The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  Thelma gasped. “You don’t think I make a good batch of saws?”

  “No I don’t thunk you make a good batch of saws.”

  “Ev-run said I make some good eye-tale-yin saws.”

  “Now why you goin in believin them people.” Dirk shook his head. “I ate your saws. I know your saws. It ain’t no eye-tale-yin saws. You got to be eye-tale-yin to make good eye-tale-yin saws. Them peoples can rest in peace but I got to live with you running around the ravish world think you the only eye-tale-yin left. When you ain’t even eye-tale-yin.”

  “I ain’t never said I was eye-tale-yin,” Thelma argued.

  “Yes you did.”

  “No. You said you got to be eye-tale-yin to make good eye-tale-yin saws. Ellen, do you think you got to be eye-tale-yin to make a good batch of saws.”

  “I was always one to believe you just had to be strong enough to open the jar.”

  Dirk gasped three times. “You goin askin a modern woman who ain’t probably cooked a scratched meal in a heaven’s length of time. What she know?”

  Thelma began to get angry. “You have got be one of the most mis-re-bell men I know. I’m done talkin to you.”

  “Good.” Dirk peeled another tomato. “Perhaps now we can peel these here may-ters without that old trap of your flappen like the back side of a duck.”

  “I swear there’s somethin wrong which chew.”

  “Aw go on which chore old self, Thelma.”

  “You ain’t gonna hear my mouth no more.” Thelma raised her hand.

  “Good. Peel.”

  Thelma huffed a breath then dropped forward and fell face first into her bowl of tomatoes.

  Thelma didn’t move.

  Ellen’s eye’s shifted and she turned toward Thelma. “Hey,” she called her.

  “Aw no thar she goes, been all silly. Thelma!” Dirk called “We got to eat them may-ters. Quit your foolin around and get your face out of them.”

  “Dirk?” Ellen stood up “Dirk. I think she’s ...” Ellen touched her. “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “Oh my God.”

  “What now. Say it.”

  Ellen looked up as her red hand felt for a pulse. “She’s dead.”

  <><><><>

  Loud and dirty. The clinic was baptized but far from the Biblical sense. Dean, covered with mud, raced into his lab. William, just as dirty, stood at the counter where Dean headed.

  “So, Dad, what were you saying about too many suture packs.”

  William took out the last of the packages he had made. “I never would have thought one wrestling brawl could use up our whole stock.” He handed some to Dean.

  “Robbie needs at least ten stitches in his head alone.”

  “And poor Jonas’ nose. That bridge will never heal right. However I think you should handle Miguel’s ear.” William stated. “I may have more experience but you do nice suture work.”

  “That will attach back on right?”

  “Oh yeah.” William nodded as he walked out with Dean. “It’s just a gash. It only looks like it’s coming off.”

  “That really can be awfully ...”

  “Joe!” Ellen came barreling through the clinic doors screaming at the top of her lungs. “Joe!”

  Dean and William raced her way.

  Joe came from the designated waiting room. “Ellen, Christ. Why are you screaming like that.”

  “Joe.” Ellen grabbed her chest. “I killed Thelma. I cursed her, Joe.”

  “Ellen.” Joe laid his hands on her shoulders. “Calm down. What do you mean you cursed and killed her?”

  “I did it, Joe.” Ellen was hyper. “I told you I shouldn’t have been canning. I cursed her. I curse her and now she’s dead and ... why are you so muddy Dean?”

  <><><><>

  Dirk wouldn’t even turn around as he stood outside of the special canning house three rows back in the living section. He faced the wall even when Joe called out.

  “Cain’t turn round Joe.”

  Joe looked to Ellen and Dean who were with him. “Why?”

  “I ain’t gonna be next. You go on in there. I’m not.”

  “What do you mean next??” Joe asked.

  “That there daughter of your with the menstrual problem.” Dirk pointed over his shoulder. “An if es aw-rye which chew Joe, I would jus as soon not have her anywhere nears my crops.”

  At first Joe glared at Ellen. He thought for sure it was some sort of ploy. The he led the way into the house with Dean and Ellen right behind him.

  “Christ Almighty,” Joe said with irritation as he walked into the dining room. “You couldn’t even take her out of the tomatoes?” Joe walked behind Thelma’s still body, her arms dangling to her side, her face still in the large bowl. Jo grabbed her head and lifted her from her tomato tomb. “Doctor confirm?”

  Dean cleared his throat. “She looks dead.”

  “Thank you for that.” Joe moved the bowl out of the way and let Thelma’s head fall to the table.

  Ellen cringed at the thump. “Joe.”

  Joe grunted at her. “What happened, Ellen?”

  “I cursed her.”

  “Yeah, yeah, besides that, what?”

  “She dropped dead Joe. Just ... dropped dead. One second she was arguing with Dirk, the next she’s face first in the tomatoes.”

  Joe turned his head to Dean. “Was she sick? Did she have any health problems that you were aware of?”

  “No.” Dean shook his head. “As far as I knew she was a healthy seventy-six year old female.”

  “Who was just cursed.” Joe tossed his hands up. “All right. I’ll get George and he and I will get her out of here.” Joe walked to the door. “This has got to be the strangest day. First I have six grown men at the clinic in need of medical attention. I have a back gate region bodily re-landscaped by those six men in some sort of sick simulation of the goddamn WWE, and now I have a dead elderly farm woman cursed by my menstruating daughter. What the hell else can go wrong?” Joe opened the door.

  “Joseph Slagel!” Andrea marched with spitfire his way. “Care to tell me what your demented sons did to my Miguel’s ear?”

  Joe held out his hand. “There it is.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Dean felt sick, not only to his stomach, but to his heart. All afternoon and evening Ellen stayed in her bedroom, sitting on the bed, knees bent up tightly to her chest, and she stared so hard at the far wall.

  “El,” Dean spoke soothingly. “Tell me what I can do?”

  “Stop me from ever menstruating again, Dean. Just stop me so this curse doesn’t hit anyone else.”

  “El, it wasn’t your period that caused this.”

  “Yes it was.” Ellen’s words emerged from her as if she were in a dream state.

  “You’ve had your period for many years. Don’t you think if it was a curse to people you would have found this out by now?”

  “No.” Ellen shook her head. “I’ve never been a farmer. I warned everyone. Henry warned everyone. No one listened.” She whimpered out, dropping her head to her knees. “No one listened at all.”

  “El ...”

  Ellen gasped out loudly as she brought her head up in a flinging manner. “A sweet old woman is dead because I touched the tomatoes she was touching.”

  “Do you need something to calm you down?”

  “No. I need you to take me ...” Ellen closed her eyes in pain., “Take me now. Cut me open and give me a hysterectomy. Right now.” She turned her body to him and grabbed his shirt, clenching it so tight. “Right now. Take it out. Just take it out that entity.”

  “Um ...” Dean grabbed on to her hand, pulling with all his might her fingers that squeezed onto him. “El, I’ll be back.” He hurried off the bed. “I’ll be right back. Here, Andrea sent some soup for you.” He picked up the mug and lifted off the cover. “Oh, well. I don’t think you’ll want this.”

  “No. I’m not hungry.”

  Grateful for that, Dean turned and
started to leave the room wondering what was going through Andrea’s mind when she sent over tomato soup. He covered it back up and walked out and downstairs.

  “Well?” Joe asked as he stood up from the sofa.

  “Joe, she’s really distraught over this.”

  Joe turned to William. “You’re a real doctor. What do you think?”

  “I won’t make a judgment call here, Joe. Who knows how the mind works.”

  Joe thought for a moment with his hands in his pockets and bouncing from heel to toe. “Well, there may not be anyone in Beginnings who knows how the mind works, but there sure as shit someone in Beginnings who knows how her mind works. I’ll be back.” He walked to the door. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

  <><><><>

  “Will you look at this eyebrow?” Frank stood before his bathroom mirror.

  “Nasty, Frank,” Joe said. “Now the ...”

  “It won’t grow back. I’m gonna end up missing the corner.”

  “Be tough. Now ...”

  “I’m gonna look like Ruth, the stepmother with one eyebrow.”

  “Payback’s a real bitch.” Joe began to get irritated. “Listen to me.”

  “Seven stitches. What the fuck was Robbie thinking?”

  “Frank!”

  “What!”

  “Shut up!”

  “Fuck, Dad.” Frank walked out of the bathroom. “I’m injured here. Have a little compassion.”

  Joe followed him. “Frank, I am trying to talk to you about Ellen.”

  Frank stopped.

  “Thank you.” Joe dropped his hand. “She’s not coming out of the bedroom. She’s really upset over this Thelma incident.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know why? She’s blaming herself. She says she cursed Thelma.”

  Frank started to snicker then stopped. “You don’t think she did?”

  “No! I don’t think she cursed her. I think Thelma just died. She died and Ellen ... I don’t know.” Joe shrugged. “I don’t want to go in there telling her she’s acting, because what if she isn’t. I mean, how do we know the simple death of an old woman wasn’t the one thing it took to throw her over the deep edge.”

  “Is she that bad?” Frank asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Ellen?”

  “Yes.”

  “Our Ellen?”

  “Frank!” Joe tensed up, really trying not to yell. “Who the hell else am I talking about?”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “I want you to talk to her and then let me know what you think. You know her better than anyone. Can you?”

  “Sure. Now?”

  “Yes.” Joe dropped his head in relief. Finally he had gotten through and he watched Frank walk down the steps, playing around with the stitched up and partially missing eyebrow the whole time.

  It wasn’t that Dean wanted to leave. He didn’t. He tried using the twins as an excuse, but Joe countered that by bringing Maggie over to take them. Joe had his reasoning for emptying the house. If Ellen was not being honest, she certainly wouldn’t admit it to Frank if she knew there was a chance that anyone could be listening. Joe was certain that whatever Frank told him would be the truth. Like he explained to Dean, too many years were between them. Frank could look at Ellen and know. Dean reluctantly agreed. He’d go to the Social Hall but swore he wouldn’t have a drink. But no matter what Joe’s thoughts were for getting out of the house, it still pained Dean to not only watch Frank walk into his house but walk up the stairs to his bedroom as well.

  Frank only knocked once on the bedroom door, waited for the wispy ‘come in’ from Ellen, and then he did. He walked in and shut the door. “El.”

  Ellen let out a long breath, looked at him then stared ahead. “Oh hi, Frank.”

  Frank walked slowly to the bed, seeing the blank look on Ellen’s face, and watching her pay so much attention to that wall. “El?”

  “Yeah?”

  Frank dove on the bed, landed sideway with a heavy plop, and smiled when he looked up at Ellen. “What the fuck is this?” He started to laugh. “And the best part is, everyone is buying it.”

  “I’m depressed Frank.”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “I’m staring at a wall here.” Ellen pointed out.

  “I see that.”

  “I killed an old woman today, not to mention the fear I have of poisoning the community as well.”

  “El. Come on. It’s me. First of all, cut you open and talk out the entity? El and ...” He raised a finger. “I did some recalculating. You are not on your period at all.”

  “I am too. The twins messed me up.”

  “Still?”

  “Yes. And … Frank. I don’t want to farm.”

  “Tough. Everyone does. It’s almost over with.”

  “Harvest is coming.”

  “So.”

  “So Frank, I don’t want to farm. If they think I’m mental they won’t let me. Dirk already said he doesn’t want to look at me without a crucifix until after I’m done with my period.”

  “El.” Frank laughed.

  “No Frank, if you tell them I’m not upset, they’ll not only get mad, they’ll make me ...” Ellen swallowed. “Can.”

  “My God!” Frank shook his head as he lay on his side. “You have to.”

  “Frank.” Ellen quickly leaned forward, bringing herself onto her knees. “Please don’t tell them.”

  “El, my father is trusting me here and ...” Frank reached up and touched his eyebrow. “Do you think I look like Ruth?”

  “Who’s Ruth?”

  “Remember, I showed you her picture. Hal and Robbie put super glue on her eyelash and she lost an eyebrow.”

  “Oh.” Ellen tilted her head. “If that doesn’t grow back at all, you do have a new nickname.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I can pencil it in for you Frank. No one will know.” Ellen leaned more to him. She nudged him, making him go onto his back. “You can’t tell on me. You have to say I’m bad.” Ellen hurriedly straddled Frank, lifted his arms above his head, and brought her lips to his neck. “Please, Frank.”

  “Integrity El. You’re trying to bribe me. And it won’t work, you’re on your twin induced constant period.”

  “I’ll owe you.”

  “Right.”

  “Please, Frank?” Ellen gave a pleading look.

  Frank grunted.

  Frank saw them all sitting in the Social Hall waiting on him as if he were some sort of bailiff with the jury’s verdict. He stepped into the hall and released a heavy sigh.

  “Frank.” Joe stood up. “Honest opinion.”

  “Dad.” Frank’s voice graveled in emotions. “If ... if she were any worse, I’d fear suicide.”

  Frank’s sincere sounding words took them all by surprise, but they had to believe him. Frank knew Ellen and they accepted what he said. Frank was glad about that because he had accepted Ellen’s bribe even if he had to wait for it.

  <><><><>

  Miguel looked more like Dumbo rather than the handsome Mexican Andrea had grown to love over the past twenty hours. His shaved salt and pepper hair gave that grey effect and his right ear was so swollen, if he could have flapped it, he would fly. But Dean assured Miguel it wasn’t his lack of suturing skills or Frank’s pulling on the ear that made it so big, it was the abundance of Novocain that lingered in there.

  Miserable, Miguel sat on Andrea’s sofa, listening with a half ear to what she read. He just wanted to sleep. Though he thought he loved Andrea, he didn’t need the pity she kept giving him. He could have gotten out of the brawl, but once Frank suplexed him, Miguel vowed to turn the tables around.

  “Excuse me.” Andrea set down her book at the sound of someone coming. “I’ll shoo them away.”

  Miguel nodded, teetering in the twilight phase of sleep. He was glad for the intrusion. Maybe they would speak to Andrea long enough for him to fall into a deep slumber.

  “Jenny?”
Andrea opened the door.

  “Oh Andrea!” Jenny glowed, speaking smoothly and stepping inside. “You will not believe what happened.”

  “What? You certainly look happy.”

  “I am.” Jenny lifted her shoulders in her deep inhale. “Since I first found out about it, I have been waiting for it to happen. I thought something was wrong with me, I was eighteen and I ...” Jenny paused to giggle when a loud Miguel snore rang out. “Funny.”

  “Yes. Go on,” Andrea stated.

  “Anyhow it happened. Andrea. I ...” Jenny heavily sighed. “I am a woman now.”

  “Oh.” Andrea smiled. “Oh Jenny that is wonderful news.”

  “It is.”

  “Oh honey, and don’t you think anything is wrong with you. It is perfectly normal for it to occur that late in life.”

  “Really?”

  “Oh yes.” Andrea laid her hand on her cheek. “Should you have any questions about the changes in your body, you just feel free to come to me. I myself was a late bloomer. I was fifteen when I got my first period.”

  “Period?” Jenny shook her head. “Oh no Andrea, I’m not talking about my period. I’ve had that since I was twelve.” Jenny giggled again.

  “But you said you’re a woman now. What in the world do you ...” Andrea saw the glowing smile on Jenny’s face She gasped and covered her mouth in a nineteen fifties horror film fashion. “Sweet Jesus.”

  “Ouch. Ouch.” Jenny squeaked loudly. “Ouch you’re pinching me.”

  “Tough.” Andrea stated firm.

  “I won’t tell.”

  “Oh you aren’t gonna have to.”

  “Ouch. Ouch.”

  Andrea didn’t care. With a broom held high in one hand and Jenny’s arm clenched between her fingers she stormed to the Social Hall with her. She burst in the door of the hall filled with nearly every man in Beginnings. Unnoticed, but for only a second, Andrea marched over, with her broom and Jenny, to the juke box and kicked out the plug with her foot.

  “Hey!” Frank yelled out. “I like that song. Put it back on and wait your turn.”