Mending Broken Flowers

"Yeah, there's this Chinese restaurant in Ruston? I swear, there isn't a single Asian works there; all the waitresses are black, all the bus boys are Mexican," Gabriel made Peggy laugh.

"But how's the food?" she laughed.

"That's the fucked up thing; it's actually pretty good," Gabriel agreed.

"So, um, when you got to be home?" he asked.

"Hmm?" she aside. Um, I don't, I mean, not really," Peggy said.

"So, I brought you home at ten o'clock tomorrow night, there's not going to be all kind of crap?" Gabriel asked.

"Um, no, I um, I don't think so," Peggy said, unsure now.

He drove to the Basin, the local make-out spot in Bender, Louisiana and parked away from the three other cars on the grassy strip of ground.

"So, what are we doing here?" she coyly asked.

"Same thing we did in your driveway last night," he smiled.

"But who says I want to do that again?" Peggy asked, already unbuttoning her blouse.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Gabriel said, reaching to start the van again. "I'll take you home, okay?"

"Uh huh," she giggled and shrugged out of her blouse.

He laughed when she slid her shorts down, revealing that she wore no panties underneath.

"My pussy's been hot for you all day long," she whispered as she lay down on the small mattress.

"And that is a pretty pussy," he agreed.

""Yeah? Think it's pretty enough to kiss?" she asked, spreading her legs wide for him.

----

Twice in one week, Annie gave in to the temptation and drank a second can of beer. Both mornings, she woke up with several empty cans of beer on the table, and even a few on the floor of the kitchen.

Lily had suggested her sisters for the job as she was taking her last paycheck from Annie.

"Yeah, my sister Iris? She's like a sophomore at U.L.L. so she's got real weird hours, and Daisy's going to be a junior at St. Thomas, so she's out by three thirty, oh, wait, Daisy's like a cheerleader, so she's really not out until four thirty," Lily had said as she gave Annie a final hug.

Iris had taken the job, but Annie kept Daisy's name on file as a back-up, in case Iris didn't work out, or needed an evening off for any reason.

"Bitch's all ready going to be fucking trouble," Annie mumbled to herself, sweeping several beer cans off the table.

Iris too, saw that Miss Annie was going to be a real bitch to work for. She'd been there only one day, and Miss Annie had told her three times how Lily was a much harder worker.

----

Lily looked around the bedroom one final time and sighed.

"Remember, it's going to get cold before the semester's up," Cheryl said from the doorway. "Might want to pack a couple of sweaters or something.

"Already got them," Lily mumbled, afraid to speak too loudly.

The lump in her throat was threatening to burst.

"Travis said he'll drop your check off on his way in tomorrow so it'll be in your account first thing Monday," Cheryl said.

"Tell him thanks," Lily mumbled.

"You talked with your dad?" Cheryl asked.

"Yeah, told him good bye yesterday," Lily said, nodding her head.

"And what's Charlie up to?" Cheryl asked casually.

"Same old, same old," Lily shrugged.

She didn't want to tell her mother but her father had looked absolutely terrible. His skin was mottled with tiny scabs and he kept scratching at his face the whole time she was there. His teeth looked like fingernails, dirty fingernails and a few of them actually looked loose; she watched him test them with his tongue.

His apartment was filthy; he was filthy too. The smell of an unwashed body, one that is sweating alcohol, is a hard odor to stomach.

And his drunken rambling and ranting had also been pretty hard to take as well.

"He brought this on himself," Cheryl interrupted Lily's thoughts. "I didn't divorce him; he's the one found someone else, not me."

"I know," Lily mumbled.

"Hey Lily? Telephone," Forest said, holding out the telephone.

"Thanks, Fart, oh, I mean Forest, Lily smiled and took the phone from her little brother.

"Be nice," Cheryl said, pinching Lily's arm, hard.

"Ow!" Lily cried out, eliciting a laugh from Forest.

"Hey Lil, listen, Jeanette and Marianne and oh, shoot, what's her name? Anyway, we're all over here swimming; why don't you come on over?" Peggy's cheerful voice squealed into the telephone.

"Yeah, okay, be there in a bit," Lily said, letting the hated 'Lil' slide.

----

Peggy was serving a bottle of vodka, and of peppermint schnapps and the five girls were getting quite drunk, quite quickly. Kevin O'Brien had stopped by and was trying to catch up to the girls.

"Who fuck that is?" Jeanette slurred as the doorbell rang.

The others burst out laughing at her faulty grammar and Lily wobbled down the hall to answer the door.

"Oh fucking great, what the fuck you doing here, loser?" she sneered at Gabriel.

"Not here to see you, Sasquatch," he smiled easily.

Lily's mouth opened and closed several times in shock.

"Gabriel!" Peggy giggled. "That wasn't very nice! You tell her you're sorry!"

"Oh, okay, hey Lily? I'm sorry you're an ugly, hairy bitch," Gabriel smiled.

"That's not what I meant!" Peggy giggled, slapping Gabriel's arm.

"Fuck you!" Lily screamed at him.

"You? No thanks," Gabriel said, still smiling easily. "Must be like fucking a cactus, huh?"

"Aw, kiss my ass, you loser," Lily sneered.

"Hmm," Gabriel said, grabbed Lily's arm and spun her around. "No, no, sorry, Lily, see I'm leaving in five hours for Tech; ass that big would take at least eight, nine hours to kiss. I just don't have the time."

"Gabriel!" Peggy squealed, laughing drunkenly.

That had been bad enough, but Maryanne, Heather, Kevin, Jeanette, and Peggy's younger sister had heard the heated exchange, and also laughed at Gabriel's witty remark.

Lily ran into Peggy's bedroom to change out of her swimsuit into her street clothes so that she could leave.

No one came to see if she was all right. No one paid her any attention when she walked through the living room toward the front door. No one even said 'good-bye' as she left the Campion house.

Alcohol definitely helped lubricate her tear ducts and she sobbed as she drove her small compact Toyota home.

Chapter 6

Christmas of 201 had been an uneasy truce of sorts between mother and son in the Florez home. Christmas of 2002 had not been any easier on either one; neither Annie nor Gabriel was ready to admit that they'd had any fault in the rift between them.

Thanksgiving of 2001, Gabriel accepted the invitation from Peggy Campion and availed himself of the Campions' hospitality. But he knew, and Peggy knew, as good as the sex was, there was no real future for either of them.

Thanksgiving of 2002 and 2003 was spent with a husband and wife that worked at the Louisiana School for the Blind. In the short time he'd been in Ruston, Gabriel had befriended a few blind students and had even been to a few of their meetings. Having a van, he made a few extra dollars ferrying some of the blind students around, and a few dollars doing small odd jobs for students and staff.

Gabriel had, as a lark, looked at a few of the homes for sale in and around the Ruston area and had found two he liked; one on Mississippi Street, and the other on Texas Street.

The one on Texas won; the police department was only two blocks away.

Since he maintained a four point oh GPA, Louisiana Tech was happy to continue to grant Gabriel a full academic scholarship. He carried eighteen hours during the regular semesters and nine during the summer sessions, hoping to graduate with a Bachelor's in only three years.

The college fund he and his mother had set up finally saw some use; part of it went toward the down payment and part of it went toward a few renovations.

The majority of his college fund, however, remained in his account.

"Dude! Killer parties could be had here!" Ford Dufour quickly suggested when he saw the small home.

"Dude, no and no fucking way; Police Department? Two blocks that way," Gabriel pointed.

"Aw, Dude, that sucks! Aw, well, Spiff's lease runs out end of this year so we're having a total blow out next Saturday; you in?" Ford said, looking around the small home again.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Gabriel shrugged.

He had not been to any parties at Spiff's house since the night he discovered the young man was drugging some of the female guests. Gabriel, however, was bored of spending his Friday and Saturday nights in his home, or going into Monroe with the blind students.

"Yeah, his fucking ass hole landlord already told him, he ain't getting his security deposit back so Spiff don't give a shit we tear the place up," Ford hooted.

"Uh huh, and you wonder why I don't want you having no parties here, huh?" Gabriel muttered.

----

Lily absolutely and completely fell in love with Louisiana Tech; the campus, the curriculum, the dormitory.

When she found out about the Tech Dairy and bought a few pints of the ice cream, she immediately asked where they got the ingredients and other dairy products.

"From our cows; the college's got a farm," the girl behind the counter informed Lily.

"You're kidding!" Lily gasped, delighted.

As soon as she could, Lily enrolled in all the classes that would have her out on the farm. She also got involved in the production of honey and beeswax.

"See, when I was in Bender, I worked at this flower shop," she excitedly told her instructor.

"Uh huh," the instructor intoned, not really caring.

Lily also befriended one of the graduate students that told her of Professor Bell's development of lasers.

"So?" Lily asked, puzzled.

"Um," Freda said, gently stroking Lily's quite noticeable mustache. "Hair removal's one of the projects he's working on.

Professor Bell looked at Lily's face and agreed to take her on as a test subject.

"Ever think of..." he asked, indicating his own eyebrows, "you know, um, trimming that down to size?"

"Thought of? I've PRAYED for something like this!" Lily happily agreed.

A physical education instructor, noticing Lily's painfully thin limbs, pulled the girl into her office.

"Look at this picture; notice anything?" the attractive woman asked, hading Lily a framed photograph.

Lily looked at the blurry photograph, showing three young women. Two of the women were beautiful, well-formed women. The third one, though, had a pear shaped body and bone thin arms and legs.

"Your sister?" Lily asked, noticing the resemblance to the teacher that sat, smiling.

"No, me, nine years ago," the woman laughed."

Um, really? You had plastic surgery or something?" Lily asked.

"No ma'am, proper diet, right exercises, and a healthy attitude," the teacher smiled.

"Whatever class you teach, sign me up for next semester, Lily begged.

"We can get started right now," the teacher laughed and penciled Lily into her three o'clock Personal Health class.

Lily loved college life.

----

"And, dude, some killer pussy, you hear?" Ford shouted as Gabriel drove them toward Spiff's house.

"Aw, come on, man, not that stupid shit again; y'all really have to get some poor bitch so fucked up she can't think?" Gabriel complained.

"What, huh? Got two, three girls, ten, fifteen guys, man, Spiff's got to do what Spiff's got to do, know what I'm saying." Ford defended.

"Yeah, well, no thanks," Gabriel said and parked on the lawn next to a small white Toyota.

Lily's friend, Freda, had invited her along to a party at some guy's house. Even though it was below thirty degrees, the house was freezing cold, so Lily kept her coat on, tightly zipped.

"Hey, Lily, here you go," Spiff said and handed her a drink.

"Thanks," Lily said and took a big gulp of it.

Spiff smiled and winked at some of the guys that were standing around.

Gabriel made sure he fixed his own drinks; he'd heard more than one rumor that some guys had gone to one of Spiff's parties an not had very pleasant memories afterward. The house was freezing cold; someone told him that Spiff had let the gas bill go for three months and now the gas was turned off.

"Fuck, dude, just pay the bill, huh?" Gabriel complained.

"Fuck dude, why?" Spiff laughed. "Being evicted in a couple of weeks anyway."

Gabriel looked on, with disgust, as Spiff squirted a small amount of liquid into a glass, and then stirred the drink with his finger. He watched as Spiff gave the glass to a short blonde girl.

The blonde girl turned to say something to Spiff and Gabriel saw that it was Lily Gauchet.

"Hey, Spiff, come see," he said.

"Not right now, dude, kind of busy," Spiff said, no longer smiling.

"No, dude, come see, NOW!" Gabriel ordered.

"Hey, need me to kick your fucking ass or something?" Spiff growled.

"Dude, her?" Gabriel said, pointing at the now stumbling Lily.

"Yeah, what about her?" Spiff said, putting his face right in Gabriel's face.

"Her? You plan on doing her?" Gabriel hissed back, not intimidated by Spiff's antics.

"Yeah, got a problem with that?" Spiff challenged.

"Dude, you even knows who that is?" Gabriel pressed.

"Yeah, Lily somebody," Spiff responded; now a little confused.

"Yeah, Lily Somebody. Lily Gauchet," Gabriel said.

"Yeah, and?" Spiff asked.

"Gauchet. Gauchet, as in Nary Landrieu's niece," Gabriel said.

"Who?" Spiff asked.

"Mary Landrieu? SENATOR Mary Landrieu? Ever wonder what Angola looks like? I guarantee you, Senator Landrieu finds out you drugged and raped her favorite niece, your ass will be right there, forever," Gabriel said.

"Aw, fuck, dude, you are fucking shitting me," Spiff said, watching as Lily drank more of the drugged concoction.

"Dude, I'm taking her home," Gabriel said. "You can blow me later for saving your stupid ass."

Spiff shrugged helplessly as the other guys glared at him. They'd all expressed their interest in doing 'the short blonde' first.

----

Gabriel turned the heater on full blast; it was cold and windy outside. Lily hummed and mumbled something incoherent from the passenger seat.

"Whew, I'm hot," she complained, and unzipped her heavy coat.

Gabriel turned the heater down, and Put the van in gear.

"Which dorm you in?" he asked.

She mumbled a response, but couldn't repeat it.

"Fuck, I'll just take you home," Gabriel decided.

"I don't feel..." Lily complained, and then vomited heartily, spewing tainted liquid all over herself.

"Aw fuck!" Gabriel complained as the heated interior filled with the noxious odor of liquor and junk food.

"Sorry," Lily mumbled, then burst into sobs, great racking sobs.

"No, no, Lily, no, don't," Gabriel implored as he pulled into the driveway of his home.

"Helping her, without touching her was far too difficult and Gabriel fought the urge to vomit as well as he had to get his arms around her to help her out of the van and into his home.

"Where's the, never mind," Lily mumbled as she relieved her bowels and bladder on herself.

"God damn, Spiff, how fucking much did you give her?" Gabriel complained bitterly.

He dragged/carried her into the small bathroom and plopped her onto the commode. He bend down, took her shoes off, then gingerly, with much grimacing, pulled her sodden jeans off.

He almost smiled as her large granny panties came into view. Had the smell not been so intolerable, he probably would have.

Her coat, sodden blouse and bra soon joined the jeans on the floor of the bathroom.

"God damn, welcome to the jungle, huh?" Gabriel whistled as he peeled Lily's panties off, revealing a patch of pubic hair that extended from hipbone to hip bone, to just under her navel. There was a thin, dark line that traveled through her navel to just between her breasts.

Her nipples, he noticed, also had a ring of dark hair encircling them.

"God damn, ever hear of a razor?" he asked, and stripped off his own soiled coat. His shoes, jeans and shirt joined the pile on the floor.

He turned on the shower and adjusted it.

"Come on, Lily, time to get you cleaned up," he said and yanked her to her feet.

"Want go home," she mumbled in the shower.

"Wish you were home too," Gabriel muttered as he tried valiantly to hold her up with one hand and scrub her with the other.

"What you doing?" she protested.

"Cleaning the shit off of you," Gabriel complained. "You think this is fun, you got another thing coming."

The shower seemed to be reviving her slightly; she fought against him feebly as he continued to scrub her.

Finally, he deemed her to be clean enough, as clean as he was going to get her without her assistance, and shut the taps off.

Drying her was another struggle, she was too weak to stand, and was fighting his hands as he tried to hold her up.

Finally, he dragged her out of the bathroom, into his bedroom, and pushed her onto his bed.

"Here," he said and put one of his old high school football jerseys on her.

She fought him briefly while he tried to dress her, but as soon as the back of her damp head hit his soft pillow, she sighed and began to snore lightly.

"Good God, being a nice guy sucks," Gabriel said ad he picked up all the soiled clothing from the bathroom floor.

Her coat and his coat went into the washing machine, along with her other soiled clothing. At this point, he did not care if the colors were separated or not.

Then he went out to his van and scrubbed the passenger seat, seat belt strap and floor.

Returning inside, he mopped the living room, the hallway, and the bathroom.

Finally, he scrubbed the toilet, the sink, and the bathtub.

Living for years under the domination of a mother that was never satisfied had left a few positive traits in Gabriel Florez; he simply could not sleep in a dirty house.

The clothes were transferred to the dryer and Gabriel lie down on the uncomfortable couch and fell into a deep sleep.

----

Lily came to, a horrible taste in her mouth. The taste was so foul she had to fight against vomiting.

She looked around the small bedroom, disoriented. This was not her dorm room. She staggered to her feet, rocked slightly as she tried to get her balance, and then lurched for the door.

A door was open showing Lily where the much needed bathroom was.

She closed and locked the door and plopped down on the commode. After cleaning herself, she realized, she was not wearing any panties and a feeling of dread came over her. She never went to bed without a pair of panties on, panties hat fully covered her shame.

A quick search of the mirrored medicine cabinet revealed a small bottle of mouthwash and she gratefully availed herself of the green liquid.

After gargling three times, she splashed cold water into her face and stared at the sickly looking girl that looked back at her.

She realized that there were smells now, smells other than her putrid mouth and again had to fight against the urge to vomit.

She could smell coffee and bacon and eggs. Normally, these would have been welcome smells, but her stomach was jerking back and forth.

She was also afraid. She had no idea where she was, whose house she was in.

Lily scampered back into the bedroom. A frantic search around the very clean little room showed no signs of her clothing. She had no choice but to follow the smells of coffee, bacon, and eggs.

"Good morning," a tall, muscular blonde haired man said as she fearfully staggered into the small kitchen.

"Where are my clothes?" she managed to sob out.

"I folded everything; they're right there, on the couch," the man said and turned around.

Lily gasped as she looked at Gabriel.

"You!" she hissed hatefully.

"Yes, me," he looked at her, confused.

"You!" she hissed again. "You did this? You, what did you do? Get me all drunk and drag me back here and rape me?"

"No!" he spat back at her. "No, you stupid fucking bitch, I stopped them from raping you."