by Ey Wade
With the rain falling and the lights of the oncoming cars ascending in her direction, the form of Mona Boots looked like a creature from a B-rated horror flick. Black coat flying behind her like a demon's cape, Mona slowed her speed. Coming to a halt in the middle of the street arms spread and legs akimbo, she threw back her head and screamed out loud and long like a mad woman. Her voice was shrill and sounding like the cry of a desperate and wounded animal. Taking a gigantic step to the left, Mona moved directly into the path of the fast approaching ambulance.
"Jesus." Catrine flinched at the ambulance's screeching tires and exclaimed in shock. She ran from Roosevelt's side and into the waiting open arms of Austin.
"Uh uh, that’s it. I've had enough. I think it’s time for us to leave." Austin shook his head in disbelief.
"What about...." Catrine started to protest. She pointed at the still unconscious teenager and Detective Williams who were now holding a wad of tissue to her bleeding nose.
"Let them all take care of themselves. This situation is getting ridiculous. There’s nothing we can do here. Let's take this child home."
"What about your coat?"
"I'll get it later," Austin stated firmly.
Grabbing Catrine by the hand he quickly pulled her and Brhin, who was now enclosed in the circle of his arms through the restaurant and out of the back door. He kept her hand tight in his grip as he practically ran around the side of the building and towards the front where his car was parked. Pulling Catrine close to his side he put Brhin in her arms and, whispered in her ear.
"Stay here." He commanded.
Walking to the edge of the building, Austin peeked around its corner. He didn't know whether or not Mona had been arrested and as irrational as it might seem, he was afraid that in her lunacy Mona Boots could get loose and chase them around the parking lot in mimic of a crazy stalker killer movie.
The parking lot was filled with cars. Most of them belonged to the television stations and ambulance chasing curiosity seekers. The lights of the police cars were flashing and the siren of the ambulance continued to pierce the damp night. In the middle of the street, a couple of officers stood directing the traffic around the ambulance and the struggling body of Mona Boots. She, thankful to the expert driving of the ambulance driver, was uninjured and fighting to keep the police from arresting her. Not a great sight for a young child to witness.
Moving back to the spot where he had left Catrine, Austin touched her gently on the shoulder.
"What's going on?" Catrine looked into his face with pain filled eyes. Removing one arm from around Brhin, she massaged between her eyes with her free hand.
Austin took note of the telling movement. He had forgotten that Catrine was ill. She had stood up to Mona's antagonism with the strength of a fighting tiger, but now he could see that she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer.
"I'll go and get the car and bring it around here. It is a horrible sight out there. Police and mayhem has spread up and down the entire street and that is nothing for a little boy to see."
"What about…"
"I can tell you that she's not dead. I saw her for a minute fighting in the street, but the paramedics were standing around her. I hope they lock her up for good in a mental institute."
"No matter I feel that this is finally over." She looked at Brhin's sleeping form breathing softly in her arms. "Thank God this mess is over. He was so tired."
"Yes, Austin agreed.
Finally, enclosed in the warmth of the car, Catrine gazed out of the passenger window at the melee in the middle of Washington Street. The dual feelings of relief and pity fought within her body. Why she would feel pity for the woman that had the nerves to take her child, she could not phantom, but she thanked God that He kept her from being a hard hearted, uncaring bitch. She looked in the back seat at Brhin's sleeping form and smiled. Taking a deep breath she rested her head on the seats headrest and closed her eyes.
******
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Special thanks to my daughters JaKarra, Gillean, and Mhia for their patience and encouragement throughout the writing of the book.
DEDICATED TO:
My own little, Brhin-Kristoffer Josef, gone but not forgotten.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As the single-parent of three daughters, Ey Wade has worked in the childcare profession for over thirty years. Child safety has always been a concern in Nancy’s life and she has drawn on those experiences to write the novel which has gained the attention of parents, parents-to-be, and child care professionals.
Ey considers herself to be a caged in frustrated author of thought provoking, mind bending eBooks, an occasional step-in parent, a fountain of knowledge, and ready to share. She is the mother of three daughters that were previously home-schooled and are now either attending college or graduated from college.
As a writer she has have had an essay in Essence magazine, published three other books and several articles printed in the local paper and magazines
CONTACT THE AUTHOR:
Wade-In Publishing
[email protected]
Facebook
Twitter
Thank you for reading The Perfect Solution. I hope you enjoyed it and please think about leaving a review wherever you purchased. Ey Wade
Other published works by Ey Wade
Published in a multimedia (audio/video) e-book format America’s glorious multi-racial history is celebrated within one cover. Beads on a String-America’s Racially Intertwined Biographical History lauds loudly the accomplishments of all races that helped make America the great country it has become with video and audios.
Yes, Sam Takes Care of Me is an affair to remember. Sam a jealous provider and protector simultaneously give and take away in this tale of five friends sharing in the trials and humiliations of having a relationship with the same person.
The Perfect Solution, A suspenseful analysis of choices and how those choices affect the people around us. A three year old is stalked and mistakenly given to the stalker by his pre-school teacher. Mona Boots saw him, chose him as her own, and walked out of his daycare with him in her arms. This choice is traumatizing to a single mother, unimaginable to an accused father, and detrimental to a child’s safety.
EXCERPTS Ey Wade
THE WOMEN OF THE HILL
From the series, Yes, Sam Takes Care of Me
Whenever my girlfriends and I got together for our daily ‘4:00 Bash the Stress’ sessions (which was really our way of legitimizing watching Oprah everyday), I literally cried on their shoulders as I bemoaned by financial situation. I had been doing this so often that they began to laugh at me as soon as I opened my mouth to complain. Each one in turn advised me to get in touch with Sam. “Sam is the man,” said one. “He could solve all of your problems’ said another. I heard them say ‘Sam could do this and Sam could do that’ so often that one day as we sat in my living room chewing on chips and watching Oprah, I found the courage to ask…
“Who is Sam?”
“Girlfriend…”
This was Tone’ya Knoes answering. Tone’ya is thirty-two years old, the encyclopedia of our group. She’s loud, assertive, and the well-informed mother of two daughters. No truer friend could be found. She stood in front of me with her hands resting on her well-endowed hips and shook her head from side to side like a broken shutter. She snapped her fingers two times in an arch above her head and clicked her tongue to the rhythm of the snapping fingers.
“Don’t you know anything? Wake up, girl.” She snapped her fingers under my nose. “Sam is the only person that can help you. He takes care of us.” She swung her arm to include the three women sitting in front of the television. “How do you think we all make it?”
“I thought you all had a ‘man’.
They all laughed.
“Of course we do.” Tone’ya answered. “The thing is.... can we depend on them?” Tone’ya questioned with a smirk.
“No.”
All of the women shouted in unison and laughed even louder. They shared high-fives and fell all over themselves in merriment.
“How many of you here can depend on your ‘man’ to remember that you need your bills paid?” She pounded her fist in her opened palm like a frustrated lawyer making a final statement. “Food on the table, pampers on the baby’s butt and most important…money in your pockets?”
Tone’ya did the snap and arch thing again and everybody in the room cheered and laughingly bemoaned the faults of their men.
“Well, I can.”
Skinny Rayne Moore, the youngest woman in the group stood next to the television and put her hands on her hips in imitation of Tone’ya. Whoever this Sam was, I thought. It was obvious that it didn’t matter to him how old or young a woman was. Rayne was just making twenty years old. She shook her shoulders, making her breast bounce heavily and gave a very seductive smile.
We continued to laugh.
“You laugh, but I know my man takes care of me.”
“Who you talkin’ about, girl?” Jenny Needs questioned. “I know not that fat, sorry ass, cradle-robbin’ Shamel.”
“Honey, please.” Rayne raised her opened hand, in that talk-to-the-hand fashion, towards Jenny. “You know what Shamel is for and he’s not ‘fat’ he’s muscular.” We all snickered. “I’m talkin’ about ‘Sam’.” Rayne continued. “Sam will do me no wrong. Sam is the man. Can I get a witness?”
She raised her arms in the air and danced around as if she had gotten the Holy Spirit. Amen sister and you go girl were repeated over and over as we laughed.
“So all of you get something from Sam, huh?” I asked after the laughter stopped. “Did you all meet him at the same time?”
“No.” They all answered together.
“I hate to ask this because you all just don’t seem the type, but do you all sleep with Sam? ‘Cuz I’m not into ‘kinky’.” I quickly added the last so they would know where I stood.
“What? Are you kidding?” Jenny giggled. She pressed her hands over her mouth as if she were trying to hold in a secret. “Girl, you don’t know what you’re missing.” She looked around at the other women and began chuckling like an idiot.
“Oh, my God.” Frankie choked back laughter while making quick fanning motions near her eyes with the fingers of both hands as she tried to finish her sentence. “Oh, my God, we all meet at Tone’ya’s house….” Tears of merriment ran down her face. “Around midnight on the first Wednesday of each month and take turns screwing him on her kitchen table.”
Letting a loud burst of laughter erupt into the room as she finished, Frankie fell backwards on the couch laughing uncontrollably. Her shoulder bumped Jenny who fell on the floor chuckling and snorting. Rayne and Tone’ya stared at me in stunned, open mouth amazement before they too started laughing. Rayne, jumped around in small circles in her delight and Tone’ya practically skipped around the room in her enjoyment. It was a little while before the loud laughter quieted down to giggles, suppressed snickers and one of them could finally answer.
“Girl, I think you need some help.” Tone’ya tapped me on the shoulder in a consoling manner, wiped her eyes and resumed her seat. “I’ll have Sam come over here next Wednesday and we’ll do it in your kitchen.”
The raucous laughter started in the room again. The merriment was contagious and this time I had to join them. Ignorant to what they found so funny, but happy to shed some of my misery.
“Seriously, now girl,” Frankie straightened herself. “Are you crazy? No one sleeps with Sam.”
Stunned, I looked around the room at the smiling women.
“Okay, so none of you go that way, thank God. So why does he help?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.” Tone’ya swiveled her neck side to side. “I don’t ask why when someone is giving me something. I just take it.”
“That’s what I’m sayin’,” Rayne agreed. “If I can get me some money and some help and don’t have to give up no coochie…I’m there.”
Rayne and Jenny high fived each other as everyone else concurred with the statement. Still not convinced, I questioned them further and after they all told me the story of how they became involved with Sam Tone’ya sighed deeply.
“Listen, Phyl.” She reached over the coffee table, deftly took the television’s remote control from Rayne’s slack fingers and flicked it on. This was an action that successfully put an end to the conversation. “You can’t do wrong with Sam even if you use him for a little while. Instead of you questioning us, go and try him out for yourself.”
EXCERPT II
THE FISHING TRIP
TRIAL BY WATER, EXECUTION, AND DELIVERANCE OF RETRIBUTION
CHAPTER 1 kerplunk
“My arms are tired, Durham. I’ve been rowing this boat for the past twenty minutes. My fingers are getting blisters. And if it weren’t so dark you would see I have a huge splinter in my palm. Why is it you always make me do the rowing on these trips?”
“Stop whining, Penny. Do you want to do my job? Do you think it’s easy to do what I do? Do you think it doesn’t tire me to crack someone’s neck with my bare hands?”
“I’m sure it does. I don’t know how you do it. Just hearing the sound of a person’s bones breaking makes me shudder and gag. Knowing I am hearing them release their last breath makes me wanna vomit.”
“That’s how I felt at first, but now I just want to get the job over and collect my pay. You can stop rowing we’re almost there. Pull the oars in and be careful with the poles. I don’t want you to hit this fool on the head.”
“What difference would it make? He is dead right?”
“Yeah, but I want no excess marks on the body or blood in the boat. Give me that rope from behind your back so I can tie this tarp around his body.”
Penny reached behind her and felt for the presence of the rope. Her fingers sliding on the damp wood encountered what she thought was rope, the slimy patches of surface causing doubt and illusions of Water Moccasins to cross her mind. Pumping her bravery she yanked it up, held it far away from her body, and pushed it towards Durham. The heavy weight and wiggle of the object not counteracting her thoughts of clearing the fear from her mind, for all she knew what she held gingerly between her fists was really a snake.
“Here it is, Durham. Stretch out your hand its right in front of you. Damn it’s dark. I can barely see your hands.”
“You tryin’ to say I’m too black to see in the night?”
“No. I know those are gloves you have on. I’m just saying it’s too dark out here tonight. I don’t even know how you know what’s really going on around you. We’ve been on the water three times this week and each time you knew exactly where to stop and it has been dark as all hell.”
“Experience pays off. I’m a creature of habit.”
“Sometimes that’s not a good thing, Durham. It could be your downfall.”
“It will never be mine. Cover your face there’s going to be a big nasty splash when this sloppy fat bastard hits the water.”
As the water rushed into the air and the odor of rot and death seeped in through her nose and flowed quickly and deeply to the pit of her empty stomach, she gagged. The small indention behind her ears began to burn, bile rose to her throat and she fought hard not to release the contents of her stomach in retaliation.
“Oh hell….” Retching fruitlessly, Penny pulled the neckline of her shirt to cover her mouth and nose. “You weren’t kidding. That….damn….water….stinks.” Her retching sounds causing a pause between each of the four words. “How many bodies have you fed to the fishes?”
“Too many to count and if I tell you….well you know the old saying. Hand me the oars. I’ll row back.”
“Thanks.”
Penny gripping the edge of the rocking boat tightly looked around at her surroundings. It was nightmarish dark. No stars, eerie clouds moved stealthy across the sky and a sliver of moonlight peered through the thick foliage of the trees surrounding th
e spot where the body had disappeared. It was damned spooky. If any kind of water monster wanted to jump up and grab them and pull them into the deep blackness, this would be the perfect spot. They would disappear and no one would have any idea where to search for them. She shivered in the cool darkness; they were as much a part of the shadows as death was a part of the waters.
“Where do you think the bodies go, Durham?” She whispered just in case one of those monsters from her childhood nightmares was more than a figment of her imagination. “I’ve never heard of anyone talking about bodies resurfacing so they must fall pretty deep or something eats them.”
Durham laughed at the fear showing in the expanse of the white in her eyes. She held her arms crossed tight across her stomach, the rocking of her body having nothing to do with the movement of the water.
“You’re not afraid of the dark are you Penny?”
“Hell fuckin’ yeah. Petrified pissless and I’m not ashamed to say it, either.”
Durham chuckled between the strokes of the oar.
“Well, that’s the first time I’ve heard anyone say that. You can stop being afraid. Nothing is going to stick its long slimy arm out of the water and yank you out the boat.”
“That’s not funny at all Durham.” She looked around and shivered even more. “Now that you’ve read my mind I’m really scared. It makes me wonder if you’ve ever seen anything creepy out here.”
“Well, if you must know, sometimes when I’m sitting on the porch of that little cabin up there, I look across the water and think I see a specter of a woman or a girl. I’m not sure which it is.”