by Beth Hoyer
speaking his foreign language till they reached the library room. Jinks was compelled to sit in a chair followed by Gustav again speaking in foreign language who went to a bookshelf and yanked out a book he saw was a romance novel and placed it in his lap and felt himself compelled to read the book to his disgust. He heard nothing from Gustav as he read being bored with the book but compelled to read it entirely while feeling a cat jump onto his lap and form become still with chest moving up and down. He continued to read feeling himself disgusted by the book’s contents that suggested it was focused on sex and seemed erotic by the use of sensitive parts’ actual names despite its theme of politics. He came to the last page shut the book and threw it at a wall of bookshelves feeling himself no longer compelled to sit and read and felt pricks of pain digging into his thighs while hearing a cat meow sounding annoyed. He angrily looked down at Willow tummy sitting on his lap feeling her digging her claws into his thighs. He reached a hand aiming to grab the cat by the back of her neck when he heard a yell sound in an excited tone coming from the doorway. Jinks looked up to see Victoria with a smile on her face blaring it come barreling towards him with her arms wide. He felt Willow jump off his lap as Victoria reached him jumping onto his lap on her knees and hugging him by wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight choke hold. He groaned remembering it wasn’t the first time Victoria did that enthusiastic hug greeting for she had done that too many times to count after being away from him for certain periods of time. He gagged to pat Victoria on the back twice while still gagging from her choke hold and removed his hand as she stiffened from the feel of her. He gasped for air as she stopped hugging him by removing her arms and getting off his lap to stand in front of him looking a little worried.
He gulped air and spoke “Victoria could you tone down your hugging greeting a bit? I’m getting a little put out by being choked every time you do that.”
Jinks stared at Victoria with pleading in his eyes who spoke “Sorry daddy. I couldn’t help myself.”
He groaned softly hearing the same familiar words she used each time he told her off on choking him with her hugging. He heard a meow sounding irritated and felt Willow back onto his lap claws digging into his thighs as he sighed.
He spoke “Victoria how was school?”
Victoria spoke with a happy tone “Well school is great. I learned how to sew a pillow today in one of my classes focused on sewing. I’ll be sure to bring the pillow home once the work is done with it just to show it to you.”
Jinks spoke remembering something from his time at middle school in Wethersfield when he was Victoria’s age “Oh interesting. You are taking any cooking classes?”
He stared at Victoria who spoke sounding not happy “I am taking a cooking class as a requirement at school. I hate cooking over the stove and I hate doing it.”
He spoke firmly “Victoria, you should learn how to cook for it’ll be useful when your older and living elsewhere attending college and don’t have to regret not learning to cook. Besides you can learn how to make your favorite meals and eat them too.”
Jinks narrowed his eyes at Victoria who he heard gave off a groan noise then added “Suppose the city’s colleges aren’t your taste but you prefer somewhere else instead. You might be living possibly in an apartment by yourself while attending college and find yourself missing your favorite meals enough to cook them yourself to enjoy them again.
So learn how to cook Victoria. You won’t regret the learning.”
He again heard the groan noise while seeing her frown visibly and remembered something from his time in High School continued talking “Victoria, one thing I wanted when I was in High School was a female who could cook like my mother enough to take her as my mate. I wanted back then was a female who was my equal in cooking so we could both share the duties of preparing food for any offspring that would come after we were committed to doing that.”
He paused to nod his head again hearing a groan noise from Victoria and kept talking “My view on a female being a good cook was shared among my teammates on the football team who talked that they were looking for females who could cook like they were just to share the duties for having offspring later on once they and the female were committed to the path. I wouldn’t be surprised if this view wound up passed down from them to their descendants which some of the boys in school could be having that view themselves so learn to cook Victoria.”
He eyed Victoria who shrugged while giving off another groan noise before she spoke “Well there’s this boy in school that has been acting like he likes me more than just a friend and has been talking about looking for a girl who cooks like he does. I’ve been pushing myself hard in the cooking class just to impress him with my cooking as in sharing some of the food I cooked with him in the lunch room. The boy has told similar things to what you told me about college and offspring when I honestly told him I didn’t like cooking which he convinced me to keep working on it.”
Jinks cocked his head with his eyes narrowed and spoke with a firm tone “Who’s the boy your talking about?”
Victoria spoke in timid voice “Mavis Petersen.”
He stared at Victoria and shrugged before speaking “Oh I met him awhile back. Seems like a nice boy to me. Just don’t let yourself get taken advantaged of you hear? I don’t want to use my connections if I find out some boy is not treating you right get it?”
He saw Victoria nod her head before she spoke “Um I should add that Burke Billbug the boy that shot me was given a punishment by a judge in court finding him guilty.
Jinks stiffened hearing that as Victoria kept talking “Burke was given detention after school ending when he finishes High School as in graduating from it along with cleaning up the messes we students made in the lunch room which will still continue once he’s in High School as an after school volunteer job ending once he graduates. He was ordered to use the money he was bribed to shot me with to pay for a huge money fine along with my medical bills including donating the rest of the money to the middle school for them to use it for whatever they need to teach us students.”
He spoke “Oh interesting but has he apologized for doing that stunt to you?”
He saw Victoria nod her head as she spoke “We had a school gathering in the theater room where Burke was forced by the principal to come to the stage with me there and apologize to me for his actions by microphone.”
He nodded his head in agreement as Victoria added “I should add that there’s a rumor going around that Federal Agents interviewed Burke subject involving some well off people bribing poor people to break the law and do their dirty work as a witness to testify against those people. I heard from local news sources that the prosecutor was said to be urged by the Federal Agents gave him a plea bargain to have him plead guilty in court in exchange for a lighter sentence instead of spending his time locked up in jail.”
He frown recalling Hettinger holding Victoria hostage and Donald trying to save her life figured to himself that Donald redeemed himself for his bribing Burke.
Jinks spoke “Have you heard anything involving that guy who had a gun to your head and another guy tried to convince him not to shoot you?”
He saw Victoria frown with disgust in her eyes as she spoke “That guy who pointed the gun at my head was identified as Wieland Hettinger who the cops told me that he’s one of the people they’ve been after for bribing people to break the law.”
He formed a sneer on his face as Victoria paused to frown then she continued to speak “They told me that too many cops witnessed the incident along with recording devices catching it. I’m also told that the guy who tried to convince Hettinger to not shoot me was identified as Richard Marshall dubbed Donald another one of the people who the cops have been after for bribery.”
He nodded his head in agreement towards Victoria’s words as she kept talking “I heard from local news sources that Donald might be used as a witness in the case. I also been hearing that Donald has fingered other people for briber
y related crimes his fingering denied by Hettinger who is insisting that Donald is lying.”
Jinks removed the sneer from his face to smirk and spoke “Interesting.”
He saw Victoria’s expression become serious with a frown in her eyes while shaking her head no and he removed the smirk from his face as she spoke “One other thing. The car transporting Hettinger to a county jail out of the city in a nearby town four days ago crashed said to be forced off the road. The cops in the car report a van arriving to the scene with masked people carrying guns yanking Hettinger from the vehicle and putting him in the van before driving off. They reported that Hettinger didn’t go with them willingly but put up a struggle. He hasn’t been found with any trace of him but the van was found abandoned on the border to the city a day later which their still looking for him.”
He groaned a soft sound while feeling Willow digging her claws into his thighs again.
He frowned as Victoria added speaking “After that incident the local news reports that Donald was put into heavy guarded escort to some prison in Connecticut where he’s currently staying as his court case processes through court including Hettinger’s who is currently being tried in absentia.”
Jinks sighed and spoke “Local