered her office. Lisa even looked past Kaileen, to see if Kaileen's mother might be entering the office.

"Mrs. Doucet?" Kaileen asked.

"Yes. And you are Ms. Withers?" Lisa asked.

"Yes ma'am," Kaileen said.

"We're just waiting on Wanate Construction, um, Roughrider Contracting and Lilton Construction. Would you like some coffee? Water?" Lisa offered.

"Coffee would be great; my motel room didn't have a coffee pot in it," Kaileen said.

"Got porno on the television, but no coffee; y'all figure that one out?" Kaileen said to herself.

Roughriders Contracting arrived first. The man stared at Lisa's damaged face, then did not let his eyes go above Kaileen's linen covered breasts. Lilton Construction's representative demanded that the meeting get under way immediately; he had other things to take care of.

Kaileen silently observed the Lilton's representative. His company would have to have the lowest estimate, substantially less than the nearest competitor before she would consider going with the suit-clad buffoon. At least Hank, the Roughrider rep looked as if he'd actually swung a hammer once in his life.

"I am sorry I'm late," a man with long gray-black hair and deeply weathered face said, entering the office.

Kaileen smiled. The man's khakis were dirty. His work boots had a mixture of dirt and concrete clinging to them. His eyes met her eyes as he took a seat.

Lisa again informed the three that Ms. Withers was interested in building condominiums in the Black Hand Lake area. The purpose for this meeting was for the three to look over the plans and provide Ms. Withers with an estimate.

"Okay, so where is this Ms. Withers?" the Lilton rep snapped. "Jesus, been sitting here this whole time and she's not even here?"

"I'm sitting right here; Mrs. Doucet introduced me when y'all came in the room," Kaileen said softly.

"You?" Hank scoffed, getting to his feet. "Jesus Christ Almighty. Hey Lisa? Next time? Make sure it's a legitimate call before you drag me out here, okay?"

"And then there was one," Louie Wanate quipped. "Hello, Ms. Withers. I've got my company's brochure right here and a list of references if you'd like to see them."

"I seen your web site," Kaileen smiled. "Want look at the rough-ups of what I'm wanting?"

Louie did look at the blueprints on Kaileen's computer. He looked at the map of the area that Kaileen had purchased from Lisa.

"Want to go have a look at the property?" Louie offered and the three climbed into his Jeep.

At the property, Louie stood with Kaileen, pointing to each area as he spoke. As he 'painted' with his hands, Kaileen smiled.

"Mr. Wanate? Unless you come back with something outrageous? I think you're my guy," Kaileen said.

Returning to the office, Kathy Simmons, a morbidly obese woman informed Lisa that Merle had called. Lisa sighed and thanked the woman.

"Merle's still wanting sell that place?" Louie asked, sympathetic smile on his face.

"Yes. I've told him and told him; no one is looking to buy a bar that's bankrupt," Lisa sighed.

"Bar?" Kaileen asked.

"Redwood," Louie said. "Problem is, why anyone would want to go to Redwood when Jubilee's got a better sound system, a better light system, more parking."

"What's Merle asking?" Kaileen asked Lisa.

"Three fifty," Lisa said.

"Now, young lady," Louie asked. "What would you want with a gay bar?"

"A gay bar? You serious?" Kaileen asked.

"Yes ma'am," Louie said. "But like I said, why would anyone want to go to Redwood when everybody's over at Jubilee?"

In the parking lot, Kaileen climbed into her truck and pulled up the information for Redwood Bar. She drove as her GPS loudly directed her to follow a severely pockmarked drive. Jubilee had a fresher coat of paint and the asphalt parking lot had yet to suffer the effects of numerous winters and summers.

"No. Not big enough," Kaileen said, looking at Redwood.

She parked in the gravel parking lot of the bar, looking at the gray cinderblock building. Even in the bright sunlight, the place looked sad, forlorn.

"Hello?" Kaileen asked as her stereo speakers alerted her to an incoming call.

"Ms. Withers? Hi, this is Louie Wanate," Louie's warm voice filled the truck. "Listen, I'm taking my favorite real-estate agent to the Boar's Lair for lunch; care to join us? Some of the best barbeque in the area."

Kaileen met Louie and Lisa at the dark, Dilapidated Boar's Lair. The food wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. The menu was quite lengthy and had no descriptions next to any of the items, making it a difficult read. And the print was small, far too small for such a dimly lighted room.