The Broussard Sisters Ch. 12

----

"Maw-maw, I miss my Mommy," Trey said sadly as Carmen fixed their breakfast.

"I know, sweetie; I miss her too," Carmen said, surprised that the tears still sprang to her eyes when she thought of her sweet, loving, laughing, troublesome, defiant, rebellious, strong, confident daughter. "Remember? I knew her long before you did."

"I know," Trey said and picked the raisins out of his raison bread toast.

"She didn't like raisins either," Carmen smiled and put a plate down in front of Richard.

"But I do," Richard said proudly.

"Because you're a stupid butt hole," Trey said to his younger brother.

"Trey, that was not a very nice thing to say," Carmen said. "So, um, you think maybe a whole day with no TV will teach you not to say that again?"

"What?" Trey cried, shocked that Maw-maw would dare punish him.

----

Kevin Gonzales watched the blonde man as he jogged, dressed in just shorts and tee shirt, even though it was bitterly cold in the early February morning.

The serene smile the man wore triggered a memory in Kevin; that was the same smile the man had worn when he fought him and three of his Angels 270 brothers that day at Manny's restaurant.

"Hey, Angel?" Kevin said into his cell phone, following the man with his eyes.

"Bitch," Angel moaned, speaking Spanish. "I kill you, you waking me up this early for nothing, hear me?"

"That guy, the guy's been disrespecting the Angels two seven zero?" Kevin said and smiled as he watched Richard enter a small home. "I know where he lives. I just saw him."

"What guy, oh, oh yeah, okay," Angel said, sitting up in his bed.

----

"I almost want to call in sick," Elizabeth murmured, playing with Nadia's hair.

"Go ahead; you're the boss," Nadia murmured back, tracing a finger along Elizabeth's throat.

"But I'm not sick," Elizabeth said, cupping Nadia's face.

"Sure you are," Nadia said. "Broken heart; I'm sure that's a sickness, right?"

"Afraid not," Elizabeth said sadly.

"Then call in well, spend the day in bed with me," Nadia smiled softly, looking into Elizabeth's dark eyes.

"Come on, Nadia; Bill's got dialysis today; we can't spend all day in bed," Elizabeth smiled and kissed Nadia.

"Then just spend the morning in bed with me," Nadia begged, rubbing Elizabeth's hip through the covers.

"It is tempting," Elizabeth admitted. "But how about we make love tonight? Get the kids to bed, then we soak in the tub and then..."

She kissed Nadia and lightly licked the blonde's lips.

"It's a date," Nadia whispered. "I'll even pick up some more of that wine you like."

----

"Remember, Mom, I need a bunch of that construction paper," Cristopher Michael demanded as Alicia put the plates down in front of the three children.

"You do?" Alicia teased. "Oh, then I guess you better be extra nice to me, then, huh?"

"What? Woman, I'm always nice to you," the child declared.

"What about you?" Alicia asked Jamie. "You need construction paper?"

"No ma'am," Jamie whispered quietly and began to eat her breakfast.

"It's for making Valentines, Jamie," Alicia said. "You sure you don't want to make your momma one?"

Jamie looked up and Alicia could see the tears streaming down the child's face.

"Miss Alicia, my mommy's dying," the child choked out.

"I know baby, and I am so, so sorry," Alicia said and hugged the child tightly.

After she calmed the small girl, Alicia got them ready for school.

"And, uh, hey, Cristopher Michael, keep that shirt tucked in them pants, you hear? And them pants better be up around your waist too, not hanging down with your butt sticking out, got it?" Alicia demanded as Jamie and Cristopher Michael prepared to walk to the bust stop.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Cristopher Michael grumbled.

----

Paul had a horrible headache as he joined the other waiting for their arraignment. The coffee was barely lukewarm, and worse than that, it was instant coffee, barely dissolved. The eggs were cooked to the point of being hard and the toast was stale.

"Lunch ain't going to be no better," an older man grumbled to him. "So, eat up and hope you're out before then, kid."

Paul numbly shoved the food into his mouth and swallowed without chewing.

"Pam would never let me eat this," he thought to himself.

Then he realized, with a startling clarity, he could not remember the last time Pam had cooked anything for him.

"Good God, I do hope I get out before lunch," he whispered urgently.

The reality of what was actually happening to him sobered him up and cleared his headache far better than the substandard food and coffee. He looked around the small narrow room. The men, all fourteen of them, sat and quietly ate, heads down, no smiles.

"Good God," Paul whispered again.

Judge Jesse Johnson listened to the charges, listened as Marie Robichaux asked to have herself excused from the proceedings, then set Paul's bail at twenty five thousand dollars.

"Mr. Robichaux, it is normally ten thousand dollars, but I do have to take into account the fact that there were three minor children in that car with you," Judge Jesse said harshly.

"I understand, you're Honor, thank you," Paul said humbly.

"I have it right here, your Honor," Bob Robichaux said, rising.

"Very good; bail is set at twenty five thousand, next case please," Jesse said, banging his gavel.

Bob paid the Clerk of Court, and then waited for the Bailiff to release Paul.

"Dad I..." Paul said.

"Don't," Bob snapped.

"But I..." Paul tried again.

"Son, right now, I am so God damned mad at you I could hit you; don't say a God damned word, you hear?" Bob snapped, hustling Paul to the door of the courthouse.

Paul sat silently while Bob drove.

"Here," Bob finally barked, pulling up in front of Delphy's Diner. "Go inside; my boss is waiting to talk with you."

"Mr. Farmer? What? Why?" Paul wondered, opening the door to the car.

"Because, John's an alcoholic," Bob spat.

"A... But I'm not an alcoholic," Paul protested.

"Then you got no fucking excuse for damned near killing my grandchildren, do you?" Bob screamed at his son.

----

Elizabeth smiled as Melanie hobbled, dragging her legs behind, into the small lobby of the day-care center. The woman seemed to always have a thousand watt smile and always seemed to be delighted to see Eddie and Deonia.

"Hi, Eddie, hi Dania," Melanie greeted them and assisted Elizabeth in getting the children's heavy winter coats off. "Five thirty?"

"Yep; I'll call if anything comes up," Elizabeth promised.

"Okay," Melanie smiled. "And today, Deonia? Eddie? Guess what? We're making Valentines!"

"Oh boy!" Elizabeth encouraged the two children as they proceeded Melanie into the play area.

At first Nadia had argued against sending Deonia to day-care, but Elizabeth had pointed out that it would only be on the days that Bill had dialysis; it would give Nadia more freedom.

"If it's the money..." Elizabeth had hastened to assure Nadia.

"Elizabeth, I'm not worried about the money," Nadia had frowned.

"And it'll help for when Deonia starts going to kindergarten," Elizabeth pointed out. "She'll already be used to going to school."

"That's not for another..." Nadia snapped.

"It'll be next year; Eddie's going to St. Richard's for pre-K; I'd kind of like for Deonia to go there too," Elizabeth continued.

Nadia looked at Elizabeth for a long moment.

"Why?" Nadia finally asked.

"Why? But that's where I went to school and..." Elizabeth said.

"No, Elizabeth, that's not what I meant. What I mean is, why do you want Deonia to go there?" Nadia asked, searching Elizabeth's dark eyes.

"Because, we live together, our children live together, they should go to school together, don't you think?" Elizabeth asked.

Meeting Nadia's eyes, unblinking, Elizabeth continued.

"And I want what's best for both of our children because I love both of our children," Elizabeth said. "Believe it or not, Nadia, I do love Deonia. I do love you."

"Well, all right then, I'll get Deonia ready for day care," Nadia nodded and smiled.

And Nadia hated to admit it, but it did make dealing with Bill easier. Bill did what he could, and Nadia could see improvement, but he was still a handful to wrestle with.

----

Dick got out of the cruiser and smiled as the three prostitutes pretended to not see him at all. He walked down the alley until he reached where Officer Eric Greene stood.

"I worked the midnight to eight shift; you better have a hell of a good reason drag my ass out of bed," he mock growled at the officer.

"You don't need no more beauty sleep; you too pretty as it is," Eric said and lifted the sheet off of Miguel's face.

"Fuck, man, warn me next time, huh?" Dick said, nearly vomiting at the sight of Miguel's face.

"Yeah, this is what she found when she pulled a john back here for a quick fuck and suck," Eric said, pointing to a surly looking girl.

"Where's the john?" Dick asked.

"Out of here," Eric shrugged.

"You know him?" Dick asked, nodding toward the corpse.

"Yeah, he was my man," the girl said flatly.

----

Paul's head buzzed with all the caffeine and all the information John Farmer had shared.

"No, Paul, I really don't feel like hearing the excuses; you're not going to say anything new," John had said.

"But when my wife died..." Paul started to say.

"Uh huh, and when my daughter's boyfriend decided that he'd put a bullet through her head just because she got knocked up," Marc Jolie, John's A.A. sponsor had interrupted. "Still no reason to drink."

Marc had dropped Paul off at Paul's house, shaken Paul's hand, and gave Paul a book to read.

'Alcoholics Anonymous' loomed up at Paul, bright white letters against the dark blue jacket.

"Identify, don't analyze," was Marc's cryptic instructions.

Paul let himself into the house, still thinking about what John had said.

"Try this, Paul. Have one beer, and then stop. But don't have a second one. See how long you can go," John had said.

Paul didn't need to do that. He'd only had two beers at Miss Bobbi's and Mr. Jake's house. It had been an extremely uncomfortable meal with Miss Bobbi, Mr. Jake, Miss Emily, Cindy, Pam, and Paulie, Barbara, and Candy. Cindy had even grilled him on how many beers he'd had before she would let him take their daughter to his house.

At home, he poured himself a whiskey over ice, and that was the last thing he remembered before coming to in the jail cell this morning.

"Drunk?" Cindy screamed, suddenly appearing in front of Paul. "You were drunk? With MY Candy in the car?"

"I uh," Paul said and Cindy punched him in his startled face.

"You will NEVER see my daughter again, do you hear me?" Cindy screamed as Paul lay on the living room floor, groaning, and his hand over his eye. She stepped over him and left the house, stomping through the dead grass of their front yard to her Toyota.

----

"Oh, look, there's Dee," Nadia said cheerfully as she spotted Dee's BMW.

She was about to tap on the truck horn to alert Dee, then the BMW came to a stop.

(Nadia had seen Dee at Sonja's bachelorette party last Saturday night, at Dee's apartment. She and Elizabeth had brought Deonia and Eddie over to Miss Daphne and Big Eddie's house, promised not to drive if they'd had too much to drink, then drove to the apartment complex.

Nadia had worried how Elizabeth would react; nearly every woman in attendance was gay, even the bride to be, but Elizabeth handled herself with grace and dignity.

Elizabeth walked in, greeted Vee Aucoin and Vee's girlfriend, Paris Mouton, with hugs and squeals.

"We had a couple of classes together," she explained to Nadia.

Dee had been drunk and stoned enough to be civil to Elizabeth, although Dee still harbored resentments against Elizabeth for stealing Nadia away from her.

"I uh, I was kind of afraid you'd be um, kind of uncomfortable, you know, um, around all these women, I mean, they're all gay, you know?" Nadia stammered as she and Elizabeth fixed themselves drinks.

"Nadia, who's been sleeping in my bed?" Elizabeth smiled, kissing Nadia quickly, playfully.

The gifts were raunchy, the games were raunchy, and the drinks and drugs were plentiful. Elizabeth limited herself to two drinks, and then spent the rest of the evening sipping on a diet cola.

Elizabeth also one the 'dick sucking' contest by swallowing a twelve inch dildo all the way to the base.

"Damn, where's you learn how to do that?" Paris had asked eyes wide.

"My boyfriend wears a size thirteen triple E shoe," Elizabeth had laughed.

"I think I'm going to faint!" Vee had screamed, laughing.

"Hey Sonja, THAT should be your next investigative report," Dee had hooted. "Shoe size and schlong size, factor fiction?"

"Well," a stoned Sonja had sneered. "Buddy wears a size eight...but I think he's stuffing it!")

Nadia was about to tap on the truck horn, then frowned as a gang member approached Dee's car, pulling out a plastic bag of crystal meth.

Nadia tightened her face into a scowl and swerved around the BMW

She then looked over at Bill and noticed that he was staring at the drug transaction, glassy eyed.

"Oh Bill! Really?" Nadia had spat. "After all that shit's done to you, you still crave it?"

Bill looked down, embarrassed.

"Sorry," Nadia whispered, clutching his hand tightly. "I've got no room to criticize."

"No, no," Bill had whispered back. "You um, you got like that because you care, right?"

"I do," Nadia agreed. "Bill, I do care."

----

Eduardo Sanchez spread the gasoline and laundry detergent mix around the base of the house, and then pulled the lighter fluid out of his jacket pocket.

Angel had called him and ordered that this house be burned to the ground; the inhabitants had dared disrespect the Angels 270. Eduardo cared little about respect; he just liked to burn things. He didn't just play with fires, he studied them.

The house was a wooden one; it would go up beautifully. The accelerant would make sure that the people inside, a man and his wife and child would have little chance to make it out of the flames alive.

Suddenly, a sprinkler started up, thoroughly drenching Eduardo, and drenching the side of the house.

Eduardo looked around in shock; he was sure that there had been no sprinkler there a moment ago.

A second sprinkler was soaking the front of the house, rendering his mixture useless.

Eduardo decided to go to the rear of the house; he knew there was no dog to worry about. The gate was locked so he reached up to hoist himself over the wooden gate.

He gasped in pain as two sharp nails ripped open his fingers. Quickly pulling his hand back further ripped open his fingers. He looked at the gate and saw that there were several nail heads; someone had made sure that no one would just pull themselves over this fence.

"Fuck it," Eduardo spat; he would return later, after getting his mother to fix his hand.

Eduardo returned to his mother's car and got in.

He cursed; the smell of gasoline was strong. Obviously he had spilled some on his clothes. His mother got very upset when he came home with his clothes smelling of gasoline.

Eduardo frowned; he didn't remember putting the passenger window down in this chilly weather.

He started the car, activating the automatic door locks and shoulder strap of the seat belt, and began to raise the electric window.

"Hey, like playing with matches?" Richard Boudreaux suddenly asked, popping up in front of the raising window.

"What?" a startled Eduardo cried out.

"Here," Richard said and tossed a flaming book of matches onto the seat just before the window finished closing.

Eduardo was engulfed in an inferno as the gasoline soaked seat ignited.

He struggled frantically with the door handle before remembering that he had to hit the button to unlock the door first.

By the time Eduardo staggered out of the car, it was too late. He managed to stagger three feet from the car before collapsing to the street.

"Why are the sprinklers on?" Bernie asked as Richard came into the house.

"Just making sure the outside pipes didn't get frozen over," Richard smiled.

----

"See, you do it like this," Cristopher Michael patiently showed Jamie, carefully applying the glue to the border of her red heart. "Then you take the glitter and..."

"How come you can do that so neat but can't clean up your room?" Alicia smiled.

"Because this is fun; cleaning my room's work," Cristopher Michael shrugged.

"And then we can write 'I Love You' in it, right?" Jamie asked as she waited for the glue to dry.

"Hey, Mom, how you spell 'Valentine' and go slow, okay?" Cristopher Michael asked, holding the bottle of glue at the ready.

----

"Ooh, that's a beauty," John had said as he looked at Paul's eye. "Ready?"

"What?" Paul had sputtered.

"Come on; we're meeting Marc, then after we eat, we're going to the Bender Beginner's meeting," John had patiently said.

"But I look at me, look at my eye!" Paul had sputtered.

"A black eye ever stop you from drinking?" John had asked, waving impatiently toward his truck.

"So, drink today?" John asked as they drove to Delphy's diner.

"No," Paul said, and then admitted. "Wanted to, though."

"Think you'll like this meeting; see it's mostly people with maybe a few months at the most; they deal with the First, Second, and Third Step," John explained. "Marc and I will be right down the hall in the Long-Timers meeting."

"How's the other guy look?" Marc asked, looking at the black eye as Paul slid into the booth.

"She looks pretty good," Paul admitted. "In fact, she looks damned good."

----

"Hey, um, Angel, why we keep getting picked up but not you?" Juan Costoval dared ask.

"Because bitch," Angel said angrily and punched Juan in the face.

"Yeah, how come?" another gang member asked.

"Bitch, you want me to..." Angel threatened.

"Yeah, Angel, why we keep getting picked up and not you?" another asked.

Angel looked around. There were fifteen angry boys and men surrounding him.

He reached for his nine millimeter. Juan brought his own nine millimeter out before Angel could reach his pistol.

----

"Manny's?" Richard light-heartedly complained. "But I hate Manny's!"

"Shut up; you do not!" Bernie laughed.

"Makes me want to poop just thinking about it," Richard lied as he pulled into the parking lot.

He ran around, opened Bernie's car door, and then opened the back door to get Kimberly out of her baby seat.

"Hey, mother fucker, no one disrespects the Angels two seven zero," Richard heard from behind him.

He heard Bernie gasp and saw, out of the corner of his eye, Bernie reach for her can of pepper spray.

"I do," he heard a female voice call out just as he whirled around to do battle with the gang member. "Angels ain't nothing but a piece of shit."

There were three young men, one holding a double barreled shotgun, the other two with nine millimeter pistols in hand. The three had been temporarily distracted by the female voice that had called out that she did dare disrespect the Angels 270.

The shotgun wielding gang member's head suddenly exploded, bone, blood and brain splattering onto Richard. Richard kicked the gun out of the hand of the gang member to his right, letting Bernie spray the third one in his face with her pepper spray.

She never got a chance; the gang member's head exploded as a second shot rang out.

"Hi, y'all never saw me," Crystal said as she pumped a third bullet into the last gang member's head. "Have a nice day."

"Yeah, you too," Richard said as he wiped the splatter from his shirt.

"Oh my God! What should we do?" Bernie asked as she watched the young woman get into a Toyota.

"I'm having the three enchiladas plate," Richard said.

"No, no, I mean about..." Bernie said.