BOMAW 10-12

by Mercedes Keyes

  "How are you ladies this morning?" Samuel asked stepping in, starting the car.

  Charlie was too busy smirking to answer him, choosing to look out the window and ignore his question, that didn't faze him a bit. Deidre responded, "We're just fine, have you eaten this morning?"

  "I've had breakfast and lunch, man like me, has to keep up his strength - never know what I may have to wrestle with, day - or night." He grinned, looking in the rear view mirror for Charlie's reaction, he wasn't disappointed. Talk about shooting daggers. Deidre chuckled, well aware of what was going on.

  "So true, just checking, you must keep your strength up." Deidre responded, loving it.

  The silver Mercedes pulled off heading for the building site, arriving 20 minutes later. The moment Deidre and Charlie stepped from the spacious sedan and made their way towards the activities, the foremen present was there greeting her. He showed her that they were making rapid progress, the digging out a trench for the escape passage was underway, that day they would see to it being completed, carefully, taken as deep into the small woods running along the bluff behind Shawn's property as far as the landscaping would allow. He explained every step in the process, assuring her they were right on target. From there, they went to the additional land she purchased where a massive opening had been dug for the heavy building blocks to be placed in, using side up anchors for the mobile home mounts, which would be carefully lowered in and cemented, the base bracer would be riveted onto them and the mobile home mounted. All would be done, in place before that evening. Happy to see things rolling along, Deidre and Charlie went looking for Sylvia and Shawn. However, they were happy to find that he was gone with only Sylvia present. The three women could get so much more accomplished and settled between them, and thus, gathered in her basement kitchen discussing the next steps and what Deidre would be taking care of.

  It was a perfect distraction from the way her day had begun, worrying about her daughter first, and then having her brother show up, Deidre and Charlie were a much better distraction.

  * * *

  Ben had passed the ladies on the way out, a slight nod of his head and a smile. Leaving Mundo, he didn't feel so ill anymore, yet, now alone, he felt abandoned. As crazy as he knew his thinking was, it felt as if she'd taken the boys and run off on him, leaving him to suffer when she knew what they meant to him; what she meant to him. Reasoning and logic told him, because he understood her, and her thinking, that he shouldn't be hurting so much as he was. Yet, he entered his office in the studio, sat in his chair and found himself leaning head down on the desk with his stomach working him over once more now that he was alone. He simply could not understand it. He was certain she hadn't been in any hurry to make up her mind. There were too many reasons for her to stay home with the family, and just get herself in order. Hence, to suddenly out of the blue, head off back to him, back to Victor, made no sense to him. He wasn't crazy, from the very beginning, there had been something in her eyes, in her touch. He thought about that first real touch of her hand on his shoulder, that long ago day when she'd earlier sobbed her eyes out about Victor. He'd been taking her and Angela to the store, and they'd been talking about family, she'd just reassured Angela, and then touched him. The sensation of her touch had gone all through him, and he believed, her as well. Yes, even then, there had been something tangible between them, it was still there, they felt it when close to each other, he knew it, she had to know it. That alone convinced him that she couldn't have felt the need to go back when he was willing to do whatever she wanted him to do, including wait as long as it took. With the way he was feeling, he would be waiting no matter what; just as Mundo said, with Victor, was not where her happiness would be found, and that - is what he had to remember. He glanced up at his open laptop - he had his friends pictures to get done. He would also be shooting their wedding and reception; that was money after all, and he had a few brochures to shoot for different up and coming events in Wisconsin Dells. Every summer, he taught swimming and this year, was his first year training other lifeguards at the large park where he had been working since high school. It was the only job he was willing to take on because it was seasonal - short term for the summer only, after that, freelance only! As he sat, he prayed for a very busy, hectic summer, one that exhausted him to keep him from dwelling too long on Crystal and the boys.

  He saw his light flashing on his mobile phone followed by a beep.

  He'd missed a call or text messages. Reaching for it, he flipped it open and found that his mother had phoned him twice yesterday and so had Kevin. That scared him, after their argument, something must be wrong for Kevin to contact him. From past little differences, he had always been the one who had gone to him first to mend the rift for whatever reason it might be, therefore two calls from him meant something must be wrong. He dialled his mother right away. She answered on the second ring,

  "Mom, it's Ben, what's up, something wrong?"

  "Ben! It's okay now - it was a false alarm."

  "What? What was a false alarm?"

  "Last night, scared me to death, we thought Quincy was having a heart attack, but it's-..."

  "WHAT?!" He shot to his feet, "Where is he? Is he okay?"

  "Yes! He's fine, he's home, off work today just to relax a bit -..."

  "I don't care, I'm on my way! See you in a minute! Ah, is that why Kevin called me?"

  "Yes, that was before we knew he was fine." She assured him.

  Walking out of the studio, closing the door and locking it - he made his way to his car, "All right, I'm on my way." He clicked his phone off, jumped in, started his vehicle and then took five minutes to get through the cluster of vehicles that practically closed off that whole section of the road. Once out of there, twenty minutes later, he was pulling into his mother's drive. He drew in a long breath because Kevin's car was also parked, which meant he was home. Exhaling, he shook his head, today, considering their argument, he wasn't so sure he was in the mood for making up, kissing up to him - right now, all he honestly cared about was Crystal and the boys, and for the moment - seeing about Quincy. The problem his brother had, he couldn't fix, he had issues of his own to contend with.

  Parked, out of the car, he made his way to the home he'd practically grown up in - once Quincy came into their lives that is. Before Quincy, they'd lived with Christine's mother, and then when not there, at his other grandparents home. Entering the screen and letting it close behind him, he rapped on the door, "It's me mom, can I come in?"

  She was at the door instantly, "Benjamin, don't be ridiculous." She leaned up to kiss him on the cheek, as he bent to return it with a little hug. Right away, he started looking for Quincy who was sitting in his recliner, the air was on, he looked pretty relaxed. Ben smiled at him, "Dad, all you had to do was call me to come and see you, no need to go having dramatic heart attacks and such!"

  Quincy lit up happy to see him, "Wasn't no heart attack, it was your mother's Lasagne - gave me worse case of indigestion I've ever had!" He joked.

  "Why do I always get the blame for things that go wrong around here? I swear if you men don't start appreciatin' me more, I'm gonna have to take a few days off and see what you think then!" She fussed, also joking, looking up at her son, "Want something to drink sweetheart?" She caressed his arm with a squeeze.

  "Sure mom, thanks." Ben answered walking over and taking a seat across from Quincy, "You, you okay now, you sure?" He asked, clearly concerned. As he sat, listening to Quincy, he distinctly heard his brother's bedroom door crack open. Glancing down the hall, he waited for him to come out since he knew that he was standing within listening, however since he wasn't coming forward, he maintained his focus, his attention on Quincy and then his mother who approached him with lemonade, taking it, he smiled, took a sip, still listening to Quincy explain what he figured happened and what the doctor said.

  "Man I'm just glad it was a false alarm, sorry I didn't have my phone on me last night."

  "MOM!" Kevin called out of h
is door for her - trying to get her attention.

  "We tried everything to get a hold of you son, we-..."

  "MOM!" Kevin called out again, more urgently.

  "I'm talking Kevin! For goodness sake, wait a minute!" She fussed, "As I was saying, we tried everything to reach you, Kevin-..."

  "MOM! COME HERE!"

  Irritated, Christine side stepped looking over Ben's head where he was seated, down the hallway where Kevin stood, no shirt on, glaring at her. "What do you want?!" She asked, confused by his behavior.

  He wouldn't look at Ben, but glared with warning at his mother, "Come - here!" He practically demanded.

  "Unless you're bleeding to death young man, you can wait! How rude!"

  Ben sat back and was now looking down the hall at his brother, who cut him a quick glance and then away, angry at his mother, he pushed back into his room and slammed his door shut. "What in hell is wrong with him?" Christine murmured out loud, shaking him off for the moment, she went on, "As I was saying, we couldn't reach you on the phone, so Kevin went by there looking for you, found out you'd gone to Madison to see about Derrick, is he okay, by the way?"

  Ben pulled his eyes from down the hall turning them up to his mother, narrowed suspiciously, "Kevin went by Sylvia and Shawn's last night?"

  "Yeah, looking for you, because we were worried about your dad."

  "Who told him that I'd gone to Madison? To see about Derrick?" He asked, his heart tripping over in beats, heat was crawling up his body, gathering up around his neck, burning his face. He knew his brother, knew how he acted when he was guilty of something, especially if it was something he wished to hide. Ben stood, his mind ticking over, looking into his mother's eyes and then, down the hall, his entire manner changed before her eyes. His sudden standing threw Christine off slightly, causing her to loose her train of thought, she blinked at him, finally answering,

  "Ahhh, Sylvia's daughter I think," She looked past Ben, "Kevin!" She called out to him, "Who was that you talk to last night, when you went looking for Ben?! Wasn't it Crystal?!" She asked, and they all waited. Down the hall, all was quiet, no answer was coming. Christine looked to Quincy, "You see how he gets around here lately? I swear, he's really pushing his luck with me, KEVIN! I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!" She blared at him.

  Ben stood knowing full well why he wasn't responding, the heat around his neck engulfed him in flames. Tears rushed to his eyes as his jaw and back teeth ground down tight, grinding with his building rage. He turned from his mother and Quincy, making his way to his brother's door, breathing hard, trying to keep himself under control. He tried the knob, it was locked, he knocked, "Kevin - open the door - you talk to Crystal last night Kevin, huh? You talk to her? What else did you say to her Kevin, besides looking for me, huh? Open the door Kevin." Ben braced his hands high on the frame of the door, waiting for some response from his brother. "You hear me Kevin? Open the door man!" Ben banged on it loud several times.

  "Ben?! What's going on here? What's wrong with you?" Christine asked, watching him, her concern growing. Quincy rose from his seat to stand beside her.

  Ben no longer heard her, all he knew was that his brother was the key to Crystal suddenly doing an about face, he felt it in his guts, the idea of what he might have said to her grew so within his mind, tears filled his eyes with his rage. "Kevin, you're pissin' me off man, open this door!"

  "Hey man, get the fuck away from my door banging on it!" Was all Kevin said from within.

  The words were like dropping a match on spilled gasoline, Ben burst into rage, "OPEN - THE - FUCKIN'...." Unable to say another word because his adrenaline had taken over him, he stepped back and kicked the door open. With all the interior doors of the mobile home being nothing more than hollow frames with front and back panels of light wood, he kicked right threw it, tearing it up easily to get in his brother's room.

  "BE-E-EN!?! BE-E-EN?!? WHAT ARE YOU DOIN' - BE-E-EN!!!" Christine screamed his name over and over, as he rush through the busted door to get to his brother.

  "WHAT DID YOU FUCKIN' SAY TO HER??" He raged kicking aside clothing on the floor, sports clutter and a chair to get to Kevin.

  Who was moving as far away from Ben as he could get, he'd never seen his brother in this kind of fury directed at him before - seeing it made him panic, "DUDE WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU? WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?!! SHE'S JUST A FUCKIN' GIRL DUDE! I'M YOUR BROTHER!!" Kevin shouted at him trying to break through the storm that surrounding Ben. It did little good because he got a hold of him anyway, shouting at the top of his lungs in his face, as he tossed him about the room by the throat, shoving his head into the wall, slamming into his chest, tossing him across his desks, against the wall, "WHAT - WHAT YOU SAY - WH-WHAT YOU FUCKIN' SAY TO HER??? HUH? FUCKIN' TELL ME WHAT YOU SAID TO HER?!" He voice was so raised it scratched his throat, tears rolled from his eyes, his face red and corded with protruding veins, sweating profusely. Behind him, Christine and Quincy forced their way in - trying to get him off of Kevin.

  "BEN - LET HIM GOOO! BE-E-EN - THAT IS YOUR BROTHER - LET HIM GO NO-O-OW!" Christine screamed, tugging on her oldest sons shirt, ripping it, scratching him, trying to get him to let Kevin go.

  "BEN LET YOUR BROTHER GO! DO YOU HEAR ME - BEN YOU'RE CHOKING HIM - LET HIM GO NOW!" Quincy's voice blended with Christine's. Kevin was hitting Ben in the face, trying to shove him off of him, break his hold from around his throat. Christine rushed from the room, came back with a broom and started slamming it hard across Ben's back, with a resounding, burning [[whack]] - by the third hard blow, the broom stick broke across his back, he turned him loose, turning to his mother, snatching the broom from her hand, shaking, breathing hard, eyes blazing red, holding the broken broom, he stepped back from them. Trying to get a grip of himself, he tossed the broom to the floor.

  All were breathing hard, Ben trying to calm down, his lip bleeding as well his nose. Kevin was sweating, trying to catch his breath, his nose and lip bleeding as well.

  "BEN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!! WHAT IN GOD'S NAME IS WRONG WITH YO-O-OU - THAT IS YOUR BROTHER!! HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN THAT?" Christine screamed at her oldest son.

  He stood with his eyes filled with tears, sniffing back blood and whatever else ran from his nose, glaring at his brother, his back on fire from his mother hitting him to break through his rage. Christine and Quincy stood between them, trying to understand what was going on, staring from Ben to Kevin. While Ben and Kevin stared at each other. Finally Ben spoke up first, "I knew it - you always give yourself - away Kevin - always." He sucked in one breath after another, tears dropping from his jaw line. He reached up, clearing the blood, sweat and tears from his face. "Tell mom what you did - tell her. Tell her, so I can hear it, what you said to Crystal. You screwed with her head, didn't you Kevin? What did you say to her, huh? Please, what did you say?! I trusted you man, I trusted you! You took - everything I've told you - and fucked me over with it!"

  Kevin stood wiping his own face, caught as he was, there was no way to deny it, "Come on Ben, you - you only wanted her - to get close to - to Shawn, admit it?!"

  "Is that how you did it Kevin? You - you work that logic out - in your own head - to convince yourself of that; that way your conscience wouldn't bother you, screwing her over and me too?"

  Christine looked from one son to the other and then back to Ben again, "This about that girl, Crystal?" She asked.

  "Yes!" Ben answered.

  Christine looked back at Kevin, "What did you say to her, Kevin?"

  He stood looking at the three faces waiting for him to speak up, trying to make up his mind whether to give details or not, finally, "Look - she was married already-..."

  "Divorced!" Ben bit out the reminder.

  "You admitted it to me yourself Ben, that you were scared she still might be in love with her husband! You said it in an email to me, when you were there in L.A. with her! Admit it."

  "You had no right - interfering - no right! I want you to know, because of you - she rushed back to him - last
night, after you fucked with her head!"

  "Maybe it was the right thing to do Ben!" He defended, "You accusing me of fucking with her head, maybe her heads already fucked up, after she-..."

  "BEN - DON'T YOU DARE! BACK AWAY!" Christine had to brace her hands out to keep them apart with Ben clearly aiming to attack him once more.

  Tears rolling, hating himself for ever confiding the things he did to his younger brother, Ben backed away, "Kevin, I'll never - never - forgive you - for this! I swear to God, I swear to God. Mom, Quincy - from now on, we'll meet somewhere else - to see each other, but - I'll never come here again - not with him here." He swore, pointing at Kevin, he backed up towards the door, turned and made his way back down the hall and out of the house.

  "Ben! Wait!" Christine called out to him.

  "I'll go to him, just - it'll be okay." Quincy assured her, heading off behind Ben.

  Christine turned to look at Kevin, "Why Kevin? Why couldn't you just leave him alone? He's in love with her! You know it, I know you do!"

  Kevin refused to answer, moving slowly trying to put his room to rights.

  "Does it not bother you Kevin, that you've taken part in breaking your brother's heart? Does it not bother you, to see him in that much pain?"

  "He doesn't give a shit about me, why should I, about him? If he cared about me, would he do me like this? What about that? Again, it's about poor Ben, right?"

  Christine shook her head, "Oh my God, you're your father, all over again. Just like Jake. Same thing. He couldn't hold back from destroying Shawn's life, and here you are, doing the same stupid shit - to Ben and why? For attention? What? What is it Kevin?"

  "Leave me alone, I don't wanna talk about it. I need to straighten up my room."

  "To hell with your room Kevin! What about straightening up what's in your head, in your heart? Look what your actions against your brother has done to him!"