by A. R. Braun
“Are you going to go to the chaplain’s services?”
“Yes. And the kids can come, right?”
“I don’t see why not. I told you them they could go to a vigil.”
The head nurse called breakfast, and the crowd gathered at the door to be let out.
Amanda put a hand on Stacey’s shoulder. “You have a nice breakfast, then we’ll talk.”
Stacey’s sex was tingly and she hugged her. She loved how Amanda’s breasts mashed against her own. “Thank you so much.” When they broke the embrace, a couple of hot tears leaked out of Stacey’s eyes.
Amanda fished in her pocket for a tissue, handing it to her. “Everything’s going to be all right now.”
Stacey nodded and dabbed her eyes. “I’d better go.”
“Eat hardy.” With that, Amanda was off to whatever paperwork probably awaited her.
Stacey walked over to the crowd of retarded-acting inmates. They made goofy sexual jokes and either twitched with their mouths or their hands, mostly middle-aged people. Some muttered to themselves.
The overweight lady that had been joking with the thin man walked up to her. She had brown hair to the shoulders and Salvation Army-like clothing. “What’s your name?”
Stacey stuck out her hand. “Stacey Alley.”
The woman took it with her doughy hand and shook it. “My name’s Billie.” She poked Stacey’s belly gingerly. “Hmm-hmm!”
“What are you doing?” Stacey took a step back.
The thin man with glasses walked up and poked Billie. “Hmm-hmm!”
They laughed like the dickens.
Billie poked him back. “Hmm-hmm!” She looked at Stacey. “Don’t you recognize the Pillsbury Doughboy? The medicine makes you eat more.”
Stacey looked away, trying to lose their attention. She noticed the small, in-house cafeteria where people ate their school-type meals with cartons of milk. The people in there looked sad. She spotted a couple of long-haired young men she’d never seen before, a blonde and a brunette.
They don’t have privileges, and they can’t leave the ward. It’s because they’re new.
Her heart leapt as a nurse opened the door. The small crowd flooded out, Stacey hot on their heels.
I’m going to see my kids! Well, most of my kids.
On the way out, she noticed a sign that read: DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR UNLESS A PATIENT HAS EXPRESS PERMISSION TO LEAVE.
As she passed through the iron door’s threshold, she looked over her shoulder and saw another sign that dropped her spirits.
WARNING: DO NOT OPEN UNLESS STAFF. POSSIBLY DANGEROUS INMATES IN THE WARD.
With that, her heightened spirits were crushed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
In the cafeteria, Stacey winced at the chatter of the other patients, sitting in cliques at their round tables, and the clatter of the lunch staff. The strong light coming from the windows and the fluorescent lights made her squint. She loaded her plate with roast beef, cabbage, orange slices, and chocolate cake after choosing an ice tea.
She found her kids sitting at a table in the corner and away from a window with Amanda, who spotted her and walked her way.
Amanda said, “Your children have been acting like Wild Men from Borneo because they haven’t been able to see you. Well, wild young women.”
Stacey chuckled.
“Have fun.” Amanda fluttered off.
Stacey walked carefully toward them, feeling she’d squeal with excitement. They were a joyous site to behold after all the days without them.
The children’s mouths hung open and their eyebrows rose as they jumped to their feet.
“Mom!” they said.
Stacey placed her tray on the table and hugged them all, then sat down. “How are my darlings?”
“Fine,” Sam said.
Devon sighed. “Dang!” She shook her head. “Where were you?”
“Getting my head together.” Stacey looked at her plate. “Let’s join hands and say grace.”
They joined hands. Stacey closed her eyes.
“Thank you, god, for this food and for the fellowship of my daughters. Amen.”
The girls echoed the “Amen.”
Devon giggled. “Short but sweet. Again, me likey.”
Sam followed suit. Soon, all the girls laughed.
Stacey blew on her meat, then bit into it, washing it down with her tea. She looked at Devon. “I had some problems getting used to my medicine. I had to sit down and rest.”
Devon said, “I’m glad you’re back, Mom.”
“We missed you so much,” Sam said.
Devon scrunched up her face while looking at Stacey’s tray. “Yuck, Mom. Why didn’t you have the cheeseburger and fries?”
“Yeah, why?” Sam asked.
“When you get to be my age, you have to watch what you eat, or you’ll have a heart attack.”
Sam flashed her a confused stare. “Should I watch what I eat? I’m not old, but I’m chubby.”
Stacey smiled and winked at her. “No, I love you just the way you are.”
“I don’t like cabbage,” Bobbi said in a munchkin voice. “I like the burger and fries.”
Stacey smiled while chewing her cabbage, patting Bobbi’s head. Again, she washed down the food. “You’re not throwing any more fits, are you, Bobs? Now that you know I’m your mother.”
Bobbi shook her head. “No-um.”
Stacey reached over and hugged her, and Bobbi leaned in for it. “Good girl.” She kissed her.
Louisa raised her hand, sitting to Bobbi’s right. “I’m a good girl, too!”
Stacey smiled at her. “I know you are, sweetness.”
Kyra, who sat at Louisa’s right, held up her two small paper plates of desert. “I got two chocolate cakes!”
Stacey shook her head. “No, you should only have one. It’s not good for you. And remember, we’re supposed to eat carbohydrates like legumes. We need plenty of fruits and vegetables, not too much fat.”
“Sam said I could!”
“You weren’t here,” Sam said.
Devon giggled. “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”
Stacey harrumphed, looking her and Sam over. “Are you two being bad?”
Sam said, “No.”
Devon giggled again, gazing at Sam, who echoed the laugh.
Stacey shook her head and started on her orange slices.
Devon pounded the table. “Mom!”
Stacey choked on her citrus.
Devon got up, walked over, and slapped her on the back. “Cough it up, Mom.”
“You almost gave me a heart attack,” Stacey said.
Devon looked sad, turning down her lower lip, then smiling with wide eyes. With Devon, repentance never lasted. “I wanted to tell you, you can have endless drink refills and get seconds and thirds here if you want.”
Stacey nodded. “Only ‘cause I didn’t eat yesterday.”
Devon returned to her seat at Sam’s left.
Bobbi put her little hand on Stacey’s arm. “You don’t eat nothin?”
Stacey smoothed her hair. “It’s okay. I’m eating like a queen today.”
Bobbi smiled and picked at her cake.
A middle-aged, bald man with glasses walked up to the table. Everyone stared at him with furrowed brows.
Stacey sighed and slammed her fork down. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Walter,” the man said in a slow drawl.
“Pffffth,” Devon uttered, apparently trying to keep a straight face and not having much luck.
The man was having a feast of the girls with his eyes. “Your daughters are… hot.”
All Stacey could think about was Dick raping her when she was an eighteen-year-old minor, and this guy was even worse than her foster father, wanting underage girls. Rage throbbed in her mind, and she thought she’d kill the guy. Stacey slammed the table with her hands and rose. “These girls are twelve, eleven, and seven years old, you sickening pervert! Get your a
ss away from us!”
Devon shot up, pointing at him. “Yeah, beat it, puke-face!”
The man’s face turned red, then he chuckled. “I wanna fuck ‘em.”
Sam gaped. The triplets giggled.
Stacey grabbed her fork, holding it up in an attacking position as she advanced on him. “And I want to stab you in the eye!”
He backed off, waving his hands out in front of him. “Sorry. I’ll go. Sorry.”
Stacey followed him. “What’s your last name?” she screamed.
Everyone sitting at the other tables watched them. A couple of young men pointed and laughed.
“No, no,” Walter whined as he ran, “I’ll leave you alone! Please!”
Stacey sprinted after him. While trying to evade her, he tripped over a seat that hadn’t been tucked back under the table and belly-flopped on the floor. His glasses went flying, skidding away quickly.
Devon sprinted out from behind Stacey.
I didn’t even know she’d followed me.
Devon ran over and jumped on the glasses, shattering them with a sickening crunch. “Whoops,” she cried with a grin and a wink.
Stacey bent over the man, the fork now an inch from his left eye. “Your goddamn name,” she growled.
“E-E-Emmitt. Walter… Emmitt.”
Stacey rose, satisfied. “I’m reporting you.” She noticed Sam and the triplets had gotten up and were advancing on them. Stacey put two fingers in her mouth and whistled. “Get back to the table and finish your lunch!”
Wide-eyed, the children stared, then power-walked back.
Stacey went over to the lunch line, picked up a second ice tea, and stomped back to her table. She ruffled out the wrinkles in her clothes. Before she sat, she turned around, looking at the other patients. “Remember that,” she yelled. “Nobody fucks with my kids.”
Stacey sat, starting on her cake.
Sam giggled, holding up a fist. “Way to go, Mom!”
Devon got up and did a happy dance, shaking to the left and shaking to the right. “Super girl, baddie-ass, that’s my fuckin mom! Super girl, baddie-ass, that’s my fuckin mom!”
Stacey stared at Devon, not being able to believe her and fit to bursting with laughter. She let it fly. The other kids mimicked the giggles.
I could correct her language, but right now I don’t give a shit.
She had her seconds and thirds in peace.
<^^>
Stacey walked her children back to their ward, and a nurse stopped her, saying Amanda said she could bring her kids to her ward if she wanted. Overjoyed, she walked down the hallway with her outstretched arms around all five of them. When Stacey came to the ward, Amanda was waiting for her near the brown couches.
“Kids,” Stacey said. “Give us a minute.”
The girls ran to the TV room.
Stacey walked over to her. “Is it time for group or rape counseling?”
Amanda shook her head. “We’ll tell you when it’s time for therapy. Group is at ten and rape counseling’s at two.”
Stacey shot an eye toward her room, hearing people laugh in front of the idiot box, which she no longer cared about now that she walked in the real world. “What’s going on, then?”
Amanda flashed a look toward the ward’s dining room, then back at her. “You’ve got a visitor.”
Stacey furrowed her brow and moved her head back an inch. “Really?”
“Yes. Come on.”
“But I wanted to pray for Therese before I did anything else.”
“Hmm. Well, it’s Wednesday. The chapel service is at seven. Do you want me to tell the chaplain to come get you?”
“Yes, definitely. The kids and I will go… but I want to pray now.”
“I understand. Why don’t you go to your room; I’ll tell your guest you’ll be five minutes. Is that enough time?”
“Yes. Who is it?”
“A woman named Lori Major.”
Hmm. Lori Major, that sounds familiar. Wait. “You mean Miss Major, my teacher from when I was a kid?”
“Not sure. She says she knows you and would like to see you.”
“Huh. Well, I’ll be out in five.”
Amanda smiled again. “Good deal. I’ll tell her.”
Stacey looked her up and down. “You look good, today, Mrs. Forrester.” She felt the fire down below.
Being submissive to “Mrs. Forrester,” the authority figure. Ow, that turns me on.
Amanda cleared her throat. “You know, Stacey, I do have a husband.”
“Pity.” Stacey walked over to the TV room.
Amanda giggled as her high heels clomped off toward the dining room.
“Kids,” Stacey said, “I’ve got a visitor. I’m going to go to my room to pray for Therese for five minutes first.”
Devon said, “No worries, Mom. SpongeBob’s on.”
Stacey chuckled and moved toward her room. Jeez, Grand Central Station. An elderly lady walked up to Stacey, and the latter picked up her pace, trying to evade her, albeit unsuccessfully. The woman could truck. The wrinkle of a lady had dull grey hair and beady eyes.
“Can you get the spiders to stop?” the strange woman asked.
Stacey shook her head and blew past her. She wondered if she should leave her children in the ward with all these nuts, then realized the nurses would be watching.
In her room, Stacey winced from the bright lights of the fluorescent bulbs, reaching over to flick them off. She knelt at the bed. “Lord, I haven’t been a good servant lately. I know I’m not supposed to be a lesbian. But do you understand how I can’t stand men after what Dick did to me?” She sighed. “I probably shouldn’t even be talking to you, but your unworthy servant is begging you to make my Therese better. Please god, bring her out of that coma and restore her to health, my… number one daughter.”
She cried like a baby. Stacey kept kneeling for a few minutes. Then she was bawling. She rose, turned on the lights, and blinked a couple of times. Stacey grabbed a tissue and dabbed her eyes. She turned the knob and came out. Stacey started to walk past her kids, who were enraptured by the television.
Devon darted her head Stacey’s way. “Hey Mom, Bobbi has a crush on SpongeBob.”
Bobbi rose to her feet. “Do not!”
Stacey stopped. “Devon, quit teasing your sister.”
Bobbi sat down and watched the boob tube like a zombie.
Stacey took a double-take at Devon.
Wow, she’s got budding breasts. Devon will be a woman soon. I hope she has a better life than I had.
Bobbi grinned. “SpongeBob’s cute!” she cried in her munchkin voice.
Devon said, “Told ya.”
Stacey chuckled, wiping her eyes. “Now, don’t get me all gushy! I have to see my visitor.”
“Mom,” Devon said, “the lights hurt me and Sam’s eyes.”
“I’ll tell Amanda you need lower wattage bulbs.”
Kyra raised her hand. “I like a lights!”
Devon frowned at her. “But you weren’t in a dungeon for twelve years.”
“What’s a dungeon?”
Stacey chuckled. With grinning faces, the adults just stared at them as if amused by the cuteness.
“Who’s the visitor, Mom?” Sam asked.
Stacey walked away from them.
If I don’t just leave, I’ll never get out of there.
Devon chanted, “Mom’s got a boyfriend, Mom’s got a boyfriend, Mom’s got a boyfriend…”
Oh wow, if only she knew.
Amanda clomped over to her. She took her arm gingerly and stirred Stacey’s hormones once again. “Your guest is getting impatient. She’s thinking about leaving.”
Stacey walked with her, imagining Amanda as her woman. “I’m ready, but my daughters are more important. That’s being a mother.”
Amanda looked at her with those bewitching green eyes. “I understand. I’m glad my kids aren’t here while I’m trying to work.”
After a short, brisk walk, t
hey reached the in-house dining room. Miss Major sat there, looking bored. She drummed on the table and fidgeted, a lot older than Stacey remembered. Her hair still came down to her shoulders, but it was streaked with gray. She still dressed as a businesswoman.
Wow, I remember what she looked like when she was young. I was straight then. I’d like to see her like that now. Too hot.
“Have a nice visit.” Amanda shut the door.
Miss Major looked up, and her eyes brightened as she raised her eyebrows. “Stacey?”
Stacey walked over and hugged her when she rose. She breathed in deeply when their breasts touched.
I can’t masturbate in my room, someone will catch me. Oh well, there’s always the shower. I wonder how Amanda would feel if I asked for a dildo.
They pulled apart.
“Wow,” Stacey said, “I haven’t seen you in forever.” She gestured toward the seat. “Please, sit down.”
Miss Major’s eyes grew wide and she grinned. “You’re all grown up.”
“Unfortunately.” Stacey pulled her chair out, the legs scraping the floor. The heater came on and goose bumps stood out on Stacey’s arms.
Miss Major sat. Her eyes looked sad, but she smiled. It looked feigned. “I’m so sorry about what happened.”
Stacey looked away. God, that’s embarrassing. “It’s not your fault.”
“Yes, I feel it is. See, I’m the one who tipped Detective Flowerpot off.”
Stacey couldn’t believe it. She was speechless.
Miss Major added, “But I should have done it earlier. I always knew something was going on with you.”
“Well, Miss Major…”
The teacher shook her head. “Please, call me Lori. You’re a big girl now.”
“All right, Lori. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know what was going on.”
Lori turned away, took a couple of deep breaths, then locked eyes with her. “I had a boyfriend that beat me up when I was in college, in a parking deck. So I know that look, the way you were acting. But…” She shook her head again, putting her fingers over her closed eyelids. “… I could’ve have prevented it. I was too scared to look under your clothes, where he probably beat you.” She wept.
Stacey’s heart broke. “Oh.” She put her hand on Lori’s arm. “No, stop.”
“I can’t believe the other girls didn’t see the bruises when they showered with you.”