Soul Snake: Two Thrones, One Queen

by Macie Holloway

  “But you know I always forgive you, honey. Now tomorrow we need to buy paint for the baby’s room. I want pastel green so it can go either way. Boy or girl, we’ll be prepared!”

  HAPPY FAMILY

  Everything in George’s life changed the day Samuel arrived.

  He dropped out of active duty military and opted for a steady job practicing law at home so that he could be a real family man.

  A noble father and exceptional speaker, he quickly became a pillar in the community.

  It wasn’t long before political opportunities came pouring in, and George was quickly voted into office as a judge.

  The people of Sterling Heights longed for examples to follow, and there was no better example than George Brunson and his beautiful new family.

  As Samuel grew in stature and curiosity, their lives were supernaturally blessed beyond Mary Beth’s wildest dreams. George even quit drinking and became a deacon in the church.

  He and Mary Beth led large mission trips all over the world, and she finally realized God’s purpose behind letting her learn so many languages in so many countries while George was in the service.

  “I’d do anything for you and Samuel,” he always told her. “Anything, and you know that.”

  They were the happiest and most blessed family to ever grace the presence of Sterling Heights, until that fateful day when Mary Beth Brunson received a soft knock at the door.

  She had been making pumpkin cookies for Samuel’s daycare. It was Halloween and she was so excited to dress Samuel’s chubby little two-year-old body up in a gigantic pumpkin costume.

  Of course they would win the contest, since there was no cuter baby on earth.

  She had the phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder. Her fingers were covered in pumpkin batter and she was rather annoyed that her neighbor was knocking again.

  No, Mrs. Applewhite. Your husband cannot borrow our pressure washer, because it hasn’t worked since he returned it last.

  Mary Beth opened the door. It wasn’t Mrs. Applewhite. A pretty young Oriental girl who couldn’t have been more than eighteen was looking at her instead.

  She was holding a slant-eyed little toddler. He looked to be the same age as Samuel.

  “Can I help you, Miss?”

  “I need talk. Need talk George.”

  It was certainly the strangest thing that had happened to her all week, but she was used to odd things. Being a judge’s wife was full of surprises, and so Mary Beth assumed it was something to do with one of his custody cases.

  “George isn’t here, Ms ….?”

  Mary Beth reached out for a shake, but the girl didn’t move.

  “George is not here.”

  Still nothing but a scared, blank face.

  Mary Beth wiped the pumpkin off the phone enough to call George. Apparently the stranger at the door either didn’t understand her, or was refusing to leave.

  She wasn’t sure which.

  “Hey, honey. There is a beautiful oriental woman at our door who wants to talk to you. Do you know what she wants?”

  George was silent.

  “George?”

  His second pause was a lifetime to Mary Beth. She sensed something wasn’t right, but she assumed it was one of George’s more delicate cases – the kind he had to tiptoe around.

  “I have no clue, sweetie,” he finally answered. “See if you can get her information and tell her I’ll call her.”

  “O.K., honey. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Thanks, my angel. I gotta go. This jury trial’s not going to start itself.”

  Mary Beth put down the phone and went back to the kitchen to fetch a notepad and pen.

  The weird Oriental lady was still standing there staring at her when she returned.

  Mary Beth pronounced every syllable.

  “Please …uh … please … Give me your name … and your number, and I will have George call you.”

  “No. I no have phone. No phone.”

  “Oh, O.K., well George won’t be home until this evening. Would you like to wait inside with your son? My son would love to have another baby to play with.”

  “This George baby.”

  “Yes. This is George’s baby. His name is Samuel.”

  “No THIS George baby, Haiku.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “This. Haiku. This George baby.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I really don’t think I understand you.”

  Mary Beth couldn’t feel her fingers.

  “George is father this baby. My baby. Haiku.”

  “Ma’am, my husband does not have a Chinese baby. We are American.”

  “Haiku no Chinese. Haiku Japanese.”’

  And that was the second moment in Mary Beth Brunson’s life that she could never forget -- looking into the eyes of George’s Japanese son.

  I KNOW

  George didn’t have a care in the world when he walked through the door that day, until Mary Beth’s ghastly white face nearly floated down the hallway at him.

  “I know,” she hissed.

  George knew what she knew. He’d always known what she knew. That’s why he apologized years ago when it happened.

  It wasn’t his fault she didn’t know what he was apologizing about when he did it. She’d told him she forgave him, and shouldn’t have said it if she didn’t mean it.

  George kissed Samuel on the cheek and took him outside to play with dogs. So he had a Japanese kid? What was done was done. Why was she treating him like a serial killer?

  Sure, he’d messed up by cheating on her, but truthfully, he never knew anything about a child.

  “I’m sorry. It was that one night in Okinawa. Mary Beth you got to believe me. It was a mistake. I love you. You know how much I love you.”

  “That night in Okinawa when I found out I was pregnant. That’s why you said you were sorry? Because you cheated on me?”

  He felt himself digging deeper and deeper into a hole.

  Samuel, help?

  “Can we please not talk about this in front of Samuel?”

  “Oh, so he’s not old enough to know his daddy’s a slimy horny bastard from hell?”

  Now George felt really uneasy. He’d never heard her curse before.

  “Mary Beth, what’s done is done. I didn’t even know she was pregnant for crying out loud! This is news to me, too.”

  “News to you, too? You really want to act like we’re on the same level of betrayal right now?”

  “Mary Beth, I don’t even remember anything. Nothing! There was a prostitute. That’s my only flash!”

  “A prostitute?”

  And the hole got deeper.

  “Mary Beth, you ignored me for five years straight, and then you said you wanted a Japanese baby. Now you got one. Shouldn’t you be happy? We’ll adopt him and you can have two babies now. Isn’t that all you ever wanted – babies? You never wanted me.”

  “How dare you try to turn this around on me you two-timing snake in the grass?”

  “Please be rational, my love.”

  “Don’t call me that.”

  “We have Samuel to think about.”

  “Don’t use our son to cover up your sin.”

  “He needs two parents.”

  Mary Beth couldn’t argue with that, though.

  She was finally feeling tired, and George was hopeful that he’d worn her down.

  “Can we just get some rest tonight and talk about this is the morning?”

  “I’m not sleeping with you. I’ll stay for Samuel, but I will never sleep with you again.”

  She stormed out with her pillow and her blanket, and in sixteen years she never came back to bed.

  FINALLY OVER

  From that day on, for every drink George had, Mary Beth downed two. She never staggered, though. She never let on that there were any troubles in paradise.

  She and George found Yuka the next day at the local homeless shelter and offered her an apartment, food and spen
ding money if should would only keep quiet. She agreed.

  Such an idea was a stench to Mary Beth’s righteous nostrils, but George convinced her that it was the best thing to do for Samuel.

  He needed a stable home life free from controversy and there was nothing more controversial than a church deacon with a Japanese love child.

  Mary Beth bit the bullet, knowing that one day she would leave and never come back.

  She catered every fancy party for all of his friends, and she did it with her sweetest smile.

  Nothing was permanent.

  Mary Beth was patient, and as a result time passed by quickly. In the blink of an eye it seemed the day came, and it was bittersweet. She cried all day to think of her little bird leaving the nest, but she knew deep in her heart that she was a bird, too, and leaving the nest had been a long time coming.

  Sam couldn’t have been a happier and more well-adjusted teenager. At eighteen, the world was his oyster. With his college already paid for and his parents holding hands and waving good bye, he felt like the luckiest guy to ever ride off in an SUV.

  “Bye Mom! Bye Dad! I love you!”

  “We love you too!” George and Mary Beth called out in unison.

  Patiently, Mary Beth waited until their son was completely out of sight before dropping George’s hand.

  It was over. It was finally over.

  She returned back to her own room where she had all of her bags already packed. Sam hadn’t been the only one preparing to leave.

  George retired to his office to make a very important phone call. He had been preparing for something, too. He looked at his watch. It was 2:22 p.m. It was Thursday.

  After placing the call, he returned back to his Lazy Boy and made himself a drink for the first time in sixteen years. He made it on the rocks.

  He watched Mary Beth make three more trips to the car. He could have offered to help her, but he was too sad to move.

  First he’d lost his son. Now he’d lost his wife.

  All in one day.

  George wasn’t sure why Mary Beth didn’t leave after her last load. He wasn’t sure why she came in one last time. Was saying goodbye really that important to her? He would never understand her.

  “Goodbye, George.”

  Her eyes were cold and calculated. The way they always were when she was on one of her missions.

  He knew she was drunk, but no one else could have known. She never looked happy enough to be drunk.

  Before he could say goodbye, though, George had one question. It was the same question he’d asked God every single night of his life for sixteen years.”

  “Mary Beth, why is it so hard for a woman to forgive?”

  It was one night. One mistake and George didn’t even remember it. His buddies told him a prostitute came after him like a black widow spider, but George was too drunk to protest. They apologized for not helping. They were drunk, too.

  None of that mattered, though.

  It didn’t matter that he quit drinking and served in the church for the last sixteen years. It didn’t matter that he worked his ass off every day to provide the type of upper crust life that she’d always been accustomed to.

  It didn’t even matter to her that he still loved her more than anything.

  “George, I forgive you, but I can never forget.”

  Frustrated, he shook his head in disbelief.

  I can’t believe this. Is she really going to leave me after all we’ve been through? After all these years?

  “Please don’t leave, Mary Beth. I love you.” He was almost whispering now.

  “Goodbye George. I love you, too.”

  Really?

  George couldn’t tell from where he was sitting.

  His beloved wife was leaving him forever, and something about that didn’t feel like love.

  George waited until he could only distantly hear the humming of her big blue car rumbling down the road.

  He then reached under the cushion of his Lazy Boy and pulled out his favorite revolver. There was no hesitation.

  There was no pause.

  Judge Brunson put it to his temple and fired.

  FORGIVE AND FORGET

  Mary Beth must have been driving more than 80 miles per hour as she approached Sterling Bridge.

  She was sipping her lemonade spiked with vodka. Her adrenaline told her she had made the right decision, but her heart wasn’t sure.

  Sure, her life was miserable with George, but what would she do without him? He was the only man she’d ever known.

  As the murky black waters on either side of the bridge surrounded her, she felt cold and empty inside. She’d waited so long to stop living a lie. Now that the day had finally come, it all felt so meaningless.

  She sipped her dirty lemonade and considered turning around.

  The phone rang. Hoping it was George, she quickly picked up.

  “Mary Beth, this is Mrs. Applewhite. We just heard a gunshot from your house. Are you guys O.K?”

  The black water rolled alongside her car like slithering dark snakes. The sun was still high enough in the sky, and the birds were still perched on the bridge.

  It was the third memory in her life that Mary Beth could never forget. It was the moment she truly forgave her husband.

  “Oh dear God! Go check on him please! I’m turning around now. I’ll be there in five minutes.”

  George, please, no. Please be O.K., George.

  I’m sorry George. I’m sorry.

  Mary Beth glanced back at the road and let out a scream that made Ms. Applewhite drop her phone.

  A little white car was sideways at the entrance of the bridge and not more than twenty feet away. She could have stopped had she not been driving eighty miles an hour.

  She slammed her foot down.

  The brakes squealed.

  Her life flashed back her three memories.

  She saw Sam’s happy eyes.

  She saw Haiku’s slanted eyes.

  She saw George’s sad eyes … and she finally forgave him.

  Her final scream sent ripples down that old black water.

  She was dead on impact.

  RISE AND SHINE

  “Where am I?”

  There was nothing more terrifying than to wake up and not know where you are.

  Frantically, Sarah’s eyes scanned the room.

  Tubes were swirling like snakes.

  “You’re in the hospital,” said a familiar voice.

  “Daphne?”

  She pushed the cords off her. She tried to sit up.

  “No! Don’t sit up! Doctor’s orders!”

  “Daphne, is that you?”

  “Yeah, it’s me, and your nurse. Now, lay back down before you hurt yourself.”

  “Mrs. Battles, my name is Edna. I’m your nurse for today.”

  Sarah saw the broad face, but it was as blurry as it was broad.

  “You’ve been in an accident. You’re hurt pretty badly, so you really need to be still.”

  The nurse shot a needle into her I.V.

  “Why can’t I feel my legs, nurse?”

  “Mrs. Battles, you are a very lucky woman to have survived this accident. You are the only survivor.”

  “Please don’t leave me Daphne.”

  “Don’t worry, Sarah. I’m not going to leave you.”

  BEST FRIEND

  From that day on Sarah Battles had one prayer, “Lord, if you’ll just give me back my legs, I’ll never cry over a breast again.”

  Daphne said it sounded like she was ordering fried chicken. Just give me a leg, and I won’t cry over a breast.

  It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun, but Sarah Battles had the last name Battles for a reason.

  With her new best friend Daphne by her side, Sarah had her mastectomy. But even after receiving her replacement boob Daphne still lovingly referred to her as One Tit Wonder.

  Daphne never left Sarah’s side the entire time - through the rehab, through the surgery, and through t
he millions of frustrated tears.

  But it was all worth it the day Sarah took her first step in Rehab, and Daphne cheered from the sidelines.

  “I knew you could do it.”

  The day had finally come.

  Daphne was driving Sarah home.

  “I can’t thank you enough,” said Sarah as she pushed the garage door opener on her sun visor.

  Every time the garage door opened, she got a sick little feeling. She remembered – John – and his heart-faced whore.

  “You have to forgive him, Sarah.”

  Daphne slowly eased the car into the garage and cut the engine.

  “I know. But first, I need to get rid of something.”

  She pulled the strand of pearls out of her purse and handed them to Daphne.

  “I want you to have these. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something special about these pearls. She hunted me down wanting them back, but I told her they were lost in the river in my accident. After that she disappeared.”

  “What do you think happened to her?” Daphne wondered aloud as she examined the pearls. It seemed as if they contained lightning bugs, as if they were glowing.

  “I don’t know. She was fired from the school, and that’s the last we heard. It’s like she wiped off the face of the earth.”

  That’s odd, thought Daphne. Apparently she wasn’t much without her pearls.

  “Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

  Daphne tucked them safely into her purse as the back door swung open and John tripped over his feet to get to her. After six months as a single father of three, he’d never been so happy to see his wife – breast of no breast. And Sarah forgave him – really forgave him.

  Catherine ended up leaving Rex for a doctor. Rex rented a motorcycle and took off to Argentina, and Daphne’s charges were mysteriously dropped.

  According to his secretary, Judge Brunson made a call to her at 2:22 p.m. on a Thursday informing her that he had dismissed all charges against Daphne claiming the evidence was circumstantial. Why that was the last call he made before committing suicide would forever be a mystery. Had the credibility of the principal been compromised by her extramarital affair, or did he decide to stop listening to voices and go with his gut instinct for the first time? No one would ever know.