“Why not?” She told him never mind. “You brought it up. Tell me what you’re meaning. I’m right proud of not being caught at the shit I’ve been up to. You know I ain’t been sitting around with my thumbs up my ass. I’ve been busy around town.”
“Why don’t you get yourself a job?” That actually made him gag. Nearly ready to puke on her shoes, he had to turn away and lean his head against the wall. “Are you seriously sick right now because I suggested you get a job? Christ, no wonder you’re still single with no prospects of getting a better life.”
“Oh, that wasn’t nice, Penny. Not at all. You know I’m allergic to real work. Oh, I have to go and lay down. Wait until I tell my brother what you did to me.” He stood there for a second longer, thinking about her nasty suggestion. When it hit his belly, he did puke up his lunch in the corner by the building.
Butch had a terrible headache when he stood up again, just at the thought of having to get to some place on time and to wear a uniform. Thinking about something else so as not to upset his belly again, he staggered home. That wasn’t nice of Penny. Not at all. He had a good mind to tell her uncle about it. Or even her daddy. But then Tony didn’t seem to care at all what his daughter was up to.
Walking home, he saw that people were out fixing up their shops. It took him a few minutes to realize it was getting close to Thanksgiving. His belly rumbled, this time in anticipation for a plate full of mashed up potatoes and some gravy. Oh boy, he thought, pie too. His favorite was cherry. His momma used to make the best cherry pie in the world.
Butch was going to have to talk to Dutch about their holiday with Penny. For some reason, he didn’t think she’d be making them stuff to eat because he wanted her to. Emmie wouldn’t do it either. She was forever telling them that if they wanted a home cooked meal to get in the kitchen and make it.
“Ain’t my job, damn it.”
His belly was empty now that he’d been sick, and he was suddenly starving for a thick slice of turkey with all the trimmings. When he saw a poster in front of the old people’s home he stopped to make it out.
The pictures on it helped him some. Neither Butch nor Dutch could read all that well. Emmie could. When she lived at home with them, she’d read the newspaper and not tell them anything that was in it. She would, however, tell them when their names came up in an article. Then she’d go on about how they were still alive, as they’d not made it to the obit page yet. Emmie had always been mean to him and Dutch.
The turkey was one of them cartoon ones where it was dancing around the poster. Somebody had cut out a bowl of mashed taters as well as a boat of gravy. Green bean casserole wasn’t anything he cared for, but he’d eat it in a pinch. He was getting to the numbers when someone came up behind him, their tall shadow blocking out the sun he’d been using to read.
“It says if you happen to have five bucks on you you can have a plate of Thanksgiving dinner.” He turned enough to see it was one of them Bishops. He was just hungry enough to ask him to read it all to him. “It gives you the date, which was yesterday, as a matter of fact. So, I guess you’re out of luck in having a meal at the church.”
“Well that sucks. I never seen this until today.” The man started to walk on, and he realized he was dressed in a pair of khakis like them army men wore. “You related to that one that thinks he’s going to marry Penny? You tell him he’d better be backing off. My brother has dips on her.”
“Dips? It’s dibs, you moron. You know she’s a beautiful woman, don’t you? Not some spinach dip that you stick crackers in.” He told the man it was a figure of speech. “That doesn’t make it any less offensive. If she were here right now, I’m sure Penny would knock your head off. I would if I weren’t in such a hurry. Stay away from her and Emmie, or so help me, I’ll make your life until now seem like a picnic.”
Again, he didn’t know what the man was talking about. He thought about the dips thing he’d said. All his life, Butch had thought it was silly that people would say they had dips on things. Now he knew why he’d never understood it. It wasn’t right. Butch was going to tell his brother about that too when he heard him say it again. It’s dibs, not dips.
Walking home, all he could think about was how empty his belly was. He knew for a fact that there wasn’t any food in his place. The last time he’d been able to swipe something from the store had been a while ago. Now they had cameras all over the place. It was getting to the point where a man couldn’t take a quick piss at the back of the bar without someone getting on him about it.
Butch realized he’d missed his house and had to turn back to go home. As he got to the end of the street, he realized he’d missed it again. It wasn’t until he was standing in front of his old mailbox that he realized his house was gone. He’d seen the construction stuff yesterday that was just across the street, but he never would have thought of them taking his house.
It wasn’t really a house. It was one of them storage sheds he’d gotten out of the dumpster about five years ago. It had a holey roof, sure, but he’d been able to fix that up with some tarps he’d found. It had power, thanks to the house beside his. Also cable. Not that he had a working television set, but he could have cable if he wanted.
He found what was left of his home in the big dumpster that wasn’t there yesterday. Butch saw his plate that had gotten all busted up. There were his shoes. They pinched like the dickens, but he could wear them still. All his worldly goods were just picked up by some big moving thing and crushed up into a pile like nothing.
“Hey, you that man that was living back there?” He didn’t know the man that was yelling at him from the house he’d been living behind. “You’ve been freeloading long enough. I told you a month ago to remove yourself and that eyesore, but you ignored me. I called the police, and they said that since I didn’t want it there I’d have to have it taken down on my own. I did warn you.”
“I wasn’t bothering you none.” The man told him he was stealing his electric and cable. Not to mention, it smelled back there. “Well, I ain’t got no bathroom so I was using the outside. I want you to put that all back now. You had no right to take a man’s home.”
“I had every right. I didn’t allow you to live there and I evicted you.” He laughed and Butch asked him what was so funny. “You. Thinking that I’d put that mess back there and let you continue living there. Christ, you’re as dumb as a post. Stay off my property or I’ll get you for trespassing.”
He started for the man, but the police pulled into his drive before he got anymore than a couple of steps. Taking off at a run—well, a sort of fast walk—he was headed back to town when he realized he didn’t have a place to sleep tonight. And it getting cold and all. People were just mean, he thought to himself. Just as mean as a rattlesnake.
Dutch was just coming down the sidewalk on the other side of the street when Butch yelled for him. Dutch told him how he’d gotten out. “Who would have thought that someone forgetting to check a box that said he’d been read his rights would have been his ticket. His get outta jail card, like in that game.” Dutch told Butch he thought he’d be able to lay low, at least until the marrying was done up right. He said he was going to have to stay with him tonight on account of him needing an address. Butch told him about his home.
“Are you kidding me right now? They actually tore down your house? What sort of people live in this town when a decent person can’t even have a house of his own?” Dutch shook his head. “Well, I guess we’ll have to go and see if James can put us up. This world ain’t nothing but filled with sorry asses. I can’t believe they tore your house down. That’s wrong.”
Butch decided not to tell his brother that James didn’t have a house either. That someone had tossed him out a few days ago when he’d been in jail—for not paying rent or something like that. Well, they’d have to all bunk at Wendy’s old place, he supposed. That was all they could do under the circumstances.
Chapter 7
Wesley was headed out to the barn when he felt someone was near. Stopping on the little path he’d had made for just this, he turned and saw a figure coming out of the stand of trees. His first thought was that it was James standing there, holding a gun. Shifting to his tiger, he felt his cat’s anger. Wesley snarled at the other man, swiping his claws at him to give him a warning. The gun dropped, as did the man when he started speaking.
“I’m Tony. I swear, I’m Tony. Don’t hurt me.” Wesley moved slowly toward Tony but didn’t touch him. As Wesley leaned into his shoulder, the man whimpered just as Wesley realized it wasn’t James, but indeed Tony. “I’m not here to hurt anyone. I promise. I just want to speak to you.”
Wesley knew that Penny was close. He reached out to her to ask her to come to him. Your dad— I mean, Tony is here. I’ve shifted because I didn’t realize it was him, and now I can’t speak to him to let him know I have to go in and get dressed. Unless he wants to speak to me while I’m naked. Which, I don’t think he would.
I’m doubting that as well. She came around the side of the house, laughing and spoke to Tony. “He is going to run into the house to redress. Why are you here this early in the morning, Tony? Something going on?”
Wesley heard him tell Penny the same thing he’d told him that he wanted to speak to him. Grabbing the first thing he touched from the clean laundry, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt as he looked around for a pair of shoes. Damn it all to hell and back, he’d torn them to shreds when he’d shifted. And that was his favorite pair. Leaning out the back door, he asked Penny if they could come into the house. He had to find some shoes.
Both of them entered the house just as he found a pair of clean socks. He usually didn’t wear socks around the house, but the new floor was wooden, and it was colder than the carpet that had been in the other house. But he loved the easy clean up of the floors here.
When Tony said they could talk in here, he sat down at the dining room table with him as Penny made them all some tea.
“I’m sorry I startled you.” Wesley laid the gun that Penny had given him on the table. “Why are you armed, Tony, if you only came here to talk? I’m not a man to take chances. I probably would have attacked you anyway had I seen the gun before I saw you.”
“I don’t blame you.” He didn’t say anything else while Penny was out of the room. Tony looked around. He smiled at some of the paintings on the wall and even got up to look out the double doors that led out onto the deck surrounding this end of the house. When Penny arrived, he sat down. “I’m not Tony. I’m Randal. I live here with Tony. We all do.”
Neither he nor Penny said anything. Tony or Randal just sat there, sipping his tea. When he picked up one of the cookies on the little plate, he ate it daintily and was careful of not getting crumbs on the table. It was Penny who spoke first.
“I’m sorry. I heard what you said, but I don’t understand. You’ve been called Tony all my life.” He said the man she knew as Tony was there as well, but he was Randal. “You’re telling me that you’ve been lying about your name all this time?”
“I think he’s telling you he is only one of multiple personalities.” Mr. Joe came in and sat down with them as he continued. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I did hear what he said and wanted to come and find out myself. However, I believe I’ve noticed some of the people that Tony is. I don’t know really how to explain this, but I think what Randal here is trying to tell you is that the man we all knew as Tony Harold isn’t the only person in there with him.”
“That’s right. Tony is our host, I guess you could call him. Over the years of growing up, there have been others that have manifested here. When we decided it was time, one of us came to explain this to your husband, it was thought I could be the calmest about it.” Randal took Penny’s hand in his, and Wesley wasn’t surprised to see her jerk it away. “I’m sorry, Penny. Tony said to tell you, however, that he has loved you since the day you were brought to him. I’m sure you’ve found out that he’s not your biological father. But he did love you as his child. He has—we all have tried to protect you as best we could.”
“I don’t understand.” Penny looked at Mr. Joe and him. “I don’t know what is going on here. What do you mean he has different personalities? That’s not possible. I mean, they do it on movies all the time for the thrill factor, but not in real life.”
“You’ve noticed it too, Penny.” She shook her head as she looked at the man she’d only known as Dad. “You have. And recently. When you were in the grocery store several weeks ago, James came at you. He was ready to hurt you. But Joey, another person here, he was there for you and ran him off. Do you remember what you said to him?”
“I said thank you, whoever you are. I was joking.” Randal just watched her. “Another time you came to my aid, I had fallen down outside the shed, and you were there with the first aid kit. You said something to me. You said that...you said you told Tony this was going to happen if that shed wasn’t taken down. I didn’t know what to think, so I just didn’t. Think about it, I mean.”
“Correct. If you were to think about it, you’d remember other things too. Other times one of us tried to tell you that you were never alone. That one of us—as I said, all of us—were there for you.” Penny got up and left the room. Randal looked at Wesley. “I need to speak to you about a few things. There are things you must know in order to make sure James is put away. We should be as well. Not for any crimes. I assure you, Wesley, that none of us have harmed people or committed any crimes that should put us in prison. But we should be put away. Before we harm our host.”
“That’s why you have the gun.” Randal looked at the gun and then nodded at him. “Why? What’s going on that any of you feel you should end his life? If you’ve caused no trouble, what is the reason you have for wanting this?”
“We’re too much for him.” Wesley didn’t know what that meant, but Penny came back then with several envelopes. Spreading the contents of one of them onto the table, it was Mr. Joe that started stacking them in some kind of order. “You knew even when you were in school. Didn’t you? I saw the looks on your face when I was the only one around when you needed something. We’ve all noticed it from time to time.”
“The signatures are different on my report cards I brought home. See? I got into trouble once in school because they said I was faking my father’s signature. Then I went to live with my grandparents, and it wasn’t brought up again.” Mr. Joe said that was the reason she’d come to live with them. “You knew? You knew he wasn’t the same man?”
“No. I wasn’t sure. Your grandma did. She said there was something wrong with Tony. Nothing really wrong, she’d tell me, but there was trouble with him. I don’t rightly think she understood it back then. I know I didn’t. But when Tony would come around, I started noticing little things about him that I might not have if she’d not mentioned it.” He pointed to one of the signatures on a report card. “If I’m not mistaken, I’m thinking one of you is a lefty.”
Randal laughed and said that two of them were. He was the one that had signed that day. Penny sat there, not saying anything as Randal explained why he had come today. Wesley was more worried about Penny than he was anything the other man was saying until he mentioned James again. This time he did listen up.
“What do you mean he’s the one that killed his mother? I thought it was ruled an accident. That she’d been on her cell phone when the accident occurred.” Randal said she had been. “Then how is that his fault?”
“If the police would have checked who she was talking to prior to the accident, they would have kn
own she was speaking to James, and that he was only a mile ahead of her when their call was cut off. James is the one that plowed into his mother’s car. The dead man beside him was thrown from the truck just the way he’d planned it. None of us are sure what would have happened if he would have been killed or even hurt more than he was. But as I said, he had planned it well, and the other man was blamed for driving.” Penny got up to pace, but she didn’t speak as Randal continued. “We have proof enough for you to go to the police. The ball bat that he murdered the driver with is in the basement of his mother’s home. I’ve checked—it’s not been disturbed with all the remodeling.”
Randal told him where it was. Wesley asked if he could call his brother, Sawyer, a retired cop to go and get it. He thought that was an excellent idea. Instead of reaching out to him, Wesley pulled out his cell phone and called his brother. He was laughing when he answered the phone.
“You’re not going to believe this, Wesley, but I’ve been— What’s happened? I can feel you’re—well, I can’t tell what it is I’m feeling from you, but tell me.” He told him everything after putting it on speakerphone so that he could understand the strangeness of how he was feeling right now. “You’re saying that Tony Harold has multiple personalities and that he’s helping you put his brother away? I don’t mean to sound like I’m bragging or anything, but I had a feeling there was more to Tony than him just being Penny’s father. I’m on my way over if that’s all right.”
“Yes. I’d like you to be here when I tell them the rest of what I have to say.” Randal sounded different now that Wesley believed he was a different person than Tony. “You’re understanding now, aren’t you, Wesley?”
“I wouldn’t say that I understand, no. But I can see differences I didn’t before. Out in the yard, you weren’t Tony. I don’t know why, but I think my cat noticed that quicker than I did.” He said his cat was attuned to things like that. “I guess so. What I don’t understand is why are you just now coming here with this information? I mean, you could have had him arrested long ago.”
Wesley: Bishop’s Snowy Leap – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance (Bishop's Snowy Leap Book 3) Page 9