Ding Dong!! Is She Dead?

by Alathia Morgan

  “Yes, mom the roast is done so I turned it down and put the rolls in to start cooking.” Giving Georgia a hug, Justin turned with an arm around his mother’s waist so that he could introduce Allie.

  “Mom, this is Allie Foster. Allie, this is my mother Georgia Greenley.”

  “Hello, Mrs. Greenley.” Allie held out her hand, but was taken by surprise when Georgia grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

  “Don’t you dare call me Mrs. Greenley. I’m G.G. to my friends.”

  Hearing the porch door open, “This is my husband, James. James this is Justin’s friend, Allie,”

  G.G. was so warm and friendly that Allie forgot to be scared of what this woman might think of her.

  James walked into the room, he was tall about 6’3 with a dash of gray in his hair making him look dashing. James and Justin hugged as if they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.

  Looking at the two men side by side, they were about the same height, but Justin was leaner and slightly more toned than his father. If Justin aged as well as his father had that would be okay in Allie’s book. Allie was surprised to find herself wanting to see how Justin aged and to grow old with him.

  Unaware of where her thoughts had traveled, G.G. continued talking, “Justin why don’t you and Allie go set the table while I get out of these church clothes and into something more comfortable.” G.G. started to head upstairs.

  “Um, Mom, I sort of invited a few more people to join us. Friends of Allie’s that need to get out of the city. It should be at least three more than you planned.”

  “That’s no problem. You know that I always cook enough to feed an army. Just put out enough plates for eight and if it’s too many than we will clear them off when we are done.” G.G. didn’t seem to be the fazed in the least.

  Allie and Justin set the table for eight and had just finished when the dogs started barking again. Signaling that Megan and Sally had arrived; they went out to meet them.

  Allie let out the breath of air that she had been holding unconsciously. The feeling of relief that Allie had at seeing both of them get out of the car unhurt was unusual for her. Megan was looking much better since she had had a few more days of rest. Sally raced out of the car throwing herself into Allie’s arms.

  “I was sooo worried, but then mom told me that you were hanging out with this handsome guy,” giving Justin an appraising look, ”I guess he’s kind of cute.” Sally disengaged from Allie and walked straight up to Justin.

  “Dude, do you hit women?” Sally looked at him in all seriousness.

  Justin understood that Sally had no idea most men would never lay a hand on a woman, so he got down on her level to answer her question.

  “Sally I have never hit or hurt a woman or girl before. I hope that you can help me take good care of Allie while you take good care of you mama. Does that sound like a deal to you?”

  Sally looked over at Allie, “Well, taking care of my mama is hard work since my daddy hurt her so I guess I can let you take care of Allie, but I’m warning you mister that you had better not hurt my Allie.” Sally finished by shaking her finger at Justin.

  Seeing Megan join her daughter on the steps, Justin took over the introductions. “Hi, Megan I’m Justin. I hope that I pass inspection.”

  Megan was trying hard not to laugh or be embarrassed by what Sally had said. She took Justin’s offered hand.

  “I’m with Sally, if you have been protecting our Allie then, you are okay in our book.” Smiling at her daughter, she gave her a nod of approval.

  Karen came forward, “Hey Justin, how’s it going?”

  Leaning forward, Justin gave her a quick hug, looking over at Allie he explained.

  “Karen and I got to know each other very well, since my brother dated her during high school. So I guess you are the body guard for these lovely ladies?”

  “You guessed correctly. Hi, Mrs. G., hope that you don’t mind the extra guests for lunch.” Karen addressed her having seen her in the doorway, which was a good thing since she was the one guarding everyone.

  Karen had been to many events at Justin’s house before and felt comfortable making herself at home. Since, no one else had seen G.G. standing in the doorway they weren’t sure just how much she had heard of their conversation and what Sally had blurted out.

  Opening the door the rest of the way G.G. stepped out and greeted Megan with a hug instead of a handshake as well.

  “Well, let’s not stand out here on the porch when the food is ready to eat. I cooked enough to feed an army, Karen, so you don’t have to worry about that big appetite of yours. There will be plenty to go around.”

  Seeing Sally hang back, G.G. bent down. “Do you like macaroni and cheese Sally?” Having had a few grandchildren already, G.G. knew the way to a child’s heart.

  “Yes, ma’am I do.” Sally whispered, suddenly feeling shy.

  “Well, then you can carry it from the table to the kitchen for me, okay?” Seeing Sally nod, G.G. just led the way with everyone following her to help set everything on the table.

  Finally situated at the table, G.G. looked up to James at the head of the table, “I believe that we are ready for the prayer honey.”

  Holding hands around the table gave them a sense of family togetherness that Allie, Megan and Sally had been missing for such a long time.

  Passing the food around the table, they were startled when Mark, Megan’s lawyer walked in.

  “Hey, Aunt G.G., sorry I’m late. I had to run by the police station after church and it took longer than I thought it would.” Mark gave his Aunt a quick peck on the check and took the empty place next to Megan across from Justin.

  Allie and Megan were stunned; they had had no idea that Mark was related to Justin or that he was connected to such a well-known family in the area.

  Seeing the looks on the ladies faces, G.G. quickly stepped in so there wouldn’t be any awkwardness. “Mark is James’ nephew. He comes to lunch most Sundays with us since his mother died when he was young.”

  Directing her attention to Mark’s greeting, “Any type of business that you have going on can wait until we have had dessert and don’t have little ears in the room to overhear what is going on.”

  Contritely, Mark agreed. The rest of the meal was spent in discussing the pastor’s sermon and how it related to what was going on in their lives. This of course meant how it related to other people in town and how it would help their lives.

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  After lunch was over and the dishes cleared away, the group adjourned into the family parlor that was the comfy living area. Sally was taken to the media room where Justin quickly set her up with video games to keep her occupied while they discussed the ongoing situation.

  Justin sat on the couch next to Allie in the empty space with Karen on the other side of Allie. Mark had taken the seat next to Megan on the love seat. This left his parents in the two recliners which were their called seats. Like when someone called, “shotgun,” for sitting in the front seat of a vehicle. Their seats were permanently called so that no one else would sit in the recliners if they were present or they would give them up when G.G. and James came into the room as a sign of respect.

  “So what in the world is going on? I have never met two more innocent and law-abiding citizens then these two ladies seem to be. Who could possibly want to hurt them?” James might have seemed like the quiet, stern rancher, but in reality he had a B.A. in psychology. He generally didn’t give his opinion unless he felt that no one else would be able to figure out the right answer. His job was to listen and let them head in the right direction all on their own.

  “Would you mind explaining it all to them?” Megan didn’t feel comfortable telling the story since it sounded so horrible. She looked imploring at Allie.

  Allie began the story with Mark filling in the legal details that he that he was able to make public. By the time of they had gotten to the second attack on Megan in the hospital, it was obvious that Mark was clearly
attracted to Megan when he place a comforting hand on her arm.

  After explaining how they spent the last week in a hotel and that they were moving to a new area that night since there had been more attacks against them, Allie gave a big sigh.

  G.G. glanced at James to make sure that they were thinking the same thing.

  “Ladies, we have a secure apartment downstairs and Mike has no idea that you would be here with us. We haven’t met or socialized with you before, so there is no reason to drag Sally around anymore than you absolutely have to. We have more ranch hands with guns and dogs to alert us than any hotel that you stay at. Plus, I need someone to fuss over and you girls would give me a good excuse for doing that. What do you say?” G.G. leaned forward expectantly, not many people refused her when she had an idea going.

  Both Allie and Megan looked to Karen waiting for her to decide what seemed to be the safest course of action.

  “I’ll say yes, but only if they still want us when they hear what happened the other night with Allie and Justin.” Karen had no intention of telling the local police or sheriff’s office about this specific change of address.

  “The fewer people who know where these ladies are staying, the better it is for everyone. We are certain that there is someone on the inside that is feeding Mike information on their whereabouts. While we had expected this to happen, it is taking much longer to find him because he is one step ahead of us.”

  “He grew up out on Lake Takawoma and is very familiar with the area, which unfortunately helps his cause. He could be staying in a deserted cabin or simply camping in a tent causing the officers that have canvassed the area to miss or overlook him. Considering that he knew exactly when Allie would be working at her job and managed to slip by the surveillance we had in place to keep her safe, it seems he has someone on the inside.” Nodding at Allie to continue the story where they left off, she settled back into the couch.

  “I was working when I met Justin hanging out with some friends. He tried flirting with me all evening until we closed.” Allie gave an apologetic smile to Justin.

  “Wait she turned you down, cuz? I didn’t think that was even a remote possibility.” Mark was thrilled that now he had something to tease Justin about for the next few months.

  Justin simply rolled his eyes while Allie resumed ignoring Mark’s interruption. “Justin left and we finished closing the bar. I got the bouncer to walk me to my car and I guess that when I unlocked it; that was when Mike climbed into the back seat. I didn’t see him because both Stan and I checked the back seat. I turned to tell Stan I was okay when we both saw Justin hanging out by the door. Stan went to tell him to get lost, but by the time he got there, I had backed out. I was just switching to drive when something slipped around my neck. I knew that the only way to not be choked to death would be to hurt my assailant. I couldn’t hit anything behind me, so I revved the gas and took off for the dumpster. When we hit it, I guess that it threw Mike back into the seat because suddenly the rope was gone and I could breathe. I started to jump out, but both Justin and Stan were there.”

  “Mike had opened up the door rear driver’s door as they got to the passenger side. He raced into the night and since he was wearing all black there wasn’t any way to chase him once he reached the edge of the parking lot. The Three W’s is not that well lit to begin with and once you are past the lighted area there would be no way to see where he went.”

  “That was when I realized that Julie was missing from the group. She would have been the first person to be at my car and since she was undercover we hadn’t even realized that it was her car across the street. When Justin and Stan made the same conclusion, Justin took off across the road, while Stan stayed with me. I wasn’t feeling too hot right then.”

  “Stan called it in to the cops while we made our way slowly over to her car. Justin made it just in time to stop the bleeding; Julie had been stabbed several times. Julie and I were taken to the hospital, while Justin followed. Stan had stayed behind to finish closing up and getting everything under control.”

  “They released me, when I went out to find a phone so I could call for a ride; Justin was out there with my bag. So he drove me to get something to eat and then to his house so that I could rest without worrying that Mike would be back.”

  Looking at Megan, she said,“I was really relieved to not have to stay at the hospital and there was no way that we were going to drive to the next town where ya’ll were just in case Mike followed us. I really hope that he got hurt when I crashed the car. I know that’s a terrible thing to wish on someone.” Allie just started crying. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I never cry.”

  G.G. got up and came across the room, motioning for Justin to move. She scooped Allie into her arms and just let her cry. “I think that ya’ll can go in there and get the dessert served up. Allie and I will join you in a few minutes.”

  Taking charge, G.G. shooed them from the room with a wave of her hand. “You too, Justin, out.”

  “It’s gonna be okay Allie. Sometimes you just have to have a good cry to get all those pent up feelings out.”

  Justin went out when his mom shooed him, but didn’t go far. After about 10 minutes, he stuck his head back in to check and saw Allie was no longer sobbing, she was fast asleep. His mother nodded and he came back in the room.

  “I’ll carry her to the guest room. As tired as she has been she might sleep all night.” Justin lifted Allie into his arms without waking her. His mom went ahead of him to open the door of the guest room on the first floor and pull back the blankets.

  He laid her on the bed and covered her with a light blanket since the air-conditioning was on. He had noticed last night that she had slept with the bedspread on so that she could snuggle with it.

  Waiting to make sure that she was still asleep, he checked the room. The windows were locked and there was nothing that anyone could hide behind. He left the door partially open so that he wouldn’t wake her up when he checked in on her later. He rejoined the group to discuss happier things, like which grandchild had hurt themselves yesterday.

  G.G. was just telling how her older son, Luke’s daughter, Violet had gotten hurt.

  “You should have seen her, she was so quiet and was obviously crying, but I couldn’t see what was wrong with her. So I held her and asked, ‘Did she run into something?’ She shook her head no. Then I asked, ‘If someone had thrown something that hit her?’ Again, no. I asked, ‘Did you fall?’ Again with the head shake. At this point I have no idea how she could have hurt herself so I asked what I thought was a dumb question, ‘Did you hit yourself?’ This time I got a yes, ‘What in the world did you do that for?’ She looked up at me through the tears and shrugged her shoulders, smiling now with tears running down her face. She had been carrying a rock with her feet and managed to drop it on her nose. Only way I can figure that that happened was that she was on her back and the rock was on the bottoms of her feet sticking straight up in the air which fell on her nose.” G.G. finished with laughter.

  All of the adults were laughing at the antics of a seven year old instead of worrying about the real world. It was good to see Megan was enjoying herself. Maybe there was hope for both her and Allie to recover from their terrible experiences, Justin thought, without leaving too many scars.

  Chapter 11

  Sally followed the sound of laughter and found the group of adults. This was a new experience for her since there had not been genuine laughter in her house for quite a while. The rule was that children were to be seen and not heard. She knew that her mom worried a lot about stuff and she hoped that her mommy would keep the smile on her face that was there when she entered the kitchen.

  “Hey, can we go see the horses? I haven’t been close to one before and it would be sooo nice to ride one.” Sally pushed out her bottom lip just a little bit so that they would think she was cute. It always helped to get what she wanted from her Daddy.

  All of the adults had forgotten about Sally,
but Mark agreed to take them on a tour of the barn. There was no riding for today since Sally would need a few lessons on safety and the poor horses needed a day occasionally to rest from all that hard work that they did all week. Karen and Megan went with them just in case there were any problems.

  Justin was immediately ambushed by his parents about his feelings for Allie.

  “Well, son I’m guessing that you and Allie have gotten to know each other pretty fast and furious, but the question is will you still be serious about her when this is over?” James took over before his wife could start in with thousands of questions that Justin probably didn’t have a clue about. Women could always take a situation and cloud it up with lots of unnecessary questions.

  “You know Dad, I have dated lots of girls before, but not very many of them have turned me down. Most can’t wait to go on a date with me so that they can be seen with one of the Greenley boys. Not only did she have no idea who I was, but she wasn’t interested in that type of thing. She is hardworking and honest. I don’t know any women that would give up their time to help someone in Megan’s situation. It is extraordinary. I was almost convinced that there weren’t any women out there that weren’t completely superficial. I could become very serious about this one. I really appreciate the fact that you offered to have them stay here so that they can have more security. You don’t think that this is happening too fast between Allie and I?”

  “I knew that I loved your mother when I saw her at the County Dance, they call it the Fun Fest now. I knew that she was just what I had been looking for. I found someone that could introduce us and it took a while and a lot of flowers, but she finally said yes to a date. After the first date we just knew, that we were meant to be together and she has stuck with me through thick and thin. Just because it hasn’t been very long that doesn’t mean that you can’t be in love with her, right?”

  Justin hadn’t expected to come across the idea that they could already be in love. He was pleasantly surprised that he might be able to settle down with Allie, if she was interested, when all of this was over. Hopefully he wouldn’t scare her off before she was ready to take that step. However long it took, she was worth the wait.